Without data I am blind: water, energy and waste in a chemistry department. Seminar
- Time:
- 14:00
- Date:
- 17 July 2013
- Venue:
- Lecture Theatre Chemistry Building 29 Highfield Campus University of Southamtpon SO17 1BJ
For more information regarding this seminar, please email Prof Phil Gale at philip.gale@soton.ac.uk .
Event details
Prof Andrea Sella is an synthetic inorganic chemist at UCL who works on rare earth structure and bonding as well as the synthesis of graphitic carbonitrides for photocatalysis and battery applications. He was awarded an EPSRC Senior Media Fellowship in 2007 which has made him a prominent advocate for chemistry in the media. He is also something of a treehugger and has spent several years trying to find strategies to reduce the environmental impact of the UCL Chemistry Department.
The UCL Chemistry Department has developed a strong and multipronged environmental strategy which has grown over the past five years as members of academic and technical staff have realized the wider, and often immediate, benefits (often financial) of small changes in practice and behaviour. The project began with water monitoring but soon changed into a wider programme in which environmental issues became part of discussion of laboratory safety and good practice, the only difference being the timescale over which risks were being managed. Data collection and monitoring have been incorporated into undergraduate and postgraduate teaching involving Engineering and Architecture. Cataloguing of chemical holdings has proved to result in remarkable savings in both time and money. The efforts by a small number of enthusiasts in chemistry is being closely watched by other Departments lending credence to the "nudge" theory of behaviour change in large organizations.
Open to all.
Speaker information
Prof Andrea Sella , UCL. .