![]() ![]() Local generation by smaller plants can not only reduce transmission losses, but also improve air quality since they can be fueled by hydrogen and natural gas-much cleaner than coal on a per kilowatt hour basis. But two newer technologies, fuel cells and small, single-cycle gas turbines-induced by economic and environmental considerations as well as by innovation policy-offer substantial environmental advantages over traditional, large, centralized power plants. greenhouse gas emissions result from the use of coal and petroleum in electricity generation and transportation, respectively. In the United States, the energy sector accounts for more than 85 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions, with energy-related carbon dioxide alone responsible for about 80 percent. Modern autos have 20-90 of these sensors to control their engines precisely.ĭiscussions of energy use lead naturally to the question of how it may be affecting the earth’s climate. Microcontrollers and digital signal processors also underpin a new generation of auto emissions sensors, which now consume up to 25 percent less energy. Here, the development of sensors that can closely calibrate energy use to demand has meant that both modern engines and industrial motors can be operated much more efficiently. Reductions in both by 70-80 percent since 1977 would not have been possible without substantial innovations in, most notably, electronics. Nonetheless, technology-impelled by economic, regulatory, and environmental pressures-has made possible impressive reductions in vehicular emissions of volatile organic compounds and carbon monoxide per mile traveled. While the average fuel efficiency of new passenger cars has more than doubled since 1975, the environmental gains are increasingly offset by the popularity of lower-mileage light-duty trucks and sport utility vehicles, increases in miles traveled per vehicle, and large increases in vehicle ownership. energy efficiency is much greater than ever before, growth in the economy has assured rising energy consumption. We then note how technology is helping to fashion policies that allow producers and consumers to recognize and internalize the environmental costs of technology and thus to spur innovation to clean up the environment.Īll the world’s economies continue to face big challenges in using energy-the lifeblood of the industrial age-while maintaining environmental quality. We also touch on the emerging relationship between the Internet and environmental quality, one that again seems to cut both ways. In each case, we illustrate the dual nature of technology’s environmental implications. In what follows, we look at technology and the environment in four key areas: energy, climate, water quality, and waste cleanup. Technology, in other words, is a double-edged sword-one capable both of doing and undoing damage to environmental quality. Technological innovations specifically aimed at reducing pollution-from cleaner manufacturing processes to flue gas scrubbers to catalytic converters-now figure prominently in mitigating some of the growing pains of an increasingly technological world. ![]() Having dirtied the earth, air, and water for more than a century, technology is now showing promise in environmental cleanup. Automobile emissions of six principal air pollutants have decreased 31 percent even while the number of vehicle miles driven has more than doubled. ![]() cities failing to meet national air quality standards for ozone, 199 in 1990, was just 70 by 1995. The air quality index for the United States now shows a 42 percent improvement since 1980. It took nearly three generations before the first concerted efforts were made to bring pollution under control, but once begun, progress has been real. Yet rapid industrialization left in its wake darkened noontime skies, noisy and unsafe machinery, and severely compromised living conditions. Between 18, per capita income in the United States rose almost 40 percent, and the value of manufacturing output increased sevenfold. The Industrial Revolution brought forth extraordinary gains in financial prosperity. “Steel Towns,” from Men and Steel, by Mary Heaton Vorse Nothing, between soot and slack, can be clean long in the steel towns. They duck along, jackets over heads, under the fury of the falling slack. Those days the sun is darkened, and the steel workers returning home hide their faces as from a sand storm. Mighty currents of air blow the choking slack out of the costly mill chimneys onto the cheap human life outside. You can see the tiny bits of ore gleaming in your hands. Slack is what doesn’t melt in the mountains of red ore-a metal particle, powdered ore, powdered metal. ![]()
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