Where does industry fit into a sustainable future?

Industrial activity is a major contributor to our current unsustainable situation yet is often over-looked in the search for solutions. This seminar explores the possible role of industry in a sustainable future.

Four key competences needed for a sustainable industry will be presented: efficiency, internalisation, co-ordination and whole system design. What do these mean, and how these are manifesting themselves in early experiments today will be explored through examples and we will search for some root causes.

The seminar will explore important questions such as why are we not even efficient in using current technology? How important is efficiency versus invention? Why is common-sense not common? And we will hopefully discuss why kissing frogs is so important.

About Steve Evans
Steve Evans is Director of the national EPSRC Centre for Industrial Sustainability at University of Cambridge.

He spent 12 years in industry, finally as Engineering Systems Manager at Martin-Baker Engineering, the world leading manufacturer of ejection seats. He became Professor of Life Cycle Engineering at Cranfield University in 1998 and joined the University of Cambridge Institute for Manufacturing in 2011.

His research seeks a deep understanding of how industry brings environmental and social sustainability concerns into its design and manufacturing practices, with a duel emphasis on urgent & practical change now and system level change that offers hope for a sustainable future. 

Steve works with organisations to develop solutions that move us towards a sustainable future, including sustainable factories, food systems for people with reduced access to food, sustainable city re-generation design, and cars with water for exhaust that do 1l/100kms (equivalent).

Steve has acted as Specialist Adviser to the House of Lords, and is a member of the Lead Expert Group for the Government’s Future of Manufacturing Foresight exercise setting out a vision for UK manufacturing to 2050; Steve is a Partner in two cleantech start-ups.