Some Guesses (wild/bold??) Norman Scott, Professor Department Biological & Environmental Engineering Cornell University “Energy & Environment: Crisis, Opportunities and Challenges” City University of Hong Kong November 6, 2009

An Impetus to Change Cities and large and small communities around the world are not functioning effectively in terms of housing, transportation, pollution, crime, education, energy, water use, waste management, basic infrastructure, etc--- all effects hurting employment, life style, health and the economy.

China Needs to…. Reclaim farmland House the population Promote sustainable growth That is economically, socially and environmentally positive (sustainable)

Role of University (CUHK??) Envision “this” challenge as an ultimate in interdisciplinary systems research to create sustainable opportunities I suggest there is no greater challenge than this and if successful, no greater accomplishment Will not (cannot) tell you how to do it but it is clear it must be the engagement of persons from engineering; physical, biological and social sciences ;economists; psychologists; others Engage outside groups from industry, local governments, central government, developers, architectural firms, investment; etc.

Guesses!! Electric world for transportation Distributed generation is scalable (more governorable at communities of ~ 150,000) Lots of support for renewables Water will be a wild card Nanotechnologies will likely “revolutionize” from agriculture and food to thousands of products and processes

Systems make it possible, but people make it happen Christensen