On 24 September, 2019, Marguerite Sayers, President 2019-2020 delivered her Presidential Address on the interplay between climate change, global infrastructure and the role of engineers. It was called ‘Climate Change; Engineering to Fix it - or Live with it’.

Over 98% of scientists now agree that human activity is causing global warming and associated climate change.  Given that our industrialised world is responsible for the huge increase in emissions over the past 200 years, it is not possible for the engineering community to ignore its role in contributing to climate change – no matter how unintentional and well-meant at the time. 

Engineers have always worked to enhance the human condition – and the need for innovation has never been greater.  Engineers need to provide energy solutions which look to maintain the current and expected quality of life, while reducing the negative impacts of industrialisation and associated emissions.  In any event, the impact of increasingly severe weather events on global infrastructure means that adapting to climate change is going to be an unavoidable engineering priority for the coming decades. 

The predicated costs are staggering, the challenge is enormous – and the need for engineers – unprecedented. 

Click here to read the address in full.

Marguerite Sayers, President May 2019 - June 2020
Marguerite Sayers, CEng, was appointed Executive Director for Customer Solutions with the ESB in 2018. Prior to that, she held the position of Managing Director, ESB Networks DAC for over three years. She is a graduate of University College Cork (1991) and holds a BE in Electrical/Electronic Engineering.   She has worked in various managerial positions and locations throughout Ireland with ESB since graduating, including senior roles in HR, Customer Services and Asset Management and she also managed ESB’s Generation portfolio for a period of time.

In her current Customer Solutions role, she leads the energy retail company Electric Ireland and is also responsible for ESB’s Telecoms, E-Cars, and Smart Energy Services businesses, which deliver low-carbon products and services to customers in Ireland and the UK.  Marguerite is a Fellow of Engineers Ireland and has been a member of the Council and Executive Board for the past seven years.