In everything Karen does, sustainability and the environment are top of mind – particularly the reduction of energy and water consumption.
At the Gold Coast University Hospital, for example, she was instrumental in converting the hospital’s costly heating system from electric to hot water (generated from natural gas). And, whenever clients require air conditioners, she proposes systems that reclaim condensation from the air conditioning for reuse in toilet flushing and irrigation.
Beyond her day job, Karen would love to be able to save the rainforests of Indonesia, home to tigers and orangutans; and the forests of Rwanda, Uganda and the Congo, home to mountain gorillas. Her idea? Giving local communities solar ovens to reduce their dependency on timber for cooking. Such thinking is engineering at its best.
