Abstract

This seminar will focus on the drivers of CO2 emissions in road vehicle technology. It will look at the carbon content associated with demand, energy conversion and the content of CO2 on fuels. There are significant possibilities of waste energy recovery in vehicles and these will be discussed in the light of potential and readiness. A future scenario of growth of CO2 will be discussed that will emphasise the challenge ahead as economic development takes place towards the 2040 targets. Professor Martinez-Botas will also outline the learnings from the investigation he oversaw for the Department for Transport (UK) during the VW emissions scandal in 2016.

Biography

Ricardo is Professor of Turbomachinery at Imperial College London. He has a MEng (Hons) degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Imperial College and obtained a DPhil in the Rolls Royce University Technology Centre at the University of Oxford in 1993. He leads a research group in the area of low carbon vehicles with particular emphasis on highly downsized engines, turbochargers and energy storage/recovery systems. He has developed the area of unsteady flow aerodynamics of small turbines, with particular application to the turbocharger industry.

Ricardo is a member of the Science Advisory Council at the UK Department for Transport. Ricardo was the independent expert who oversaw the Vehicle Emissions Testing Programme initiated by the British government in the aftermath of the VW emission scandal. In 2019 he was awarded the President’s Medal for Excellence in Research (External Collaborations and Partnerships). He has held visiting professorships in the University Teknologi of Malaysia, Shanghai Jiatong Univeristy and the Nanyang Technical University in Singapore. He directs two University Technology Centres at Imperial College: The Caterpillar Innovation & Research Centre (2014-) and The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHIET) Future of Boosting Innovation Centre (2019-). He is also the co-director of LoCARtic, a collaborative research centre between Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Imperial College London.

He received an Honorary Doctorate in Engineering from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and he was elected to become a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) in 2018.

Energy Futures Lab

Energy Futures Lab is one of six Global Institutes at Imperial College London. The institute was established to address global energy challenges by identifying and leading new opportunities to serve industry, government and society at large through high quality research, evidence and advocacy for positive change. The institute aims to promote energy innovation and advance systemic solutions for a sustainable energy future by bringing together the science, engineering and policy expertise at Imperial and fostering collaboration with a wide variety of external partners. The Energy Futures Lab daytime seminars are delivered by staff and students from across the College and further afield.