Engineering is a field where scientific and mathematical principles are applied practically to our daily life as to improve and provide us with better facilities and more comfortable surroundings to live with. However as the civilization grow, many environmental problems arise. Therefore, it is our duty to protect and preserve our environment from over-exploited meanwhile exalting the quality of our life. Among all the 14 grand challenges for engineering as discussed in the two articles, the idea of capturing and converting the solar energy arouse my enthusiasm for it. As most of our energy comes from the burning of fossil fuels and now seeing that this kind of source is running low as compared to the growing energy demand, it is crucial to find an ideal environmental-friendly energy that can replace fossil fuels. However, it is really a tough task, since that until now this type of energy can only cover a very limited demand from the societies. For example, the efficiency of converting solar energy into electricity is still very disappointed especially when compared to the high production cost. More ironically, the sun provides energy that is thousand times more than our total energy consumption every day, but until now we can only benefits very little of energy from it. It is definitely hard to incept much energy from the sun as it is spread throughout the earth surface and thus if we are to set up solar energy system, it is necessary to take up a wide area as to receive more sunlight. Besides that, we need an ideal material that can receive, store, and convert the sunlight to electricity effectively. However these two conditions are hard to achieve because it consumes a huge amount of fund. Well, here comes the role of the engineers, it’s their honor mission to find a more economical way to generate huge amount of electricity to replace the exhausting fossil fuels. Perhaps investigate some methods that are able to attract and absorb sunlight radiation from the surrounding area? Hence, I think this is very challenging and crucial to the profession as a lot of researches and efforts are needed to accomplish this mission.
adapted from
National Academy of Engineering,Introduction to the Grand Challenges for Engineering
6 comments:
Hello!I agreed your opinion that engineers should develop new sources of energy especially environmentally friendly power such as solar energy and nuclear fusion instead of using fossil fuels.We have to save our only Earth before it is too late.
Personally,i think the essay is easy to understand,clear and concise. Not bad!
Nowadays,everyone goes green and it is really wonderful if engineers can develop solar energy to its fullest. This will definitely change our life better.
hello! essay about tapping the energy from the sun for the sake of mankind in a cheaper way is really a good challenge to engineers everywhere. since fossil energy is diminishing at an exponential rate, it is time for we engineers to find other source of energy n importantly cheap and easily renewable. some strong and clear words were used in your essay to make it stand out but i do no know about the part where u said "More ironically..." i think it should just be "Ironically...:? can someone confirm with me?
Hello Wen Hui. I think it is an easy-to-understand essay with clear points. Examples are used appropriately. I agree with calvin that some strong words are used making your essay more interesting. However, i notice usage of some inappropriate vocabulary. The sentence: "perhaps investigate some methods...". Personally, i think investigate should not be used here. Please correct me if I am wrong. Overall, it is a good piece of essay!
Before all else, the first thing I think about when I look at your entry is "Whoa !!! It's a bunch of words *_*". I really think you should separate your post into several paragraphs in order to better express your ideas, and it's easier for the readers too.
The content is generally well done, and the solar energy is a great topic in terms of challenge for engineers as well as solving the environmental problems. If you can fix the structure problem then I would say it is a great essay.
About Calvin question, I think you can use it in both way, depend on the circumstances. Anyway, we should ask our Instructors for the details and correct usage of it.
I dont think the solar energy is a feasible solution to the energy proble. Solar energy availability largely varies from region to region, and season to season. Maybe in Singapore and Malaysia, people will never worry about beautiful sunshine. However in most part of China, people just cannot rely on the sun. The same for people living in Canada, Russia, and most part of Europe.
Post a Comment