ENGR 202 H Assignment 1 PDF

Preview

Summary

Download ENGR 202 H Assignment 1 PDF

Description

Victor Okoro (40073134) Fall 2020 ENGR 202H Assignment #1 Question 1) In the field of computer engineering the obvious products manufactured are computers. Lots of engineers are coming up with ways to make computers more portable, faster, more reliable, and make them have more storage space. The following are examples of the impacts of computer engineering on the environment: i.

Electrical strain: Billions of people around the world own and use computers around the world and this puts a lot of strain on the electrical grid. Computers add to the strain on power plants to produce enough energy to power the world. The production of energy creates pollution and emissions. The amount of electricity needed to power computers contributes to the millions of tons of greenhouse gases that are emitted into the atmosphere each year.

ii.

Landfill waste (E-waste): Changing technology and breakdown of computers lead to millions of discarded computers each year. Computers contain heavy metals like lead and toxic chemicals that pollute the soil and contaminate groundwater when they are dumped into landfills. Runoff from these landfills can contaminate water used for drinking and bathing, exposing people to hazardous chemicals.

Question 2) ●

Heating during the winter: I use electrical heating in my apartment, which uses a system that converts electrical energy to heat energy. The heating element inside every electric heater is an electrical resistor, and works on the principle of Joule heating. Although the conversion process does not emit any greenhouse gases, the heat pump in the system uses a HFC refrigerant that could damage the ozone if it leaks.

●

Taking a warm shower: When the shower valve is turned, it pulls water from the water source. Cold water goes straight to the cold pipe, while hot water makes a stop in the water heater first. Water from both pipes meets at the shower valve, which mixes it together and sends it to the shower head or tub spout. I take long warm showers, so environmentally, hot showers release large amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. A ten-minute hot shower releases. 4.5 lbs of CO2.

●

Microwaving food: Microwaves are produced inside the oven by an electron tube called a magnetron. The microwaves are reflected within the metal interior of the oven where they are absorbed by food. Microwaves cause water molecules in food to vibrate, producing heat that cooks the food. Environmentally, microwaves release millions and millions of tons of carbon monoxide into the environment every year.

Question 3) There are 6 criteria air pollutants which are lead, ground level ozone, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, sulfur oxides and carbon monoxide. The picture above shows the real time air quality in Montreal as of Monday 11am.The major sources of air pollution in Montreal are wood burning and transportation.

Question 4) ●

●

Lead: In some parts of Montreal the lead levels in the water is dangerously high because Montreal is an old city with lead pipes that have been corroded. To fix this problem people should replace all underground lead pipes. Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs): Found in the St. Lawrence river; these chemicals are found in medications and cosmetics eventually make their way into the river system.

Hormones, particularly those given to animals on livestock farms, also make their way into the water. Several advanced treatment systems, including membrane filtration, granular activated carbon, and advanced oxidation processes, have been used for the effective removal of individual PPCPs. Question 5) ●

Organic waste management: 55% of waste going to Montreal’s landfill is organic material that could be used for composting instead. As a result, the material releases methane gas via decomposition and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Solution: Provide all households with compost bins, so that people do not dispose of their organic waste or food waste in landfill garbage bins. This will divert the amount of organic material ending up in landfill.

●

Reducing waste: One of the major challenges in the solid waste management sectors in the city of Montreal is the actual amount of waste. The average Montreal resident produces about 464 kilograms of waste each year. Solution: The city can put more emphasis on educating the population on the effects of waste and put laws in place which reduces the total amount of waste produced by each household, such as the banning of plastic bags.

References: Ahmed, S. F. (2016, September 29). The Global Cost of Electronic Waste. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/09/the-global-cost-of-electronic-waste/502019/

Christopher Curtis, M. G. (2019, October 17). Montreal plans to divert 85% of garbage away from landfills by 2030. https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/montreal-plans-to-divert-85-of-garbage-away-from-landfil ls-by-2030#:~:text=Article%20content,is%20either%20recycled%20or%20composted.

Home Heating & Energy Blog. (2017, July 10). h ttps://evergreenhomeheatingandenergy.com/blog/146142

How the City of Montreal plans to go 'zero waste' | CBC News. (2019, October 18). https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-zero-waste-grocery-compost-textile-recycling-1.53 25319

Lemon, J. (2018, January 24). Microwaves are terrible for the environment, new study shows. https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/environment/microwaves-are-terrible-for-the-environment-new-study-sh ows/wQ19SIj6MMR2cpwAyrc9jI/

Maier, C. (2019, November 22). How Do Computers Pollute the Environment? https://sciencing.com/how-do-computers-pollute-the-environment-13660586.html

Matthew Lapierre, L. J. (2020, July 06). What's in the water? A breakdown of some of the pollutants around Montreal.https://montrealgazette.com/news/whats-in-the-water-a-breakdown-of-some-of-the-pollutantsaround-montreal

Perez, D. (2019, March 26). Water down the drain. too much environmental pain. https://medium.com/oyster-adams-do-one-thing-project/water-down-the-drain-too-much-environmentalpain-61a43e93e526

The World Air Quality Index project. (2020, October 19). Montreal Air Pollution: Real-time Air Quality Index. h ttps://aqicn.org/city/montreal

Waste Management. (2012, June 08). https://musemcgill.wordpress.com/research/waste-management/

Yang, Y., Ok, Y. S., Kim, K., Kwon, E. E., & Tsang, Y. F. (2017, April 21). Occurrences and removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in drinking water and water/sewage treatment plants: A Review. h ttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969717309373...