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Beyond Rhetoric Delivering a Low Carbon
Society2010 ICE Brunel Lecture Keith Clarke
CEO - Atkins

• 22 September 2010

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Copenhagen paved the way

• 194 Countries
• Media hyped failure
• There have been real targets set as a response to
  it
• 2020 and 2050 are key dates
• In the UK, the Climate Change Act and five-year
  CO2e budgets will help evaluate the progress
  were making to reduce fossil fuel use
  substantially by 2050.
• beyond Rhetoric.

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A very tough timeline
Business As Usual
Study Consultation
Journey
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Create the society in which weaspire to live

• Our role is not to engineer austerity
• Low carbon engineering must be delivered in
  conjunction with high quality design, with
  elegance and simplicity.
• The low carbon society will not be a return to
  poverty and donkey carts. We will also continue
  to promote low carbon GDP growth and leadership
  in this new economy, which will be a significant
  source of new, green, jobs.

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A New Industrial Revolution

• Moving to a low carbon society is as large a
  driver for engineers today as industrialisation
  was to our forefathers from the Victorian age.
• What they did affected almost every aspect of
  daily life
• Reducing carbon emissions could be considered a
  new industrial revolution and is set to have a
  similar impact on tomorrows world.

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What stage are we at?

• Akin to what Brunel might have experienced in his
  day
• largely conceptual
• little empirical knowledge
• codes becoming outdated quickly and continuously
• rudimentary calculations being made based on many
  assumptions.

Its a tremendous engineering challenge
creating a low-carbon future represents a new
design parameter that is disruptive rather than
additive
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What do I do?
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Complexity in codes
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When do I design?
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Seven Maxims for a HighlyEffective Engineering
Profession

• Challenge assumptions
• Innovate rigorously
• Pursue commercially viable low carbon technology
• Learn to love uncertainty
• Communicate and collaborate
• Avoid inertia
• Learn rapidly

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• Dont blame government, clients or the
  recession in truth we are limited only by our
  ambition and ingenuity. Engineers have to
  demonstrate what is feasible so that governments
  and the financial community understand which way
  to go.

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• Where is the carbon and how do we remove it from
  the equation?
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