environmental technology essay

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The impact of technology on the environment and how environmental technology could save our planet

Courtesy of Edinburgh Sensors Ltd - TECHCOMP Group

This article takes a look at the paradoxical ideology that while the impact of technology on the environment has been highly negative, the concept of environmental technology could save our planet from the harm that has been done.  This idea is supported by WWF  1 , who have stated that although technology is a solution enabler it is also part of the problem.

The term ‘technology’ refers to the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes and the machinery and devices developed as a result. We are currently living in a period of rapid change, where technological developments are revolutionising the way we live, at the same time as leading us further into the depths of catastrophe in the form of climate change and resource scarcity.

This article will begin by discussing the negative impact of technology on the environment due to the causation of some of the world’s most severe environmental concerns, followed by the potential that it has to save the planet from those same problems. Finally it will explore the particular environmental technology of the gas sensor and discuss how it plays a part in the mitigation of negative environmental consequences.

The Impact of Technology on the Environment

The industrial revolution has brought about new technologies with immense power. This was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Europe and the United States, in the period from about 1760 to 1840. This has been succeeded by continued industrialisation and further technological advancements in developed countries around the world, and  the impact of this technology on the environment has included the misuse and damage of our natural earth.

These technologies have damaged our world in two main ways; pollution and the depletion of natural resources.

1. Air and water pollution

Air pollution occurs when harmful or excessive quantities of gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitric oxide and methane are introduced into the earth’s atmosphere. The main sources all relate to technologies which emerged following the industrial revolution such as the burning of fossil fuels, factories, power stations, mass agriculture and vehicles. The consequences of air pollution include negative health impacts for humans and animals and global warming, whereby the increased amount of greenhouse gases in the air trap thermal energy in the Earth’s atmosphere and cause the global temperature to rise.

Water pollution on the other hand is the contamination of water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans, and groundwater, usually due to human activities. Some of the most common water pollutants are domestic waste, industrial effluents and insecticides and pesticides. A specific example is the release of inadequately treated wastewater into natural water bodies, which can lead to degradation of aquatic ecosystems. Other detrimental effects include diseases such as typhoid and cholera, eutrophication and the destruction of ecosystems which negatively affects the food chain.

2. Depletion of natural resources

Resource depletion is another negative impact of technology on the environment. It refers to the consumption of a resource faster than it can be replenished. Natural resources consist of those that are in existence without humans having created them and they can be either renewable or non-renewable. There are several types of resource depletion, with the most severe being aquifer depletion, deforestation, mining for fossil fuels and minerals, contamination of resources, soil erosion and overconsumption of resources. These mainly occur as a result of agriculture, mining, water usage and consumption of fossil fuels, all of which have been enabled by advancements in technology.

Due to the increasing global population, levels of natural resource degradation are also increasing. This has resulted in the estimation of the world’s eco-footprint to be one and a half times the ability of the earth to sustainably provide each individual with enough resources that meet their consumption levels. Since the industrial revolution, large-scale mineral and oil exploration has been increasing, causing more and more natural oil and mineral depletion. Combined with advancements in technology, development and research, the exploitation of minerals has become easier and humans are therefore digging deeper to access more which has led to many resources entering into a production decline.

Moreover, the consequence of deforestation has never been more severe, with the World Bank reporting that the net loss of global forest between 1990 and 2015 was 1.3 million km 2 . This is primarily for agricultural reasons but also logging for fuel and making space for residential areas, encouraged by increasing population pressure. Not only does this result in a loss of trees which are important as they remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but thousands of plants and animals lose their natural habitats and have become extinct.

Environmental Technology

Despite the negative impact of technology on environment, a recent rise in global concern for climate change has led to the development of new environmental technology aiming to help solve some of the biggest environmental concerns that we face as a society   through a shift towards a more sustainable, low-carbon economy. Environmental technology is also known as ‘green’ or ‘clean’ technology and refers to the development of new technologies which aim to conserve, monitor or reduce the negative impact of technology on the environment and the consumption of resources.

The Paris agreement, signed in 2016, has obliged almost every country in the world to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change by keeping the rise in the global average temperature at less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

This section will focus on the positive impact of technology on the environment as a result of the development of environmental technology such as renewable energy, ‘smart technology’, electric vehicles and carbon dioxide removal.

• Renewable energy

Renewable energy, also known as ‘clean energy’, is energy that is collected from renewable resources which are naturally replenished such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat. Modern environmental technology has enabled us to capture this naturally occurring energy and convert it into electricity or useful heat through devices such as solar panels, wind and water turbines, which reflects a highly positive impact of technology on the environment.

Having overtaken coal in 2015 to become our second largest generator of electricity, renewable sources currently produce more than 20% of the UK’s electricity, and EU targets means that this is likely to increase to 30% by 2020. While many renewable energy projects are large-scale, renewable technologies are also suited to remote areas and developing countries, where energy is often crucial in human development.

The cost of renewable energy technologies such as solar panels and wind turbines are falling and government investment is on the rise. This has contributed towards the amount of rooftop solar installations in Australia growing from approximately 4,600 households to over 1.6 million between 2007 and 2017.

• Smart technology

Smart home technology uses devices such as linking sensors and other appliances connected to the Internet of Things (IoT) that can be remotely monitored and programmed in order to be as energy efficient as possible and to respond to the needs of the users.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of internet-connected objects able to collect and exchange data using embedded sensor technologies. This data allows devices in the network to autonomously ‘make decisions’ based on real-time information. For example, intelligent lighting systems only illuminate areas that require it and a smart thermostat keeps homes at certain temperatures during certain times of day, therefore reducing wastage.

This environmental technology has been enabled by increased connectivity to the internet as a result of the increase in availability of WiFi, Bluetooth and smart sensors in buildings and cities. Experts are predicting that cities of the future will be places where every car, phone, air conditioner, light and more are interconnected, bringing about the concept of energy efficient ‘smart cities’.

The technology of the internet further demonstrates a positive impact of technology on the environment due to the fact that social media can raise awareness of global issue and worldwide virtual laboratories can be created. Experts from different fields can remotely share their research, experience and ideas in order to come up with improved solutions. In addition, travel is reduced as meetings/communication between friends and families can be done virtually, which reduces pollution from transport emissions.

• Electric vehicles

The environmental technology of the electric vehicle is propelled by one or more electric motors, using energy stored in rechargeable batteries. Since 2008, there has been an increase in the manufacturing of electric vehicles due to the desire to reduce environmental concerns such as air pollution and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Electric vehicles demonstrate a positive impact of technology on the environment because they do not produce carbon emissions, which contribute towards the ‘greenhouse effect’ and leads to global warming. Furthermore, they do not contribute to air pollution, meaning they are cleaner and less harmful to human health, animals, plants, and water.

There have recently been several environmental technology government incentives encouraging plug-in vehicles, tax credits and subsidies to promote the introduction and adoption of electric vehicles. Electric vehicles could potentially be the way forward for a greener society because companies such as Bloomberg have predicted that they could become cheaper than petrol cars by 2024 and according to Nissan, there are now in fact more electric vehicle charging stations in the UK than fuel stations 3 .

• ‘Direct Air Capture’ (DAC) – Environmental Technology removing Carbon from the atmosphere

For a slightly more ambitious technology to conclude with, the idea of pulling carbon dioxide directly out of the atmosphere has been circulating climate change mitigation research for years, however it has only recently been implemented and is still in the early stages of development.

The environmental technology is known as ‘Direct Air Capture’ (DAC) and is the process of capturing carbon dioxide directly from the ambient air and generating a concentrated stream of CO2 for sequestration or utilisation. The air is then pushed through a filter by many large fans, where CO2 is removed. It is thought that this technology can be used to manage emissions from distributed sources, such as exhaust fumes from cars. Full-scale DAC operations are able to absorb the equivalent amount of carbon to the annual emissions of 250,000 average cars.

Many argue that DAC is essential for climate change mitigation and that it can help reach the Paris Climate Agreement goals, as carbon dioxide in the air has been the main cause of the problem after all. However, the high cost of DAC currently means that it is not an option on a large scale and some believe that reliance on this technology would pose a risk as it may reduce emission reduction as people may be under the pretense that all of their emissions will simply be removed.

Although we cannot reverse the negative impact of technology on the environment caused by industrialisation, many believe that new environmental technology, such as renewable energy combined with smart logistics and electric transport, has the potential to bring about the rapid decarbonisation of our economy and the mitigation of further detrimental harm.

How can the environmental technology of Edinburgh Sensors’ Gas Sensor contribute?

Sensors play a huge part in the positive impact of technology on the environment as they often play a vital role in the monitoring and reduction of harmful activities. At Edinburgh Sensors, we produce bespoke gas sensing technology which can be used across a wide range of applications, many of which can be used to mitigate environmental concerns. This article presents just three of these applications; the monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions, the monitoring of methane using an infrared sensor and the detection of gases using a UAV drone.

1. Monitoring of Greenhouse Gas emissions:   https://edinburghsensors.com/news-and-events/measuring-greenhouse-gas-emissions/

Edinburgh Sensors Gascard NG provides high quality, accurate and reliable measurements of CO, CO2 and CH4. To find out how we can assist you with the measurement of greenhouse gas emissions, simply contact us.

2. Using an Infrared Sensor for reliable Methane monitoring:   https://edinburghsensors.com/news-and-events/infrared-sensor-gas-monitoring/

Edinburgh Sensors’ Gascard NG is used for methane detection in a range of research, industrial, and environmental applications including pollution monitoring, agricultural research, chemical processes and many more.

3. Using a UAV drone attached to a gas sensor to measure harmful gases:   https://edinburghsensors.com/news-and-events/uav-drone-methane-monitoring/

From monitoring global warming to tracking the spread of pollution, there are many reasons to use a drone in order to monitor carbon dioxide, methane and other hydrocarbon gas concentrations in remote or dangerous locations.

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Cutting Through Environmental Issues: Technology as a double-edged sword

David austin and and daa david austin and molly k. macauley mkm molly k. macauley.

December 1, 2001

• 11 min read

Slack covers everything. It sifts in everywhere. Slack is what doesn’t melt in the mountains of red ore-a metal particle, powdered ore, powdered metal. It silts down all growing things. You can see the tiny bits of ore gleaming in your hands. The shining ore dusts your coat. It gets in your hair. On certain days they blow the slack out. Mighty currents of air blow the choking slack out of the costly mill chimneys onto the cheap human life outside. Those days the sun is darkened, and the steel workers returning home hide their faces as from a sand storm. They duck along, jackets over heads, under the fury of the falling slack. You find it everywhere. . . . Nothing, between soot and slack, can be clean long in the steel towns. “Steel Towns,” from Men and Steel, by Mary Heaton Vorse

The Industrial Revolution brought forth extraordinary gains in financial prosperity. Between 1870 and 1910, per capita income in the United States rose almost 40 percent, and the value of manufacturing output increased sevenfold. Yet rapid industrialization left in its wake darkened noontime skies, noisy and unsafe machinery, and severely compromised living conditions.

It took nearly three generations before the first concerted efforts were made to bring pollution under control, but once begun, progress has been real. The air quality index for the United States now shows a 42 percent improvement since 1980. The number of U.S. cities failing to meet national air quality standards for ozone, 199 in 1990, was just 70 by 1995. Automobile emissions of six principal air pollutants have decreased 31 percent even while the number of vehicle miles driven has more than doubled.

Having dirtied the earth, air, and water for more than a century, technology is now showing promise in environmental cleanup. Technological innovations specifically aimed at reducing pollution-from cleaner manufacturing processes to flue gas scrubbers to catalytic converters-now figure prominently in mitigating some of the growing pains of an increasingly technological world.

Technology, in other words, is a double-edged sword-one capable both of doing and undoing damage to environmental quality. In what follows, we look at technology and the environment in four key areas: energy, climate, water quality, and waste cleanup. In each case, we illustrate the dual nature of technology’s environmental implications. We also touch on the emerging relationship between the Internet and environmental quality, one that again seems to cut both ways. We then note how technology is helping to fashion policies that allow producers and consumers to recognize and internalize the environmental costs of technology and thus to spur innovation to clean up the environment. .

All the world’s economies continue to face big challenges in using energy-the lifeblood of the industrial age-while maintaining environmental quality. Although U.S. energy efficiency is much greater than ever before, growth in the economy has assured rising energy consumption. While the average fuel efficiency of new passenger cars has more than doubled since 1975, the environmental gains are increasingly offset by the popularity of lower-mileage light-duty trucks and sport utility vehicles, increases in miles traveled per vehicle, and large increases in vehicle ownership. .

Nonetheless, technology-impelled by economic, regulatory, and environmental pressures-has made possible impressive reductions in vehicular emissions of volatile organic compounds and carbon monoxide per mile traveled. Reductions in both by 70-80 percent since 1977 would not have been possible without substantial innovations in, most notably, electronics. Here, the development of sensors that can closely calibrate energy use to demand has meant that both modern engines and industrial motors can be operated much more efficiently. Microcontrollers and digital signal processors also underpin a new generation of auto emissions sensors, which now consume up to 25 percent less energy. Modern autos have 20-90 of these sensors to control their engines precisely. .

Discussions of energy use lead naturally to the question of how it may be affecting the earth’s climate. In the United States, the energy sector accounts for more than 85 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions, with energy-related carbon dioxide alone responsible for about 80 percent. Most U.S. greenhouse gas emissions result from the use of coal and petroleum in electricity generation and transportation, respectively. But two newer technologies, fuel cells and small, single-cycle gas turbines-induced by economic and environmental considerations as well as by innovation policy-offer substantial environmental advantages over traditional, large, centralized power plants. Local generation by smaller plants can not only reduce transmission losses, but also improve air quality since they can be fueled by hydrogen and natural gas-much cleaner than coal on a per kilowatt hour basis. If fuel cells become widely adopted in transportation, emissions will plunge there too. .

Adopting such technologies may not be a perfect solution, however, particularly in power generation. Some fuel cell technologies release carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. In addition, small-scale plants serving only residential areas or small businesses may be less able to balance the peaks in demand than are larger plants serving both types of customers.

Water Quality

Air quality and climate change are the dominant, but not the only, environmental issues relating to energy use and production. Industrial and vehicular emissions, particularly of nitrogen oxides, are also detrimental to water quality. Nitrogen deposition acts as a fertilizer and promote the growth of algae in lakes, rivers, and estuaries, creating eutrophic conditions that kill submerged aquatic vegetation. In some places, such as the Chesapeake Bay, eutrophication threatens commercial fishing as well as recreational pursuits.

Even more serious is the agricultural runoff of pesticides, fertilizer, and animal waste. Technology and policy are now beginning to address runoff pollution, but it is hard to measure, much less control, because it stems from widely scattered, “nonpoint” sources.

In the past few years, however, the tools of geographic information systems (GIS) using remotely sensed data have offered new ways to identify and observe these sources. The techniques combine land-use information with hydrology, topography, and soil data to make detailed, digitized maps at very fine scales and measure the potential for runoff. Remote sensing data on actual farming activities, collected by aircraft and satellites, can be combined with the digital maps to provide more accurate and timely monitoring and estimation of runoff. While it may not be possible to trace all the runoff to its original source, it is increasingly possible and cost-effective to trace much of it.

GIS tools have also fostered precision farm practices using real-time, computerized, and detailed information about crop health. Remote sensors on harvesting equipment enable growers to discriminate among rows of crops for irrigating and for applying pesticides and fertilizer, thus increasing crop yields and reducing chemical use. And precision agriculture may have a bright future: information technology sales in the farm sector are now comparable to sales of farm equipment.

Remote sensing technology has also begun to improve the efficiency of municipal water use. Even in the United States, water is priced in a way that encourages wasteful consumption. The problem is compounded in many other countries, particularly in the developing world, because of a lack of infrastructure to meter water use. In Buenos Aires, for example, customers pay for water based on the size of their houses or apartments. The city has recently updated its real estate maps using remotely sensed data. Some hotels had been masquerading as studio apartments and were billed accordingly. While remote sensing has not replaced the need for metering, the new data have at least allowed the city to price water more accurately.

Despite their promise, even GIS and remote sensing technologies are “two-edged” in their environmental implications. The technologies raise some privacy concerns, for instance, that could lead polluters to cloak or hide their polluting activities, further inhibiting pollution monitoring and cleanup. Several legal cases concerning constitutional protections against warrantless searches have been motivated by the use of aerial photography for monitoring environmental compliance, and in more recent cases polluters had attempted to shield their actions from surveillance. Most recently, Midwest farming conglomerates have expressed concern about the public availability of aerial imagery if it is detailed enough to disclose farming practices. Such concerns could lead to curbs on the use of remote sensing for pollution monitoring and regulatory enforcement.

Waste Management

The trade-off between benefits and costs of new developments in biotechnology has made headlines in the case of genetically modified food supplies. Similar concerns surround the technology of bioremediation. Naturally occurring microorganisms have long been used to break down human, agricultural, industrial, and municipal organic wastes. Now, genetically engineered organisms are being used to treat not only industrial effluent, but also wastewater, contaminated soil, and petroleum spills. Bioremediation treats about 5-10 percent of all toxic chemicals and other hazardous waste; has successfully treated oil, gasoline, toluene, naphthalene, pentachlorophenol (a fungicide and wood preservative), and agricultural waste; and is being used at more than 30 munitions test areas across the United States.

Bioremediation can be a particularly cost-effective approach. Most of the costs of traditional cleanup technologies come in removing and disposing of contaminated soil, water, or other materials. Bioremediation requires only delivering the bacteria to the site, not excavating or otherwise disturbing it, thus reducing post-cleanup costs.

These benefits must be balanced against what some critics view as potentially large drawbacks. One concern is that bioremediation may largely immobilize rather than fully remediate contamination. Another is that instead of reverting to its original state, the site will be transformed in some unexpected way. A third concern is that the potential risks of adding genetically altered organisms to the environment, or even redistributing naturally occurring ones, may not be fully understood.

The Information Revolution

The revolution in information technology promises economic changes almost as great as those of the industrial revolution itself. Digital data storage, manipulation, and communication may not appear to have environmental implications, but some examples suggest otherwise. High-speed, high-bandwidth connectivity between our homes and offices may allow us to telecommute; it may also worsen sprawl around metropolitan areas if workers find it increasingly practical to live farther from their work. Whether online shopping replaces visits to the mall or takes place in addition to trips to the dentist and dry cleaners (trips that might have been combined with trips to the mall) will also shape the Internet’s impact on auto travel. Packaging of e-commerce goods for shipping may be more materials- and energy-intensive than store-bought goods. Some controversial studies have even suggested that growth in demand for electricity, driven by new kinds of customers such as computer server warehouses, may have helped overload the electrical grid in northern California last summer. The net effect of new information technologies on energy consumption, land use, and travel has yet to be carefully studied.

From another perspective, as a tool for research and communication about the environment, the Internet appears to hold much promise. For research, it offers online bibliographic search engines, data archives and retrieval systems, rapid exchange of research results with distant colleagues, and software for scientific modeling of complex environmental processes. The Internet has also greatly expanded the public’s access to and awareness of detailed environmental information.

Economic Incentives and Technological Innovation

Realizing the environmental promise of these and other new technologies-that is, exploiting the beneficial side of technology’s dual nature-depends in part on “getting the prices right.” New technology will be better deployed to reduce environmental costs if these costs are recognized. For example, if automobile prices reflected all the environmental costs of tailpipe emissions, auto makers would have stronger incentives to use new pollution control technologies in new car models.

The “social costing” approach to environmental regulation has increasingly come into its own in the United States. For instance, tradable pollution permits-such as for sulfur dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants-have created financial incentives for electricity generators to adopt cleaner production processes. These market-based approaches can be more cost-effective than traditional emissions limits or technology standards, because firms that can reduce emissions most cheaply cut them more than they otherwise would-and then sell their excess permits to firms that cannot. At the same time, the market-based approaches induce innovations by putting a price on emissions and reductions.

The use of such incentive-based approaches is growing not only here, but abroad. International policy discussions on global climate change include taxes on carbon emissions and the use of marketable permits. Similar approaches to getting prices right in managing water quality and waste, as in our examples above, are likely to discourage environmentally harmful uses of these resources and further encourage use of new technologies in managing them.

Information technologies in particular will help expand the scope and effectiveness of incentive-based approaches, for at least four reasons. First, improved remote sensing technologies are making incentive-based regulations, which rely on emissions monitoring, either to enforce compliance or to levy taxes on pollution, more practical. Second, technological advances will help extend these approaches even to “smaller” polluters, possibly including small businesses and individual automobiles. Third, new information technologies are making it possible to fine-tune prices and regulatory programs-for example, by allowing pricing to reflect time of day, congestion, or atmospheric conditions. Finally, in the case of international resource management, remote sensing from space-based satellites may make it easier to monitor environmental compliance across countries.

From the steel towns of yesteryear to today’s wired cities, the interplay of new technology and its environmental effects has indeed been complex. Technology will always be a double-edged sword, but creative use of new economic approaches to environmental management should help blunt its destructive edge and hone its capacity for good.

Caren Grown, Junjie Ren

August 19, 2024

Keon L. Gilbert, Calvin Bell

Samantha Gross, Fred Dews

Green technologies for sustainable environment: an introduction

• Published: 12 October 2021
• Volume 28 , pages 63437–63439, ( 2021 )

Cite this article

• Eldon R. Rene 1 ,
• Xuan Thanh Bui 2 , 3 ,
• Huu Hao Ngo 4 ,
• Long D. Nghiem 4 &
• Wenshan Guo 4  

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Water pollution has long been a major source of concern for the environment, the biosphere, and human well-being. In order to safeguard the environment, technologies such as wastewater treatment, reuse, recycling, and resource recovery have been tested and implemented at the pilot and industrial scales. In recent years, the research hotspot of environmental protection has gradually shifted from the well-known conventional technologies to eco-friendly, cost-effective, and sustainable technologies, also known as green technologies which could demonstrate outstanding advantages. Several practical treatment processes have been proposed and applied in practice; however, the green technologies are currently the most attractive for pollution control, especially water and wastewater remediation, preventing air pollution, and also the development of sophisticated, yet usable on-site sensors and analytical instruments. In the context of environmental protection, green technologies are a collection of practical methodologies, techniques, technologies, and materials that are based on non-toxic chemical processes, non-toxic end products, renewable energy sources, and environmental monitoring instruments, among other things, to mitigate or correct the negative impact caused by human activities.

Firstly, concerning water quality, an effective arithmetical method for evaluating the quality of surface and ground water has been described as the water quality index (WQI). The determination of water quality indexes often entails the integration of diverse biological, physical, and chemical aspects of a water source to yield a single value that is unitless but serves as an effective indicator of water quality because it is non-destructive. Secondly, the increased consumption of fossil fuels contributes to global warming, depletion of fossil fuel reserves, and future energy insecurity, all of which encourage the globe to look for alternatives that are more environmentally friendly, simple, and inexpensively available. Thirdly, in many water bodies around the globe, toxic cyanobacterial blooms (TCBs) are becoming a rising source of worry and it has depleted the water quality. By using modern analytical and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) techniques, the dynamics of poisonous cyanobacteria and microcystin (MC) concentrations in different aquatic ecosystems can be determined. Fourthly, the recovery of energy from plastic wastes has become increasingly popular in recent decades, owing to the increased need for energy in the world. The green principles and concepts such as recycling and reusing are being considered as an alternative, but reprocessing plastics and subjecting them to additional heating cycles will almost certainly result in molecular damage such as cross-linking, chain scission, or the formation of double bonds, which will reduce the product's reliability. Fifthly, when we discuss the global issue of climate change, the levels of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere are increasing on a daily basis as a result of the combustion of fossil fuels for the generation of electricity. This has caused greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, accounting for 64% of global warming since the industrial revolution. From a techno-economic and green technology viewpoint, researchers have been more interested in novel carbon capture because of its ease of integration with coal-fired power plants, which does not require considerable adjustments (e.g., the use of photobioreactors, photo-sequencing bioreactors, and algal bioreactors). All these five issues have led to the development of an enormous number of indicators that aims at pollution prevention, resource recovery, and the implementation of cleaner production concepts by a variety of national and international entities/research groups.

On December 1–4, 2019, the 2 nd Green Technologies for Sustainable Water Conference (GTSW 2019) was successfully held in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam. The aim of GTSW 2019 was to provide a special forum for exchanging experiences, knowledge, and innovative ideas on all aspects of green technologies, with seven main themes: (1) water and wastewater treatment by green technologies, (2) wastewater treatment and reuse, (3) membrane processes, (4) resources recovery from wastewater, (5) nanotechnology for biological waste treatment, (6) bio-processes and bio-products, and (7) disruptive technologies and the application for water resource treatment and management. A wide range of present and future development difficulties in the fields of green technologies for waste to energy conversion, the resource recovery in the form of energy, fuel, valuable products and chemicals, and resilient environmental technologies were addressed by the keynote speakers, all of whom were speaking in a worldwide context.

The outcomes of GTSW 2019 were an opportunity to discuss and assess the latest approaches, innovative technologies, policies, and new directions in infrastructure development, pollution prevention, and eco-friendly processes to promote cooperation and networking amongst practitioners and researchers involved in addressing Green Technologies for Sustainable Water. The papers published in this special edition will provide significant networking opportunities for professionals and will provide the groundwork for future collaboration among these individuals. We are grateful to Prof. Philippe Garrigues, the Editor-in-Chief of Environmental Science and Pollution Research (ESPR), for providing us with the chance to publish a selection of peer-reviewed papers that were presented at GTSW 2019, and we appreciate him for his support. We would like to express our gratitude to Ms. Fanny Creusot and Ms. Florence Delavaud, Editorial Assistants of ESPR, as well as the entire Springer production team, for their invaluable assistance in bringing this issue to a successful conclusion. The guest editors are confident that the papers in this special issue will be useful reading materials for your study group, and we wish you the best of luck in your endeavors.

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Eldon R. Rene

Key Laboratory of Advanced Waste Treatment Technology, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh (VNU-HCM), Linh Trung Ward, Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, 700000, Viet Nam

Xuan Thanh Bui

Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), Ho Chi Minh City, 700000, Viet Nam

Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NWS, 2007, Australia

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Rene, .R., Bui, X.T., Ngo, H.H. et al. Green technologies for sustainable environment: an introduction. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28 , 63437–63439 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16870-3

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Essay on Impact Of Technology On Environment

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Positive effects of technology.

Technology has made life easier and more comfortable. For example, solar panels use the sun’s energy to make electricity. This clean energy reduces pollution from coal plants. Also, electric cars don’t use gasoline, so they don’t release harmful gases into the air.

Negative Effects on Nature

Technology in farming.

In farming, technology like tractors and machines helps grow more food. But, using too many chemicals to protect plants can harm the soil and water. We must find a balance to protect our Earth.

Recycling and Saving Resources

Technology helps us recycle things like paper, plastic, and metal. This means we use less from nature. Also, technology like LED lights uses less electricity, which saves energy and helps our planet.

250 Words Essay on Impact Of Technology On Environment

Technology and nature.

Technology has changed the way we live. It has given us many good things like computers, smartphones, and medical machines. But it also affects the world around us. When we use technology, it can hurt the air, water, and land.

Using Resources

To make technology, we need to use a lot of materials from the Earth. This includes metals and oil. Taking these out of the ground can harm the land. It can also make the animals that live there lose their homes.

Waste and Pollution

After we use technology, it often becomes waste. Old phones and computers can harm the environment if they are not thrown away the right way. They have chemicals inside that can get into the ground and water. Factories that make technology also put smoke and other bad things into the air. This can make the air dirty and cause illnesses.

Technology needs energy to work. Most of the time, this energy comes from burning coal or gas. This adds to climate change because it puts gases into the air that make the Earth warmer.

Helping the Environment

But it’s not all bad. We also have technology that helps the environment. Solar panels and wind turbines make clean energy. Electric cars don’t pollute as much as cars that use gas. And we have machines that can recycle waste.

500 Words Essay on Impact Of Technology On Environment

Technology has changed our world in many ways. It has made life easier and more fun. But it also affects the environment, which includes all the natural things around us like air, water, plants, and animals. We use technology to make things, move around, and even to talk to each other from far away. All of this can harm nature if we are not careful.

Factories and Air Pollution

Factories make lots of things we use every day. They make our clothes, toys, and even the phone or computer you might be reading this on. But when factories work, they often make smoke that goes into the air. This smoke can make the air dirty, which is called air pollution. Dirty air is not good for people to breathe, and it can also make it harder for plants and animals to live.

Cars, Buses, and the Air

Throwing things away, using energy.

We need energy to do almost everything, like turning on lights, playing video games, or keeping our food cold in the fridge. Most of the energy we use comes from burning coal, oil, or gas. When we burn these things, it can make the air dirty, just like cars and factories do.

Recycling and Reusing

Technology has both good and bad effects on our environment. It has made some things harder for nature, like making the air dirty and creating trash. But we can use technology to find new ways to help, like making clean energy and recycling. If we are smart about how we use technology, we can take care of the environment and still enjoy all the good things that technology brings to our lives.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

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Tech’s Environmental Impact and What You Can Do About It

There are many eco-conscious steps to take around your tech, says John Schwartz, a climate reporter. Tech can also help us see the scope of climate change.

Featuring John Schwartz

How do New York Times journalists use technology in their jobs and in their personal lives? John Schwartz , a climate reporter, discussed the tech he’s using.

What does your tech setup look like for work and at home?

It’s pretty messy, and it’s all about the laptop. I use a MacBook Pro that I carry back and forth. At work, The Times gives me a big second monitor and a dongle to charge the phone and tie in the backup drive. At home, I have a desk but do much of my evening research and writing in an easy chair in the living room with the laptop propped up on the chair arm.

More important than the way my system is set up is what I do with it. I have configured my computer system at work so that along with whatever stories I’m dealing with, the big extra monitor shows me a stream of photos of my grandkids, my children and my folks.

It’s no news to readers that the technologies we use can make us jittery, angry and sad. There’s Twitter outrage , Facebook and Instagram FOMO, and the constant nagging of email and Slack. And let’s face it, writing about climate change for a living isn’t exactly cheerful. So that stream of photos brings me little bursts of pleasure throughout my day, a regular lift. Similar images show up on my Apple Watch and iPhone. Why shouldn’t technology bring us joy along with all that angst?

You’re a climate reporter and self-proclaimed Apple lover. Many Apple fans buy every new iPhone every year. Does your knowledge of the environmental impact of yearly upgrades change your tech consumption habits?

I’ve been an Apple guy since buying my first ][+ in 1983. But I’ve never had the money to buy a new machine every year, and that kind of consumerism just isn’t for me, despite my Apple fanboy ways.

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Environmental Science & Technology Essay

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Modern world seems impossible without innovative design decisions at the streets. It seems rational to apply architectural ideas to restore old items on the streets, however, not many people think about ecology when they are offered to make a new architectural thing. The idea of a good design varies from person to person.

A good design is not the one that just looks good but also needs to perform its purpose. In recent years, ecology nature of a project is one of the most important features to focus on. The intention of ecological design is to try and to eliminate any negative impact a design can have on the environment.

This means that the projects have a meaningful impact and begin making dynamic changes in the society and the relationship of the user with this ecology friendly design.

The danger of the trash which cannot be recycled by means of the natural processes has already been much discussed (Carroll 65) and the creation of the architectural items cannot be based on the materials which can lay for thousand years in the soil without changes. The green or ecology friendly architecture is based only ion the natural resources which are renewable and can be easily restored.

The so-called ecology friendly design consists of some rules and principles that need to be followed so that it can be “green”. Some of these principles include being energy efficient. This means using manufacturing processes and products that require less energy. In recent times, there has been growing interest in the construction of energy – efficient buildings along with the encouragement of making existing homes energy efficient, which would create a greater impact.

Moreover, while applying to implementation of the archeological design it is important to use the materials which do not harm nature and to apply t6o the technologies which do not pollute the environment as well. The use of the renewable materials is meant as well. Moreover, this is one of the most important conditions in order to meet the requirements for ecology-friendly design.

In terms of architecture, the attempts of architects to decrease the impact on the environment right from the beginning is based on the desire to produce the item of the building components, continuing so in the process of the construction of the building until the entire lifecycle of the building.

In recent years, public awareness has helped increase and spread the benefits of green building practices. Increasing the awareness of how individual decisions can be energy and water efficient has encouraged communities to develop sustainable design practices. Thus, it is essential to “create designs that use and reuse only the energy and resources that reside on site and within the bioregion” (Williams xxiii).

The project we have created is built on the basis of the green to cradle-to-cradle design. The best explanation of the cradle-to-cradle design is as follows, it is “commercially productive, socially beneficial, and ecologically intelligent” (McDonough, Braungart, Anastas, and Zimmerman 434).

The tenets of the cradle-to-cradle design are as follows, (1) waste equals food, (2) use current solar income, and (3) celebrate diversity. The waste equals food tenet assures that there is no waste in nature as all the organisms can contribute to the whole ecosystem by means of becoming the nutrition to soil and other types of recycling. The use current solar income tenet is based on the solar energy as the only necessary for the architectural buildings.

The celebrate diversity tenet is based on the principle that each organism has its own place, but the number of those organisms in the nature is too great. The engeers try to increase the effect from their creations by means of celebrating diversity (McDonough, Braungart, Anastas, and Zimmerman 436).

These tenets may be easily applied to the project we have created. However, before applying these tenets, it is important to consider the project and its basic characteristics. The main idea of the project is to visually connect the bench and the fence and, therefore, a vertical fence is connected to horizontal seating.

The benches create both a public seating that is more open and towards the pathway whereas the private seating is towards the opposite side, creating a space for more intimate conversations. On another side of the benches, I also created a green wall to replace the old wire mesh wall. This green wall will help to beautify the campus and purification. Each architecture design should meet particular purposes.

Such a sustainable fence will serve the major purposes within the city architecture. On the one hand, it will help make use of the space to the fullest. This is quite important as there will be no need to ‘explore’ and ‘reshape’ new spaces to create seating areas for people. On the other hand, people using this area will think of green to cradle-to-cradle design.

Admittedly, sitting in such a ‘green’ area will make young people understand that of green to cradle-to-cradle design is something real, it is something more than just a discipline or topic for a heated debate.

This fence can encourage people to become more responsible and even more reasonable. Young people who are becoming active agents of the society can get inspired by the ideas of green design and ecology friendly architecture in combination with cradle-to-cradle design. These young agents will bring to the fore ideas of sustainability which will contribute greatly to the development of the society. Of course, the fence will not reshape the world. However, it will be one of those efforts which (when combined) do make a difference.

Returning to the tenets of cradle-to-cradle design and their application to our project, the following information should be discussed. The waste equals food tenet is followed as the materials the fence is going to be built out are natural and there is no any plastic or another material which is too harmful.

Much research has been conducted in the sphere and plastic believed one of the most dangerous products for nature (Hinterthuer 108). We are not going to apply to the use of this material. The use of current solar income tenet does not directly impacts our project, however in case the benches will need additional light the lams based on the solar energy should be applied as there is no need to insert the lamps based on electricity.

The celebrate diversity tenet is met as the fence is created out of green natural resource and benches are also out of the trees which are renewable. Therefore, our project is going to improve the city as it will change an old fence with a new one and at the same time it will be ecology friendly

Works Cited

Carroll, Chris. “High-Tech Trash.” National Geographic Magazine 213.1 (2008): 64-81. Print.

Hinterthuer, Adam. “Safety Dance over Plastic.” Scientific American September, 2008. 108-111. Print.

McDonough, William, Braungart, Michael, Anastas, Paul T. and Julie B. Zimmerman. “Applying the principles engineering of green to cradle-to-cradle design.” Environmental Science & Technology 1 Dec. 2003. 434-441. Print.

Williams, Daniel Edward. Sustainable Design: Ecology, Architecture, and Planning . Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2007. Print.

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10 Types of Environmental Technology

To save the planet, technology is our best asset.

When it comes to protecting our planet, environmental technology is our biggest friend. There’s technology that lets us harness energy from the wind, pull pollutants from our drinking water and travel without using a drop of fossil fuel.

What is environmental technology?

Here are 10 promising types of environmental technologies, and a few of the companies using them to build a better future.

Environmental Technology Types and Examples

Electric vehicles.

Transportation has a massive carbon footprint. Around  28 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. come from transportation. Vehicles were still the largest single contributor of greenhouse gases even in a year where pandemic restrictions reduced travel. Making a dent in global warming means seeking different ways to power transit, and one of the most significant alternatives is through electric vehicle (EV) technology. Electric vehicles run on rechargeable batteries . Electric vehicles do have their own carbon footprint, but it’s significantly less than that of gasoline-powered vehicles because they generate  no tailpipe carbon emissions . 

Plenty of startups are working to make electric vehicles more mainstream.  Hyliion develops EV batteries capable of powering cars over long distances. Illinois-based company Hyzon Motors specifically designs battery technology for commercial sector vehicles like trucks and buses. San Francisco-based companies  Chargepoint and Volta Charging work to build out the infrastructure to support electric vehicle adoption by developing and installing EV charging stations and making charging services affordable or free, according to the companies’ sites. 

More on Green Innovation 20 Environmental Companies Building a Better World

Solar Power

Absorbed through photovoltaic panels, solar power can be used to power individual homes, towns and even  entire cities . Large-scale solar farms with thousands of PV panels exist with the purpose of providing solar energy to communities and cities as a utility. Many of the largest solar farms, like Solar Star and Topaz Solar Farm , operate in locations across the Southwest and West Coast. Homeowners and landlords are also able to install their own panels on rooftops to power their homes. Solar panel installation is an expensive upfront cost, but there are government subsidy programs that act as an incentive for people to transition to  renewable solar energy . 

In the solar technology space, startups are making solar power more accessible and affordable. Demand IQ , a Denver-based solar company, has a platform where customers can compare rates to figure out the best panels for their budget. Other companies like Sunrun and ADT Solar provide tracking tools with which customers can track their solar power generation and usage, according to their sites. Another solar company, OneEnergy, aims to combine solar solutions with ecology stewardship by installing panels that can double as  wildlife habitats .

Wind Energy

Wind power accounts for over six percent of electricity worldwide, making it the second most common form of clean energy, according to the  Center for Energy and Climate Solutions . Wind energy technology converts the kinetic energy of wind into electricity through large turbines, which can be installed on land or in offshore locations. It does however have some downsides — wind conditions can be unpredictable which makes consistent energy generation challenging. 

Across the world, some of the leaders in the wind power space include big names like General Electric, Siemens, and Vestas Wind Systems — but there are plenty of startups working to build wind energy solutions as well. When thinking of wind energy, the first image that may come to mind is of massive windmills, but New World Wind develops alternative, smaller turbine models that fit into urban settings, according to its site. Many companies that provide solar power technology also build wind energy solutions. Santa Monica-based company Inspire and Juno Beach-based company Nextera Energy both provide customers with clean energy options.

Energy Conserving AI

Most of the energy consumed in the U.S. goes to waste — around  two-thirds attributed to burning fuels in cars or home appliances, according to UT Austin. Building a more sustainable world means not only coming up with alternative energy methods, but working harder to conserve the energy that we do use. To tackle this issue, AI tools analyze energy consumption and automatically cut back on surplus usage. 

On an enterprise scale, New York-based company Prescriptive Data offers smart building solutions that help company leaders  make commercial properties more energy-efficient. Its technology analyzes building occupancy and device usage to cut back on excessive energy consumption and help companies cut energy costs, according to its site. Companies like Sealed , 75F and Ekotrope gear their technologies towards homeowners, offering smart thermostat and air purification tools so customers can tailor their home energy consumption .

Food Recycling and Sustainable Farming

The way we grow and consume food could be more sustainable. It’s estimated that over  one billion tons of food is wasted globally every year. Agriculture is also a major contributor to carbon emissions worldwide, and consumes  nearly 70 percent of the planet’s freshwater supply, according to the World Wildlife Foundation. Optimizing our food production systems is crucial for tackling climate change, and tech companies are pitching in. 

Indigo , a Boston-based company, uses microbiology technology to help farmers improve their soil viability, increase their output and reduce their carbon footprint. Prospera Technologies , which is based in Austin, uses data science and machine learning technology to give farmers better insight into crop production cycles, helping them make more strategic and energy-efficient decisions about their yields.

Recycling Tech

To effectively combat global warming, single-use materials need to be phased out. The U.S. population sent around  292 million tons of garbage to landfills in 2018 alone, according to the EPA. Recycling can reduce the usage of natural or non-renewable resources by reusing materials that already exist, which cuts back on the amount of waste produced overall. Many cities and municipalities have subsidized recycling programs, but unfortunately, confusion about which materials are recyclable can contaminate recycling supplies. 

While paper products are the most commonly recycled materials, tech companies are looking at ways to recycle other commonly used materials like metals, fibers and electronics. Full Cycle, a San Jose-based company, is developing methods for recycling plastics, which are notorious for taking a long time to degrade. The company uses organic materials and turns them into biodegradable plastic alternatives that don’t sit in landfills for years. Another company, Footprint , seeks to reduce plastic consumption by offering fiber-based plastic alternatives made from recycled materials.  EcoATM , a San Diego-based company, takes an innovative approach to electronics recycling by installing kiosks in malls and grocery stores across the country for people to drop off their old phones or tablets.

Pollutant Filtration

Clean water and air are crucial to the health of our planet, but both are threatened by industrial pollutants and waste. Though government protections have been put in place to protect these finite resources, it’s estimated that around two million people in the U.S. have no access to clean water. Air pollutants contribute to poor health for people, too, leading to the development of heart disease and cancers .

To restore these resources, some tech companies have started to tackle these problems. Sunday , a company based in Boulder, is working to offset the pollutants created by the lawn care industry by engineering eco-friendly fertilizers and delivering them on demand, according to its website. Badger Meter , based in Milwaukee, designs technologies that can track water quality and usage to help utilities and commercial customers reduce waste. Pittsburgh-based company Evoqua Water Technologies is also focused on protecting water, building wastewater treatment and disinfection technologies to conserve clean water resources, according to its site.

Vertical Farming

Vertical farming has become a sustainable alternative to traditional farming. The practice involves growing crops stacked on top of each other in regulated indoor environments like warehouses, greenhouses and skyscrapers. Companies can then cultivate crops closer to urban populations, sustain crops throughout the year and limit the land area used for farming. For instance, New York-based Bowery Farming  develops AI-enabled indoor farming technologies to help farmers grow crops sustainably year-round.

A changing climate has also made vertical farming advances more urgent, with countries like the United Arab Emirates employing this practice to strengthen food security in the face of hot and arid conditions. High energy usage and costs have cast doubt on the viability of vertical farming, but there’s still a belief that the sector can go on to compete in the leafy greens, strawberry and tomato markets.         

Sustainable Smartphones 

Smartphones are a major source of e-waste , and their environmental impact will only worsen as the number of smartphones in the world continues to rise. In response, companies have experimented with ways to incorporate recycled materials into smartphones and lengthen their shelf life. For example, Fairphone creates smartphones with replaceable parts , encouraging users to repair their phones rather than throw them away.

The push to reduce smartphone waste has resulted in policy changes as well. EU regulations aim to make smartphone batteries more easily replaceable and extend the longevity of smartphones overall. While the actual production of smartphones remains a pollution source that needs to be addressed, these legislative developments are a step forward and put pressure on companies to design more sustainable smartphones moving forward.     

Carbon Capture and Storage Technology 

In a 2023 synthesis report , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirms the removal of carbon emissions from the atmosphere is needed in addition to reducing carbon emissions “to achieve net negative CO 2 emissions.” That’s why companies have begun investing in carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. CCS technology aims to isolate CO 2 from other gases during industrial processes, capturing and compressing it. The CO 2 can then be stored underground or transported to other sites for usage.   

While this sounds like a promising solution to carbon emissions, the process requires complex systems and remains expensive as a result. There are also fears that CSS technology may distract from efforts to reduce reliance on fossil fuels while enabling fossil fuel executives to continue to fill their pockets. CSS technology may limit carbon emissions in the short term, but it may not be an effective or practical method in the long run.

Frequently Asked Questions

Environmental technology refers to technology designed to help improve the environment by offering sustainable solutions, lessening our energy consumption and reducing waste production.

Can technology solve environmental problems?

While technology alone can’t solve every environmental issue, it can help support solar energy advancements, reinforce recycling initiatives and make AI more energy efficient as we make a collective effort to develop more sustainable ways of living.

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Elemental sulfur–siderite composite filler empowers sustainable tertiary treatment of municipal wastewater even at an ultra-low temperature of 7.3 °C

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Diverting organic waste from landfills via insect biomanufacturing using engineered black soldier flies ( Hermetia illucens )

This perspective describes how insects, such as Hermetia illucens, which are already used to process organic wastes at industrial scales, could be developed as a synthetic biology platform for sustainable biomanufacturing and bioremediation.

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