How can we be sure that predictions of future warming are accurate and what should we do to improve them? Furthermore, what technologies are chemical engineers developing that will mitigate the impact of climate change and create a more sustainable future society? In this presentation we will show how technoeconomic modeling can be used to understand future climate change scenarios and assess the impact of different changes in energy technologies. By looking at different scenarios, we can determine what changes in energy use are necessary over the next 30 years if the goals of the Paris Climate accords are to be achieved. Technoeconomic analysis can also show which alternative technologies are most likely to be adopted. Looking at current global patterns of energy use shows us the key priorities for each region and country. Creating a more sustainable future society requires a combination of approaches, including greater energy efficiency, deployment of decarbonization technologies, design for circularity and design for resilience. Some examples of new products that Honeywell is working on in each of these areas will be described.
Gavin Towler is the Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Honeywell Performance Materials & Technologies (PMT) and also Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Honeywell UOP. Honeywell PMT is a global leader in providing customers with high-performance specialty materials, process technologies and materials for petroleum refining, petrochemical production, and natural gas processing as well as products, services and solutions for industrial process automation. Gavin has 29 years of broad experience of process and product design in the chemicals and fuels industries and has 77 US patents. He is co-author of “Chemical Engineering Design”, a textbook on process design, and is an Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University and the National University of Singapore, where he helps teach the senior design classes. Gavin has a B.A. and M.Eng. in chemical engineering from Cambridge University and a Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley. He is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineers, a Fellow of the AIChE and a member of the United States National Academy of Engineering.