Memorandum 158
Submission from Professor James Griffiths
and Professor Iain Stewart
SUMMARY
- Geo-engineering has the potential to help
provide solutions to climate change issues through: carbon sequestration;
modelling past changes in climate; identifying and exploiting
alternative sources of energy; seeking "low carbon"
resources; sustainable groundwater; underground construction;
reuse of construction materials; reuse of foundations; reducing
construction costs; evaluating changes in design life; assessing
increased risk from natural hazards; nuclear waste disposal.
- Geo-engineering research tends to lack
support as it falls between to the responsibilities of NERC and
EPSRC.
- There are relevant university courses but
there is a lack of suitably experienced staff in academe.
- "Engineering" continues to have
an image problem as the label has been inappropriately applied
to non-graduate professions, and is deemed to be a hard subject
at secondary school level. This reduces the number of young people
wishing to apply for undergraduate programmes in any course labelled
"engineering".
- Even when the top universities produce
quality graduates, as engineering cannot compete financially with
banking, insurance and the law, the best graduates do not always
enter the profession.
- To inform policy makers and the public
it will be necessary to make use of scientists and engineers that
are working at the interface between geoscience and geotechnical
engineering. These scientists/engineers should have experience
in communicating difficult concepts to a non-specialist audience.
1. Current and potential roles of engineering
and engineers in geo-engineering in climate change solutions
1.1 Geo-engineering is taken to include
the following disciplines: engineering geology, environmental
geology, engineering geomorphology, geotechnical engineering,
ground engineering, hydrogeology, natural hazard and risk assessment.
1.2 An excellent source of information on
the relationship between all facets of geology and climate changes
can be found on the British Geological Survey website:
The main areas where geo-engineering has a vital
role to play are as follows:
1.3 Carbon sequestration ( see EU article
on subject at : http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/uncertainty-co2-capture-fossil-future/article-172834):
identification and quantitative evaluation of potential sites
where CO2 might be buried, and use of deep-drilling engineering
technologies developed by the hydrocarbons industry to implement
a sequestration programme.
1.4 Modelling past climate change events
in the geological record to evaluate potential consequences in
the contemporary environment. This partly involves the Deep Sea
Ocean Drilling programme that allows long sedimentary records
to be compiled particularly from the Holocene. However, it also
involves examining the onshore stratigraphic record from more
ancient sediments to enable a fuller picture of the way the earth
behaves during periods of rapid climate change and what affect
these changes had on the fossil record.
1.5 Identification and exploitation of alternative
energy sources, notably: geothermal "hot rocks"; wind
farms; wave and tidal power; solar energy; nuclear; hydroelectric;
and groundwater heat pumps. All these will need to be located
at suitable sites that have to be investigated by engineering
geologists and the foundations designed by geotechnical engineers.
1.6 Seeking resources that will provide
alternative low carbon production energy such as: suitable "hot
rocks"; suitable quality hydrocarbons; gas hydrates; uranium
(see: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/research/newsalert/pdf/109na4.pdf);
etc. Exploration for these resources will involve extensive use
of remote sensing, geochemical and geophysical surveys, on-site
drilling, assaying the resource, designing and monitoring the
extraction, environmental impact, planning the after-use.
1.7 Identifying, developing, maintaining
and monitoring effective sources of sustainable groundwater.
1.8 Researching into and supporting increased
use of energy efficient underground construction.
1.9 Researching into and supporting the
reuse of construction materials to reduce energy use.
1.10 Researching into and supporting the
reuse of building foundations to reduce material wastage and energy
use.
1.11 Developing more cost-effective means
of ground investigation to reduce the costs of construction.
1.12 Researching into the effects climate
change will have on a developments design life.
1.13 Providing the basis for anticipating
and dealing with changes in potential risks associated with climate
change, eg increases in the rate of coastal erosion, increased
landslide occurrence, increased incidence of coastal and river
flooding, melting of the permafrost, groundwater rise etc.
1.14 If nuclear energy generation is going
to increase, then geo-engineering will be critical in ensuring
suitable waste disposal sites are located, designed, constructed,
and monitored.
2. Research activity in geo-engineering relating
to research into reducing greenhouse gas emissions
2.1 NERC are the primary research council
supporting climate change research. Naturally their main concern
is collecting data and monitoring, climate modelling, and assessing
the environmental consequences.
2.2 Most climate change research in the
field of "geo-engineering" which is supported by NERC
is undertaken by the British Geological Survey.
2.3 Griffiths & Culshaw, (2004-DOI:
10.1144/1470-9236/04-056) reviewed the 296 research projects funded
by NERC 2001-2004 and found only six lay in the field of engineering
geology or hydrogeology, none of which related to geo-engineering
and climate change. The same paper established that at that time
the EPSRC grant portfolio was worth £1,855 million and £13.7
million was spent on ground engineering research, of which Cambridge
received £2.9 million and Imperial College, London, £1.7
million.
2.4 The EPSRC funded projects research website
does not identify those specifically related to "climate
change". However, there are projects on wind power, waste
minimisation etc which will are all relevant to the climate change
debate.
2.5 There is a concern that "geo-engineering"
falls between the responsibility of two research councils and
suffers from a lack of research funding as a result. More joint
EPSRC-NERC initiatives would help deal with this problem.
3. Provision of university courses & training
relevant to geo-engineering in the UK
3.1 There are two excellent sources of information
on the provision of relevant university courses: the February
2008 issue of Ground Engineering, ie the special issue on Geoenvironmental
Engineering that also lists the relevant UK masters degree courses;
and the Geological Society of London website that list all the
universities that offer degrees in geoscience in the U.K, and
specifically identifies those that are accredited:
3.2 Training opportunities can be identified
through the relevant professional organisations: British Geotechnical
Association (a specialist group of the Institution of Civil Engineers);
Geological Society of London; Association of Geotechnical Specialists;
Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining; Chartered Institution
of Water and Environmental Management; etc.
4. Status of geo-engineering technologies
in government, industry and academia
4.1 There is a general issue that as of
September 2008 civil engineers, ground engineers, and geologists
of all types still appear on the National Shortage Occupations
List. This illustrates the skills shortage problem that has to
be faced if we are going to review the status of geo-engineers.
Until this is overcome there will be limited opportunity for geo-engineering
to get beyond just dealing with its mainstream activities (essentially
ground engineering). This will essentially put a stop to any development
work investigating the applications of geo-engineering technologies
in dealing with climate change.
4.2 The Geological Society membership indicates
that over 3,000 of its members have an interest in engineering
geology; however, less than 1% of these are to be found in academia.
Therefore there is little research activity in academia because:
there are very few with the relevant interest; and geo-engineering
falls in the gap between the Natural Science and the Engineering
research councils therefore there are few opportunities to win
awards to support research in this area.
4.3 Much of the industrial geo-engineering
work lies in the practical aspects of foundation design for alternative
energy structures, waste disposal, recycling, regeneration, coastal
protection etc. Industry will only really incorporate geo-engineering
into the climate change agenda once a clear profit line starts
to emerge. The hydrocarbons industry is starting to take this
forward with their investment in alternative energy. As yet geo-engineering
does not have the same income stream or the public profile as
that of the big oil and gas multinational companies.
5. Geo-engineering and engaging young people
in the engineering profession
5.1 The best source of information on the
efforts being made to engage young people in the engineering profession
is the Royal Academy of Engineering:
5.2 Similar initiatives can be found underway
in all the professional bodies, eg:
5.3 It is apparent that engineering has
an "image" problem which puts off many prospective students.
The A/Ls required are in maths and science, deemed by students
to be "difficult"; the term "engineer" has
been widely appropriated for use by a range of occupations that
are not graduate level; and even where there is knowledge of what
an engineering graduate does, it is not seen as sufficiently glamorous
or well-paid particularly given the length of time needed to reach
chartered status.
5.4 Possibly of even greater concern is
that the best graduates from the most prestigious engineering
courses, and indeed many from geosciences degrees, take up positions
with financial services institutions rather than enter the engineering
profession. This is because engineering graduates are numerate
and literate, and hence make very attractive employees for all
parts of the financial services industry and the legal profession.
Given that the financial rewards from "The City" are
far greater than from an engineering career, this loss of engineering
graduates is not surprising, but nonetheless the result is that
engineering practice and research is losing its ablest minds.
6. The role of engineers in informing policy
makers and public regarding the potential costs, benefits and
research status of different geo-engineering schemes
6.1 Engineers per se are not necessarily
the best people to inform policy makers and the public, we need
to involve the individuals who are working at the interface between
engineering, geology, geomorphology, and environmental science,
both from academe and industry.
6.2 We must make better use of scientists
and engineers who have experience in communicating difficult concepts
to a non-specialist audience.
6.3 We need to develop more specialists
in the analysis of environmental economics in order to establish
the potential costs and benefits of geo-engineering research and
projects.
October 2008
| 
