SYMPOSIUM D

Eco-Materials and Eco-Technologies

Technological and economic progress of industrial era has been plundering our children’s future heritage to pay for its environmentally
unsustainable practices. One of the major aims of human society in the 21st century is introducing adequate technological performances into self-sustainable natural cycles, in a harmonious, non-degrading way. “Our goal must be to meet the economic needs of the present without compromising the ability of the planet to provide the needs of future generations”, stands written in the United Nations millennium report.

The conference programme entitled as “Eco-materials and Eco-technologies” might be seen as the programme for assembling various scientific achievements either from the field of material processing and evaluation, or from the design of technological processes. Technologies that benefit the earth climate by reducing greenhouse emissions, and provide the use of renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaics, fuel cells, wind turbines or certain cogeneration technologies, might be seen as an example of the latter, as well as the technologies that focus on increasing productivity per unit of water or per any other unit of a precious natural resources. Materials produced with an aim of decreasing the amounts of its toxic elements, or using safer pathways of production, whereby keeping its performance on a satisfying level, together with materials and technologies that implement the use of local resources, might belong to the class of eco-materials.

Improved education on real understanding of the challenges human race face now in dealing with ecological design; move towards “green” accounting that will refl ect true environmental costs within every material, technological, economic or political design; devising more environmentally-friendly incentives for markets to respond to; devising eff ective environmental policy by basing it on sound scientific information; and fi nally, promoting a new ethic of conservation and stewardship – have been pointed by the United Nations Council as the major priorities within the global promoting of eco-technological design. The conference programme, as outlined here, covers or encourages all of these issues, everyone of which is fundamental for making safe steps into a sustainable future.