As you probably know already, today (Thursday, April 22) is Earth Day, which means it’s time to celebrate the achievements of environmental engineers everywhere. So here’s a collection of news items highlighting the efforts of engineers to improve the state of our home planet. For more information about Earth Day events in your area, check the official Earth Day Network site.
Tap water is indisputably a more environmentally-friendly drinking choice than bottled water. But now, rising levels of pharmaceuticals in the water supply are raising concerns about the safety of the tap.
This situation has prompted four Chemical Engineering students at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada to design a wastewater treatment system that could remove 90 percent of pharmaceuticals and other potentially harmful compounds.
Each year 1.5 million tons of plastic are used to bottle 89 billion liters of water, and the energy required to manufacture and transport this bottled water severely drains our limited supply of fossil fuels.
But MIT chemist Dan Nocera has discovered a way to make plastic water bottles more environmentally friendly.
Using a special catalyst, Nocera’s new photosynthetic process can power a home using only sunlight and a bottle of water.
Next week, NISE Net (Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network) celebrates NanoDays, a nationwide series of events and activities at your local science centers dedicated to the wondrous world of nanotechnology.
So what exactly is nanotech, you may ask, and how is it crucial to the future of engineering? Watch the video above to find out.
Who would have thought that frogs would inspire engineers to create new biofuels? Well, the Tungara frog, which resides in Central America, seems to have done just that.
The Tungara frog creates very long-lived foam nests for its newborn tadpoles. Engineers from University of Cincinnati, in yet another example of biomimicry, found the frogs’ design inspirational and helpful in constructing an innovative artificial photosynthetic foam.
