Although rare, human history has witnessed instances of the occurrence of energy transitions before. They are usually marked by moments where a large section of our society can enhance their standard of living considerably. However, they are also slow in their scale up. To attain the desired scale which can facilitate the “transition” of the entire society, we need to look beyond just the technical opportunity and focus on larger factors.
This is no different for the transition to a net-zero energy system. What is new though is that first, there is a time window within which we must achieve enough scale to avoid undesired consequences caused by climate change, as codified in the Paris agreement. Secondly, the environmental impact is now truly global affecting Earth’s atmospheric temperature impacting us all. To meet the global challenge of preventing climate change by anthropogenic processes requires a system approach rather than just a collection of low carbon technologies and fuel substitutions.
In this session, Dirk Smit will discuss some of these concepts and illustrate how large-scale systems thinking is crucial for a net-zero transition to happen in time. He will also talk about how this may help establish fruitful collaborations between government, industry, major academic and engineering thought leaders, as well as institutes to develop necessary innovations to accelerate a net-zero energy transition. The talk will be followed by a Q&A session.
06:30 PM
September 12, 2022
