The Impact of Technology on the Environment
The Industrial Revolution brought
forth extraordinary gains in financial prosperity. Between 1870 and 1910, per
capita income in the United States rose almost 40 percent, and the value of manufacturing
output increased sevenfold. Yet rapid industrialization left in its wake
darkened noontime skies, noisy and unsafe machinery, and severely compromised
living conditions.
It took nearly three generations
before the first concerted efforts were made to bring pollution under control,
but once begun, progress has been real. The air quality index for the United
States now shows a 42 percent improvement since 1980. The number of U.S. cities
failing to meet national air quality standards for ozone, 199 in 1990, was just
70 by 1995. Automobile emissions of six principal air pollutants have decreased
31 percent even while the number of vehicle miles driven has more than doubled.
Having dirtied the earth, air, and
water for more than a century, technology is now showing promise in
environmental cleanup. Technological innovations specifically aimed at reducing
pollution-from cleaner manufacturing processes to flue gas scrubbers to
catalytic converters-now figure prominently in mitigating some of the growing
pains of an increasingly technological world.
The industrial revolution has brought about new
technologies with immense power. This was the transition to new manufacturing
processes in Europe and the United States, in the period from about 1760 to
1840. This has been succeeded by continued industrialisation and further
technological advancements in developed countries around the world, and the
impact of this technology on the environment has included the misuse and damage
of our natural earth.
These technologies have damaged our world in two
main ways; pollution and the depletion of natural resources.
1. Air and water pollution
Air pollution occurs when harmful or excessive
quantities of gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide,
nitric oxide and methane are introduced into the earth’s atmosphere. The main
sources all relate to technologies which emerged following the industrial
revolution such as the burning of fossil fuels, factories, power stations, mass
agriculture and vehicles. The consequences of air pollution include negative
health impacts for humans and animals and global warming, whereby the increased
amount of greenhouse gases in the air trap thermal energy in the Earth’s
atmosphere and cause the global temperature to rise.
Water pollution on the other hand is the
contamination of water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans, and groundwater,
usually due to human activities. Some of the most common water pollutants are
domestic waste, industrial effluents and insecticides and pesticides. A
specific example is the release of inadequately treated wastewater into natural
water bodies, which can lead to degradation of aquatic ecosystems. Other
detrimental effects include diseases such as typhoid and cholera,
eutrophication and the destruction of ecosystems which negatively affects the
food chain.
2. Depletion of natural resources
Resource depletion is another negative impact of
technology on the environment. It refers to the consumption of a resource
faster than it can be replenished. Natural resources consist of those that are
in existence without humans having created them and they can be either
renewable or non-renewable. There are several types of resource depletion, with
the most severe being aquifer depletion, deforestation, mining for fossil fuels
and minerals, contamination of resources, soil erosion and overconsumption of
resources. These mainly occur as a result of agriculture, mining, water usage
and consumption of fossil fuels, all of which have been enabled by advancements
in technology.
Due to the increasing global population, levels of
natural resource degradation are also increasing. This has resulted in the
estimation of the world’s eco-footprint to be one and a half times the ability
of the earth to sustainably provide each individual with enough resources that
meet their consumption levels. Since the industrial revolution, large-scale
mineral and oil exploration has been increasing, causing more and more natural
oil and mineral depletion. Combined with advancements in technology,
development and research, the exploitation of minerals has become easier and
humans are therefore digging deeper to access more which has led to many
resources entering into a production decline.
Moreover, the consequence of deforestation has
never been more severe, with the World Bank reporting that the net loss of
global forest between 1990 and 2015 was 1.3 million km2. This
is primarily for agricultural reasons but also logging for fuel and making
space for residential areas, encouraged by increasing population pressure. Not
only does this result in a loss of trees which are important as they remove
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but thousands of plants and animals lose
their natural habitats and have become extinct.
Environmental Technology
Despite the negative impact of
technology on environment, a recent rise in global concern for climate change
has led to the development of new environmental technology aiming to help solve
some of the biggest environmental concerns that we face as a society through a shift towards a more sustainable,
low-carbon economy. Environmental technology is also known as ‘green’ or
‘clean’ technology and refers to the development of new technologies which aim
to conserve, monitor or reduce the negative impact of technology on the
environment and the consumption of resources.
The Paris agreement, signed in 2016, has obliged
almost every country in the world to undertake ambitious efforts to combat
climate change by keeping the rise in the global average temperature at less
than 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
This section will focus on the positive impact of
technology on the environment as a result of the development of environmental
technology such as renewable energy, ‘smart technology’, electric vehicles and
carbon dioxide removal.
- Renewable energy
Renewable energy, also known as ‘clean energy’, is
energy that is collected from renewable resources which are naturally
replenished such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat. Modern
environmental technology has enabled us to capture this naturally occurring
energy and convert it into electricity or useful heat through devices such as
solar panels, wind and water turbines, which reflects a highly positive impact
of technology on the environment.
Having overtaken coal in 2015 to become our second
largest generator of electricity, renewable sources currently produce more than
20% of the UK’s electricity, and EU targets means that this is likely to
increase to 30% by 2020. While many renewable energy projects are large-scale,
renewable technologies are also suited to remote areas and developing
countries, where energy is often crucial in human development.
The cost of renewable energy technologies such as
solar panels and wind turbines are falling and government investment is on the
rise. This has contributed towards the amount of rooftop solar installations in
Australia growing from approximately 4,600 households to over 1.6 million
between 2007 and 2017.
- Smart technology
Smart home technology uses devices such as linking
sensors and other appliances connected to the Internet of Things (IoT) that can
be remotely monitored and programmed in order to be as energy efficient as
possible and to respond to the needs of the users.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of
internet-connected objects able to collect and exchange data using embedded
sensor technologies. This data allows devices in the network to autonomously
‘make decisions’ based on real-time information. For example, intelligent
lighting systems only illuminate areas that require it and a smart thermostat
keeps homes at certain temperatures during certain times of day, therefore
reducing wastage.
This environmental technology has been enabled by
increased connectivity to the internet as a result of the increase in
availability of WiFi, Bluetooth and smart sensors in buildings and cities.
Experts are predicting that cities of the future will be places where every
car, phone, air conditioner, light and more are interconnected, bringing about
the concept of energy efficient ‘smart cities’.
The technology of the internet further demonstrates
a positive impact of technology on the environment due to the fact that social
media can raise awareness of global issue and worldwide virtual laboratories
can be created. Experts from different fields can remotely share their
research, experience and ideas in order to come up with improved solutions. In
addition, travel is reduced as meetings/communication between friends and families
can be done virtually, which reduces pollution from transport emissions.
- Electric vehicles
The environmental technology of the electric
vehicle is propelled by one or more electric motors, using energy stored in
rechargeable batteries. Since 2008, there has been an increase in the
manufacturing of electric vehicles due to the desire to reduce environmental
concerns such as air pollution and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Electric vehicles demonstrate a positive impact of
technology on the environment because they do not produce carbon emissions,
which contribute towards the ‘greenhouse effect’ and leads to global warming.
Furthermore, they do not contribute to air pollution, meaning they are cleaner
and less harmful to human health, animals, plants, and water.
There have recently been several environmental
technology government incentives encouraging plug-in vehicles, tax credits and
subsidies to promote the introduction and adoption of electric vehicles.
Electric vehicles could potentially be the way forward for a greener society
because companies such as Bloomberg have predicted that they could become
cheaper than petrol cars by 2024 and according to Nissan, there are now in fact
more electric vehicle charging stations in the UK than fuel stations3.
- ‘Direct Air Capture’ (DAC) – Environmental
Technology removing Carbon from the atmosphere
For a slightly more ambitious technology to
conclude with, the idea of pulling carbon dioxide directly out of the
atmosphere has been circulating climate change mitigation research for years,
however it has only recently been implemented and is still in the early stages
of development.
The environmental technology is known as ‘Direct
Air Capture’ (DAC) and is the process of capturing carbon dioxide directly from
the ambient air and generating a concentrated stream of CO2 for sequestration
or utilisation. The air is then pushed through a filter by many large fans,
where CO2 is removed. It is thought that this technology can be used to manage
emissions from distributed sources, such as exhaust fumes from cars. Full-scale
DAC operations are able to absorb the equivalent amount of carbon to the annual
emissions of 250,000 average cars.
Many argue that DAC is essential for climate change
mitigation and that it can help reach the Paris Climate Agreement goals, as
carbon dioxide in the air has been the main cause of the problem after all.
However, the high cost of DAC currently means that it is not an option on a
large scale and some believe that reliance on this technology would pose a risk
as it may reduce emission reduction as people may be under the pretense that
all of their emissions will simply be removed.
What can be done to minimize impact on
environment?
We live in a society where the environmental conscience does not
exist on a general manner. This is a reality over all the sectors from our
society. Most governments do not have the determination to make a significant
change, as there is also no motivation from the society to clearly and strongly
support such movements.
Also, the way that most people run their lives, were every
material goods are disposable, not many people are concerned on disposing those
goods on the proper manner using recycling centers, often choosing the easiest
way to do so, which is to simply throw stuff away on common garbage disposals.
How many times were you offered a plastic straw on a bar for your drink or
simply dropped into your glass? How many times did you refused a plastic straw?
Well, most of those tiny plastic straws end up on common garbage, or during the
process, floating in the ocean (due to many causes). Small actions like
refusing a plastic straw can make a significant impact on the environment. This
applies for many other situations. Simply think on the things that you throw
away, minutes after you got it. Refuse to use these things.
Companies are also interested on making profits and
environmental concerns are not at all aligned towards profits. There are costs
associated to being respectful towards the environment. Even when there are not
costs, it is common to choose the easiest way to do things by dumping residues
(byproduct of the production processes) directly into the nature without proper
treatment. This usually contaminates the soil or water supplies that we all
need to live. It is common to find regions where people’s health is affected by
this sort of behaviors. In some cases, and because it is cheaper to do so,
companies hire laboratories to “create” results that are favorable to the company.
Companies are also interested on selling new devices instead of
making them last longer. It is common to find evidences that a device was built
for a certain amount of utilizations and after that, to be thrown away.
Typically, the costs to repair an equipment, such as a mobile phone, can be
very close to the cost a new one. In some cases, manufacturers install parts
that will break on disassembly to deliberately avoid its repair.
In addition to that, companies are profit driven, and designing
products with a much shorter lifespan than what can be technically achieved is
a common strategy amongst the industry. Many times, and especially on
electronic devices, it is common for manufacturers to include a “suicide”
functionality which will automatically activate after some time or number of utilizations,
even though that there’s nothing wrong with the device.
It is everyone’s responsibility to run his or her lives on a
sustainable manner. This can be achieved by reducing the resources used to a
minimum, such as packaging, driving, shopping. Some of the things with positive
impact on the environment, include using material goods to the maximum of their
lifespan, refusing to use plastic based products, saving water and energy.
Using public transportation for every day commuting is also a good way to save
our planet.
Another obvious way to contribute is to apply the 3R policy:
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
As an example, it is substantially more harmful to the
environment to build a new car, then to keep an old car running (even one that
emits more pollution). So, think twice on the environment before thinking on
purchasing the latest shiny model of your favorite vehicle.
Specific to IT companies, there is also things that can be done.
It is possible to imagine that most companies in this area to have a lot of
electronic waste. Companies need to make sure that those are properly disposed
of into recycling centers. Also, when it comes to energy consumption, it is
very common to let computers or screens running during the night for no special
reason, even if “standby” is being used. Why not shutting down these devices at
night even though that only residual power consumption is used? Intelligent
lighting or air conditioner, garbage separation is also in the list. What about
plastic cups for your water or coffee? How many do you use per day and why
can’t those be made of reusable glass instead?
