IChemE unveils a sustainable view of the future

Drive to the shops in your hydrogen-powered car, get measured up for a factory-made suit that you can pick up in two days, have the supermarket make your dinner to order, return to a garden verdant from recycled domestic water a typical day in the life of the next generation, as seen by a group of chemical engineers and other experts invited by the IChemE, as part of its 75th anniversary, to discuss sustainable development.

The results of their endeavours were published last month in the report 'Future Life: engineering solutions for the next generation'. With a foreword by Tony Blair, the report highlights some of the major issues facing the world today global warming, water shortages, waste production, inefficient healthcare and presents a number of solutions to which chemical engineers are already contributing.

Apart from the typical 'future day' outlined above, other solutions offered in the report range from sensor implants to help detect disease and reduce the burden on health services, reducing waste by encouraging the lease and refurbishment of products, and replacing chemicals used in agriculture by a return to traditional farming methods such as crop rotation.

Commenting on the report, IChemE president Prof John Bridgwater said: 'Chemical engineers will play an important role in maintaining an environment capable of supporting and nurturing life... while the world does not have a bottomless pit of resources, there are solutions that will preserve the planet for future generation.'

Science minister John Battle described the report as 'a brilliant example of communication that gives the lie to those who say engineers cannot present themselves positively'. He was speaking at the Institution of Electrical Engineers, where he called on the engineering profession to make a major contribution to the sustainable development debate.