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Saturday 22nd October, 2005
Friends House, Euston Road, London
10.30 Coffee
11.00 Welcome
Kate Macintosh MBE (AESR Chair)
11.05 Architects and Engineers for Social Responsibility AGM
Chair: Kate Macintosh MBE (AESR Chair)
11.35 Scientists for Global Responsibility AGM
Chair: Dr Philip Webber (SGR Chair)
12.35 Discussion
13.00 Lunch
14.00 Main Conference Session
Chair: Dr Stuart Parkinson (SGR Director)
FROM SPACE WEAPONS TO BASIC HUMAN NEEDS – TECHNOLOGY AND THE SECURITY AGENDA
Professor David Webb (Leeds Metropolitan University/SGR)
NUCLEAR POWER – THEY CAN’T BE SERIOUS!
Professor Mark Whitby (Whitbybird/AESR)
THE ROLE OF SOLAR ELECTRICITY IN SUSTAINABLE BUILDING
Professor Keith Barnham (Imperial College London/SGR)
16.15 Closing Remarks
16.20 Conference EndsDr Philip Webber (SGR Chair)
Professor David Webb
Increasingly, the major problems faced by human society have a technological dimension – for example, weapons proliferation and war, climate change, and the environmental impacts of agriculture. At the same time, there is also considerable concern about the growing gap between rich and poor. However, narrow military and economic concerns continue to dominate the priorities for scientific and technological work in countries such as the UK and USA (as shown, for example, in the recent SGR report Soldiers in the Laboratory). Where social or environmental priorities do surface, we are often simply presented with “technical fixes” which fail to get the root of the problems (e.g. more sophisticated military technology, expansion of nuclear power, new surveillance technologies, GM crops). Now, more than ever, people need to critically consider the technological paths we are taking. Yet knowledge of science and technology is often lacking (due to e.g. falling numbers of students studying science and engineering subjects); too specialised (due to e.g. the failure of many science courses to teach an understanding of broader issues); or too guided by vested interests and short term goals. In this talk, we will discuss some of the important challenges that arise from the focus on this narrow technological agenda, including the militarisation of space and the technologies of political control, investigating both the science and technology involved and the broader issues highlighted above.David Webb is Professor of Engineering Modelling, Head of the Centre for Applied Research in Engineering, and Director of the Praxis Centre at Leeds Metropolitan University. He obtained a DPhil in space physics in 1975 from the University of York and, after periods as a post-doctoral researcher at Bell Laboratories and the University of York, joined the Directorate of Scientific and Technical Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence in London in 1978. He moved to the Computer Unit at Leeds Metropolitan University in 1979 and then into the School of Engineering in the early 1980s. He has published widely on the application of engineering modelling, and on nuclear disarmament and the militarisation of space. He is currently working with colleagues in the Praxis Centre on the Study of Information and Technology in Peace, Conflict Resolution and Human Rights.
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NUCLEAR POWER – THEY CAN’T BE SERIOUS
Professor Mark Whitby FICE FEng Hon FRIBA
In the past it was very easy to see the energy debate in terms of what do we do when we run out of fossil fuel. However, today the energy debate is what do we do when we run out of sufficient atmosphere to absorb the excess CO2 that we are releasing. We are currently at about 380 ppm and could reach the tipping point as near as 400 ppm, perhaps in just 10-15 years at current consumption. The debate is about how we use this remaining 5% of “atmospheric resource” over the next 10-15 years to ensure our future.
We need a carbon neutral future. The debate is about how we can we afford it with the limited atmospheric resource that we have left. Carbon will remain a large part of the energy mix for the near future. When we “spend” carbon, we need to be clear that we are getting the best rate of return possible. This talk is about how we evaluate this rate of return in order to balance the books.
Mark Whitby is married with five children and lives on a smallholding in Hertfordshire. He is trying to make his life as self-sufficient as possible and is a signatory of Colin Challen’s 25% CO2 reduction pledge although expects things to get worse before they get better.A former Olympian, Mark is a founder and a director of the engineering consulting firm Whitbybird and a past president of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He has an appetite for innovation, imaginative design solutions, new ways of working and the delivery of a sustainable future. He is a Visiting Professor at Nottingham University.
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THE ROLE OF SOLAR ELECTRICITY IN SUSTAINABLE BUILDING
Professor Keith Barnham
The impact building integrated photovoltaics can make on electricity generation in the UK and worldwide using current solar cell technology will be discussed. In addition, research will be described into the exciting “Smart Windows” concept based on “Third-Generation” high efficiency photovoltaic cells in concentrator systems.
Keith Barnham is Professor of Physics at Imperial College London. He began his career as an experimental particle physicist at CERN and Berkeley but changed to researching solar cells when he realised the importance of developing renewable electricity sources and the extent to which these are under-researched. He was a founder member of Scientists for Global Responsibility and its predecessor Scientists Against Nuclear Arms (SANA). His decision to switch to researching solar cells was confirmed by his experiences as a member of the
SANA team that studied the destination of the plutonium produced by the UK civil nuclear programme.
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