From the article, “Introduction to the grand challenges for engineering”, I feel that the most important challenge is the sustainability of civilization’s continuing advancement in term of energy. With the world getting more advances, demand of energy is higher. Energy is consumed largely in the form of electricity and petroleum.
Advance of technology has created high dependency of people on electrical appliances. Electrical appliances are very common nowadays and computer is a good example of it. Usage of computer is now very common due it being very convenient for searching of information and text editing. For the search of information, there is internet providing pool of information. As for text editing, there is Microsoft Word which editing could be done anytime without making a mess of the work. Electrical appliances have made life easier for people and thus increase the reliance of people on them resulting in high usage of electricity.
Also with the advance in technology, world has been more well developed and economy has improved. With a better economy and people being wealthier, vehicles become more affordable. Increase in transportation has resultant consumption of petrol to grow. In the recent month, price of petrol has been high. One of the reasons is because of the running down of petrol and supply being unable to meet the demand. This in turn causes a series of rise in food price due to cost of transportation resulting in higher standard of living and an economy downturn. From this event, one could see that the sustainability in the balance of supply and demand is very important.
Unfortunately, fossil fuel being the main source for petroleum and electricity is a limited resource and it is estimated to be able to last for only another fifty years. Thus research on alternative resources conducted hoping to find a suitable one to replace fossil fuel is important. Finding alternative source of energy is not easy, many problems have been faced. For example, in the case of solar energy, even though sunlight is abundant and provided lots of heat energy, the efficiency in converting the energy into useful energy like electrical energy is low. Also it is relative more expensive and requires a large amount of land area for the collection of energy. In comparing to the current major energy source, fossil fuel, alternative sources of energy like solar energy are less feasible.
In conclusion, sustainability the balance of supply and demand of energy is very important. With the increasing of demand and no solution, meaning supply unable to meet demand, world economy will be affected. Even though many alternative sources have been found, they are still not as feasible in comparing to fossil fuel. Lots of work is still required from engineers in solving the problems.
Advance of technology has created high dependency of people on electrical appliances. Electrical appliances are very common nowadays and computer is a good example of it. Usage of computer is now very common due it being very convenient for searching of information and text editing. For the search of information, there is internet providing pool of information. As for text editing, there is Microsoft Word which editing could be done anytime without making a mess of the work. Electrical appliances have made life easier for people and thus increase the reliance of people on them resulting in high usage of electricity.
Also with the advance in technology, world has been more well developed and economy has improved. With a better economy and people being wealthier, vehicles become more affordable. Increase in transportation has resultant consumption of petrol to grow. In the recent month, price of petrol has been high. One of the reasons is because of the running down of petrol and supply being unable to meet the demand. This in turn causes a series of rise in food price due to cost of transportation resulting in higher standard of living and an economy downturn. From this event, one could see that the sustainability in the balance of supply and demand is very important.
Unfortunately, fossil fuel being the main source for petroleum and electricity is a limited resource and it is estimated to be able to last for only another fifty years. Thus research on alternative resources conducted hoping to find a suitable one to replace fossil fuel is important. Finding alternative source of energy is not easy, many problems have been faced. For example, in the case of solar energy, even though sunlight is abundant and provided lots of heat energy, the efficiency in converting the energy into useful energy like electrical energy is low. Also it is relative more expensive and requires a large amount of land area for the collection of energy. In comparing to the current major energy source, fossil fuel, alternative sources of energy like solar energy are less feasible.
In conclusion, sustainability the balance of supply and demand of energy is very important. With the increasing of demand and no solution, meaning supply unable to meet demand, world economy will be affected. Even though many alternative sources have been found, they are still not as feasible in comparing to fossil fuel. Lots of work is still required from engineers in solving the problems.
3 comments:
I agree with your opinion ^^
Energy crisis is a very serious problem. and energy problem is a very important part of sustainable problem. we should take it seriously!
You can focus one piont--energy problem to elaborate your view, it is a good way. And you used some examples to support your point, i think they are very useful and effective. I like it!
cheers^^
Hello.
I agreed with wang tianren that u should used some examples to support your point.
By the way,it is a very good article.
Hi Xin Ni,
Yes, it is unfortunate that the things that make our lives more comfortable are also the things that contribute to our consumption of fossil fuels. There is indeed a great need to solve this problem.
On another note, you need to be more careful with language, so work on improving this. All the best! ~ Ms Khoo :)
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