The Greening of Industrial Ecosystems (1994) / Chapter Skim
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The Two Faces of Technology: Changing Perspectives
The Two Faces of Technology: Changing Perspectives
Pages 217-227
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From page 217... ...
This issue has come to a head over the last 30 or 40 years, starting with the popular ecological works of Rachel Carson and the air pollution discoveries of Arie J Haagen-Smit.
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From page 218... ...
are useful in developing national and international strategies for reducing material losses to the environment and planning future technological development. On a mesoscale the individual chemical plant or petroleum refinery" the approach is used to design plants for the conversion of raw materials, such as crude petroleum, or a particular chemical feedstock, such as propylene, to desired products.
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From page 219... ...
and (c) correspond to chemical process engineering.
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From page 220... ...
The public, while still eager to share in the benefits of technology, has become much less forgiving of the associated environmental consequences. The history of this shifting national consensus is discussed in the next section, which sets the stage for the new design synthesis now under way.
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From page 221... ...
Over the last 40 years, there has been a shift in public attitude toward what might be called the Thoreau school of skepticism regarding technological development. During that period Rachel Carson, Arie Haagen-Smit, Mario Molina, Sherwood Rowland, and others have discovered (and popularized)
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From page 222... ...
, and continuing population growth and technological development are causing engineers to rethink the basic concepts of engineering design, as they relate to environmentally compatible technologies. There is a growing trend toward waste reduction, or pollution prevention, stressing total system design (as opposed to add-on devices or end-of-pipe treatment)
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From page 223... ...
Using material balances, thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, and transport phenomena, we can make very accurate estimates of the rates of conversion of reactants or raw materials to desired products in chemical processes and manufacturing plants (refineries, for example)
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From page 224... ...
Normal chemical engineering design procedures based on material and energy balances and chemical kinetics work well in predicting the outputs of desired products. Fugitive emissions of products are difficult to estimate.
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From page 225... ...
For the chemical process engineer, the challenge is to select raw materials and physicochemical pathways that minimize the formation of toxic by-products. The chemical process engineer with sharply enhanced skills in pollution prevention can serve in all branches of industry not only the chemical and petroleum and related industries as the designer of clean chemical technologies.
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From page 226... ...
To this end, the nation will need an engineering profession highly skilled in advanced methods for designing clean technologies, through education and basic research. SUMMARY Changing perspectives on the interface between technology and environment are causing engineers to rethink how they design industrial systems for environmental compatibility.
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From page 227... ...
1960. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, v.
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