Sustainability – The New Main Concern of Engineering

Today, the development of engineering and the introduction of new technologies are like an explosion; the pace of their growth reaches a point that has never been seen before. As the quality of human beings’ lives is improved, people start paying more attention to the future. Therefore, sustainability becomes one of the main concerns. As engineering plays such an important role on improving human beings’ lives, it is inevitable that sustainability becomes one of the main concerns of engineering, and it is an engineer’s responsibility to include the idea of sustainability into the all processes of engineering.

One of the most basic theories for engineers is the “Utilitarianism.” It requires engineers to promote the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people. Some critics may come out and argue that the “Utilitarianism” only ask engineers to promote the good, and economic development is the good for the whole society. Thus, engineers should not spend much time or effort on sustainability because it has nothing to do with promoting the good to the society; however, this argument seems superficial. The greatest number of people does not only mean the current generation living on the earth, and it should include future generations. Hence, based on the “Utilitarianism,” it is engineers’ responsibility to do good for the future generations, and that is exactly what sustainability is.

Sustainability is a moral commitment. Engineers need to realize that they have more responsibility to just serve the need of the current generation. Because engineers have the knowledge and the expertise to make greater influences, they also need to take more responsibilities. Thus, the responsibility of sustaining the conditions in which human well-being can be achieved is also put on engineers’ shoulders. When engineers are doing their work, they need to not only take the near future into consideration, but also take care of the more distant future.

Since sustainability is such an important responsibility, engineers need to make sure that the idea of sustainability run through all processes of engineering, especially at the design process. Right now, a lot of engineers realize how important sustainability is, so the companies and countries will spend so much money and effort to make sure their work is sustainable; however, majority of them focus on the maintenance part of the engineering. They try to be sustainable when some unsustainable accidents happen, but that is not the most efficient way to commit sustainability. A more effective and efficient way will be including sustainability in the design process. For example, developing a more environmental-friendly car engine will be more efficient than trying to fix air pollution problems. It is true that sustainability should be a moral commitment on all processes of engineering development, but having the idea sustainability in the design process will be the most efficient way to be sustainable.

In conclusion, sustainability is one of the hottest topics of 21^st century. It is also a new main concern for all engineers, and engineers have responsibility to make the sustainable design happen. Sustainability should be in all processes of engineering, but sustainable design will be the most efficient way.  

                                                            Written by Jerry Chen