• Question: do you think your kind of work has changed the course of history?

    Asked by Moomin Bates to Hilly, Lee, Liz, Tadhg, Yasmin on 14 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Yasmin Ali

      Yasmin Ali answered on 14 Jun 2015:

      Yes. Without oil and gas and energy, the world would be a very different place. Without energy, we wouldn’t have been able to advance science as much as we have done so far. We wouldn’t have been able to power most medical procedures, or communicate with each other across the globe using the internet!

    • Photo: Tadhg O'Donovan

      Tadhg O'Donovan answered on 14 Jun 2015:

      Undoubtedly! Without being melodramatic – we are in the midst of an energy revolution. The uptake of renewable energy opin recent history is immense (but still not enough). I hope we look back on this time in history as the time society took action to turn the tide to renewable forms of energy for a sustainable future.

    • Photo: Liz Meddings

      Liz Meddings answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      In lots of small ways, yes. There are so many buildings which use energy, so everyone that I get involved with contributes to reducing carbon emissions, if it’s an existing one that is made more energy efficient, or increasing carbon emissions, if it’s a brand new building that’s not replacing an old one. The change per project is relatively tiny but all the changes add up. It’s like doing your bit at home by turning off the TV or taking shorter showers.

    • Photo: Lee Margetts

      Lee Margetts answered on 18 Jun 2015:

      The iPhone 6 would have been the most powerful computer on the planet 20 years ago. If there were no scientists working with supercomputers 20 years ago, we would not have the iPhone 6 today and even if we did, we would not know how to write software for it. So yes, definitely, my line of work changes the course of history.

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