Dr. Neil Dixon will deliver a keynote lecture, jointly authored with Dr. Gary Fowmes, at GeoAmericas 2016 (April 10 – 13, Miami). Their topic is “Global Challenges, Geosynthetic Solutions and Counting Carbon.” The contribution enhances a program that is deep in sustainability and environmental engineering topics.
The co-authored lecture will discuss the drivers for change in the way infrastructure is delivered and will challenge the geosynthetics industry to play a key role in reducing carbon emissions and dealing with the consequence of climate change.
GEOSYNTHETICS AND COUNTING CARBON
Both authors have been at work on sustainability and geotechnical engineering-related studies across many years, and this keynote address for the 3rd Pan-American Conference on Geosynthetics will provide a welcomed update for sectors such as landfill engineering, road building, mining, and other sectors of civil and geotechnical engineering.
Geosynthetics have often been selected for economical reasons over long-term infrastructure performance; and, as climate change has become a greater issue, geosynthetics have shown significant success in reducing carbon footprints in construction and engineering.
The lecture will include a framework for calculating embodied carbon in construction with geosynthetics with contrasts drawn to competing options. Dixon and Fowmes also note they will highlight “the common pitfalls of such analyses.”
Of the presentation, which will be delivered by Dixon, the authors write:
The new United Nations programme Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development came into effect in January 2016. This establishes 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which will guide the decisions taken by nations and organisations over the next 15 years. These include: ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all; building resilient infrastructure to promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization; making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable; and ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns. Each country and region faces specific challenges in pursuit of sustainable development. A key driver for changing behaviour is climate change.
Against this backdrop of international agreements and goals, the geosynthetics industry has the potential to play a prominent role in providing solutions that help to deliver the vision of global sustainable development.
Dixon is a Professor of Geotechnical Engineering in the School of Civil and Building Engineering at Loughborough University, United Kingdom. He is also an academic leader for the cross university “Changing Environments and Infrastructure” research challenge.
Fowmes is a lecturer in Engineering Geology at Loughborough.
OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL HIGHLIGHTS AT GEOAMERICAS
- Climate change and coastal protection keynote address from Dale Morris, Senior Economic Advisor at the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Washington, DC and Nathalie Olijslager-Jaarsma, Consul General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Miami
- Technical program includes 31 presentations across 5 sessions on environmental protection barriers; 11 presentations and 2 sessions on coastal protection applications; 24 global case histories; and much more
- Training lectures on geosynthetic barrier durability, performance, consistency, and sustainability; geosynthetic clay liner (GCL) performance alone and in composite liner systems; and seismic design of waste containment systems
- Short courses on advances in heap leach conatinment, low-volume roads, containment trends, and more
- Affiliated technical sessions focused on soil reinforcement and ground improvement (34 presentations), drainage and filtration (15), testing of geosynthetic materials (17), and sustainability (7)
- International exhibit hall with manufacturers and service providers who support environmental engineering projects from northern Canada to the southern tip of South America
Learn more at www.geoamericas2016.org.
