Science is the key to solving the dilemma the world has been placed in by assisting in reducing energy emissions. Stephane Picarle, Shell’s General Manager Commercial stressed the need to new technical approaches to energy production while speaking at NIHERST’s SciTeknofest on Monday, as he explained the global demand for energy made the road toward emission reduction a challenge.
“The energy industry remains at the centre of what the world needs. And is faced with a material dilemma of bringing a lot of the energy that the world needs with the growing population in particular, and also reducing emissions of green house gases,” he said during the Sci-Talk Career Spotlight segment.
At last year’s COP26 summit, several countries, including Trinidad and Tobago committed to reducing carbon emissions by the year 2030. He said the drive to reduce emission has re-emphasised the need for training within the industry.
“The trend I’m seeing and also coming from where I sit in the commercial business space. I see a renewed importance on technical knowledge and technical process. Our industry is dramatically changing and what’s been true probably for decades, its all about producing all the carbons safely and we keep doing these better and better and bringing them to the market, this remains true but now we have the imperative to bring many new technologies that are going to address this challenge,” he said.
Picarle added that even with his vast experience, he believed that new skills were needed to address the changed expectation of energy companies.
“To me I am seeing the role and importance of science at the heart of business decision making as more important than ever, and I feel it also. And I feel it also, certainly after 23 years in this industry the need to re-skill myself in those areas and relearning things that I probably learned in university many years ago that I forgot,” he said, “I think being in science today has never been as important in order to solve this big dilemma of providing more energy to the world in an environmental way that does not produce emissions.”
Shell Process Safety Engineer Ganesh Lutchman also told the panel of the benefits of adopting new technology, as he stressed that the use of drones and remote vehicles for assessments could help reduce potential risk to people.
However the panel said the growing introduction of digitisation and technology would not necessarily lead to job losses as these devices would still require monitoring and maintenance to ensure optimal function.
