Transition Engineering

Adapting to the exponential increase in fuel and resource consumption of the last century was challenging, but accomplished by engineering that focused on growth of infrastructure and new products to keep up with demand. What happens as growth in resource and energy supply stalls and declines over the next century?

This session focuses on the role of engineering and applied sciences in the transition from growth to decline. We explore the proposal that prosperity in the era of constrained resources and emissions will depend on the role played by the engineering professions. A misguided understanding of the transition from fossil fuels to sustainable energy has been focused on acquiring more energy from renewables. The challenge is to understand Transition Engineering as the way to fit demand to declining supply. This represents a profound paradigm shift for the people in society who are uniquely suited to change existing infrastructure and technology.