The 73rd Hatfield Memorial Lecture: Energy and the Green Future

Energy and the Green Future

Speaker: Dr Sara Hornby

Abstract

The World needs to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) / CO₂ equivalent (CO₂^e) emissions significantly to achieve the 1.5^oC maximum Global Warming (GW) figure postulated to ensure a viable future. Since 2015, the International Energy Authority (IEA) has suggested our green future relies upon a hydrogen technology, not carbon, economy. In reality, for such a future, the preeminent factor is green energy, followed closely by infrastructure and financial incentives. 

This lecture will explore the reality of the world’s CO₂^e generation, from various sources and countries, and the impact energy will have on achieving reduced emissions and global warming through a hydrogen economy. Also, it will look briefly at the future of iron and steelmaking.

Speaker bio

Dr Sara Hornby, variously described as a “trailblazer”, a “rebel leader”, and an inspiration for ambitious women in engineering, was the first woman to graduate from Sheffield Hallam University with a BSc Hons in Metallurgy and a PhD in Industrial Metallurgy. 

Her early UK career was with Firth Brown Tools Engineering and British Steel Corporation. She then spent 18y with Air Liquide, Canada and US, developing  new technologies and supplying  best available technologies to the metals industry. This experience coupled with other EAF steelmaking optimization positions (Tenova Goodfellow, Midrex, Linde, Intertech, and TMS International), led her to form her own consulting company, Global Strategic Solutions Inc.

Sara holds 5 patents and has authored 149 international papers, seminars and courses. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IoM3) and was their 2022 Hadfield Medal and Prize winner. In 2020 she was the recipient of the Benjamin Fairless Award (AIST/AIME) and the John Bell Award (AIST);  in November 2023 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Engineering by Sheffield Hallam University in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the international steel industry; and was the AIST/TMS 2024 John F. Elliott Lecturer (with a record of 23 requested international lectures delivered).

About the Hatfield Memorial Lecture

The Hatfield Memorial Lecture is an annual event hosted by the School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield. It features presentations from noted academics and industrialists on topics as diverse as space exploration and biomaterials.