Top honours for 'green' engineers

Citation

(2000), "Top honours for 'green' engineers", Facilities, Vol. 18 No. 1/2. https://doi.org/10.1108/f.2000.06918aaf.001

Top honours for 'green' engineers

Keywords Awards, Engineering, Environment

A revolutionary technique for the welding of aluminium alloys has won two engineers the UK's foremost environmental honour - the Engineering Council's 1999 Environment Award for Engineers, beating more than 100 other contenders.

Engineers Wayne Thomas and Christopher Dawes from The Welding Institute, Abington, Cambridge, received the £3,000 prize and the Lloyd's Register Trophy in London on 12 October. They were also class winners of the British Energy Trophy for Sustainable Engineering, for which they received an additional £2,000.

Together with The Welding Institute team, the two engineers have pioneered a new technique called friction stir welding (FSW) for welding aluminium alloys. Aluminium alloys - a mixture of aluminium and other metals - are a major material of the future, used frequently in land, sea and air transport structures. They are light in weight, strong and easy to manufacture. They can also be recycled at no more than 5 per cent of their primary production cost. However, current welding techniques for aluminium alloys are costly, energy-intensive and potentially harmful to the environment.

The FSW process uses a special tool to heat the aluminium to its plastic heat, which makes it flexible, rather than to melting point, which would make it liquid. It is a clean process, which does not require a shielding gas or filler wires. It eliminates the need for fume extraction and filtering equipment and does not produce any radiation hazards. The process will increase the scope of aluminium alloy application in the future.

The FSW process typically works out to consume only 2.5 per cent of the energy needed for a laser weld - representing a significant saving in CO₂ emissions from power generation and a major cost saving for industry.

Ian Dugan and David Woolley, from Serck Heat Transfer in Birmingham, were also winners in the Sustainable Engineering Class, sponsored by British Energy. They received £3,000 for their design of a new exhaust gas cooler to reduce harmful emissions from diesel engines. Exhaust gas coolers reduce the levels of nitrous oxides and unburnt hydrocarbons in diesel exhaust. Further benefits include waste heat reclamation, which reduces engine warm-up times, and reduced fuel consumption. Most importantly, the cost of this innovation is very small compared to the overall cost of the engine.

Runners-up in the Sustainable Engineering category were Colin Rose, Alan Nickless, and William Tonks, from Coalgas (UK) Ltd for capture and utilisation of closed coal mine greenhouse gas emissions. Many closed coal mines throughout the UK were uncontrollably emitting large volumes of mine gas, which includes methane and carbon dioxide. Coalgas has demonstrated that the calorific value of mine gas and the yield from a mine could be enhanced to the point where it became a commercially useful resource. They received a prize of £500.

Winners of the Engineering in the Natural Environment category, who received a prize of £3,000 and the Rolls-Royce Trophy, were Stephanie Walden, Peter Hiley and Graham Venables from Yorkshire Water and Mark Fletcher and Will McBain from consulting engineers RKL-Arup in Leeds, for their project Irton Cayton Protection of Sources. The team of engineers has been involved in the restoration of the area which is the primary supply of water for the Scarborough area.

The site is environmentally sensitive as it is located in the North York Moors National Park (NYMNP). In addition, the upper reaches of the River Derwent support an important population of native crayfish that were given European protection under the 1994 Conservation (Natural Habitats, etc.) Regulations 1994.

Engineering in the Community - a special award in this category carrying a prize of £3,000 - was won by Robin Andrew of Cornwall County Council for his management of roadside hedges. As part of Cornwall County Councils work to address issues of biodiversity, Mr Andrew chaired a group which examined correct practices for cutting hedges in an environmentally sensitive manner and produced guidance in the form of a leaflet.

The following three projects were Runners-up in the Natural Environment category: Edward Connon, Jock Maxwell and Nicholas Moore, W.A. Fairhurst & Partners, Meedhurst Project Management and Wilson Developments for Duloch Park, Dunfermline, Scotland - a project describing an example of the application of sustainable urban drainage solutions to a major development; Philip Parker, British Waterways, for the Montgomery Canal Restoration - a successful restoration of the length of the canal in mid-Wales, establishing several off-line nature reserves; and Martin Lambson and George Kerr, BP Amoco plc, for the Pumpherson site restoration - an example of land reclamation and remediation which protects and enhances the environment and the local community. Each of the three teams received £500.

Winners of the Engineering in the Built Environment category, sponsored by the Engineering Council and the UK Association of Professional Engineers (UKAPE), were John Petty and David Blackhurst, from NatWest Group Property and Star Refrigeration. They received £3,000 for pioneering a "green" engineering approach to property development which will now be used as a standard for future NatWest call centres.

Kingfisher House, NatWest Group Property, originally a traditional 3,700sq.m business park building, was re-engineered, built and developed to hause 250 people in a call centre for Primeline, as well as a general call centre for the Bank's retail division. The environmental brief for Kingfisher House evolved from the development and refurbishment of 60 similar centres around the country and the need to meet the NatWest Group's stated environmental objectives of reducing the energy consumption and production of CO₂ across the property portfolio.

The development at Kingfisher House, which is commercially available, gives a significant saving in CO₂ emissions from air-conditioning/heating systems while maintaining an acceptable internal environment.

Runners-up in the Engineering in the Built Environment Category, were Robert Hudson and Rob Casey, Roberts & Partners (UK) Ltd, for their project Omnidirectional Passive Ventilators, which aimed to create a fresh outdoor environment within a 700-metre shopping mall, utilising low energy techniques and harnessing natural forces; and Howard Robinson and John Richardson, Tarmac Quarry Products Ltd, for their use of slag bound material for road construction or rebuild. The UK iron and steel industry produces approximately four million tonnes per annum of blast furnace and steel slag - the fused residue of mixed metal oxides. These slags are processed to produce a granulated product which can be used as a cement replacement. Currently used in continental Europe, Tarmac Quarry Products decided to transfer this potential market to the UK, saving on imports of materials, energy used in transport, and energy and resources used in the production of alternative road construction materials. Each team received £500.

The Engineering Council's Environment Award for Engineers recognises the positive contribution engineers and technicians make towards protecting the environment. All finalists have satisfied a strict judging criteria, including claiming responsibility for the design, development, manufacture or construction of a project, product or process that provides an engineering solution to an environmental problem.

Now in its ninth year, the Engineering Council Award is sponsored by Lloyd's Register, British Energy, Rolls-Royce plc and the UK Association of Professional Engineers (UKAPE).

Media Inquiries to Public Affairs, Engineering Council. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7240 7891; Fax: +44 (0) 20 7 240 7517; E-mail: publicaffairs@engc.org.uk