Yesterday Al Gore addressed some 11,000 Technology Engineers at the Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose.
Mr. Gore left his audience fully attentive and during a standing ovation due to his keen knowledge, speaking skills and humor displayed during his presentation.
"he talked directly to engineers and specifically addressed embedded systems. And he noted the demographic challenges facing engineering, including outsourcing and the reduction in interest among young people in the U.S."
Mr. Gore certainly has as thorough understanding of the technology and a vision for where it can take us.
"I won't review the arguments Gore raised for the immediacy of global warming; you've heard it all if you've seen "Inconvenient Truth." Most relevant to the audience is what engineers can do about it. "Embedded systems can be the most powerful part of a solution to this crisis," Gore said. "Our old legacy systems are ridiculously inefficient."
It's not just a question of power conservation and inefficiency, Gore said — it's how you engineer a system in the first place. Better engineering can both reduce CO2 emissions and make money, he said. "Pollution is waste. You have to buy raw materials to create pollution," he said. "If you can re-engineer products to create less pollution, you're ahead of the game."
Why not "unleash the IT revolution," Gore said, and have a power grid where small "micro-generating" sources including homes and businesses can generate clean power and sell it into the grid? With efficient photovoltaic cells and better windmills, he said, maybe we won't need centralized power generation plants that emit large amounts of CO2.
Solving problems like the climate crisis will provide the kind of opportunity that will bring young people into science and engineering, Gore said. "We can watch outsourcing take our jobs away, or we can insource innovation and creativity," he said."
Will the younger generation hear their important role as Mr. Gore has solicited their help. They hold an important key for our next steps in discovery.
Another attendee wrote:
"Gore’s talk ended at noon and I headed to the press room for lunch where I met two fellow show attendees that are also two very encouraging parents. First I chatted with Atul Baga, an associate researcher for ThinkEquity Partners. In between talking about Linux and the embedded market, Atul told me about his 9-year-old son who turns down the heat at the family’s house and shuts off lights to save power because he is aware of environmental issues and wants to do his part to help alleviate them. I then met Carolyn Mathas of DesignLine who told me of her daughter, Sasha, whom Carolyn home schools. Sasha at age 13 had several articles published on the climate crisis, including postings to AnalogZone on global warming and what individuals can do about it.
Needless to say, I was impressed with these kids. I will also rest a little easier tonight knowing that, not only are there kids out there interested in solving the ecosystem issues, but that there are parents out there that recognize the lack of public school education on certain subject areas and are willing to spend their own time to educate their children on these subjects. My woodshop education did little to prepare me or pique my interest in science. Our public schools are not doing enough to encourage the next generation of engineers and that responsibility now falls to parents and those in the field to inspire the leaders of tomorrow."
"Gore: Climate crisis could attract next generation of engineers"
Will our country rise to the challenge?
sources:
http://www.eetimes.com/...
http://www.edn.com/...