The Low Carbon Generation: Report from the Chairmen

The Low Carbon Generation
Next Conference Thursday 5th February 2009

Report from the chairman

Report From The Chairman - The Low Carbon Generation Thursday 7th February 2008

The inaugural conference on Vehicles for the Low Carbon Generation took place on the 7th February 2008 and judging by the very positive comments made by the delegates on the feedback forms, it has proved to be a very worthwhile event. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the members of the organising committee for their sterling work over the past year and for the financial support of our sponsors that allowed us to run this event at no charge to the delegates. It goes without saying that I am particularly indebted to 3M who did such a great job in hosting this conference at their impressive headquarters in Bracknell.

In order to keep up the dialogue on such vital subject matter we have decided to upload the presentations given on the day to our website and to create a blog for comments and continued feedback. In this way, we hope to create our own Low Carbon Generation Community comprising not only the delegates and presenters who attended or those who were on the waiting list but also to allow the participation of anyone with an interest in this area. The benefits we hope this will yield include:

A wider circulation of the excellent papers which were presented at the event
Provide an arena for continued discussion on these presentations
Give a forum for suggestions or comments relating to the next event – see below
Allow the opportunity for “virtual networking” within this community

Since the inception of the previous Lean Weight Vehicle Conferences, we on the committee have always striven to promote materials engineering in schools and further education establishments. We were therefore delighted that the prize for the best paper at the conference (kindly sponsored by Lotus) went to the girls of St Swithuns School for their talk on the vehicles they developed to race in last years Greenpower series. Their prize is to spend a day at Lotus to view the manufacturing facilities for these iconic sports cars and to have the opportunity to be driven at speed around their test track by one of the test drivers. I am sure that it will be an experience they will cherish. For the next round of Greenpower races in 2008, the schools have issued a Corporate Challenge for industry to compete against the top 15 schools teams in a special event to be held at Goodwood at the end of April. I would urge you to take up this challenge. For more information, go to: http://www.greenpower.co.uk/racing/corporatechallenge.php

Finally, we are planning to hold the next conference on Thursday 5th February 2009, and we would welcome any suggestions via the blog on particular themes or topics that you would like us to focus on. You may also pre-register your interest in presenting a paper at this event prior to the official Call for Papers, which will be issued in the spring. I look forward to welcoming you all to this event.

Peter M Parrott
Wednesday, 13 February 2008