Our rapidly ageing population and mitigating our impact on the climate are without doubt two of the biggest changes facing society. In both cases, it is Engineers who will be called upon to provide some of the key solutions.
Our rapidly ageing population and mitigating our impact on the climate are without doubt two of the biggest changes facing society. And in both cases, it is Engineers who will be called upon to provide some of the key solutions. This week, both issues will come under the spotlight.
“Engineering for the Ageing Population: Challenges and Opportunities” takes place over two days at the institute of mechanical engineers (IMechE) headquarters in London.
While most of us would welcome the prospect of as long a life as possible, the increases in life expectancy that are occurring – particularly in the developed world- have led to some frightening predictions. For instance, according to some estimates, there will be one pensioner for every two people in work by 2050. Those present at the conference – a cross-section of engineers drawn from the civil, mechanical and healthcare disciplines – will discuss and explore the technologies and approaches that could help address the more worrying implications of these statistics. The conference is also expected to draw attention to the huge, and as yet untapped, commercial opportunities posed by the ageing population.
Meanwhile, on the environment, the government’s energy and climate secretary Ed Milliband looks to have a busy week ahead of him. With the countdown to next month’s Copenhagen summit well and truly underway, Milliband is due to present six draft policy statements aimed at making the planning process for new energy infrastructure fairer and faster. With outdated planning regulations proving one of the biggest obstacles to the rapid development of renewable energy generation, this can only be a good thing. Milliband also delivers the opening address at the Environment Agency annual conference – which starts today at London’s QE11 conference centre. This year the focus of the event will be the role that both business, local communities and government can play in tackling climate change.
Jon Excell
Deputy Editor
However the calculations are done, there are too many of us and we just use far too much energy!
Look round your supermarket. How many printed papers and magazines and pallets of catalogues are there which we can easily do without?
Who has a god-given right to go on holiday and fly without paying tax on the fuel?
Increase fares by taxing to the full and the demand will plummet, reducing our high-altitude pollution.
Removing incandescent bulbs from domestic use has little comparison to the number of lights left on, e.g. MW lighting the outside of public buildings, in addition to all the shop windows etc.
The list is endless and would have an immediate effect. We are all aware that it takes at least 10 years to build an operable reactor, so what do we do in the meantime?
I certainly agree with the goverment that planning decisions need to be made much quicker for important major projects such as power generation. However, It’s also important that a proper public consultation process is gone through in which all views are counted and considered. I don’t see why this should take more than a year if done properly.
We have all seen the successive failures by governments over many years, particularly in maintaining and improving the countries infrastructure. This leaves us with a dilapidated infrastructure in many areas, power, water, gas, electricity, and sewage being a small number of examples.
Many people would like to see more environmentally friendly alternatives be introduced, so what is the problem? In many cases it is the often quoted government misinformation designed purely for taxation purposes. Once we establish the real truth about the environment, and dismiss the distorted and misleading information, we can proceed with practical, long term solutions. Such schemes begin with government itself, and by funding such initiatives we can develop many of the current concepts in development, and implement them with often considerable long term cost savings in many areas.