The first speaker, Professor David Palmer, discoursed on Carbon Capture and Storage. He began his talk by addressing the problem of climate change, especially due to increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and what we could do about it. He then discussed about the two main ways of CCS - oil field dumping and ocean storage. He went on to talk about the feasibility of this method and the various factors which impeded its growth.
The next speaker, Dr.Benjamin Sovacool, based his talk on using STS to address energy and technology issues. He first described the traditional analysis of technology and the four different types of determinism. He then exemplified this by two case studies, related to renewable energy and electric cars. He discussed about the economic, cultural and political challenges faced by renewable energies and electric cars. He concluded his talk by stating that the STS approach was a unique one and that is was very efficient.
The final speaker, Professor Rajasekhar Bala, spoke about climate change assessment and mitigation. He discussed about various GHGs and the consequences of increased levels of carbon dioxide. He then emphasized on ways to control the amount of GHGs in the Earth's atmosphere, especially through Carbon capture and Sequestration. He concluded by taking about the government's role in global warming and ways to improve it.
I liked the two case studies by Dr.Sovacool and found them very interesting. I have never thought of the cultural challenges that technologies faced, and was enlightened with his talk.
