Research

We are going to have a seminar on 'Energy from Waste' on 29th May 2014, Thursday, given by Prof Ian M. Arbon, who is currently a Senior Partner of “Engineered Solutions” and an Honorary Professor in Sustainable Energy at the University of Glasgow.

Abstract and biography are given below.

Date & Time: 1:00-2:00 PM, 29th of May 2014, Thursday
Venue: Room 355 (J10), James Watt Building South

Tea/coffee/biscuits before the start.

 

 

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Abstract

Energy-from-Waste (EfW) is the Cinderella of the UK’s energy policy.  The Government is confused:  DECC thinks it is about energy and is starting to be constructive about EfW, whereas Defra still thinks it is an undesirable waste treatment process and continues to be obstructive!  Meanwhile, in Scotland, any EfW proposal meets with hysterical protests and the Scottish Government chooses not to help because it still believes that Scotland can somehow achieve ‘Zero Waste’ – something that no other country has attempted!  Yet the reality is that EfW is one of the few forms of renewable energy that can provide us with heat and transport energy, as well as electricity, and supply it as required, so that it can be used to ‘back-up’ the intermittent sources of renewable energy that are the current vogue.  Without EfW, neither the UK nor Scotland is likely to get close to its 2020 commitments for renewable energy.  Most other Western European countries use EfW as an important part of their renewable energy strategy and we need to learn the lessons before it is too late.

Biography

Prof Ian Arbon is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer, a Registered European Engineer and a Chartered Environmentalist, with an MSc in ‘Renewable Energy and the Environment’ and an MBA.  Formerly MD of several engineering-sector companies (supplying renewable energy and energy-from-waste equipment for 40 years), he now runs Engineered Solutions, a Sustainable Engineering consultancy.  Ian is a Fellow of IMechE; having chaired its Energy, Environment & Sustainability Group and its Renewable Power Committee, he is now spearheading the Institution’s work in Energy Storage.  He is also a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Energy Institute, the Institute of Refrigeration and the Institute of Engineers & Shipbuilders in Scotland;  he has been a Visiting Professor in Alternative Energy at Newcastle University and Module Leader for ‘Energy Policies, Politics and Ethics’ on its REFLEX and REEM MSc courses since 2006;  he has been an Honorary Professor in Sustainable Energy at the University of Glasgow since 2010 and is teaching ‘Energy from Waste’ at Glasgow this semester.

First published: 24 October 2013