Chapter 1,2,12 Flashcards
What is the environment?
The aggregate of surroundings things, conditions, or influences especially as affecting the existence or development of someone or something. Refers to the physical env around us.
Priorities of human life
Air
Water
Food
Two categories that categorize sources of anthropogenic environmental change?
Changes associated with land use
Changed induced by emission or from products and industrial processes.
What is the role of the engineer in regard to environmental issues?
Engineers are primarily involved in problems related to tech development and deployment.
They design and build all manufacturing processes, industrial tech, and transportation infrastructure, transport and refine raw materials, fabricate products and distribute goods and services of modern societies worldwide.
3 main sources of environmental impacts
Materials selection
Manufacturing Processes
Energy use
Green engineering
The design, commercialization, and use of processes and products in a way that reduces pollution promotes sustainability and minimizes risk to human health and the environment without sacrificing economic viability and efficiency.
Green design- design the same things but with the environment in mind
Pollution Prevention
Industrial ecology- an industrial process in an ecological way
Industrial Ecology
Means by which humanity can deliberately and rationally approach and maintain a desirable carrying capacity, given continued economic, cultural, and technological evolution.
Optimize total materials cycle from virgin to fibished, to component to product, etc.
Application of life cycle analysis
Sustainable Development
Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations’ own needs.
Environmental Engineering
Application of science and engineering principles to improve the environment hence allowing future generations to meet their own needs.
Life cycle assessment (LCE)
Environmental assesment tool. Assesses the environmental impact of a product/process by evaluating its imputs vs outputs at each lifecycle stage from resource extraction , manufacturing , use and disposal.
3 steps
Goal and scope definition
Analysis
Assesment
Environmental issues
Air
Water
Soil
Radioactive waste
Basis of Environmental concerns
Human health
Human welfare
Classification of environmental effects (human health effects)
Acute: short-term exposure results in an immediate response in the human body
Chronic: long term exposure results in long term response in the human body
Carcinogenic: exposure leads to cancer
5 priority pollutants:
CO2- carbon dioxide
LEAD- PB
NOx - nitrogen oxides
OZONE
PM-10 , PM 25
SO2- sulfur oxide
Acid Rain
Acidification of freshwater lakes and streams result in the death of aquatic organisms.
Contributes to the decline of some species of trees
Soil acidification disrupts soil chemistry that provides nutrients to vegetation
Indirectly affects soil erosion, sedimentation of waterways, changes animals’ habitats
Deterioration of building materials and monuments made of limestone or marble
Sulfur and nitrogen oxides react together and travel a lot of miles then creating acid rain.
