Engineers!
Engineering Energy for the Future
It is hard to think of something that energy doesn’t do for us. It runs our cars and machinery; works our computers, TV’s, and toasters, heats our homes, food, and blankets; and lights up our streets, homes and traffic lights. We use energy everyday, and we would be really lost without it. This may happen in the future; we may lose our energy. It is decreasing. The amount of oil that we buy from the Middle East has increased a lot over the years, while the supply of oil in the world, especially in the Middle East, has decreased. But the bigger danger is what the energy increase is doing to our environment. The sulfuric acid that is released from factories after burning fossil fuels has resulted in an increase in acid rain. We showed this in an experiment that I did with my Mom (and teacher). We placed a small amount of water in a jar, along with a few colored flower petals, some metal nails, and some small pieces of marble. We than burned some sulfur on a spoon, in the jar. We pulled out the spoon and trapped the gas in the closed jar. After a day, the flowers became bleached. The iron was covered with a dark coating and the marble became rough. The pH of the water became acidic. The sulfur dioxide had damaged the items in the jar. It continues to damage our trees and lakes and kills our fish.
Carbon dioxide also causes damage to our planet by keeping our earth hotter. In another project we perform in class, we showed how this ‘greenhouse effect’ works. By placing a thermometer in a jar and placing it in the sun, we saw that the sun heats up the earth, (or the glass jar) and the carbon dioxide traps the heat in like a blanket and keeps our planet warm. This may seem good at first, but it is not. The result is that it is melting our polar caps and causing flooding by raising the level of the oceans. It is also changing the habits of animals, such as making the polar bear adapt, and changing the timing of animal migration. This climate change is also having an effect on our plants and trees. I went on a fun field trip were I was allowed to tap maple syrup from the trees. I recently found out that the maple syrup workers are tapping their trees a month earlier than before. They said that as the earth’s temperature continues to get warmer, the trees may not be able to make sap, which would leave them in danger of diseases and insects, and the rest of us, without fresh maple syrup for our pancakes.
Engineers should work together to help decrease the level of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide in the air because this is not just our country’s problem, but the entire world’s problem. It is a big problem and it may take big solutions. Engineers should come together to find other, cleaner ways to run our cars and factories. Engineers could help create better ways to heat our homes. Engineers should find ways to turn off the use of energy when we are not using the TV or the computer.
The future for engineers and for us will be mainly focused on saving energy and creating a cleaner world. I want to be an engineer to help solve some of these problems. My Mom says that I’m very smart and creative. I think this is a good thing for becoming an engineer because it’s going to take a lot of creativity, imagination, and education to help solve our energy problem. I’m sure that the people and engineers can come together to solve this problem.