ENVISAFE Environmental Engineering and Safety Management

1ST Semester, S.Y. 2010-2011 PROF. RUBY PINEDA-HENSON, Ph.D.

INTRODUCTION

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 What were the different environmental problems which the world faced in 1992? What brought about the different environmental problems? (Causes)

What are the current issues and problems on the environment?

Historical Perspective
Industrial Revolution to Environmental Revolution

 Industrial Revolution (18th Century)

Environmental Impacts of the Industrial Revolution

 Environmental Revolution in Industry

Second phase: 1960s 1980s was characterized by the nearly exponential increase in environmental laws and regulations resulting in companies addressing contamination problems but not preventing the problems from occurring

so-called end-of-pipe method compliance with the law

Third phase: Sustainable development phase Sustainable Manufacturing via more proactive approaches instead of end-ofpipe treatment

 The objectives of the conference were to build upon the hopes and achievements of the Brundtland Report, in order to respond to pressing global environmental problems and to agree on major treaties on biodiversity, climate change and forest management.

 Sustainable Development: development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs -Brundtland Report

 The biggest challenges faced at the Rio Earth Summit (1992) involved finance, consumption rates and population growth.

 The most prolific evidence of the Industrial Revolutions impact on the modern world can be seen in the worldwide human population growth

 The developed nations are demanding environmental sustainability while the developing nations are arguing that they should be given the chance to catch up socially and economically with the developed world.

 Human prosperity and environmental integrity are closely intertwined because the fulfillment of basic human needs food, clothing, materials, energy ultimately depends upon the availability of natural resources.

 Sustainability is measured by the use or misuse of resources, both material and energy The central idea is that we should use resources (anything that is useful for creating wealth or improving lives) in ways that do not diminish them.

 In the last fifty years, we gradually rediscovered the importance of protecting vital resources, such as soil, air, water, trees, and other organisms. What began as a fringe movement in the 1960s has evolved into a mainstream concern, as economists and politicians have gradually recognized that we are depleting fossil fuel resources and pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at an alarming rate.

 The good news is that we are no longer in denial, but the bad news is that we cant seem to break our old habits.

Early 2000s two authoritative reports appeared, involving hundreds of scientists around the world, which left little doubt about the urgency of the situation. The International Panel on Climate Change confirmed the rapid increase in global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions, and Al Gore wisely used the cinematic medium to sound a public alarm about the inconvenient truth of climate change.

Less well publicized, but equally significant was the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, which confirmed the rapid degradation in ecosystems due to industrialization

Current Environmental Issues:

 Global warming is only one of many disturbing trends identified by the scientific community sea level is rising, fresh water growing scarce, running out of arable land, our disappearing forests, and loss of biodiversity due to changes in natural habitats. Mean while, global population continues to increase.

 ENVIRONMENT: A general term referring to man's surroundings. It includes the air, water, land and socio-economic conditions in which man or society lives. The term may also be defined as the sum of all external conditions and influences affecting the life, development and ultimately, the survival of an organism, including man himself.

 Built environment refers to the totality of all that humans have changed or rearranged within the natural environment. ( Bartuska and Young, 1996)

 Built environment refers to the manmade surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging from the large-scale civic surroundings to the personal places.

 Environmental engineering involves water and air pollution control, recycling, waste disposal, and public health issues as well as a knowledge of environmental engineering law.

 ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING is the application of science and engineering principles to improve the environment (air, water, and/or land resources), to provide healthy water, air, and land for human habitation and for other organisms, and to remediate polluted sites.

E
Environmental engineers conduct hazardous-waste management studies to evaluate the significance of such hazards, advise on treatment and containment, and develop regulations to prevent mishaps.

 Environmental engineers also design municipal water supply and industrial wastewater treatment systems as well as address local and worldwide environmental issues such as the effects of acid rain, global warming, ozone depletion, water pollution and air pollution from automobile (mobile) and industrial (stationary) sources

 Environmental "chemical" engineers, on the other hand, focus on environmental chemistry, advanced air and water treatment technologies and separation processes.

 Environmental "civil" engineers focus on hydrology, water resources management, bioremediation, and water treatment plant design.

 Engineering takes things from this real world, the environment of engineering, and puts them back with added value. Without this addition of value, engineering has no meaning . . . In this sense, all engineering is about the environment
(Brancher, 1980)

PRINCIPLES OF MATTER AND ENERGY

MATTER
Matter is the material of which things are made. Matter exists in interchangeable physical forms: gases, liquid and solid Matter is neither created nor destroyed but recycled over and over again (under ordinary circumstances) but is recycled over and over again

 The elements in the body have been recycled through many other organisms, over millions of years. Matter is transformed and combined in different ways but doesnt disappear; everything goes somewhere.

Law of Conservation of Matter

 Matter is recycled endlessly through living things, but this recycling is made possible by something that cannot be recycled: ENERGY ENERGY is reused but it is degraded from higher quality to lower quality forms as it moves through living systems

ENERGY
Energy takes many different forms (heat, light, electricity, chemical energy, etc.) Energy as the capacity to do work:
Kinetic Energy: energy contained in moving objects Potential Energy: energy stored that is latent and available for use

Thermodynamic and Energy Transfers

Thermodynamics - the study of how energy is transferred, its rates of flow and transformation from one form or quality to another

 FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS: Energy is conserved: it is neither created nor destroyed under normal conditions. It may be transferred or transformed, but the total amount of energy remains the same.

Law of Conservation of Energy

 SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS The tendency of all natural systems to go from a state of order toward a state of increasing disorder

Law of Entropy

 There is no loss of total energy, but there is a loss of useful energy.

 All organisms including humans are in the process of converting high quality energy into low-quality energy Waste heat is produced when chemical bond energy in food is converted into energy needed to move, grow, or respond.
PROCESS IS CALLED RESPIRATION (CELLULAR RESPIRATION)

 An unfortunate consequence of energy conversion is pollution The heat from energy conversion is a pollutant, the emissions from power plants pollute Therefore, if we use less energy, there would be less waste (heat) energy, hence less pollution

 Sustainability is measured by the use or misuse of resources, both material and energy The central idea is that we should use resources (anything that is useful for creating wealth or improving lives) in ways that do not diminish them.

 Resources and natural amenities, including wildlife and natural beauty and open space, should be preserved so that future generations can still enjoy them.

Types of Resources
Inexhaustible resources are found in infinite quantity Nonrenewable resources exist in finite amounts: minerals, iron, fossil fuels, and also groundwater that recharges extremely slowly are all fixed at least on a human time scale Renewable resources are naturally replenished and recycled at a fairly steady rate: fresh water, living organisms, air, food resources are all renewable

 Nonrenewable resources can be extended through more efficient use (cars use less steel now, precious metals like gold are mixed with other metals to form alloys to extend their use). Substitution of materials (renewable in place of the nonrenewable) also reduces the demand for certain resources

 Recycling also extends supplies of nonrenewable resources The only limit to recycling is the relative costs of extracting new resources compared with collecting used materials New technology or methods also expand the sources of nonrenewable resources

 Renewable resources can become exhausted if managed badly.

Assignment
READ
Ecology of Life Biogeochemical Cycles Ecosystems