Engineers For Social Responsibility

Who we are

Engineers for Social Responsibility Inc.

We are an independent group of engineers who consider that being knowledgeable in the field of technology means that they also have a special obligation to the public at large.

About Us
Events
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EV Batteries – Where Did They Come From and Where Are They Going? Several years ago, Li-ion batteries, as used in mobile phones, computers, portable tools and a myriad of other devices were considered a fairly benign object, except for the possibility that they may rarely, spontaneously burst into flames. There was little conversation about how they were made and what you might do with the old, worn… Find Out More
Opportunities for Real Transition Leadership Grant provides a perspective on the challenges facing engineering as it engages in the broader transition and climate adaptation process. He has identified a number of issues and gaps that engineers need to address. The Real Transition Leaders programme and community seeks to close these gaps, and Grant offers an overview of the programme. Find Out More
The Benefits of Constructing More Timber Buildings in New Zealand This presentation gives a big-picture overview of embodied carbon in the New Zealand building construction industry. Find Out More

Submissions

From time to time ESR makes submissions to Local Bodies or to Government, on issues of concern. These submissions are listed here and can be accessed for perusal.

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Submission to the Auckland Council on Waste Management We live in a finite world with finite resources that should not be disposed of in landfills. The ultimate objective should be to do away with conventional landfills. Read more
Submission to Draft Advice of Climate Change Commission on 2nd Emissions Reduction Plan The advice document subscribes to the economic growth paradigm in assuring the economy “would continue to grow under the recommended emissions budgets”. On the other hand, it has been established, that economic growth brings with it emissions’ growth, because an absolute decoupling of the two has not been achieved yet. It is therefore timely to… Read more
Submission to the Auckland Council on Transport In ESR’s opinion, the Auckland Plan discussion document does not provide a clear or convincing description of the city’s transport options, and it does not adequately address the linkage between the nature and location of future land use development and the transport option selected. Read more

Position Papers

From time to time ESR prepares Position Papers which state ESR’s viewpoints, with the intention of providing useful guidance on particular topics. Information in this section of the ESR website is presented in good faith, having been checked and reviewed for accuracy and fairness.

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Reducing Our Transport CO2 Emissions This report is part of Engineers for Social Responsibility Inc. response to the urgent need for Aotearoa New Zealand to significantly reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to meet its climate change obligations. Read more
Energy and Transport This revised paper, which focuses on energy and transport, is intended to assist in identifying some of the actions which ESR considers New Zealanders, communities, cities, businesses and New Zealand as a nation should be implementing as a matter of high priority. Some actions refer specifically to Auckland, but that does not mean that they… Read more
Transport Policy – An Excessive Emphasis on Road Construction National transport policy assumes that vehicular traffic growth is a given and that demand for vehicular travel will continue to increase for the foreseeable future. The available information does not support that position and indeed suggests that past growth may not be a good indicator of future change. Read more

Newsletters

We publish a Newsletter from time to time, with news of ESR activities, articles and discussion on topics of interest.

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March 2023 - ESR 2023 AGM - Global Energy News - First electric car with sodium ion battery - Why Roman buildings have survived so long - Study finds climate crisis worsened extreme weather - Eight ways to attempt to stay within 1.5OC increase - Global fresh water demand to outstrip supply by 40% by 2030 -… Read more
December 2022 - Kicking our economic growth addiction - Humans versus nature: our long and destructive journey - Arctic permafrost - UK tidal-stream energy development - Boosting wind farm energy output Read more
November 2022 - The Treeline, Ben Lawrence, 2022 - Diet for a hotter climate: five plants that could help feed the world - Floating wind turbines - Information extracted from IPCC AR6 WG III Final Government Distribution Technical Summary, November 2019 Draft Read more

Climate Fact Sheets

Engineers for Social Responsibility and the Sustainable Energy Forum are concerned about the consequences of human-induced climate change and global warming and the need for widespread understanding of the facts and underlying science. Our combined organisations have prepared a series of discussion sheets and further papers will be published soon. Each paper is peer reviewed by top professionals with specialist knowledge about the topic being described.

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Carbon Dynamics in New Zealand’s Native Forests Native forests play an important role in storing and sequestering carbon in the New Zealand landscape. They do not sequester carbon as quickly as pine forests but can provide significant carbon stores and sinks, as well as a range of other benefits. Read more
Renewable Energy Renewable energy is energy derived directly or indirectly from sunlight, wind, rain, tidal flows and ranges, waves, and thermal energy stored in the oceans, which are naturally replenished over fairly brief periods of time. Geothermal energy is also regarded as renewable because of the extremely large amounts of heat available from the earth’s core. Major… Read more
New Zealand’s Paris Target New Zealand’s commitment under the Paris Agreement, as stated in our Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) promises that “Emissions will be reduced to 30% below 2005 levels by 2030. The 2005 reference has been chosen for ease of comparability with other countries. This responsibility target corresponds to a reduction of 11% from 1990 levels.” We are… Read more