ESKOM and the Department of Science and Technology cordially invited you to attend a public lecture presented by
Professor Gustaf Ohlsson (Lund University, Sweden)
focusing on
Water and Energy linkages
The aim of the seminar is to create an awareness of the important couplings between water and energy. It shows how energy is used in a variety of water cycle operations and demonstrates how water is used – and misused – in all kinds of energy production and generation.
Population increase, climate change and an increasing competition between food and fuel production create enormous pressures on both water and energy availability. Since there is no replacement for water, water security looks more crucial than energy security. This is true not only in developing countries but also in the most advanced countries. For example, the western parts of the USA suffer from water scarcity that provides a real security threat.
The presentation does not aim to show “how to design” or to solve some of the very intricate conflicts between water and energy. Instead it will demonstrate ideas, possibilities and a number of results as well as challenges for research.
The water-energy issue is not only about technology. It is our attitudes and our lifestyle that can significantly influence the consumption of both water and energy. We all have to be reminded that when we use water we use energy. Also, when we use energy we use water.
Date and Time: Friday 24 January 2014, 10h30 – 12h00
Place: Department of Science and Technology (on the CSIR campus in Pretoria), Bunga Auditorium, Map attached.
RSVP to Shanna Nienaber, Shanna.Nienaber@dst.gov.za by Tuesday 21 January 2014.
Please note that a light lunch will be served after the lecture.
Speaker Biography
Gustaf Olsson is professor in Industrial automation and since 2006 professor emeritus at Lund University, Sweden. He has devoted his research to control and automation in water systems, electrical power systems and industrial processes. His research has lately been focused on the water-energy nexus.
Since 2006 he has shared his time as a guest professor at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, the Technical University of Malaysia (UTM) and at the Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. He is honorary faculty member of the Exeter University in UK. Between 2005 and 2010 he was the editor-in-chief of the journal Water Science and Technology. From 2007 to 2010 he has been a member of the IWA (International Water Association) Board of Directors. In 2010 he received the IWA Publication Award. In 2012 he was the awardee of an Honorary Doctor degree at UTM and an Honorary Membership of IWA.
Gustaf has guided 23 PhDs and a few hundred MSc students. He has received the Lund University pedagogical award for “distinguished achievements in the education" and has been elected the “teacher of the year” by the Lund University engineering students.
Gustaf has authored 9 international books - some of them published also in Russian, German and Chinese - and contributed with chapters in another 19 books as well as about 160 scientific publications. His most recent book called “Water and Energy – Threats and Opportunities” (IWA Publications) was published in 2012.