Environmental constraints

Environmental constraints

Modern engineering processes and systems are increasingly designed and implemented to minimize environmental affects. Engineering companies must ensure that the negative effects of engineering activities on the natural and built environment are minimized. You need to be able to identify how individual engineering companies seek to do this, such as through:

·         design of plant and products, which optimizes energy use and minimize pollution

·         good practices such as the efficient use of resources and recycling, and the use of techniques to improve air and water quality

·         management review and corrective action

·         relevant legislation and regulations.

Material processing

Many engineering activities involve the processing of materials. Such materials may appear in the product itself or may be used in the manufacturing process. Some of these materials occur naturally and, after extraction from the ground, may require only minimal treatment before being used for some engineering purpose. Examples are timber, copper, iron, silicon, water and air. Other engineering materials need to be manufactured. Examples are steel, brass, plastic, glass, gallium arsenide and ceramic materials. The use of these materials produces effects: some beneficial and some not.

Economic and social effects stem from the regional wealth that is generated by the extraction of the raw material and its subsequent processing or manufacture into useful engineering materials. For example, the extraction of iron-ore in Cleveland and its processing into pure iron and steel has brought great benefit to the Middlesbrough region. The work has attracted people to live in the area and the money they earn tends to be spent locally. This benefits trade at the local shops and entertainment centres and local builders must provide more homes, schools, and so on. The increased numbers of people produces a growth in local services, which includes a wider choice of different amenities, better roads and communications and arguably, in general, a better quality of life.

On the debit side, the extraction of raw materials can leave the landscape untidy. Heaps of slag around coal mines and steelworks together with holes left by disused quarries are not a pretty sight. In recent years much thought and effort has been expended on improving these eyesores. Slag heaps have been remodelled to become part of golf courses and disused quarries filled with water to become centres for water sports or fishing. Disused mines and quarries can also be used for taking engineering waste in what is known as a landfill operation prior to the appropriate landscaping being undertaken.

Other potential problems can arise from having to transport the raw materials used in engineering processes from place to place. This can have an adverse affect on the environment resulting from noise and pollution.