Environmental Engineering for the 21st Century Addressing Grand Challenges (2019) / Chapter Skim
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Grand Challenge 1: Sustainably Supply Food, Water, and Energy
Grand Challenge 1: Sustainably Supply Food, Water, and Energy
Pages 8-25
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8 | ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING IN THE 21st CENTURY: ADDRESSING GRAND CHALLENGES
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A holistic, systems-oriented approach is crucial to balancing resource demands as we strive to meet the basic needs of our growing population. Advancing Sustainable Agriculture to Feed Earth's Growing Population Feeding a growing global population while minimizing impacts on water, soil, and climate poses substantial challenges during the next several decades.23 By 2050, there are likely to be an additional 2.6 billion people to feed, and gains in affluence will increase energy use and the demand for water- and resource-intensive diets Sustainably Supply Food, Water, and Energy | 9
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10 | ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING IN THE 21st CENTURY: ADDRESSING GRAND CHALLENGES
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FIGURE 1-3. Using stacked growing trays, known as vertical farming, and artificial lighting, leafy greens are grown without soil, reducing water demand by 90 percent compared to conventional approaches. Sustainably Supply Food, Water, and Energy | 11
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12 | ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING IN THE 21st CENTURY: ADDRESSING GRAND CHALLENGES
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Overcoming Water Scarcity Global water use is anticipated to increase by 55 percent by 2055, with the largest increases in Brazil, China, India, and Russia (Figure 1-5) .40 At the same time, the surface water and groundwater resources that have traditionally supplied ecosystems and human populations with fresh water are increasingly stressed.
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14 | ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING IN THE 21st CENTURY: ADDRESSING GRAND CHALLENGES
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The technology could provide off-grid desalination at the household or community scale for those who lack access to clean water.48 Research to understand and reduce environmental impacts and to develop cost-effective approaches for brine management could also enhance the use of desalination in areas facing water scarcity.49 Municipalities are increasingly looking for new water supply from the recovery and reuse of water that has traditionally been simply discarded, such as stormwater, municipal wastewater, graywater (water from laundry, showers, and nonkitchen sinks) , and contaminated groundwater.
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. There is substantial potential worldwide for reducing water demand while maintaining or increasing agricultural output,56 and there is already some evidence that water use efficiency strategies can improve crop quality with little 16 | ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING IN THE 21st CENTURY: ADDRESSING GRAND CHALLENGES
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. Redesigning and Revitalizing Water Distribution Systems In high-income countries, water treatment and distribution systems developed in the early to mid 20th century led to significant improvements in public health.60 In many locations, water infrastructure has now outlived its intended useful life, and Sustainably Supply Food, Water, and Energy | 17
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As demands for food collect solar energy from near-infrared and far-infrared light and clean energy increase with growing populations, creative waves, while the solar spectrum needed for food production ideas such as this are needed to develop cost-effective and can pass through to the crops on the ground. The near-infrared scalable approaches that maximize energy, food, and water light can be used to generate energy and the near- and supplies while reducing adverse impacts.
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fuels for more than a century, accounting for about 80 percent of energy consumption in 2017.70 Globally, fossil fuels also comprised about 80 percent of the primary energy supply in 2015, with nuclear and renewables such as wind, solar, hydropower, biomass, and geothermal power making up the rest.71 Burning fossil fuels is the primary source of air pollutants as well as the greenhouse gases that drive climate change. Switching to low-carbon sources of energy and increasing energy efficiency will be essential steps to curb climate change,72 as discussed in detail in Challenge 2.
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20 | ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING IN THE 21st CENTURY: ADDRESSING GRAND CHALLENGES
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With declining costs, renewable energy technologies are offering cost-effective alternatives in remote locations compared to centralized systems, replacing traditional energy sources that generate harmful air pollutants, such as diesel generators and biomass burning.83 Continued advances in transmission and storage as well as further reductions in cost will help provide access to reliable renewable energy supplies. The use of renewable "microgrids" has emerged as a promising solution to sustainably supply locally-generated electricity to remote regions that are not connected to a conventional power grid.
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. A similar idea is to use electricity during periods of low demand to 22 | ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING IN THE 21st CENTURY: ADDRESSING GRAND CHALLENGES
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generated by solar and wind energy, the pump would capture Environmental engineering expertise will be needed to river water from the lower Colorado and send it back up to consider the full life-cycle impacts of alternative energy storage Lake Mead where it can be used to generate electricity when solutions. Sustainably Supply Food, Water, and Energy | 23
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Through systems and life-cycle thinking, engineers can help develop technologies and strategies to sustainably supply food, water, and energy to Earth's growing population (see Box 1-2 for examples)
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• Develop water supply and water quality forecasting tools, including low-cost, distributed sensing systems, to anticipate water availability and quality threats. • Develop and evaluate energy-neutral or energy-positive cost-effective wastewater treatment technologies suitable for low-, middle-, and high-income settings that provide enhanced contaminant removal, minimize energy consumption, and promote safe water reuse.
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