Called For Government's policies

“For a long time, the scientists have been telling us global warming increases the temperature of the top layer in the ocean, and that causes the average hurricane to become a lot stronger. So, the fact that the ocean temperatures did go up because of global warming, because of man-made global warming, starting around in the seventies and then we had a string of unusually strong hurricanes outside the boundaries of this multi-decadal cycle that is a real factor; there are scientists who point that out, and they're right, but we're exceeding those boundaries now.”                                                                                                            

     - US 45 th Vice President and Environmetalist    Al Gore

As a former Vice President of US, Al Gore’s starring in An Inconvenient Truth has successfully not only drawn the public’s attention to the urgency to tackle the global warming issue but also press the government of states to put legislating relevant policies in the discussion agenda.  China is the current largest developing country. Its booming economy and considerable population gives it an inevitable obligation in participating the global effort to mitigate the global warming. Chinese government has announced a series of policies to help to tackle the global warming issue from different approaches. One of the remarkable policies is the Renewable Energy Law of the People Republic of China which is issued in March, 2005.(Committee, 2005)

The issue of this Law contributes a lot to encouraging the development and application of renewable energy and offers policy protection of this special area. Renewable energy includes the hydroelectricity, wind power, solar energy, geothermal energy and marine energy which are cleaner and renewable than conventional fossil fuels. The widely promotion and application of renewable energy will aid the reduction of the emission of greenhouse gas (GHG) and further help to mitigate global warming problem.

In the Renewable Energy Law of the People Republic of China, Chinese government helps the development of renewable energy field in two main ways. On the one hand, the Law provides the policy legal support for the renewable energy industry and relevant research institutes. It apparently announces the government’s attitude towards the renewable energy generation which is support and encouragement. It helps to build a favored environment for enterprise and research institutes on the development of renewable energy. On the other hand, the Renewable Energy Law also tackles the sale and financial problems which is the main obstacle for the suitability of many emerging industries. For example, one article is said that the excess between the expenses that power grid enterprises purchase renewable power and the expenses incurred in the purchase of average power price generated with conventional energy shall be shared in the selling price. With such economic incentives and decrease of business risk, enterprises will actively participate in and invest the renewable energy industry.

The issue of Renewable Energy Law is commonly regarded as a milestone of Chinese government’s progress in tackling the global warming issue. Considering the great social and political influence, more government of states should act like China to take quick act on the addressing the global warming by issuing relevant laws and policies, then seek the international collaboration.

Reference:

Committee, t. 1. (2005). The Renewable Energy Law The People's Republic of China.

Gore, A. (n.d.). Al Gore Quotes. Retrieved January 29, 2009, from Woopidoo! quotatiions : http://www.woopidoo.com/business_quotes/authors/al-gore/index.htm

Engineering - Systematically analyze complex information and apply a holistic (systematic) approach in designing solution

To seek an insight of how an engineer designs solutions for a particular problem with analysis of complex information, it is significant to understand the essence of engineering. Engineering is about creative application of scientific principles to design or develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes. (The Engineers' Council for Professional Development, 1941) Engineers start with numerous data and scientific principles and use systematic and logical way to combine these information to design a system or process for a desired purpose, usually the solution for a practical problem.

In order to achieve this, engineers are trained to seek an optimized combination of different elements or parameters to create an ideal model. This needs their analysis on complex conditions of the problem they have encountered. They have to simplify the complex problem to sub-problem and individual step to analyze. Usually a problem may cover broad range of disciplines and require consideration on various aspects. After the analysis of complex information relevant to the problem, models are created to connect and merge the information engineers have. Information has to be connected to shed light on the solution of the problem. This is what “holistic” means in the world of engineering. With the guidance of scientific methods and engineering principles, engineers can test and adjust the models to make sure its feasibility and reliability.

Here is an example to illustrate how engineers work in such a process. For a mechanical engineering to design a new aeroplane model, he starts with the collecting of different data and parameters. The information includes the plane’s fluid dynamics, the coordination between wings and empennage, electrical system, radar system, power supply system (maybe this should be done by a group of engineers). The design of an aeroplane has been broken into sub-problems to be analyzed. Then a system or model is set up to merge all the solutions of sub-problems. Pieces are not added together but integrated into a whole. After the numerous testing of the new aeroplane models, adjustment and redesign are made for the final product.

That is how “engineer has been, and is, a maker of history”.

---- James Kip Finch (December 1 1883 - 1967) was an American engineer and educator

(Finch)

                                       

References:

Finch, J. K. (n.d.). James Kip Finch quotes. Retrieved January 21, 2009, from Thinkexist.com: http://thinkexist.com/quotes/james_kip_finch/

The Engineers' Council for Professional Development. (1941, 11). Science,Volume 94, Issue 2446 , p. pp. 456.