The WFEO Committee on Energy organized a symposium devoted to “Energy transition and Covid-19 crisis: the role of engineers” on Wednesday 6th and Thursday 7th October 2021.
The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted our economies and our lifestyles, but both climate and biodiversity emergencies are still with us. New health, economic, political and societal uncertainties complicate the fight against environmental damages and require more efficiency and realism, cooperation and solidarity.
Just over a year ago, let’s remember that there were many debates on the energy transition: the stakes were mainly environmental, with the fight against climate change at the top of the list. The composition of the energy mix, the capacity of our societies to evolve towards other modes of transport and the consequences of the emergence of digital technology were discussed, to name but a few of the debates that were very present in the “world before”.
And then the Covid-19 pandemic struck, a shock of unprecedented violence that surprises us more and more each day by its power, its persistence and the extent, still poorly estimated, of its consequences. Has it modified, directly or through its numerous consequences, our perception of energy issues or of possible energy transitions? What will be the contribution of the engineers in building our new energy landscape?
Wednesday, October 6th
Opening session
- Presentation: Jean Eudes Moncomble, WFEO Committee on Energy Chair (France)
- Keynote: Prof. Gong Ke, WFEO President (China) – Engineer: Responsible to Energy Transition for Sustainable Development and Build the World Back Better and Wiser from COVID
Session 1 – Resilience of energy systems to Covid-19 crisis: experience feedback
- Covid 19 crisis, Energy and Engineers in Uruguay – Miguel Fierro, Vice President, Asociación de Ingenieros del Uruguay (Uruguay) – Covid-19 crisis, Energy and Engineers in Uruguay
- Energy Transition and COVID-19 Pandemic, The Case of Sub-Saharan Africa – Abubakar Sambo, Chairman, Nigerian Member Committee of the World Energy Council-WEC (Nigeria) – Energy Transition and COVID-19 Pandemic – The Case of Sub-Saharan Africa
Session 2 – A larger definition for resilience: a new understanding of risks
- A Systems approach to infrastructure delivery – Andrew McNaughton, Infrastructure Partner, Aczel (United Kingdom) – A systems approach to infrastructure delivery
- Mapping Spatial Vulnerability of the Elderly to a Health Pandemic – Manta Devi Nowbuth, Associate Professor, Head, Civil Engineering Department, University of Mauritius (Mauritius) – Mapping spatial vulnerability of the elderly to a health pandemic
The recording is available by clicking on the below image.
Thursday, October 7 th
Session 3 – Energy demand: evolution or disruption ?
- COVID 19 and Mobility: causes, effects and solutions – Vincenzo Antonucci, Research Manager, Institute of Advanced Technologies for Energy “Nicola Giordano” (Italy) – Effects of covid-19 on mobility: causes and solutions
- Impact of a respiratory infection pandemic on the ventilation industry, a paradigm shift – Benoît Olsommer, Managing Director, Swegon (Switzerland) – Impact of a respiratory infection pandemic on the ventilation industry – a paradigm shift
Session 4 – On the supply side: the demands of the citizens
- Implications of COVID-19 for the Electricity Industry in China – Haiwang Zhong, Associate Professor, Tsinghua University (China) – Implications of COVID-19 for the Electricity Industry in China
- COVID-19 and Climate Goals: Is Green Hydrogen becoming a Demand of the Citizens? – Carsten Ahrens, Emeritus Professor, University of Applied Sciences in Oldenburg (Germany) – COVID-19 and Climate Goals: Is Green Hydrogen becoming a Demand of the Citizens ?
Roundtable: Lessons learned so far: the role of engineers
Panellists:
- Massimiliano Capezzali, Professor, Institut d’Energie et Systèmes Électriques – IESE (Switzerland) – Roundtable – WFEO CE Symposium
- Ruomei Li (China), Women in Power Chair, Power and Energy Society, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-IEEE (China) – Challenges and reflections to power engineers considering the covid 2019 and natural disasters
- Abubakar Sambo, Chairman, Nigerian Member Committee of the World Energy Council (WEC) (Nigeria)
Moderator:
- Jean Eudes Moncomble, WFEO Committee on Energy Chair (France)
The recording is available by clicking on the below image.
For more information:
Video recording of October 6 th
Video recording of October 7 th
WFEO Committee on Energy webpage
OCT
2021