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Sustainable materials: With both eyes open

Article  in  Materials Today · September 2012

DOI: 10.1016/S1369-7021(12)70169-4

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BOOKS AND MEDIA
Q&A
Dr Jamie Ferguson
Isis Innovation Limited
Dr Jamie Ferguson is a Senior Technology
Transfer Manager at Isis Innovation
Limited, a technology transfer company
owned by the University of Oxford.
Materials Today recently spoke to Jamie
for our podcast.
MT: When did your interest in science
begin?
JF: I think it was pretty early, my father is a
physicist, so we always talked about science
at home. I was fortunate to attend a school
where there were a number of very good
science teachers and I think this reinforced
my interest from about 11 years old. I have
to say that now my interest is more in what
we can do with new technology.
MT: What’s the one piece of advice you would
give to anyone starting off in science?
JF: Try to think across disciplines, be prepared
to collaborate with others and think
about how you communicate to different
audiences.
MT: What would you say is the best/most
rewarding part of your job?
JF: I work in technology transfer and have to
say that it’s seeing technology move from
academia into the commercial world. I also
am very fortunate in working with some
incredibly bright people that enjoy using
science to address real world problems.
MT: Which scientists have inspired you?
JF: Working at Oxford, I’m surrounded
by great scientists, many of whom have
successfully collaborated across fields and
also moved technology into the commercial
realm. If I had to name one scientist that
I found inspirational it would have been
my Head of Department when I was an
undergrad at Edinburgh. Brian F. G. Johnson
(moved to Cambridge before retirement) is a
great scientist and communicator, as well as
being very down to earth.
To hear more from Jamie, as well as a
plethora of speakers from academia and
industry, visit our podcast page at www.
materialstoday.com/podcasts or search for
Materials Today on iTunes.
410 SEPTEMBER 2012 | VOLUME 15 | NUMBER 9
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Sustainable materials:
With both eyes open
This book presents an optimistic view of the future – highly useful for
a wide readership, including researchers, teachers, and students, the
general public but also those who make, shape and use materials.
Siegfried Bauer | sbauer@jku.at
In this popular engineering science book the world of
materials that make our life in developed economies
comfortable is illustrated; looking at steel, cement, plastic,
paper, and aluminum, which account for more than 50 %
of the annual industrial carbon dioxide emissions. Their
impact on the environment is steadily growing and if we
continue to use them without “both eyes open” for a
sustainable future our children may not have the chance
to live as well as we do.
We are used to distinguishing different periods in the
development of mankind according
to the materials predominantly used
– the stone age, bronze age, and iron
age are common to everyone. The
last and current century is often
called the electronic materials age,
dominated by silicon, an electronic
material that dramatically changed
our life in an unforeseen manner
– mobile appliances being an
illustrative example. But are these
the materials that largely account for
global annual industrial emissions?
No, rather simple materials we do
not often talk about are important
in this respect, and they are covered
in this book. Five popular materials
in construction and packaging, steel,
cement, plastic, paper, and aluminum have been selected
by the authors in their survey of a sustainable materials
future. It is a popular engineering book, it is very well
written, easy to read and with a fine sense of humor.
The book is divided into five parts, starting with the world
of materials, concentrating on our current use of metals,
followed by suggestions for a sustainable material future
– with one eye open it becomes clear that the materials
industry is already quite efficient in production, so there is
not much hope for significant improvements. The authors
propose looking at the problem with two eyes open –
suggesting a bundle of new options by using materials
wisely – using less material, using materials longer, and
re-using them by recycling. A very simple and illustrative
example is the use of a single aluminum alloy in the
fabrication of beverage cans – allowing for a significant
simplification in aluminum recycling. There are many more
such options presented, and these options for change
may have a significant impact on future energy use and
emissions. The major part of the book is devoted to metals,
in total 19 of 25 chapters, while the other materials are
discussed in part four, part five is devoted to the creation
of a sustainable material future.
The book contains a lot of highly useful graphical
illustrations and diagrams which makes it especially
useful for teachers and students in materials engineering.
There is also an excellent webpage for the book, with
free downloadable text (so you need not buy the book to
save paper) and supplementary material. There are lines
of music on different pages –funny
and original, but I am not sure if this
is really a great idea or not.
It may appear disappointing that
the book is limited to five materials
only, largely used in construction
and packaging, though our society
relies on most of the elements in
the periodic table – especially when
looking at our current “electronic
materials age”. Electronic waste
is a major concern as well, and it
is steadily growing. Many modern
electronic materials are also highly
questionable in terms of their
sustainability – but it would have
been impossible to cover all these
Julian M. Allwood and Jonathan M. Cullen
Sustainable materials: With both eyes open
UIT Cambridge · 2011 · 384 pp.
ISBN: 978-1-906-86005-9
£ 24.95
in a single book. So, hopefully this book will be only the
first in a series of attempts to describe ways for developing
a sustainable materials future – and electronic materials,
products, and waste is a fine set of examples worth
considering.
At the end of the book there is a list of useful references
for further reading and a rather extensive, mostly useful
index that helps find relevant information quickly. The
topic of the book is highly timely, and the authors have
done an excellent job in making science reading enjoyable
to the general public, while still keeping the book as a very
valuable reference for teachers and students of materials
science, physics, chemistry, and engineering at all levels.