Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
efficiency advantage over hybrid vehicles. They concluded that hybrid vehicles provided
the most viable model for cleaner, more efficient transportation (Demirdöven and Deutch
Figure 7.15.
The filling station of the future? A PV sunshade that recharges electric
vehicles.
Source:
Tatmouss at Wikimedia Commons.
7.10 The Sustainability 'Cure'
Sustainable development means different things in different places. In wealthy countries,
it may mean cleaning up cities, encouraging more environmentally friendly forms of
transport, or promoting renewable energy. In developing countries, it often involves
choices between life and death. In its most literal interpretation, sustainable development
is any economic development that can be sustained indefinitely, but its deeper meaning
concerns the sustenance of the human race. The World Bank became a convert to the
idea of sustainability in the early 1990s, claiming that “the achievement of a sustained
and equitable development remains the greatest challenge facing the human race” (World
Bank 1992, 1). It adopted a more pragmatic interpretation of sustainability than the UN
Brundtland Report did, arguing that environmental protection need not be a priority, but
should be factored into development projects, and that such projects may be deemed
