Can technology save the planet?

Let’s start by accepting that the Earth needs saving. How do we do it? Will technology help us?

Let’s start by accepting that the Earth needs saving. That greenhouse gas concentrations are increasing is undisputed. That something is happening to climate and it is being caused by human activity can be stated with greater than 97% confidence. The effects of climate change seem to be happening faster than we expected. So, do we have to change our lifestyle completely in order to stop this runaway process? Are we doomed to a life without cheap flights to exotic holiday destinations? Do we have to ration our energy use? Or is there a technical ‘fix’ to the problem? This talk will assert that, in line with current thinking, there is no single thing we can do that will stabilise and eventually reduce the concentration of CO2, but there are lots of big things we can do, each of which gets us part way there. We will take a critical look at some of the possibilities: hybrid vehicles; hydrogen fuel cells; electricity from wind, solar, and nuclear sources; nuclear generated hydrogen; carbon capture and sequestration; use of biomass for fuels and power; and wave/tidal power, to see what might actually work and what is just hype.

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