Future energy needs and engineering reality

Prof Mike Kelly

Professor Michael J. Kelly, Kiwi physicist, elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1993, has been Prince Philip Professor of Technology at Cambridge University since 2002.

UPDATE 2145, Wednesday 8 April: See below.

Professor Kelly will speak tomorrow evening at the University of Auckland. These are the details as I know them; the room number has not yet been allocated but I presume will be posted at the venue. I’ll post the room number here if I learn it.

Thursday 9th April, 2015, 5:15pm for 5:45pm start
School of Engineering, University of Auckland.

Fresh from reprimanding the Royal Society on its poor performance with climate change, Professor Kelly will speak on future UK energy needs and the technological issues that come with current decarbonisation programmes. His main research is in advanced electronic devices for very high speed operation, but he is also involved in policy on the way the UK is energised now and how it would need to be in 2050 if CO2 emission targets are met. Michael and I have corresponded for several years and I’m delighted finally to have the chance to meet him.

UPDATE – Details

Here’s confirmation of the venue from the IPENZ website (they’re hosting the lecture).
I hope you can find the room; I hope I can find the room.

Event Begins: 09/04/2015
Time: 5.30pm
Venue: Room 3.407, Level 4, Engineering Building, University of Auckland.

In the event the lecture is not well signposted, I note the Engineering Student Centre (which should have good permanent signage) is also on Level 4.

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2 Thoughts on “Future energy needs and engineering reality

  1. Richard C (NZ) on 09/04/2015 at 3:47 pm said:

    Prof Kelly could be a climate scientist too according to this opinion piece in the Duluth News Tribune:

    Qualifications questionable to be ‘climate scientist’

    Due to his position as chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for the last several years, Rajendra Pachauri was considered by many the world’s leading “climate scientist” until he resigned in March.

    At the beginning of his career Pachauri was a railway apprentice for the Indian Railways at the Diesel Locomotive Works in Varanasi, India. He subsequently attended North Carolina State University, receiving degrees in industrial engineering and economics.

    In addition to his position as head climate scientist with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Pachauri held positions at other entities in India and in other countries. He also picked up a few extra dollars writing the romance novel, “Return to Almora.”

    Well, he’s gone now, so there’s a position to be filled. Obviously, no degree in climate science is required, so I suggest any interested person with a couple of degrees in anything at all apply.

    The successful applicant might become the world’s leading climate scientist and be able to help teach folks about settled science, using inaccurate climate predictions to illustrate his or her competence — or lack thereof.

    Dale Seppa

    Virginia

  2. Richard C (NZ) on 11/04/2015 at 6:40 pm said:

    This comes across better in the original comment formatting at CCD:

    # Gator 2015-04-10 09:15

    Californians are idiots.

    The California High-Speed Rail Authority has estimated the project’s year-of-expenditure cost at $68.4 billion (2011 estimate).

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_High-Speed_RailWikipedia

    SFO to LAX Round-trip = $137

    http://www.orbitz.com/flights/from-San_Francisco-to-Los_Angeles.o4468.d4309/

    68.4 billion dollars buys 499,270,073 Tickets

    More than 6 million people fly between the Los Angeles basin and San Francisco Bay per year

    cahsr.blogspot.com/2009/10/la-sf-nations-second-busiest-air-route.html

    For round trip, cut that in half to 3 million.

    So my back of the envelope figures show that for the cost of building the high speed rail, you could fly everyone for free for roughly 166 years.

    Of course most projects like this can easily double in actual cost. (See: Big Dig)

    But who is counting?

    http://www.climatechangedispatch.com/jerry-brown-showers-california-with-more-government.html#comment-48864

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