Dr Stefan Hartung - Bosch energy and building technology chief

But for Dr Stefan Hartung, who heads up Bosch’s energy and building technology business, the way that ubiquitous products like this evolve will be at the heart of how we deal with some of mankind’s most fundamental challenges.

Talking to The Engineer at Bosch’s global headquarters in Stuttgart, Hartung discussed the trends that are shaping the German industrial giant’s next generation products and outlined a compelling vision for the role that technology can play in helping us maintain our living standards whilst reducing our carbon footprint.

There are, he said, two extreme theories on how to “save the planet”: either we trust technology to solve all of our issues by enabling us to use as much energy as want with no ill effects, or we force humanity to fundamentally change it’s behavior and turn its back on the comforts of the modern world.

In Hartung’s view, neither approach is realistic: ‘We will need more energy purely because more people will attain a life that’s more equivalent to what we call a life today. But technology will not be able to bring this consumption increase CO2-free.’