Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
6 InnovatingTechnology
THE NEED FOR INNOVATION
As stated in Chapter 5, existing technologies can be improved up to a point, and then efforts
pay too little return on the investment. To create a sustainable society, we the innovation of
today's technologies in addition to changes in current behaviors, which were promoted in an
era of abundant natural resources. Previous innovations, for instance, the use of plastics
instead of metal, wood, and glass, have changed radically the way business we do business.
Because of their low cost and availability, plastics have created a trend in disposability in all
aspects of modern life. In food processing and distribution, the use of plastics reduced weight
and cost of packaging materials as well as decreased the risk of contamination by using non-
reusable containers. Similarly, in the healthcare industry the use of disposable plastic devices
have eliminated the need for in-house sterilization and increased safety records.
Unfortunately most of the technologies we relied on today are based on the use of nonre-
newable resources, fossil fuels, and damage of natural ecosystems. Assuming we could create
a super efficient society—a proposition hard to believe at the current time—thus slowing the
depletion of nonrenewable resources, the system still would be unsustainable in the long run.
Therefore, with the resources still available we need to develop new technologies that will
lead to transition to a low-fossil fuels and feedstock's economy, which is sometimes referred
to as a low-carbon economy.
The main challenge in the near future will be finding energy sources that can substitute or
complement our current ones. For two centuries fossil fuels we have been using were gifts
buried underground. The next stage after this carbon economy will require more effort because
the technology to harness renewable energy in large quantities, and in the right form to substi-
tute fossil fuel consumption, has not yet been developed. Therefore, technology innovation
will be one of the cornerstones in the creation of a sustainable economy. If sources of abundant
clean energy are developed, then many other problems could be solved. For instance, with
inexpensive energy water can be desalinated, nutrients can be recovered, and materials can be
recycled without the restrictions in place today.
A valid question is: will new technologies create a sustainable economy in a timely manner
without environmental degradation in the long run? No one has that answer, but trying is better
than the collapse of current economic and social systems as a result of depletion of fossil fuels
and natural resources.
