Revolutionary engineering ideas proposed by secondary school students will be debated in classrooms across the UK as part of Tomorrow’s Engineers Week (8 to12 November 2021).
Proposals include ways that engineers can help efforts to improve biodiversity on land and at sea and the development of self-sufficient agri-biomes for farm animals to capture methane so it can be converted into an energy source.
The ideas were developed at Tomorrow’s Engineers Week Schools COP Summit on 13 October. It saw more than 70 students from over 30 schools coming together to discuss the important issues which COP26 aims to solve. The COP26 Climate Summit, taking place in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November, sets out to unite the world and bring nations together to tackle climate change and achieve net zero.
As the Week will coincide with COP26, young people will debate the ideas in lessons taking place in classrooms across the UK. Schools will then vote on their favourite proposals, with the results being announced and sent to Members of Parliament later in November.
What solutions did the students come up with?
The full list of engineering solutions students felt should be urgently developed:
- Continue to invest more in renewable energy sources and expand on them to use on all buildings
- Planting more trees and rewilding of areas to increase biodiversity
- Improving insulation, retrofitting and reduce energy consumption in the home
- Ocean fertilisation to improve, for example, use of algae, microorganisms and carbon capture plants such as seaweed.
- Better recycling of plastics and use biopolymers to create plastics that are less harmful to the environment
- Support the development of smarter building design and construction
- Develop self-sufficient agri-biomes for animal farming to capture methane for it to be converted into energy sources
- Engineering fake meat to encourage veganism and reduce consumption of fast food
The ninth Tomorrow’s Engineers Week (#TEWeek21) takes place from 8 to 12 November 2021 with a lesson plan and teaching resources available for schools to take part in the Schools COP discussions. A packed calendar will see engineering professionals showcase the impact their jobs have on meeting net zero. Meanwhile, institutions, employers and schools will come together to deliver inspiring activities to give young people the opportunity to discuss solutions to the climate crisis.
Read the full news story on the EngineeringUK website.
