Negative Impacts of Engineering Projects - Literature review Example

Negative Impacts of Engineering Projects Negative Impacts of Engineering Projects Unintended consequences of engineering and especially mechanical engineering face the natural environment daily. In one way or another, any positive intention in mechanical engineering has a subsequent adverse outcome. According to Davim (2014), the main contributors of negative environmental impacts include material and energy consumption during machining operations (p. 5). In most cases, mechanical engineers are involved in the design and manufacturing of complex engineering systems which the outcome they know very little. Some aim at developing a system designed to achieving a particular goal as the engineer chooses to disregard environmental consequences with unforeseeable results bringing about environmental damage. Mostly, engineers address the issues affecting the society, but in the course of solving a given problem, an adverse effect is produced. Oil has been a globally contentious issue since man first discovered its existence and uses. When mechanical engineers are setting their machinery at an exploration site, the society is cheers and praises their work that could lead to cheaper products and enhanced transportation services. In the process of extracting, some of it is spilled causing seashore or landscape pollution. In other cases such as automobiles, extensive damage arises due emissions and air pollution through carbon monoxide release to the environment. The past years have been a time for tremendous industrial growth and over the years we recognized environmental degradation and did something at the time that they abandoned for later. In producing artifacts, engineers are not concerned with the environment but rather economic benefits. The public shares benefits of an environmental friendly design while individuals enjoy economic benefits. Most mechanical engineers find it easy to ignore environmental issues especially in the fast paced and competitive process of bringing artifacts to the market (Skerlos et al., 2004, p.477). To further complicate the issue, engineers find the environment as dependent on consequences of particular stressors rather than the process causing it. Healy (2014) claims there are two categories of effects: unintended and undesired consequences. Unanticipated consequences are those not foreseen and those we cannot deal with in advance of their occurrence. Undesired effects are those that we are willing to accept in that we can identify the risk and take its existence. In developing a nuclear power plant, the goal is to achieve adequate electric power to serve the community. However, during production nuclear waste becomes an enormous problem that needs care when handling for its highly radioactive nature. A single leak can cause an extensive radiation rendering the area inhabitable. Damage to the natural environment is not possible in the design and production of a given artifact. In some cases, an engineer develops a sustainable object but the continued usage brings about the resultant environmental damage. Grote and Antonsson (2009) state that there are different types of corrosions that produce varied environmental damages (p.149). In some cases, the contamination of a corroded product can be tolerated while, in other instances, minuscule amounts of heavy metal ions are a danger to the environment. To avoid environmental damage due to corrosion, engineers have put more emphasize on materials they seek for their artifacts. The rate of corrosion is measured and quoted in millimeters per year or grams per square meter per year. In the elimination of damaging corrosion to the environment, metals are divided according to velocity of lateral penetration (VL) and classified into three groups. VL≤ 0.15 mm/year: These metals have a considerable resistance and are for areas endangered by corrosion like valve settings and pump shafts. VL=0.15-1.5 mm/year used where one could tolerate corrosion like bolt heads and fabrication of boilers. VL>1.5 mm/year these metals are no longer used in practice (Grote & Antonsson, 2009, pp. 149-150). Increased environmental damage resulting from designing artifacts and other products became an issue of concern and politicians and leaders became involved. People were required to change their mode and means of production. Brundtland Commission (1989) as cited by Abraham (2005 pp.5-6) defines sustainable development as providing for human needs without compromising future generations to meet their future needs. This commission submitted a bottom line that an artifact should meet its economic viability, should address social concerns and should address all natural and ecological issues to guard the interests of both the society and the engineer. In Hanford, Washington, for example, production of plutonium beginning in the 1940s led to contamination of the environment from nine nuclear reactors the last of which was closed down in 1988 (Healy 2005). Cooling water used in the reactors containing radioactive and chemical contaminations was discharged into Columbia River and other water bodies. The damage caused then is attracting cleanup efforts today. In the modern world, people have adopted a new approach in view of the environment. To engineers, it is not all about rate of production but also the quality of production. Initially, people sought to produce more but today the competition is shifting to who produces the most eco-friendly product. With the advent of the environment protection concepts in the 1990s, the best opportunity to protect the environment was realized to be stopping it at the source (Abraham, 2005, p.3). The Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 established by the United States Congress provided a reference for other Nations in the fight against artifacts damaging the environment. With the publication of Anastas and Warner’s Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry in 1997, engineers could seek means to minimize the potentials of environmental damage. Mechanical engineers may evaluate the life cycle of a manufactured product assessing the environmental impact of producing relative to those of use by the consumer. In the European Union, the last few years have seen the proliferation of directives on waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE), end of life of vehicles, and restriction of hazardous substances. The European Commission recently proposed a design directive framework that sets eco-design requirements for all energy consuming products. Eco-design is the only viable option to reduce environmental damage as it was estimated that over 80 percent determine environmental impacts during the design stage (Skerlos et al., 2004, pp.478-479). According to Healy (2014), design is an activity subject to rational scrutiny which is subject to creativity. They further explain it as a form of action, structured series of decisions to precede one way and not the other. Engineers are now developing regarding the complete lifecycle of an artifact up till the final stage of recycling and disposal of components and materials. Means-end reasoning concerned with not only the evaluation of given means of their ability to achieve ends, but also the generation of means for given ends. Healy (2014) in his work quotes Merton (1932) who believed that in the past people attributed the unexpected to the gods or fate to express their inability to alter a given cause. The dawn of the age of reason, however, made people believe that their actions had consequences, and this became a problem that we all want to solve. People are more concerned with adoption of efficient ways to improve on solar energy to produce more electricity and not on the electricity itself as was before. Mechanical engineers are working to develop an improved transportation system that will reduce the rate of pollution drastically. Damage caused by combustion engines to the environment is among the challenges facing mechanical engineers. Mechanical engineers have the task of finding ways to burn fuels resulting in cleaner emissions and at the same time reduce non-renewable resources consumed to accomplish the task. Today, engineers are developing hybrid cars that provide major increases in automobile gas mileages. Engines are being designed to reduce noise pollution through the modification of previous designs or use of noise cancelation techniques. Even with the introduction of electric cars, mechanical engineers are faced with a problem that has to involve almost all other aspects of engineering. The said car is supposed to use electrical energy and is thought to be pollution free. To ensure that this form of energy does not result in high levels of pollution in the future, engineers have to come up with better ways to produce and conserve electricity. To be able to protect the environment from damage by artifact designs, we need a comprehensive body of quantitative approaches and knowledge. This approach will integrate economics, engineering, societal, and environmental science model (Abraham 2005, pp.479-483). Engineers should embrace green design that spans all of the previous engineering specialties. Through the adoption of green design, engineering disciplines will work together in creation and production of artifacts and other designs (Abraham 2005, p.4). The introduction of the ISO 14000 standards in 1998 presented an opportunity to review concepts of design with the idea of sustainable development. The ISO 14000 standards call for environmental system that includes continued improvement, planning, evaluation and managerial commitment. Due to changes in these structures, forward-thinking business concerns shifted their views on the environment from response to government regulations to seeking ways to improve environmental performance (Abraham 2005, p.5). Reference List Abraham, MA 2005, Sustainability Science and Engineering: Defining Principles, Elsevier, Amsterdam. Davim, JP 2014, Modern Mechanical Engineering: Research, Development, and Education, Springer Science and Business Media, Berlin, Heidelberg. Haley, T 2014, ‘The Unanticipated Consequences of Technology’, Santa Clara University, California. Retrieved March 20, 2015, from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/submitted/healy/consequences.html Grote, K, & Antonsson, E 2009. Springer Handbook of Mechanical Engineering Volume 10, Springer Science and Business Media, Berlin, Heidelberg. Skerlos, S, Morrow, W, & Michalek, J 2004, Sustainable Design Engineering and Science: Selected Challenges and Case Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. Read More