sutainable development

Hello everyone!

After a long time I am posting on this blog as I was little busy, my apologies for that. During this period of time I attended a workshop on sustainable development and now I would like you people know about sustainable development and how a civil engineer is responsible for sustainable development.

What is sustainable development?

Sustainable development is nothing but the development that takes place to fulfil the needs of the present generation such that the future generation don’t have to compromise with their needs.

We all know that most of the energy which is used by us for driving cars, electricity for lighting bulbs, tube lights, in air conditioners etc. is obtained from non renewable form of source i.e. coal , petroleum and all other fossil fuels.

Since these sources of energy will soon exhaust, if we will use them rigorously as we are using them now then we will fall prey to various problems and difficulties. So, to overcome this situation we have to think of the other sources of energy which are renewable like solar energy, wind energy, tidal energy etc so that our future generation doesn’t have to face problems for their survival.

So all the decisions made today, should be implemented keeping in mind the needs of future generation and this can be done by generating energy from renewable sources of energy, using minimum amount of energy and by applying the 3 R’s in our modern lifestyle.

 

This is known as sustainable development.

How we can contribute for sustainable development?

There are various ways in which we can contribute for sustainable development. Which are:-

·         Using LED lights in place of bulbs and tube lights.

·         Using fuel efficient cars or bikes.

·         Using bicycle for going to place which are near to your house.

·         Using solar water heater for heating water

·         By collecting rain water by rain water harvesting.

·         By recycling, reusing and reducing the use of different materials.

·         By using public transport.

·         By using electricity generated from renewable form of energy etc.

 

 

 

 

How a civil engineer plays a vital role for      sustainable development?

 

Actually not just civil engineers but each and every person on this planet Earth is responsible for the sustainable development because in today’s scenario every person uses electricity, manufactured goods and materials for daily use, transport etc.

But I think a civil engineer plays a key role for sustainable development. It is the civil engineer only who constructs roads, buildings, railways, airports; in short it is the civil engineer who plans the whole map of the city. For doing so he will need a lot of energy in the form of electricity, petroleum, various materials for the construction purposes, transport facility for the labours etc.

So they contribute tremendously for sustainable development.

For example, suppose I’ve to construct a building, and that building should be constructed such that there is a minimum use of energy, and all the other things which are non renewable or harm the environment. Then what are the things I could do?

Let me tell you, there is a new concept for constructing a building which is known as green building. A green building is perfect for sustainable development as it uses negligible amount of energy from exhaustible sources and produces minimum amount of waste so that there is no major problem for the disposal of the waste which could harm the environment.

 

So for constructing a building I can construct a green building, some of its features are:-

·         It uses energy of its own i.e. it generates electricity by solar energy or wind energy.

·         The materials used for the construction of the building should be durable and should be made from waste materials. For example, bricks can be made by using fly ash.

·         The walls of the building should be insulated so that the temperature inside the building is cool

·         The rain water should be collected from the roofs for other uses or it can be used for increasing the underground water level.

·         The building should have LED lights and they should be installed with motion sensing technology as they will automatically get switched off if we forget to do so after use.

·         By using the sunlight instead of electric lights at day time.

·         During the construction of a building it should be ensured that the materials are taken from a local supplier as it will reduce the emission of CO₂ during transport.

·         The water from the washrooms should be treated and used for irrigation purposes.

·         By treating the harmful gases emitted from the air conditioners which deplete the ozone layer

 

These were some of the ways in which a civil engineer can contribute for sustainable development.

 

Sustainable development is very important for the survival of the humans for longer period of time if this is not realised soon and if no proper steps are taken then its result will be devastating.