A low carbon economy based on renewable energy: the only way to go!

Because Australia is a major world exporter of coal and gas it is estimated that these exports alone will lead to an estimated 53 billion tonnes of Greenhouse Gas emissions by 2050. Add to that the likely 29 billion tonnes that Australia itself will emit under a business as usual scenario by 2050, then it is clear that Australia is indeed a key player in the global battle for atmospheric stability and environmental security. 

In this public lecture Barney Foran from the Fenner Centre for Research and Environmental Studies at the ANU will be describing and testing the renewable energy transition to 2050, as well as discussing essential technologies, the science-based approach to modelling whole economy transitions, and flaws in today’s mindset, policy and economics.
Dr Foran was the first speaker and has subsequently chaired the current series of ten seminars on renewable energy held at the Australian Academy of Sciences in Canberra.

Barney Foran has degrees in agriculture and ecology, which led to professional eras spanning rangeland ecology, agricultural systems, environmental science and long term analysis of Australia’s physical economy. He led research teams in CSIRO’s Resource Futures group which produced long term analyses of Australia’s physical economy focusing on human population (Future Dilemmas), marine fisheries (Fish Futures), land and water (Decision Points) and a triple bottom line analysis of the Australian economy (Balancing Act). His current work focuses on integrated solutions to Australia’s challenges of energy security and greenhouse mitigation. He is a research fellow at the ANU’s Fenner School of Environment and Society, the Institute of Land Water and Society at Charles Sturt University, and the Physics Department at Sydney University. He now lives in regional Victoria and tends small forest blocks of blue gum and spotted gum.

Date: Tuesday April 21, 2009
Time: 6:30pm for 7.00pm     Light refreshments will be served at 6:30
Cost: $20 per person, $15 per Futureworld member or concession, $10 per student.
Payable at the door via cash or cheque.
Please call Futureworld on 4274 2939 for prior credit card payments.

Venue: McKinnon Building, Building 67, Lecture Room 104 University of Wollongong. Northfields Avenue, North Wollongong.
(Location and parking info: http://www.uow.edu.au/about/maps.html)
RSVP: Seating is limited, please RSVP by COB Friday April 17, 2009
Email: enquiries@futureworld.org.au Phone: 02 4274 2939 Fax: 02 4274 4725

Recycling Plastics and Rubber Tyres as a Resource for EAF Steelmaking

Hundreds of thousands of used car tyres could be recycled every year and turned into steel, thanks to a discovery that rubber can be partially substituted for coke in electric arc furnaces.
Professor Veena Sahajwalla, will discuss how the new technology not only removes used tyres from the waste stream but also cuts the energy demands and costs associated with steelmaking.
Known as polymer injection technology, the process substitutes some of the coke used in steelmaking with other carbon-rich materials. The process can also be extended to plastics, diverting them from landfill dumps.
OneSteel, which has licensed the patented technology and has developed it in partnership with Professor Sahajwalla, has successfully trialled the process at both its Sydney and Melbourne-based electric arc furnace facilities.

Join Vena in a seminar highlighting the latest aspects of this promising sustainable technology.

 SCIENTIA PROFESSOR VEENA SAHAJWALLA (FIEAust CPEng FTSE)
Professor Veena Sahajwalla leads the research on Sustainable Materials Processing at University of New South Wales.  She is the Director of Centre of Sustainable Materials Research & Technology (SMaRT@UNSW) with its central research focus on sustainable materials and processes with strong emphasis on environmental and community benefits. 

She completed her Masters degree at the University of British Columbia, Canada and her PhD at The University of Michigan, USA. She has delivered keynote/invited papers and has lectured in many international conferences Argentina, Canada, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, South Africa, Sweden, UK and USA. She has published in excess of 170 papers in journals and conference proceedings.

She is the Chair of the Association of Iron and Steel Technology’s Australian Section; a member of the Board of Review of Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B. She is passionate about science and engineering. She encourages young people to consider science and engineering as a career path. She is one of the judges on the ABC TV show, “The New Inventors”.
Vena has received many awards/recognitions (Australian and international). The most recent was the 2008 New South Wales Scientist of the Year Award in the category of Engineering Sciences. 

Date: Monday April 20, 2009
Time: 6:30pm for 7.00pm     Light refreshments will be served at 6:30
Cost: $20 per person, $15 per Futureworld member or concession, $10 per student.
Payable at the door via cash or cheque.

Please call Futureworld on 4274 2939 for prior credit card payments.

Venue: McKinnon Building, Building 67, Lecture Room 104 University of Wollongong. Northfields Avenue, North Wollongong.
(Location and parking info: http://www.uow.edu.au/about/maps.html)
RSVP: please RSVP by COB Friday April 17, 2009
Email: enquiries@futureworld.org.au    Phone: 02 4274 2939    Fax: 02 4274 4725