Fuel Essay

Impact of Engineering to the Environment

Introduction
Mankind has been on the journey to make life easier for them since the beginning. There lies a solution to day to day problems in all areas like health, equipment and nutrition. In the pursuit of better and simple lives, most of the solutions end up causing harm to the environment. A major environmental hit is air pollution. Since the inception of technology, the clarity of the air decreased significantly from the heavy machinery and industries set up by man. The expense of running such machines is the smoke produced which harms the air, as well as the ozone layer. However, with time, mankind has seen the extent of damage they inflicted. Currently, there are laws set to govern the air pollution by industries and cars. Scientists work day and night to find alternative solutions to cope with the rise of pollution.
Chemical engineering has drastically improved over the years. Researchers and engineers combined forces to come up with alternative and better solutions to the day to day problems. However, there are several environmental properties affected by the progress. The major one being water and soil. Chemicals are harmful to them when mixed or on its own. Just like any other industry, people have come up with better solutions to the problems and alternatives to keep the environment better. The paper outlines some of the major problems that came with research and what strides the engineers take to reverse the situation.

Discussion

Chemical engineering involves physical and life sciences in combination with economics and mathematics to produce, transport and transform the materials, chemicals and energy (AGCAS editors, 2013). It deals with the process of changing energy of chemicals to create a new chemical or change the current one. In recent times, chemical engineers change readily available raw materials into useful forms. Latest research includes areas like bioengineering, fuel cells, and Nanotechnology, just to name a few. In terms of value towards the environment, chemical engineering makes better progress than the others. The main concern for a chemical engineer is to come up with better solutions to the current problems that revolve energy. Major progress has come to be from the assimilation of better products to the industry. There are two major areas that chemical engineers have significantly improved in giving better solutions: fuel and chemicals

The discovery of oil and its uses for daily use by human beings came as a great achievement in mankind’s history (Young, 2014). It brought about improvements in the transport industry. In old times, trains used steam and wood to produce energy. The mechanism was hard because the train would make several stopovers along the way for cooling and restocking. It caused harm to the environment because people had to cut more trees to fuel the train. Mobility across the areas was hard because trains were the fastest means of transport at the time, but it was not possible for it to access all areas. However, people coped with the situation since they did not have another option. Then came oil and its ability to factor in as a source of fuel. People were in a position to make progress in various areas especially transportation.
As industrialization continued, a major problem arose from the fumes produced. In the beginning, engineers had one thing in mind, progress. They had to come up with solutions for the people that will make the workload easier. They came up with better engines for the motor vehicle industry, better manufacturing plants and more products from oil. With time, the world felt the effect of the progress. The chemical engineers did not think of how to deal with the waste. The waste caused harm to people. Car fumes brought about respiratory problems and cancer. Workers in industries suffered more because of the frequent exposure to the products.
After realizing the problem, the first world countries came together to address the issues. The top priority now focuses on a greener environment. Chemical engineers have a new task of creating better solutions to face the problem. In terms of fuel, better solutions come up by the day. It started off with the use of electricity to fuel the operations of the industries. The next big project was the use of solar power. The project made major strides in the industrial world. Harnessing renewable energies like solar, and wind will help the industries produce their products and reduce their pollution. The major importance to renewable energy is the fact that nothing goes to waste in the end. The various devices trap the energy and reuse it; ensure there is no waste in the end. There is an ongoing process of using bio products to act as fuel to vehicles. The bioproducts do not have high amounts of carbon dioxide in them, unlike oil. Another technology in research is the use of electric powered engines. A success in the project will bring about great change in the world of cars.

Chemicals

Chemical research revolves around several industries like beauty, pesticides, farming products among others. In terms of farming, farmers had a major problem in dealing with insects that destroyed most of their produce. Similarly to fuel, the chemical engineers top priority was coming up with drastic solutions to save the situation (Anon., 2012). The engineers came up with strong pesticides that drastically improved the farming industry. With time, the framers felt the disadvantages of the products. Since the pesticides were made of strong chemicals, they affected the soil’s fertility and contaminated the water. At least, they solved the pest issues but unleashed a bigger problem. Apart from that, the chemicals contained high levels of carbon dioxide which affected the ozone layer.
In recent times, engineers have come up with solutions for the problems caused. First, they came up with better ways to deal with pests by using harmless methods. They decreased the percentage of harmful chemicals getting into the soil and water and harnessed the assimilation of some of the waste by the plants. Another stride they made is coming up with organic fertilizers and manure. The engineers use farm manure and waste, harness the products to come up with better organic fertilizers and manures.
A great initiative the chemical engineers try to teach people in all walks of lives is recycling and reuse of materials. Nondegradable products such as papers and plastics bring more harm to the environment. They dirty the surroundings and cause major harm to living things in water and soil. The most used solution that people use to deal with the situation is burning the materials. It is a good solution since the waste is dealt with, but it has its defects. It brings about pollution to the air and soil. The situation goes from bad to worse. However, through recycling, people can use a product in various ways to the environment. Disposing of the materials in recycling bins helps to keep the environment clean. In conclusion, the chemical engineers do their level best to come up with solutions to the current problems. It is a long process but eventually, most of the current problems will have solutions in a few years to come.

References

AGCAS editors, 2013. Chemical Engineer. [Online] Available at: http://www.prospects.ac.uk/chemical_engineer_job_description.htm[Accessed 20 March 2015].
Anon., 2012. Why Organic Matters. [Online] Available at: http://www.agriculturesolutions.ca/topics-and-ideas-2/why-organic-matters[Accessed 20 March 2015].
Young, D., 2014. Green Chemistry and Engineering. [Online] Available at: http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/std/green.html[Accessed 20 March 2015].