Apr 11 2010
How to cut CO2 emissions by more than 80% within the next forty years is the challenge that has been put to the automotive industry. Jon Ward, Toyota Australia’s Manager of Environmental Policy, believes that current hybrid development is only one element of a long term plan for a sustainable vehicle future.
Jon, a keynote speaker at the forthcoming Sir Mark Oliphant Conference ‘Cleantech Science and Solutions – mainstream and at the edge’, 4 – 6 May at the Novotel Glen Waverley, has already seen Toyota cut emissions per vehicle by 27% since 2005/6 and believes a further 6% improvement is possible over the next two years.
At the conference, Jon will be discussing what the solution to the 2050 target may look like and the various steps that may be taken to get there.
Small is best
The impending population driven energy crisis is not the only thing impacting on long term sustainability.
According to Tim Harper, founder of London based Cientifica Ltd and President Nanotechnology at EnvisionALR, UK, a whole range of issues need to be addressed such as the over dependence of ever dwindling resources to improving public health.
“These are areas where our understanding of the properties of materials at the nanoscale can have a major impact”, said Tim. And the “combination of nanotechnologies, industrial biotechnology, synthetic biology and a number of other emerging technologies has the potential to create new sustainable industries that will be as significant for the 21st century as petrochemicals, plastics and semiconductors were to the past century.”
At the forthcoming Sir Mark Oliphant Conference ‘Cleantech Science and Solutions – mainstream and at the edge’, 4 – 6 May at the Novotel Glen Waverley, Tim will be discussing who will be the winners and losers, what action should governments take, and what kind of investment opportunities exist?