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Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering

IMPACT OF ENGINEERING ACTIVITY AND GROUPWORK
MIA 320
Exam
26 NOVEMBER 2013
Examiners
Mr Karl Grimsehl PrEng

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Time: 3hrs
2. Full marks: 120
3. Use side 1 of the answer sheet.
4. Closed book.
5. PLEASE ONLY MARK ONE ANSWER PER QUESTION.

Assessment Criteria Reference Yes No
Does the student show an understanding of the impact of technology
on Society? i.e.: Is the student able to reflect on the importance of
local and global projects on the progression of society?
Questions
15-18

Can the student use his/her knowledge of Occupational Health and
Public Safety and apply this knowledge to a realistic scenario/real life
situation? i.e.: Can the student apply the OHSA to a case study?
Questions
1-10

Is the student aware of the impact of Engineering Work on the Physical
Environment? i.e.: Is the student able to mitigate negative effects of
Engineering activity on the physical environment?
Questions
24-30

Can the student identify the interpersonal effect of Engineering
Activity on a personal, social and cultural level? i.e.: Can the student
identify possible conflicts within a workforce/local community due to
Engineering activity?
Questions
11-14
19-23

SATISFACTORY? YES NO

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General OHSA questions
Question 1
Youve recently been appointed manager of an abattoir in the Western Cape. In the abattoir there is a piece of
machinery that you think might be unsafe to operate.

If you considered the following points,
1) The severity of the risk associated with the machine.
2) The state of knowledge reasonably available to you concerning removal or mitigation of the hazard.
3) If methods and means to remove the hazard is readily available.
4) The cost of removing the risk.

What, with respect to the OHSA, did you consider?
A. You considered the risk of the machine.
B. You considered the safety of the machine.
C. You considered if it was reasonably practical to remove the risk.
D. You considered the standard of the machine.

Question 2
You come up with the brainwave to import protective eye equipment from China to sell at a discounted price to
mines in Mpumalanga.

Which statement is true?
A. It is your responsibility to ensure that the product is safe.
B. It is the mines responsibility to ensure that the product you sell to them is safe.
C. It is the Chinese manufacturers responsibility to insure that the product is safe.
D. It is Governments responsibility to insure that the product is safe.

Question 3
You are an OHSA Safety representative. In performing your duties as a Safety officer you noticed a blocked
emergency exit but failed to report it.

Which statement is true?
A. A civil case could be brought against you because you noticed the fault in performing your duties as
an OHSA representative.
B. You can be held liable because you noticed the discrepancy in performing your duties as an OHSA
representative, however, if you would have noticed it after hours, you cant be held liable.
C. A civil suit cannot be brought against you.
D. It depends on the scenario.


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Question 4
You own a printing press. An incident occurred where hydrogen peroxide was spilled and two people were injured to
such an extent that they were unable to return to work for a period of two days. According to OHSA what should you
do?

A. Report the incident to an inspector.
B. Aid the injured employees financially with their recovery.
C. A and B.
D. No action is required.

Question 5
You were recently appointed as the OHSA representative for your office building. During a routine inspection of the
fire extinguisher in your bosss office you notice incriminating/indiscreet pictures of him and Susan from accounting
on his PC screen. If you dont want to jeopardise your position as the OHSA representative, what should you do?

A. Inform your bosss wife.
B. Keep quiet because talking about it would be against OHSA.
C. Tell your colleagues.
D. Whichever you feel is the most ethical thing to do, OHSA has nothing to say about this.

Question 6
You own a software developing company, employing 15 people working in an open plan office environment. How
many safety officers should you have?

A. 0
B. 1
C. 2
D. 3

The next few questions refer to the General Safety regulations of 1986 of the OHSA.
Question 7
You own a spray painting company where you do custom paintwork on motor vehicles and motorcycles. In your
company you work with flammable liquids such as Acetone and Turpentine. You own a 1mx1mx1m spray cabinet for
spraying small components and a spraying room with ventilation slits on the side of the room to spray automobiles.

Which of the following statements are applicable to you?

1) You as employer shall provide every employee doing spray work with a respirator, mask or breathing
apparatus.
2) The minimum airflow in the spray room should not be less than 0.3m/s.
3) You can switch off your ventilation system at the close of business each day.
4) The airspeed in your spray cabinet should not be less than 1m/s.
5) You shall not permit any person to smoke in any place where flammable liquids are stored.

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A. 1 and 2
B. 1, 4 and 5
C. 1, 2, 4 and 5
D. All of them

Question 8
When should you give PPE to your employees?
A. Always.
B. If there are unsafe conditions.
C. If there is an unsafe condition and it is not practicable to safeguard the condition without PPE.
D. It is the employees responsibility to make sure he has the necessary PPE.

Question 9
After five years in industry you realize that engineering is not for you. In an attempt to find a more relaxed job you
become a general cleaner for a company that produces chemicals. One of your duties as cleaner is to clean the inside
of a dangerous substance storage tank.

With respect to the General safety regulations of 1986, if the air cannot be tested or vented what precautions does
your employer need to take in order for you to clean the tank?

1) All the pipes entering the storage tank must be shut and locked.
2) You must wear an approved breathing apparatus.
3) You must be attached to a rope that reaches beyond the access of the confined space.
4) A person trained in resuscitation must be in attendance immediately outside the entrance.
A. 1
B. 1 and 2
C. 1,2,3 and 4
D. None of the above

Question 10
When is it permitted to fasten two ladders together in order to extend its reach?
A. Always.
B. If the reach of the ladders will not be extended by more than 3m.
C. Only with the approval of an inspector.
D. Never.

Please read through the following case study and answer the questions
Experts, complex systems and Challenger
Much that has been written in the engineering community on the NASA Challenger accident (28 January 1986) has
focused on the question of engineering ethics.
Did Boisjoly and Thompson, engineers at Morton Thiokol Inc., manufacturers of the rocket boosters, argue strongly
enough that the temperature at the launch site was too cold for the O-rings? Should they have blown the whistle
when they were over-ruled?
Did the engineer-managers act unethically when they recommended a launch in spite of the dangers?
In short, would a better appreciation of and adherence to engineering ethics have saved the lives of those seven
astronauts? While the direct answer to this question is probably yes, we would miss some important lessons about
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the nature of technology and the implications for a broader view of engineering ethics if we were to stop our
analysis there.
A closer look at the events and problems surrounding the accident indicates that many things were wrong. The
launching of a space shuttle involves the operation of a very complex system, a system that includes not only
complex hardware, but also a wide range of people. Furthermore, the even larger sociopolitical context often has a
direct impact on the system. In complex systems, single-component failures can occur in unanticipated ways, leading
to or working in conjunction with other failures to produce major accidents.
A narrow view of engineering ethics focuses on single-failure problems; a broader view is needed to deal with the
possibilities of multiple-failure problems. A whole range of problems and failures surrounded the shuttle accident,
although not all were immediate issues with a direct connection to the disaster. Taking them one by one:
Cold temperatures
The temperature at the launch site was expected to fall to 10F at dawn on the day of the launch, creating several
problems: the O-rings in the field joints of the booster rockets might be too stiff to seal properly; the water in the
trough used to absorb the shock wave would be frozen; and the pressure transducers in the nose cone were not
rated to give reliable results at that temperature.
The responses to these problems varied: the possible effect on the O-rings was ignored (as will be discussed later);
the troughs were doped with antifreeze and the water was left to run in the hoses to avoid freeze-up; and the
temperature criterion for the transducers was rewritten twice, first to 28F on the Monday and then to 10F on the
actual day of the launch. Allowing the water to run in the fire hoses created a new set of problems: the drainpipes
froze, allowing water to flow all over the launch structure and create sheets of ice and large icicles. This was
potentially dangerous since the ice could have been sucked into the engine during take-off or could have fallen off
and damaged the sensitive tiles on the shuttle.
Field joints
Since the failure of the O-rings in the field joints was found by the Warren Commission be the primary cause of
failure, it has received a lot of media coverage. I will review only a few of the central issues. Erosion of both the
primary and secondary O-rings had become so common by the eighteenth flight that it was considered acceptable
and did not require review after each flight. The manufacturer had the problem closed because they were working
on it. New designs were being considered, but very little had been done to correct the fault. One of the changes that
did occur was an increase in the pressure applied during ground testing. This is now believed to have made this
problem worse.
Hatch closing indicator
A faulty microswitch (indicating that the shuttle door was not closed) eventually led to an earlier launch being
scrubbed. What went wrong was a micro-example of failure in handle of the hatch had to be removed. However, the
threads of the bolts were stripped and could not be removed without drilling. A battery-powered drill carried by the
technicians for this environment was found to have a dead battery. Of the nine batteries eventually sent up as
replacements, only one actually worked. The metal was eventually found to be too hard to be drilled out, so the bolt
was cut off. All this took hours. By the time the problem was fixed, the wind had picked up and the launch had to be
postponed.
Wind shear
While the temperature problem has received a lot of attention, the importance of a large wind shear that day was
not recognised until much later. Some calculations have shown that the wind shear was large enough to exceed the
structural capacity of the rocket. This occurred at 58 seconds into the flight, just before the fatal explosion. While it
is clear that the O-rings did fail at the moment of ignition, the failure did not lead to the fatal accident at that point.
It is likely that propellant oxides resealed the joints. The Challenger may have made it had the shear forces not been
so powerful a minute later.
Production pressures within NASA
NASA was on record as saying that their highest priority was to make the shuttle system fully operational and cost-
effective in providing routine access to space. The goal was twenty-four flights a year by 1990 and at least fifteen in
1986. However, this was unrealistic; they had only four shuttles, with enough spare parts for two. Only half of the
$200 million cost per flight was being recovered from fees. Each minute of a shuttle mission requires three person-
years of preparation, with 14 000 people being involved. The pressure to keep on schedule was very high and felt by
everyone; many worked long work weeks with no breaks.
Production pressures within Morton Thiokol
Up to this point Morton Thiokol was the sole source of the booster rocket. There was pressure to have open
competition for the contract. They could ill afford to admit problems in design, and could not afford a redesign.
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Storm in the Atlantic
A major storm in the Atlantic had forced the recovery ships for the booster rockets to leave their post. This meant a
loss of $50 million in hardware. Why was the launch not postponed? This becomes clear when we consider some of
the political factors.
Political pressure/involvement
This was present in a number of ways. There is some evidence of conflict of interest and political connection in the
awarding of the contract to the company that designed and built the shuttle. Other designs did not require a low-lift
space glider that had to land on its first try. The decision not to launch on Sunday 26 January had been made
because Vice President Bush would have been able to make the launch but there was fear of bad weather that
would result in a cancellation, with associated bad publicity. It turned out to be a perfect day for a launch. January 28
was the last possible day to launch if the next shuttle flight was to go before 6 March. This next flight was to carry a
special project to view Halleys Comet. The politicians wanted to scoop the Russian Vega 2, which would send back
its pictures on 9 March.
One other political connection involved the Presidents State of the Union address. The speech was to mention NASA
in connection with the Teacher in Space program. NASA wanted to have the shuttle in orbit to capitalise on the
administrations emphasis on education.
The nature of expert decision making
People who get involved in projects of this nature often demonstrate a very high level of technical skill and tend to
have a can do attitude. In some ways they get wrapped up in the task for the sake of the task. A sound level of
scepticism does not always accompany these virtues; there is a tendency to take risks and perceive risks differently
from the general public. This is often linked to over-confidence and blind spots due to previous successes.
We see this in how the O-ring erosion problem eventually became acceptable. Sometimes there is long agonising
over whether it is safe to fly with a certain known risk. The decision to go is made and nothing goes wrong. Then
there is a feeling that it was not so risky after all. Next time it will not be so much of a concern.
Sometimes experts have difficulty in handling uncertainty. Evidence is not always conclusive and there is always a
need for judgement. If a launch was postponed every time any engineer had some doubts, it would probably never
happen. After a while, engineers get used to making decisions with uncertainty. The concern about the O-rings was
another case of uncertainty. Had the managers not been engineers, and consequently accustomed to ignoring some
degree of uncertainty, they might not have been so quick to over-rule their engineer subordinates this time.
In order for the final launch to occur there was a lengthy pre-launch certification process, involving several levels of
command. Often the upper levels were more sceptical than the lower levels. Theoretically this is a good procedure.
In reality, however, this procedure was flawed. Lower levels could waive constraints, the details of which were not
communicated to the upper levels. For this particular launch, for example, the hesitation of Morton Thiokol and their
concern about the effect of the cold temperature had not been communicated between Levels III and II in the launch
chain of command.
The above analysis has shown that the accident was due to a number of factors: if only the weather had not been so
cold; if only the design of the field joint had been changed in time; if only the production pressure was not there; if
only there was not pressure for the 6 March flight; if only the managers had not been engineers; if only they had had
more experience with failure; if only the concern had been passed up the chain; and if only there had not been
strong shear winds that day. Charles Perrow, in his book Normal Accidents, argues that multiple-failure systems
accidents are normal for complex, tightly coupled technologies; the failure is to a large degree inherent in the
technology. Perrow distinguishes between component failure accidents, where failure is linked in an anticipated
sequence, and system accidents, where there is an unanticipated interaction of multiple failures that nevertheless
start with component failures.
Space missions are more complex than chemical plants but are less tightly coupled because of the number of built-in
redundancies. (These are back-up devices that provide an alternative action if something fails.) There are, however,
over 700 critical items for which there are no redundancies: failure in any one of these would lead to the loss of a
mission.
Was there a failure due to one or more persons failing to act ethically? All of this analysis is not to excuse unethical
behaviour, but to illustrate the need for a concern wider than that of individual ethics. A broader view would
consider not only the human operators, but also the nature of the technology and the nature of the process of
design and operation of the technology.
Concerning the nature of the process, engineering design and operation are very much human activities. Manager-
engineers need to be aware of, and know how to handle, the pressures that affect their work. These pressures can
be political, economic, social or even personal. Multiple lines of communication would help here.
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More deeply, however, as engineers we need to recognise the blind spots inherent in being an expert. Our
perception of risk and uncertainty is affected by our past successes and by the distance we can take from the
consequences of our projects.
Concerning the nature of technology, we need to consider the characteristics that get built in. The tendency for
highly complex and tightly coupled systems to behave in totally unexpected ways has been demonstrated many
times. This is the nature of the system we deal with, so we need to design policies and procedures accordingly. In the
operation of these systems, if anomalies occur we should be careful not to ignore them or rationalise them away;
they may be unexpected interactions, common to complex systems.
In this regard it is important to encourage people to talk about problems they experience; there is a tendency to
suppress unpleasant information. In the risk analysis of complex systems we need to widen our worst case scenarios
to include three or four simultaneous component failures.
Source: Case study contributed by Robert Hudspith, Professor of Engineering, McMaster
University, Hamilton, Ontario. Originally published in IEEE Hamilton (On) Newsletter,
April 1988; many of the problems described are based on McConnell (1987).
References
McConnell, M. 1987, Challenger: A Major Malfunction, Doubleday, New York.
Perrow, C. 1984, Normal Accidents: Living with High Risk Technologies, Basic Books, New York

Question 11
If you were a registered engineer working for Morton Thiokol and you told your superiors that you can solve the
booster rocket dilemma while in fact you have little experiences with booster rockets, which section of the ECSA
code of conduct did you breach?

1. Competency
2. Integrity
3. Environment
4. Public interest

A. 1
B. 1 &2
C. 1, 2, & 3
D. 1, 2, 3 & 4

Question 12
According to the ECSA code of conduct, a registered person may not without satisfactory reason destroy or
knowingly allow anybody else to destroy information within ____ years of completion of the work concerned.

A. 2
B. 5
C. 10
D. 20


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Question 13
Experts at Morton Thiokol argued about whether or not to inform NASA about their concerns .Which one of the
following sets best describes possible unfairness in this debate:

1. Unequal funding.
2. Domination of the research by a few experts.
3. Career penalty due to unwelcome advice.
4. Secretive administration procedures.

A) 1 & 2
B) 1, 2 & 3
C) 1, 2 & 4
D) 2 & 3

Question 14
An example of induction reasoning is:

A. We havent had an o-ring failure thus the o-ring will not fail on this mission.
B. Space craft are dangerous, Challenger was a spacecraft, and thus Challenger was dangerous.
C. Engineers make decisions under uncertainty and that can lead to the wrong decision being made.
D. All of the above.

Question 15
If we consider Systems Engineering as described in our textbook, the Challenger case study clearly illustrates:

A. How poor management decisions can lead to disaster.
B. How political ambition can interfere with engineering.
C. The importance of emergent properties with respect to the complexity of systems.
D. Environmental factors can jeopardize a project.

Question 16
In studying a system, we draw system boundaries. In the Challenger example the system boundaries are:

A. The space shuttle and rocket boosters.
B. The space shuttle, rocket booster and the launch environment.
C. The space shuttle, rocket booster, the environment and the personnel.
D. We can draw our system boundaries however we want to.


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Question 17
Even though the space shuttle program has stopped, it has given valuable insight into spaceflight.

If the rocket fuel developed in the space program was, after cancelation of the space program, sold to airliners as a
jet fuel this would be an example of?

A. Market pull.
B. Heuristics.
C. Technology push.
D. Inductive reasoning.

Question 18
Inspecting the o-rings at a higher pressure was an attempt at:

A. Product innovation.
B. System innovation.
C. Process innovation.
D. Program innovation.

Please read through the following case study and answer the questions
Engineering managers have a professional responsibility to shape productive workplaces that are (at the
very least) not damaging for those employed there. This is their common duty as civilised human beings.
It is part of their social and ethical responsibilities, as spelled out in their professional codes of ethics. It
is a prerequisite for the quality production that is now essential to the success, and even the survival, of
manufacturing and other enterprises. It is also a legal requirement, and failure to address harassment
issues promptly and effectively can leave a supervisor open to immediate dismissal and even to civil
lawsuits. This case study presents one American woman engineers description of her own experience,
and her reflections on how the situation in which she found herself should have been handled.

Monday 10:00 pm
How many times have I driven this highway? Fifty? Sixty? As I drive, I begin to reflect on the events of the last few
months. Nine months ago, my supervisor proposed a new assignment. I wasnt too surprised. I had never stayed very
long in one position. Management was moving me quickly through various assignments and I should feel flattered.
This would be the fourth assignment in four years, three of them in different departments. When my supervisor
described it, however, I was a little overwhelmed. It involved a substantial increase in responsibilities and exposure.

I would be design-responsible for a major component in the redesigned version of the highest-selling automobile my
corporation manufactured. From a monetary viewpoint, this represented $45 million per year at manufacturers
cost. The vehicle was being launched in a few months. On the bright side, the component was very similar to a part I
had worked on before. But when I took that assignment, the vehicle had already been in production for two years.
The major problems were solved and I was fine-tuning the design. Now I would be responsible for taking the
component into production. I needed to learn the design quickly. I travelled right away to the main vehicle assembly
plant to watch the last few cars of the pilot build. In total, three plants would be manufacturing this automobile.

Two were in the Midwest and one was in Mexico. The main or lead plant was only four hours away by car. Since
flying basically took the same amount of time as driving, almost all engineers drove to the plant. Management also
preferred us to drive as it was significantly less expensive. The lead assembly plant was relatively new but was known
throughout the corporation as the most difficult plant. Although labour union and management relations were
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improving in other areas of the corporation, this facility still had its share of problems. This was to be my first
experience working with them and I was apprehensive.
According to other engineers, not only was there an abnormally large rift between union and management, but the
assembly plants relationship with central engineering was also strained. I was very familiar with the other Midwest
assembly plant, since I had worked there for a year and my last component was built there. I was glad I already knew
those contacts and I enjoyed working with them. By and large, union, management, plant engineering and central
engineering enjoyed a good working relationship, and hierarchy was not an issue. The third assembly plant, in
Mexico, built a number of different vehicles. Because of its location, the plant was largely self-sufficient.

They were well known throughout the corporation as very co-operative and they usually tried to solve their
problems before contacting central engineering. My first visit to the facility was scheduled a few months away. As far
as allocation of production volumes, the majority of the redesigned vehicles would be built at the lead assembly
plant. That was the only product they would manufacture and they had the final say in any production or design
decisions for all three assembly plants. In Mexico, the redesigned vehicle amounted to approximately half of their
total production but most of their production was for the local Mexican market.

I was told that central engineering in Mexico controlled the local market cars and I was responsible for the relatively
few vehicles to be imported into the United States. Finally, in the second Midwest plant, the redesigned vehicle was
a small fraction of their total production, filling in capacity gaps. In order to ease the burden on central engineering,
the start-ups at the three facilities were staggered. First was the lead plant in the fall, next Mexico a few months
later and finally the second Midwest plant in the spring. The start-up at the lead plant was long and painful. A certain
degree of pain is expected during all vehicle start-ups. I expected to work long hours and I wasnt disappointed.
Starting in September, I would usually work Monday at the office, drive to the plant Monday night and work 1214
hours per day, Tuesday through Friday. Working Saturday was common.

Every month, I would also travel to Mexico for a week. In Mexico, the start-up was progressing much smoothly.
Because the start-up in Mexico was later than at the lead plant, Mexican engineers travelled to the Midwest to
watch and learn. This helped accelerate their learning curve. The start-up at the second Midwest plant was not
planned for another six months. It soon became apparent that my component was causing installation difficulties. In
an effort to empower the assembly workers, an Andon system, or stop-cord, was installed on the assembly line
prior to the model change. If assembly workers experienced difficulty in their job or noticed a quality problem, they
could pull the cord and stop the line.

The area where my component was installed had the cord pulled frequently. When I started to look at a redesign, I
found I was at a disadvantage because I did not originally design the component. I had to find out why certain
decisions had been made and investigate all the build variations of the vehicle. Fortunately, my supervisor asked
another engineer in our group to help me; he was also responsible for a component in the same vehicle. We started
sharing rides to the vehicle assembly plant. This made travel easier, but the extra responsibility of the redesign
added Sundays to our work routine. So many problems and not enough time. Since the redesign would take many
months, a short-term solution had to be implemented first.

There was considerable pressure on each engineer to fix their problems quickly since the assembly line was down
more often than running. In addition, the slow start-up was starting to make national news. Consequently, I broke
almost every purchasing rule in the book, chartered airplanes to fly material to the plant and reworked material
inside the plant. This relieved some of the build difficulties, but inherent design problems existed and a totally new
design needed to be found. The months flew by. There was also one other problem that was nagging me: the
constant harassment at the vehicle assembly plant.

Being a young, female engineer, I had anticipated this. In my previous assignments, I had worked at another
Midwest assembly plant for about one year. When I started there, catcalls were common, but as the months wore
on and the assembly workers started to know me, the harassment eventually ceased. I found that my love of
meeting people and talking to them helped significantly to combat the harassment. In the plant, I quickly learned
that the people building the cars carried the essential knowledge. Whenever I heard about a problem from the field,
I immediately went to the assembly line to talk to the workers. I respected them and they eventually began to trust
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and respect me. But it wasnt working at this assembly plant. In fact, the harassment was getting worse. It was as if
the entire plant was playing a cat-and-mouse game with me.

When I walked with my male colleague, no one bothered me, but when I was alone the harassment was inevitable.
The insults ranged from catcalls to one man that stalked and stared at me and a supervisor that liked to touch me. I
sat down and talked to my supervisor about the harassment a month ago. He suggested that I yell back at them.
Well, I was not going to even try this. Last week, I told my supervisor that yelling at people did not fit my personality.
I couldnt do it. He then suggested that I ignore it. I become conscious of driving again. My hands are gripping the
steering wheel tightly. At least they arent shaking. In order to support my extended working hours, my caffeine
intake has increased significantly. That is why my hands shake. I hate to talk about the harassment.

I am receiving management praise for the redesign and I look like a hero. I am trying every trick I can think of to
deter the harassment on my own: I wear absolutely no makeup, very baggy pants, shirts buttoned to the very top
and my hair pulled back. I know I look terrible. In fact, my supplier asks me if I am sick. My supervisor also confirms
that my dress should not invoke harassment. What else can I do?

Tuesday 3:00 pm
I have only been in the plant for eight hours but I cant take it. Today three workers circled me and started barking
like dogs. I left the plant floor and went to the plant offices. I couldnt stop the tears. I feel really embarrassed and I
sense that the other engineers are embarrassed for me also. So Im leaving. Im going to just drive four hours back to
the office.

A few weeks later
Im driving again on this road to the assembly plant. Im starting to hate this road. I talked to my supervisor again
yesterday. I told him that Im really tired. I cant get out of bed in the morning and my hands are shaking a lot. I
frequently come in late to work. He said he doesnt mind. He said, You get as much accomplished in half a day as my
other engineers do in an entire day. I guess that should make me feel good. Im a hard worker. At the office, there
have been a lot of complaints and rumours. Other engineers are starting to voice their frustrations concerning the
strained working environment at the lead plant.

This makes me feel a little better, since I no longer feel like I am the only person experiencing abnormally high levels
of stress. Also, it seems that all the engineering changes are not helping the line speed ramp-up at the lead assembly
plant. People are starting to wonder if all the cord pulling is really necessary. I know that a lot of people were laid off
at the lead plant prior to start-up because the redesigned model required fewer man-hours to build. Was the
excessive cord pulling a labour initiative to pressure management to rehire some of the laid-off workers? On the
other hand, the plant in Mexico was running smoothly.

Several weeks on
I blew up at my director, my supervisors boss, today. He asked why Ive been so quiet. I said I didnt care if the lead
assembly plant was blown into a million pieces. He had a look of shock on his face. I asked him if my supervisor had
told him about the harassment. He said no. How could he not tell him? Ive been talking about this for months.
Afterwards, I went to talk to an acquaintance of mine. She was a manager in engineering but now she is a manager
in an assembly plant. I thought she might be able to tell me what I can do differently to curb the harassment. Instead
she was very upset. She said I should have said something earlier. I said I did.

What could I have done differently?
if action wasnt taken immediately, talked to an engineering manager one level up
about my supervisor;
talked to someone in the Personnel department;
not let it go on for so long;
reprioritisedput my health ahead of work;
trusted and listened to myself. What was going on was wrong and it was not my fault.


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Update
Personnel was notified. For health reasons, I was transferred to a different position. Harassment training was
instituted at the assembly plant. My supervisor was verbally reprimanded. The incident did not affect my career, as I
had feared it might. A few years later, I received a corporate-sponsored graduate fellowship to pursue an advanced
engineering degree.

Question 19
According to the social stratification methods discussed in our textbook, the female engineer can be considered as
part which class?

A. Upper class.
B. Middle class.
C. Upper working.
D. Lower working.

Question 20
There is a certain personality trait mentioned in our textbook that is often found in engineers. This trait can explain
the female engineers hard working attitude.

What trait are we talking about?

A. Engineers consider themselves part of management even if they are not.
B. The possibility of fringe benefits motivated her.
C. Money motivated her.
D. All of the above.

Question 21
Why is it critical for us to embrace female engineers in technology?

A. Women are brought up more with awareness of content and consequences.
B. Women rely on their understanding of relationships and can thus bring some subjectivity to
engineering.
C. Contrasting male qualities with female qualities can lead to a broader, well rounded, more
integrated approach and vision to technology.
D. All of the above

Question 22
If you believe that all your decisions have already been made for you, what do you believe?

A. Epistemology.
B. Verificationalism.
C. Solipsism.
D. Determinism.

13

Question 23
Why, according to our textbook, can we classify the female engineer as a professional?

1) Shes got extensive intellectual training.
2) The occupation she chose has a degree of autonomy and self-regulation.
3) There are high wages in her profession.

A. 1 & 2
B. 1 & 3
C. 2 & 3
D. 1, 2 & 3

Opportunities and challenges for a sustainable energy
future
Steven Chu & Arun Majumdar

Nature, 488, 294303, (16 August 2012),
http://0-www.nature.com.innopac.up.ac.za/nature/journal/v488/n7411/full/nature11475.html
Abstract
Access to clean, affordable and reliable energy has been a cornerstone of the world's increasing prosperity
and economic growth since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Our use of energy in the twentyfirst
century must also be sustainable. Solar and waterbased energy generation, and engineering of microbes to
produce biofuels are a few examples of the alternatives. This Perspective puts these opportunities into a
larger context by relating them to a number of aspects in the transportation and electricity generation sectors.
It also provides a snapshot of the current energy landscape and discusses several research and development
opportunities and pathways that could lead to a prosperous, sustainable and secure energy future for the
world.
Main
The industrial revolution began in the mid-eighteenth century, and provided humans with capabilities well
beyond animal and human power. Steam-powered trains and ships, and then internal combustion engines
transformed how people moved and produced goods around the world. Electrification and related
technologies continued the revolution in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Today, a growing number of
people keep their homes warm in the winter, cool in the summer and lit at night. They go to the local market
in cars with the power of over a hundred horses and fly across continents in wide-body aeroplanes with the
power of a hundred thousand horses. This power is derived largely from our ability to exploit fossil sources
of energy. However, in the transition from human and horse power to horsepower, the carbon emissions that
result from the equivalent of over a billion horses working continuously have created significant climate-
change risks.
At the beginning of the industrial revolution, the population of the world was 700 million. Today, the
population is 7 billion and is estimated to grow to 9 billion by 2050, and about 10 billion by 2100 (ref. 1).
Most of this population growth will be in Asia and Africa, where rapidly rising economic growth will place
additional demands on energy supply. The International Energy Agency (IEA) based in Paris has projected
that the world's energy demand will increase from about 12 billion tonne oil equivalents (t.o.e.) in 2009 to
either 18 billion t.o.e. or 17 billion t.o.e. by 2035 under their 'current policies' or 'new policies' scenarios,
14

respectively
2
. Carbon-dioxide emissions are expected to increase from 29 gigatonnes per year to 43 Gt
yr
1
or 36 Gt yr
1
under the current and new policies, respectively. The actual path we follow will depend on
how efficiently and effectively we use existing and new sources of energy.
The world needs another industrial revolution in which our sources of energy are affordable, accessible and
sustainable. Energy efficiency and conservation, as well as decarbonizing our energy sources, are essential
to this revolution. Reducing carbon emissions on the timescale needed to mitigate the worst risks of climate
change will not be driven by our inability to find cost-effective sources of fossil fuels. Despite the significant
growth in the use of renewable energy, the fractional sum of non-carbon- emitting sources of energy that
remained constant during the past two decades is sobering (Fig. 1).
Figure 1: Statistical review of world energy.

a, Fossil energy comprises roughly 86% of the world's main energy consumption. Although the consumption of oil has increased
by 31% between 1980 and 2008, the known reserves have increased comparably owing to improvements in exploration and
extraction technologies. Much of the world's shale-gas reserves are not 'proven' and are not included. The fractional sum of
non-carbon emitting sources of energy remained constant during the same time period. b, Growth of renewable energy was
offset by the decline in nuclear power generation. Renewable energy sources in power generation grew by 17.7%. Wind
generation (25.8%) accounted for more than half of renewable power generation for the first time. Renewables accounted for
3.8% of global power generation, with the highest share in Europe and Eurasia (7.1%). Adapted with permission from ref. 72.
15

Energy systems can be divided into transportation and stationary. The supply, demand and distribution
infrastructures within each system are highly coupled, but are currently largely independent of each other. In
this Insight, the Reviews focus on specific subareas of biofuels, solar electricity generation, and electricity
generation from salinity gradients and waste water. The systems discussed are largely at the research and
development stage, and are not yet ready to displace more mature sources of energy. Nevertheless, we
should be constantly looking for innovations that make a marked improvement on today's approaches or
provide an entirely new approach. To place the topics discussed in the Reviews in context, this Perspective
discusses transportation and stationary power systems, and indicates how the topics discussed in the
Reviews fit into the energy landscape.
Many important and challenging research areas have the potential to significantly affect our future energy
needs. For example, energy efficiency and the integration of energy sources with electricity transmission,
distribution and storage are vitally important, but these are only briefly mentioned in this Perspective.
Excellent reviews of these topics include the National Academies' report America's Energy Future
3
and the
US Department of Energy's (DOE's) Report on the First Quadrennial Technology Review
4
.
Transportation
Petroleum-derived liquid fuels are the overwhelming source of energy in the current transportation
infrastructure. The geographical distribution of petroleum resources is changing as reserves are found and
accessed with improved technologies for discovery and production. However, this distribution of oil supply
generally does not coincide with where the demand is located. For example, many countries import oil at an
unprecedented scale, which can lead to significant balance-of-trade and national-security challenges. In
2011, about 2.690 billion tonnes of oil were consumed; of this, 1.895 billion tonnes of crude oil and 0.791
billion tonnes of refined products crossed national borders
5
and significant discoveries of oil, natural-gas
liquids and natural gas could potentially alter the global-energy landscape
6
.
We will review some of the opportunities and challenges related to transportation technologies. For
example, most of the future infrastructure of the world will be built in locations where we have the greatest
opportunity to transition to sustainable mobility. Desirable and affordable public transportation that is fully
integrated into urban planning
7
, and the use of information technologies to assist and displace transportation
can significantly reduce fuel consumption, but are not discussed in this Perspective.
The Quadrennial Technology Review (QTR) of the US DOE provides a broad overview of state-of-the-art
technologies and opportunities for future research
8
. Improvements in energy efficiency of vehicles can
greatly reduce oil dependency. These improvements include increased use of light-weight materials, such as
advanced ultra-high tensile strength steels, aluminium and magnesium alloys, polymers, and carbon-fibre
reinforced composite materials
9
. The integration of lighter weight materials is especially important if more
complex parts can be manufactured as a single unit. The potential for reducing the weight of vehicles has
already been shown, and in the next 1020 years, an additional 2040% reduction in overall weight, without
sacrificing safety, seems to be possible
10
. For every 10% weight reduction of the vehicle, an improvement in
fuel consumption of 68% is expected
11
.
Reducing energy losses as a result of friction is also possible
12
(Fig. 2). Advances in cost-effective
technologies such as tribology, tyres, braking and waste-heat energy recovery, and aerodynamics could
potentially lead to efficiency improvements of 20% in the short term and more than 60% over a longer term
(1525 years).
Internal combustion engines
The internal combustion engine using liquid-transportation fuel (or liquid ICE) will probably continue to
have a major role over the next few decades. However, improvements to the efficiency of the liquid ICE are
possible because the efficiency of most spark-ignition engines is typically 2535%, whereas that for
compression-ignition diesel engines is about 4050%. With direct injection, lean burn and turbocharger
technologies, the spark-ignition ICEs operating on premium octane ratings can approach diesel efficiencies.
16

The combination of in situ measurements of prototype ICE designs with detailed simulations, which are
made possible with high-performance computers, are increasing the energy efficiency and have lowered
emissions
13, 14
. Finally, low-cost waste-heat recovery can increase efficiency, especially in heavy-duty
vehicles. Approaches include use of the Rankine cycle to convert waste heat to work, and the development
of low-cost and high-efficiency solid-state thermoelectric systems
15
.
Figure 2: Vehicle energy losses.

Of the energy that fuel provides to vehicles a substantial proportion is lost. A breakdown of the average losses of internal-
combustion-engine cars (fleet make up 70% petrol and 30% diesel) is shown. Heat lost constitutes 3037% of the energy as a
result of exhaust gases with lower energy content and convection. The other losses come from heat dissipation (2533%),
mechanical losses (3340%), air drag (312%), rolling friction (1245%) and brake losses (about 5%). These losses mean only
about 21.5% of the energy is used to move the car. Adapted with permission from ref. 12.
Battery-based electrification
Plug-in hybrid and all-electric light- and medium-duty vehicles have the opportunity to displace a significant
amount of liquid fuel use in transportation. The main challenges are performance and cost of the battery
systems. The performance of battery systems is quantified by usable energy density, power density
(including fast charging), cycle lifetime and robustness. In the past 56 years, a remarkable amount of
progress in research has been made in battery cathodes, anodes and electrolytes. Large volumetric changes
in the electrodes have led to designs in which micro- or nanostructures are embedded in a conducting and
flexible matrix to allow for the relief of mechanical stresses. State-of-the-art batteries based on graphite
anodes and lithium-manganese-oxide composite cathodes for lithium batteries are being commercialized
16
.
Within the next few years, battery system packs of 200 Watt-hour kg
1
at a charging rate of full charge in 3
hours, which is double the current cell-energy density, are expected to become available. The current
production cost of a vehicle battery is estimated to be US$650 kWh
1
of usable energy storage, but this is
expected to drop to below $150 kWh
1
by 2030 (ref. 17).
The US DOE is supporting a research and development effort that would allow a four or five passenger
plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) or an electric vehicle with about a 160-km range to be competitive as
17

a mass-market ICE car within a decade. The US DOE EV-Everywhere challenge for PHEV, will require the
cost of the battery system to be reduced by an estimated $190300 kWh
1
, depending on whether the car is a
PHEV or an electric vehicle. The development of anode-protecting materials and non-flammable
electrolytes that are stable at high voltage and tolerate 55 C are desired characteristics of third-generation
lithium-ion batteries. Developing batteries beyond lithium-ion batteries, such as lithium-sulphur and metal-
air batteries, could achieve up to ten times the energy density of the current lithium-ion batteries, but
materials research is needed to develop anode and cathode protection, as well as non-flammable electrolytes
with electrochemical stability over a large potential range.
Battery packs typically use about 50% of the total battery capacity, and the charging rates are limited to
increase the lifetime
18
. If sensor technologies are developed that can continuously monitor the properties of
individual cells, such as internal impedance, temperature and state of charge, the lifetime and useful capacity
could be improved. Standardized battery cells that are designed to be integrated with the original equipment
manufacturer's thermal management systems could also reduce cost
19
.
Fuel-cell-based electrification
The high efficiency of fuel-cell-powered electric vehicles makes this form of electrification a potentially
viable option for the future. Investment in this technology is driven by the potential of extended range and
faster fuelling times of moderately low-priced cars. Fuel-cell cost has been lowered and their lifetime
increased
20
, but further gains are needed. Platinum-group catalyst loading has been reduced fivefold since
2005; however, further reductions are needed
4, 21
, or these catalysts need to be replaced with less costly
alternatives. Costs can also be lowered and performance improved through robust higher-conductivity and
higher-temperature membranes, improvements in balance-of-plant components, such as humidifiers and
compressors, as well as thermofluid design and control.
There are inherent volumetric energy density issues for hydrogen-gas storage. To achieve a range of 480 km,
fuel-cell electric vehicles need to store about 47 kg of hydrogen
4, 22
. A carbon-fibre-composite tank
pressurized to 700 bar is the best current option for personal vehicles, but this costs
23
about $3,000. Research
is under way to develop materials and manufacturing processes to reduce the cost of composite tanks. In
parallel, researchers are searching for lower-pressure storage assisted by high-surface area materials that
could physisorb or weakly chemisorb hydrogen and still maintain fast-fuelling times
24, 25
.
The supply infrastructure and a low-carbon source of hydrogen are also a challenge. The technology
advances in shale-gas production, and the possibility of large reserves in Europe and Asia, in addition to the
considerable reserves in North America, could have a significant affect on the transportation sector. In
addition to the direct use of natural gas as a fuel (see later), low-cost natural gas could spur the deployment
of local reforming or hydrogen filling stations for near-term hydrogen production. Alternatively, commercial
reforming plants, such as hybrid power plants that produce hydrogen as well as CO
2
, for enhanced oil
recovery located near oil-field and refinery sites can serve as an economical source of hydrogen
4, 26
. In
regions that are close to a large commercial production plant, delivery to local filling stations can be made
through high-pressure gaseous tube trailers, but in the long run, a cost-competitive method to produce
hydrogen with considerably lower net carbon emissions is needed.
Natural gas for transportation
The projected low cost of natural gas in the United States in the next few decades compared with that of
petrol is expected to lead to wider adoption of natural-gas vehicles. Displacing diesel fuel with liquefied
natural gas (LNG) for class 8 tractor-trailer trucks commonly used on long routes in the United States is
already economically viable because a typical long-haul truck uses about 90,000 litres of fuel per year
(about $80,000 per year in fuel costs, today). The incremental purchase price of LNG trucks can be up
to $100,000 per truck for cryogenic tanks and related upgrades, as a result of low-volume market conditions.
Even so, the payback period is currently 34 years on a net-present-value basis using a 7% discount rate, and
would drop considerably with even modest increases in production volumes
27
. Developing a fuelling
infrastructure for LNG long-haul trucks would require fuelling stations about every 240320 km for a truck
18

range of 800960 km. Commercial viability is reinforced by plans in the private sector to make the required
investments in infrastructure. LNG-powered freight trains are also being considered.
Compressed natural gas (CNG) has been used for buses, delivery trucks and light-duty vehicles. To make
vehicles using CNG economically viable without subsidies, low-cost CNG storage technologies are needed.
In the United States, light-duty vehicles account for 75% of on-road fuel consumption. There are roughly
160,000 gasoline (petrol) service stations in the United States
28
; creating a similar nationwide infrastructure
for CNG vehicles would be prohibitively expensive (more than $100 billion). However, about 60 million
homes in the United States have natural-gas delivery. Economic viability for CNG cars and refuelling
systems can be achieved if the payback period for the additional system-level cost is typically 5 years or
less; at present it is about 1015 years for a vehicle with average mileage. For vehicles with high annual
mileage and for vehicles with low kilometres per litre, natural-gas vehicles can have less than a 5-year
payback, even today. Research into fibre-matrix composites for high-pressure light-weight tank materials is
needed, as well as into natural-gas sorbents for low-pressure storage. Although seldom discussed, multifuel
ICEs can be designed to operate on CNG for 30-60 km (the CNGICE hybrid equivalent of a PHEV) and
then switch to petrol. Similar to a PHEV, a CNGpetrolICE vehicle could compensate for the partial
coverage of CNG fuelling stations.
Natural gas can also be converted into liquid fuels using either the FischerTropsch or the methanol process.
The capital cost per barrel of liquid fuel reduces with increasing capacity of a FischerTropsch plant
according to scaling laws. However, with increasing capacity, capital costs are suggested to deviate and are
higher than scaling law predictions, which increases the financial risk for gas-to-liquid plants. Research is
needed to find alternative approaches for exciting the carbonhydrogen bond and synthesizing carbon
carbon bonds. Biological approaches that use organisms, such as methanotrophs, that can metabolize natural
gas and produce long-chain hydrocarbons seem worth exploring. Even if this approach is successful at
laboratory scales, it will need to be scalable to large-volume production. Large quantities of methanol are
already produced from natural gas for industrial purposes at costs that are roughly equivalent to petrol.
Methanol could be used in a petrolalcohol blend, much like ethanol in the United States. However, pure or
high-percentage methanol-based transportation could face distribution-infrastructure challenges.
Alternative liquid-transportation fuels
Liquid fuels derived from oil became the main form of energy for transportation largely because of their
high energy densities. Associated with their high energy content, the energy transfer rate during vehicle
refuelling is about 6 MW; in contrast, electrical charging will be tens of kilowatts. Apart from inherent
limitations in battery chemistries, there are practical limits to the size of the electrical connector that could
accommodate megawatt-scale power transfer. However, a search for alternatives to oil for transportation
energy is required to deal with the growing concerns over the rising and volatile price of oil, the
vulnerability to supply disruptions, and balance-of-trade issues. Biofuels, particularly those produced
domestically at competitive prices, would strengthen a nation's energy and economic security.
There are a number of approaches to alternative transportation fuels being actively explored (Fig. 3). The
estimated future (1015 year) costs for classes of alternative fuels can vary
29
(Fig. 4). The US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that Brazilian sugarcane ethanol already price competitive with oil-
based fuels in Brazil reduces total life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, including direct and indirect land-
use change emissions, by 61% (ref. 30). There are numerous, and sometimes contentious, studies of carbon
life-cycle emissions
30, 31, 32
. Minimization of indirect land-use concerns and the sequestration of process
CO
2
could result in net-negative carbon emissions, so that fuel production and use becomes a net carbon
sink. On the other hand, if biofuels based on energy-intensive crops were coupled with poor-land
management this could result in environmental costs that are far higher than those associated with oil-based
fuels
29
.

19

Figure 3: Methods of producing alternative fuels from various feedstocks to products.

Various feedstocks are being explored, and the pathways for producing energy or fuel investigated. Adapted with permission from
ref. 8.
The production of ethanol by domesticated yeast for fermentation is perhaps 4,000 years old. In this Insight,
Paralta-Yahya et al.
33
review the application of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology to alter
microbes for the production of advanced biofuels, and of precursors to drop-in substitutes for petrol, diesel
and jet fuels. Static adjustment of transcription, translation and post-translational modifications does not
allow engineered organisms to respond to changing bioreactor conditions and cellular changes. Remarkably,
dynamic sensing and regulation of fatty-acid ethyl ester (FAEE) intermediates in Escherichia coli has been
shown to increase FAEE yield by threefold, to reduce the cellular concentration of toxic intermediates and to
significantly improve the genetic stability of producing strains.
Successful commercial-scale deployment of this class of technologies will depend on microbial productivity
and robustness. The cost of microbial feedstock is also a major factor: production of advanced fuels from
simple sugars and starches is further along in the development of these fuels, but it is held back by high
feedstock prices. Lignocelluloses, including agricultural and wood-waste streams, are roughly an order of
magnitude less costly, and are generally viewed as the end-goal feedstock. Much attention is now focussed
on reducing the cost of converting lignocelluloses into forms that are more readily used by microbial
organisms.
The net energy yield per hectare per year is a major factor in determining feedstock cost. The overall yield
for biofuels varies widely: Brazilian sugarcane can produce as much as 800 gallons per acre-year, which is
about twice as high as productivities based on North American maize. High-yield grasses or fast-growing
trees that could be feedstocks for advanced biofuels have the potential to surpass sugarcane productivities by
1.3 times or more
34
. Most lignocellulosic feedstocks have low-volume energy density: relative to fossil fuels
they are 'light and fluffy'. To improve the economies of scale of biorefineries, especially thermochemical
refineries, increasing the feedstock collection radius is desirable. Biofuels could become more competitive if
a means of efficiently concentrating the biomass during the harvesting process (such as combining the
reaping and pelleting the woody materials) could be developed. The same densification of the feedstock
20

could also lead to the biofuel equivalent of grain elevators. Reducing 'first touch' costs are an integral part of
efficient agricultural practice, and progress in this area would significantly lower the overall feedstock cost
delivered to biorefineries.
Figure 4: Alternative fuel costs.

Estimated costs, achievable within 1015 years, of alternative liquid fuels produced from coal, biomass, or coal and biomass with
a CO2 price of $50 per tonne and capital costs are 20% lower than the America's Energy Future panel's estimates. BTL, biomass-
to-liquid fuel; CBFT, coal-and-biomass-to-liquid fuel, FischerTropsch; CBMTG, coal-and-biomass-to-liquid fuel, methanol-to-
gasoline; CCS, carbon capture and storage; CFT, coal-to-liquid fuel, FischerTropsch; CMTG, coal-to-liquid fuel, methanol-to-
gasoline. Adapted with permission from ref. 3.
In this Insight, Georgianna and Mayfield
35
discuss the use of algae to produce next generation biofuels.
Algae can provide high fuel yields, especially if areal sunlight collection can be used to drive volumetric
growth of algae. However, algal growth in closed systems requires very high capital investments relative to
energy crops such as grasses or trees. In open-pond systems, water use is a major issue but may be partially
ameliorated through the use of species that can grow in brackish or salt water.
Other approaches to bio-based fuel production include the manipulation of photosynthetic bacteria to
produce biofuels, diverting high-energy Calvin-cycle intermediates upstream of glucose for example
energy-dense terpene (a biofuel precursor) production in trees or microbes or developing alternatives to
C
3
and C
4
carbon fixation.
21

Biological enzymes can synthesize carboncarbon bonds with an unparalleled high specificity, but
photosynthesis may not be the only approach to converting sunlight into hydrocarbon fuels
36
. Several non-
photosynthetic alternatives are under investigation that could potentially overcome many of the limitations
of photosynthesis. To appreciate the potential of such approaches, the energy conversion process can be
divided into three steps. First is to identify what reducing equivalents, other than solar photons captured
through photosystems I and II, can be accepted by various microorganisms. Several organisms are known to
be capable of growth on hydrogen sulphide, hydrogen, electrons, ammonia and reduced ions such as iron
(II). Second is to investigate opportunities to fix CO
2
using pathways other than those used in C
3
or C
4
plants.
Potential systems may include the reverse tricarboxylic-acid cycle (often called the reverse Krebs cycle), the
WoodsLjungdahl cycle used by acetogens, the hydroxypropionatehydroxybutyrate cycle or newly
designed biochemical pathways. The final step is to determine whether we can metabolically engineer direct
carbon products into a molecule such as acetyl-CoA, which is a precursor for many energy-dense fuels.
These three steps can be engineered into autotrophic organisms, an approach that is now being supported by
a US DOE Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy programme called Electrofuels
37
.
Finally, researchers are investigating highly efficient non-biological energy-conversion approaches that
generate fuel from sunlight by the oxidation of water into hydrogen and oxygen and reduction of CO
2
to
fuel. The Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, a US DOE funded Energy Innovation Research Center,
was established to identify Earth-abundant, robust light absorbers with optimal bandgaps to harvest sunlight
most effectively and efficiently, to accelerate the rate of catalyst discovery for solar energy-to-fuel
conversion reactions and to provide system integration and scale-up so that laboratory experiments can
quickly transition into prototypes for commercial development.
Clean and affordable electricity generation
The IEA has projected, to 2035, how electricity is expected to be generated
38
(Fig. 5). In the agency's new
policies scenario, the growth of carbon emissions is curtailed, but does not decline. The scenario assumes
that government policies such as carbon pricing are adopted in several Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development countries and in China, but the projections of cost reduction in renewable
energy are overly conservative. As an example, the agency estimates the full levellized cost of electricity
(LCOE) of onshore wind to be about $90 MWh
1
in 2010 real dollars by 2020 (ref. 39). Similarly, the US
Energy Information Administration estimates
40
the LCOE of wind for 2016 will be about $80120
MWh
1
(Fig. 6).
In contrast to these estimates, an analysis of the LCOE of various forms of renewable energy, based on the
available data from projects in which investment or purchase contracts have been completed
41
, shows that
wind at level (class) 4 sites in the United States is currently about $73 MWh
1
(Fig. 7). These costs do not
include transmission line costs, which average
42
at about $300 kW
1
. Some experts estimate that by 2020, the
LCOE of wind energy at level 4 sites will fall below$60 MWh
1
. In the United States, utility-scale solar
photovoltaic projects are being installed in 20112012 at an unsubsidized cost of about $150 MWh
1
(the US
investment tax credit has been taken out
43, 44
), which is consistent with the Bloomberg New Energy Finance
estimates
41
. Utility-scale solar photovoltaics are projected to be between $60120 MWh
1
in good insolation
areas. The lowest LCOE for combined-cycle natural gas is about $5060 MWh
1
in the United States,
assuming gas costs of $34 per million British thermal units. Although LCOE is an important factor, time of
delivery, LCOE at various size scales and the potential for energy storage are also important.
Affordable and environmentally sustainable electricity generation is already at cost parity in areas in which
energy costs exceed $200 MWh
1
. On the basis of the current and projected learning curves for wind and
solar energy, renewable energy will become increasingly affordable on a global scale. In addition, energy
storage with durable and inexpensive batteries will allow electricity accessibility in micro- or meso-scale
grids to leapfrog the need to bring centrally generated electricity to distant rural areas.

22

Figure 5: Projections from the International Energy Agency for the generation of electricty until 2035.

In the top panel, the relative energy mix in 2009 and that projected in the International Energy Agency's 'new policies' scenario. In
the bottom panel, in the new policies scenario, carbon emissions continue to grow, but slower than the 2009 fuel-mix curve. The
2009 fuel-mix curve is based on emissions that would have been generated for the projected level of electricity generation were
there no change in the mix of fuels and technologies, and no change in the efficiency of thermal generation plants after 2009. The
cost of renewable energy is declining at a faster rate than assumed in the International Energy Agency's report. In addition, the
relative mix of natural gas to coal may be larger than that projected. Adapted with permission from ref. 38.
Even though the costs of renewable energies such as wind and solar continue to decline, the full economic
benefit of these variable sources of energy will not be realized until the more established forms of energy
generation are integrated with renewable sources into transmission and distribution, load response and
storage of electricity. Eighty per cent penetration of renewable energy in the United States is possible by
2050, but to achieve even half this goal, a transformation of the electricity system on the basis of technology
advances and new operating procedures, business models and regulatory approaches is required
45
.
Solar
In 2010, the US DOE created the SunShot initiative to reduce the LCOE from solar sources (photovoltaic
and thermal) to $5060 MWh
1
, without subsidies, by 2020. For solar photovoltaics at utility scale, the fully
installed cost target must be about $1 per Watt of electricity generated. The costs are broken down
into $0.50 W
1
for the solar module, $0.10 W
1
for the power electronics for grid integration and $0.40
W
1
for the balance of the system (including installation, permits and all other costs)
46
.

23

Figure 6: Projections by the US Energy Information Administration made in 2010 of the 2016 average cost and
range of the levellized cost of electricity from various sources.

Note the cost of onshore wind at level 4 sites where the wind speed is 7.07.5 ms
1
and there are no financial incentives. Wind,
utility-scale solar photovoltaics and solar thermal energy in 2012 in the United States (green) is already at or below the lower end
of the 2016 estimates. ACC, advanced combined cycle; CCS, carbon capture and storage; CCT, conventional combustion turbine;
NG, natural gas; PV, photovoltaics.
In the four years between the second quarter of 2008 and the second quarter of 2012, the actual spot market
price of silicon solar modules for immediate delivery declined from $4 W
1
to about $1 W
1
(ref. 47).
Although part of this drop was due to a temporary oversupply coupled to the worldwide recession, continual
engineering and manufacturing innovations contributed to this decline and are likely to continue doing so in
the coming years: future delivery contracts are about$0.80 W
1
, and there is a growing confidence that
module costs will achieve the goal of $0.50 W
1
by 2020 (ref. 48). In contrast, the balance-of-system costs,
specifically the soft costs such as permits, interconnection and inspection, financing and customer
acquisition have declined but at a significantly slower rate. Because of this trend, a focus of the US DOE
SunShot programme is lowering all balance-of-system costs commensurate with module prices
49
.
24

Figure 7: Levellized cost of energy for quarter three, 2012.

The analysis of cost in dollar per megawatt-hour is based on available data from projects in which investment or purchase
contracts have been completed. To produce comparisons of levellized cost of energy at a global level, the analysis assumed a
single corporate tax rate of 35%, an annual inflation of 2%and the equity investor internal rate of return of 10%. Quarter three
central scenarios, filled triangles; quarter two central scenarios, open triangles. Adapted with permisssion from ref. 41.
All costs are affected by increasing the efficiency of the solar cells while reducing their production cost. The
ShockleyQueisser limit is a well-known efficiency limit of single-junction solar cells, which suffer from
spectrum losses, recombination and black-body radiation. The ShockleyQueisser limit of silicon is 32.7%,
but a practical limit is considered to be 29% (ref. 50). The ultimate efficiency limit in the conversion of
sunlight energy to electrical energy is determined by a Carnot heat engine. This limit is about 94%, based on
the high temperature of the sun's black body at 5,800 K, and the cell temperature of about 350 K. There is,
therefore, significant room to surpass the ShockleyQueisser limit.
Most of the solar cells manufactured today are made of crystalline silicon, and have shown efficiencies as
high as 23% at a production-scale, although most cells are within the 1719% range. In this Insight,
Graetzel et al.
51
review how solution-processed solar cells could be competitive if the cost could be reduced
and efficiency increased, but this is just one approach, competing with other rapidly advancing techniques.
Polycrystalline-silicon photovoltaics typically have efficiencies in the range of 1416%, although recent
progress indicates that refinements in bulk polysilicon production could yield efficiencies similar to that of
single-crystal silicon for half of the ingot material
52
. The cost of photovoltaic-grade silicon forms half the
cost of a solar module. In conventional silicon-cell production, about half the silicon is lost in sawing the
bulk silicon into 150200-m-thick wafers. With modest light-trapping techniques
53
, the wafers can be less
than 50 m thick. Other approaches to lowering costs include single-crystal epitaxial growth and lift-off,
pursued by Solexel of Milpitas, California
54
, and kerf-less manufacturing of wafers with large and aligned
grains in which the thin wafers are directly made
55,56
.
The other competitive approaches are based on direct-gap semiconductors such as cadmium telluride and
copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS), in which only a thin film (less than 1 m) is needed to absorb solar
radiation. Thin-film solar cells can be deposited on light and low-cost substrates, reducing their overall cost
and weight, which is an advantage for transportation and installation. However, thin-film deposition on
25

heterosubstrates introduces defects in these films, which currently limit production-scale efficiency of
cadmium-telluride and CIGS thin-film solar cells to 1214% their practical upper limit is 29%. If the
defects in cadmium-telluride thin films could be reduced in production, this would increase the carrier
lifetime and increase the efficiency
57
. This reduction requires an understanding of the origins of defects, as
well as ways to reduce and control them. The role of interfaces is a crucial aspect of solar cells and requires
significant investment in research and development.
In addition to scientific understanding, engineered online monitoring and control systems may be needed to
improve manufacturing quality control and as a means of continual improvement. Currently, panels made of
cadmium-telluride thin films have the lowest cost (about $0.70 W
1
). Owing to the financial discount that is
applied to any new solar technology that is expected to perform for at least 2025 years, any photovoltaic
technology developed has to have the technological 'head-room' to be competitive with the projected
progress of more established technologies. An increase in efficiency from 17% to 20% would significantly
reduce the panel cost and some of the balance-of-system costs, which could have a transformative effect on
the market similar to that expected for polycrystalline silicon cells with an efficiency of over 18% (ref. 52).
Thin-film solar cells made of direct-gap IIIV semiconductors are attractive because of their higher carrier
mobilities, and their superior material quality that can make use of the materials research that focused on
optoelectronics. This allows IIIV semiconductor cells to achieve a much higher efficiency that is close to
the practical upper limit. For example, solar-cell efficiencies of about 29%have been shown for IIIV
devices, which approaches the ShockleyQueisser limit of 33.5% for any single bandgap material
58
.
Although high-quality films have generally been achieved on crystalline substrates, use of bulk materials
would be cost-prohibitive for solar applications. The main challenge is to achieve the crystalline quality of
IIIV thin films, but on low-cost substrates such as plastics or sheet metals. As for techniques in solar cells
that use silicon epitaxial growth followed by lift-off, good progress is being made towards manufacturing,
on a larger scale, lift-off of thin crystalline gallium-arsenide layers grown epitaxially from bulk crystals.
Improving solar-module efficiency may also come from multijunction cells that capture a larger fraction of
the solar spectrum, multi-exciton generation, multiphoton absorption or photon up-conversion, and light
concentration. The use of quantum dots and molecules to utilize some of these phenomena are being
pursued, and, as described by Graetzel et al.
51
, are leading to a deeper understanding of lightmatter
interactions. The competition in solar technologies is fierce, and to have an effect on solar-electricity
generation, the science must be translated into engineered systems that can meet the technoeconomic target
of about $0.50 W
1
for a solar panel at commercial scale.
Although the discussion so far has focused on solar flat panels, there are opportunities to generate electricity
at $5060 MWh
1
using concentrated solar photovoltaics. Most of the cost is in the balance of systems
including the mirrors, lenses and their tracking system; however, the cost of the solar cell at the focal point
of the optical system is not as significant. This is when multijunction solar cells with efficiencies that exceed
40% would be ideal. Innovations in low-cost and high-quality mirrors
59
, inexpensive Fresnel optics, as well
as creative engineering to track them throughout the day at low cost are being developed.
Complementary to electricity generation using photovoltaics, solar thermal approaches that concentrate
sunlight in parabolic troughs and power towers have also been used to convert absorbed solar radiation into
heat (typically below 450 C). Electricity is then generated at about 3035% efficiency using a heat engine
46
.
Heat can also be stored to allow better demand matching, especially the offset peak electricity demand, by
several hours in climates and economies in which air-conditioning demand is rising.
To reduce the LCOE to $5060 MWh
1
, the efficiency of the heat engines must be increased. This requires
more than 600 C, suggesting that the higher-light concentration, as achieved in power towers or parabolic
dish mirrors, is needed. There is significant opportunity for research to identify ways to store heat through
the enthalpy of phase transitions or chemical reactions at more than 600 C, as well as systems engineering
to efficiently store and access this enthalpy on demand to run the heat engine for power generation
60
.
26

Furthermore, research into low-cost and high-temperature materials, and their use in engineered systems, is
needed to design and operate solar thermal reactors at these unprecedented high temperatures.
Although most of the work on concentrated solar power has involved either photovoltaic or thermal
approaches, there are opportunities to combine them. For example, the visible part can be spectrally filtered
out of the concentrated solar radiation for photovoltaics, and the rest of the radiation used for solar thermal
approaches. Furthermore, solar thermal techniques rarely use all of the concentrated solar radiation, because
there is generally some spillover from the solar absorber. Integrating photovoltaics in a solar thermal
absorber may be possible, allowing both approaches to be integrated. Achieving more than 600 C in a solar
thermal absorber would also make it compatible with gas turbines used in natural-gas combined cycle
technology, which would allow integration of solar and natural-gas power plants to address baseload and
peak demands.
To convert direct current to alternating current electricity and to integrate solar power into the grid, power
electronics is crucial and must be reduced to $0.10 W
1
or less roughly half the cost it is today
46
. We are
currently witnessing a revival of power-conversion electronics in which the introduction of wide bandgap
semiconductors such as silicon-carbide and gallium-nitride, low-loss soft magnetics, solid-state capacitors
and new-circuit topologies is having multiple positive effects
61
. These allow a significant increase in the
operating frequency, which reduces the sizes of inductors and capacitors without altering their electrical
impedance. The size reduction can allow integration of various components onto the same platform,
reducing cost and weight. The use of solid-state capacitors as opposed to electrolytic ones can significantly
increase reliability, which reduces the LCOE of solar energy.
The need to address the variable nature of intermittent technologies such as solar will become crucial at high
levels of penetration. Approaches to forecast the time-dependent solar insolation are needed to plan
electricity dispatch. In parallel, storage technologies that will offset the variations in solar electricity output
need to be developed (see later).
Wind
The cost decline of wind energy is a result of significant improvements to turbines, blades and gearboxes,
and an increase in the height of the wind towers. Although the largest wind turbine has a capacity of 7.5
MW, most turbines being installed are 1.52 MW (ref. 62).
As wind turbines increase in height and size, there is a marked increase in the mechanical stresses on the
gearbox, blades and tower. Direct-drive wind turbines that can convert the slow rotary motion directly into
alternating current electrical power using electromagnetic generators are receiving increased attention.
However, these generators currently use permanent magnets based on rare-earth materials such as
neodymium and dysprosium for their high remnant fields, field anisotropy and high-temperature stability.
Although rare-earth deposits are found in many countries around the world, more than 90% of current
production is in China
63, 64
.
Research in magnetic materials that can produce large magnetic energy density without the need for rare-
earth metals is needed. For example, there are certain phases of iron-born compounds (for example, Fe
16
N
2
)
that produce extremely high magnetocrystalline anisotropy, but that are difficult to access and stabilize
under ambient conditions
65, 66
. Today's computing power could be used to predict magnetic behaviour in a
combinatorial search that could guide the discovery of magnetic materials with high crystalline anisotropy
and those with accessible stable phases. Often, accessing these metastable phases requires nanostructuring,
as well as manufacturing composites with materials such as soft magnets
67
.
Offshore wind farms are an attractive source of energy because they can be placed in near-proximity to
population centres and yet far enough away to mitigate local opposition. However, the cost remains high
because of the need to build stable marine structures that can withstand the harsh marine environment for
many years without the need for replacement. Furthermore, because heavy-duty maintenance currently
27

needs calm seas, offshore wind turbines have to be highly reliable. One approach to servicing the highest
wind turbines is to design cranes that can 'inch worm' themselves up the towers, analogous to the self-lifting
cranes used to build tall buildings.
Decarbonizing fossil-fuel emissions
If the world is to continue to generate electricity from fossil fuels, the carbon emissions from the major
stationary 'point' sources will have to be significantly reduced in the coming decades. Achieving higher
primary energy use through cost-effective improvements in thermodynamic efficiency, co-generation of
power and heat, and use of waste heat can reduce carbon emissions. However, maximizing efficiency is not
sufficient. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) from coal and natural-gas power plants and other major
emitters, such as cement and steel plants, will be necessary.
A detailed analysis of post-combustion carbon capture science, engineering and economics can be found in a
recent American Physical Society (APS) report
68
. The cost of CO
2
capture can be largely divided into two
components: the capital cost, mostly of a sorbent-based CO
2
separation unit, the sorbent regenerator and the
CO
2
compressor; and the operating cost, mainly a result of the parasitic energy needed to capture and
compress CO
2
. The capital cost depends on the size of the separation unit, which is inversely correlated with
the rate constant of the CO
2
binding reaction with a sorbent. The energy cost, however, depends on the
enthalpy of the sorbent-CO
2
dissociation reaction. The kinetics and the thermodynamics of the binding and
unbinding reactions of today's sorbents are correlated (Fig. 8).
Research is needed to identify sorbents that have rate constants of more than 10,000 M
1
s
1
, but of
enthalpies 4080 kJ mol
1
. There are various secondary and tertiary amines, metal-organic frameworks and
ionic liquids whose reactions could perhaps be tailored to approach desirable kinetic and thermodynamic
performance levels
68
(Fig. 8). In biological organisms, enzymes such as carbonic anhydrase greatly reduce
the free-energy barrier in the capture and release of CO
2
. Researchers are making progress in genetically
altering the properties of carbonic anhydrase
69
so that it can be used to improve the kinetics of low-enthalpy
sorbents under the harsh conditions of the exhaust of a coal-fired power plant.
The cost of retrofitting existing pulverized coal plants to achieve 90% CO
2
capture with the technology
available is estimated to require capital expenditures that approach those of the original plant
3
. In addition,
2040% of the plant's energy would be diverted for separation, compression and transmission of the CO
2
, so
only the most thermodynamically efficient supercritical and ultra-supercritical plants could be considered for
retrofits.
CO
2
capture can be achieved relatively easily if a highly concentrated stream of CO
2
exhaust is produced,
which is possible by oxycombustion (in pulverized coal or natural-gas power plants) or integrated
gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) technology. Cryogenic separation of oxygen from air is the most
common industrial-scale method of production.
There is no clear choice between oxycombustion and post-combustion capture
3
, but it is clear that innovative
chemical and physical separation methods need to be developed, piloted and demonstrated at near-
commercial scale before wide-scale deployment can occur. Other economical solutions to CCS are needed,
but without the prospect of a meaningful price on CO
2
, the private sector is less motivated to invest in
technology development. For this reason, research and development of CCUS (carbon capture, utilization
and storage of carbon) in enhanced oil recovery and possibly enhanced geothermal energy
70
provides a
financial incentive to invest in carbon-capture technologies.
Advancing CCS and CCUS could come from high-performance computing for in silico optimization of
system performance, rather than expensive pre-commercial projects. High-fidelity simulations can also be
used to reduce the risk of scaling small demonstration projects to larger systems, and thereby accelerate
these projects adoption by industry.
28

Figure 8: Rate constant of current absorbents or adsorbents is about linearly proportional to the reaction
enthalpy.

New sorbents are needed to enhance the rate constant but maintain the energy required to release CO2, to drive down the capital
and operating costs of carbon capture. Adapted with permission from ref. 68.
Nuclear
Nuclear power can have an important role in efforts to decarbonize the production of electricity. Worldwide,
nuclear energy constituted about 14% of the total electrical power generated in 2009 (ref. 71), but in 2011
this percentage dropped to about 12%, with a loss of 180 TWh of generation from Germany and Japan
5, 72
.
The reaction to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster has been varied: some countries that have nuclear
reactors are proceeding with caution, others continue to show interest in starting a nuclear-power
programme, some countries have put their plans on hold and some have opted to reverse their decision on
nuclear energy or accelerate planned phase-outs.
An increasing number of older nuclear plants will need to have their operating licenses extended beyond
their original time limit if they are to continue operating. The cost of operating fully amortized plants in the
United States is estimated to be about $23 MWh
1
, including the contribution of $1 MWh
1
to the nuclear-
waste fund for the cost of spent fuel disposal
73
. The estimated cost of decommissioning each plant, including
used fuel and site restoration costs is about $500 million per plant. The low cost of operating the current
fleet of reactors has to be balanced with safety concerns, disposition of spent fuel and risks of nuclear
weapons proliferation. Unfortunately, space does not allow a full discussion of these important concerns.
Although there are significant challenges, the development of carbon-free sources of baseload power
(nuclear and fossil plants with CCS) are needed to mitigate the worst risks of climate change.
Third-generation nuclear-power plants are engineered to be significantly safer than previous generation
ones. In the event of an emergency shutdown of a nuclear reactor, the first few days when the heat from
daughter nuclear decay is largest and has to be dissipated are the most critical. New reactors being
constructed are designed to safely cool down for three days without access to grid or emergency electrical
power or to water outside the reactor facility. The ultimate goal is to achieve passive safety, so there is very
little chance of thermal damage to the reactor without requiring any active control after sudden shutdown.
The LCOE of new nuclear plants is about $100120 MWh
1
; although this cost is not competitive with
natural gas, it is less than estimates for fossil-fuel plants with CCS
4
. Another challenge is that the size of a
29

single reactor is 1.01.5 GW with associated cooling and electrical distribution requirements. The cost of
nuclear-reactor engineering, procurement and construction, operation and maintenance, and
decommissioning is about $6,0006,600 per installed kilowatt, which is roughly five times higher than
comparable natural-gas generation
74
capital costs, and is quantized in increments of about $610 billion. The
large financial exposure and the risk of construction and licensing delays have driven up the cost of
financing plants
75
.
The US DOE intends to support the engineering designs required by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
for licensing small-modular reactors between 80 MW and 300 MW (refs. 76, 77). It is possible that safe
nuclear power can be made more accessible through the economy of constructing dozens of reactors in a
factory rather than one at a time at each site. Also, with the risk of licensing and construction delays
reduced, small-modular reactors may represent a new paradigm in nuclear construction. The US DOE has
also established an Energy Innovation Hub to develop multiphysics computational simulation tools to reduce
the time needed to design and certify many aspects of both conventional reactors and small-modular
reactors
78
.
Grid energy storage
The reliability and efficiency of the transmission and distribution system is improved by grid energy storage.
Balancing and optimizing power flow and generation are challenges that need improved technology, and
business and regulatory vision. Significant improvements would help to realize more efficient energy
markets, a lower cost of energy, increased reliability and security, and penetration of renewable energy
beyond 20%.
The mismatch between an intermittent electricity supply and demand occurs over multiple time and energy
scales. For seconds-to-minutes scales, voltage and frequency stabilization is currently achieved by grid-
ancillary services that mostly use large banks of capacitors and hot-spinning reserves from fossil-fuel plants,
but also banks of batteries and mechanical fly wheels. Hot-spinning reserves are also used to shore-up
generation from minutes to hours. Modern natural-gas carbon-cycle plants are designed to ramp up rapidly
at about 50 MW min
1
, which, when combined with improved sensing and control of the grid, will be
sufficient to accommodate most of the intermittency problems of renewable energy. For hours-to-overnight
scales, power and energy capacities of hundreds to thousands of megawatt and megawatt hour will be
needed, alternatively many smaller (hundreds to thousands of kilowatts) of distributed energy storage sites
can be used.
The most inexpensive method to store electricity for the medium- and long-term is to use pumped
hydroelectric and compressed air in air-tight caverns, for which the capital cost is about $100 kWh
1
.
However, geographical constraints warrant alternative approaches. New electrochemical and modular and
low-cost fabricated compressed-air systems are promising
79
.
Perspective
Given the anticipated technological advances in finding and extracting fossil fuels, the cost of these forms of
energy could remain competitive with carbon-free sources for decades. In addition, the mix of energy
sources in the United States (Fig. 9) indicates that the timescale of change will be roughly half a century
80
. If
we are to mitigate climate risks in a timely manner, the speed of the adoption of clean-energy technologies
at a widely-deployed commercial scale has to be accelerated. Although the deployment of any innovation
will depend on its benefits relative to established technologies, inertia as well as real and perceived financial
risks always favour the status quo. To accelerate the use of economically viable clean-energy solutions,
government policies are needed to stimulate invention, innovation, and align the market forces.

30

Figure 9: History of the relative mix of the main source of energy used in the United States.

The timescale for a shift in the energy mix is measured in decades. The growth in use of oil was increasingly driven by the
transportation sector, for which it makes up 94% of transportation energy. Electricity is generated from coal (48%), natural gas
(19%), nuclear power (21%), renewables 10%, and oil (1%). Adapted with permission from ref. 80.
With increases over the past 30 years in the number of extreme weather events, such as temperature
extremes, floods, wildfires, droughts and storms, the overall loss trend is beginning to exceed $150 billion
per year
81
. There is increasing evidence that these changes are linked with climate change
82
. Although the full
costs of mitigating or adapting to these changes have significant uncertainties, prudent risk management
does not equate uncertainty with inaction. Policies are needed that begin to include the full cost of the
various sources of energy more directly into their market prices
82
.
This Perspective highlights a few of the challenges and opportunities for science, engineering and policy.
Our ability to find and extract fossil fuels continues to improve, and economically recoverable reservoirs
around the world are likely to keep pace with the rising demand for decades. The Stone Age did not end
because we ran out of stones; we transitioned to better solutions. The same opportunity lies before us with
energy efficiency and clean energy.
The cost of renewable energy is rapidly becoming competitive with other sources of energy. With additional
engagement of the scientific, financial and public-policy communities, as well as the general public, we can
accelerate the transition to affordable, accessible and sustainable energy that will power economic growth,
increase energy security and mitigate the risks of climate change. On the other hand, to quote from the IEA's
World Energy Outlook, If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're heading.

31

Question 24
Which ISO standard is involved with Environmental Management?

A. ISO 60601
B. ISO 14001
C. ISO 9001
D. ISO 31000

Question 25
According to the text there are contentious studies w.r.t. carbon lifecycle emissions for alternative liquid fuels.
Uncertainty of these studies can be due to:

1. Data and theory
2. Different paradigms
3. Semantics
4. Social content
5. Production methods
6. Engineering heuristics
7. Existentialism

A. 1, 2, 3 & 4
B. 1, 2, 4, 7
C. 1, 5, 6 ,7
D. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Question 26
They say that fuel production could become a carbon sink. According to our textbook, what is a carbon sink?

A. Reservoir where pollutants containing carbon is dumped.
B. Sink out of which carbon is tapped.
C. Reservoir where you can find carbon producing substances.
D. Reservoir where you can find carbon producing substances and carbon.

Question 27
In the text they mention that weight reduction reduces fuel consumption. Comparing an average car weighing 1,5ton
and a fuel consumption of 10l/100km with a motorcycle weighing 150kg, calculate the fuel consumption of the
motorcycle:

A. 1-2 l/100km
B. 2-5 l/100km
C. 5-7 l/100km
D. 7-10 l/100km


32

Question 28
According to our textbook, which of these are disadvantages of biofuels?

A. The Ethical issue arise. Should we use agricultural resources that could have been used to produce
food to produce fuel?
B. Transportation of liquid biofuels is problematic.
C. Storage of biofuels is problematic.
D. All of the above.

Question 29
Why cant we convert 100% of the energy in fuel into mechanical power?

A. Friction losses and drag.
B. 2
nd
law of thermodynamics.
C. Inefficiencies in the components.
D. All of the above.

Question 30
Shale gas extraction in South Africa and the negative environmental effect this can have has been recently
mentioned in the news. Which project are we talking about?

A. Meerkat
B. Fracking in the Karoo
C. Rea Via
D. Bloodhound