The Greatest Engineering Challenges for the Future
FollowIf there would be a way to see the future, we believe the engineering one would be extremely exciting. With the development of science and technology, the progress of the Human Kind is going on at very high rate. Almost every day of modern history is known as the beginning of some new and amazing discovery or even achievement. From that perspective, the future of engineering seems quite promising.
But, from today’s point of view, what would be the greatest engineering challenges for the future? By a committee of the National Academy of Engineering, the Grand Challenges for engineering would be:
Make solar energy economical
As everyone knows, the Sun is a source of energy in our Solar system. It out-powers anything that human technology could ever produce. Only a small amount of the Sun’s energy comes to the Earth. Amazingly, even that provides 10,000 times as much as all the commercial energy that humans use on the planet. Imagine what would be the possibilities of the commercial use of solar energy.
Provide energy from fusion
If you have any mobile device at home, its battery normally consists of the metallic element lithium. Theoretically, the lithium in that battery could supply your household electricity needs for 15 years. Imagine what else would be feasible if we could provide an energy form fusion.
Develop carbon sequestration methods
The fact is that the growth in emissions of carbon dioxide causes a global warming. That problem no longer can be ignored. Perhaps it can be buried deep underground or beneath the ocean.
Manage the nitrogen cycle
The human-induced changes in the global nitrogen cycle pose engineering challenges just as critical as coping with the environmental consequences of burning fossil fuels for energy.
Provide access to clean water
When Samuel T. Coleridge wrote “water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink,