(406a) Developing Engineering & Societal Consensus on New Processes

In the next two or three decades most of today’s large-scale chemical and fuel processes will need to be replaced by low-greenhouse alternatives. In most cases the new processes will be more expensive than the incumbent high-emitting processes. The only way this can happen if government policy favors introduction of the new process. But if government policy favors an expensive or ineffective new process, society might pay a high cost for little benefit. Clearly it would be beneficial if the future policies are based on an accurate understanding about which new processes are most beneficial to society; in an ideal world this accurate understanding would come from careful analyses by the engineering community. In this talk, I will consider the challenge this reality poses to the engineering community, and suggest how we might develop a better way of working together to provide the policy-makers and the general public the information needed in a timely manner.