Susan Krumdieck is a mechanical engineer, Professor of Engineering at Heriot Watt University, Chair of the university’s Energy Transition, and author of Transition Engineering: Building a Sustainable Future.

Susan joins me to discuss how a sustainable future is possible by starting with engineering principles. Rather than focusing on politics and economics, which can only react in the short-term, engineering provides long-term vision, planning and design which will reimagine a sustainable world—and drag politics and economics into the future.

She explains the inefficiencies of fossil-fuel economies, how renewable economies will automatically contract (hello, degrowth), and how sustainable engineering can provide a better quality of life for every being on the planet. We also have a lovely conversation on the importance of narrative: start with scientific principles, but sell them as a story.

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Planet: Critical investigates why the world is in crisis—and what to do about it.

© Rachel Donald