Creative Engineering Design: Carbon Footprints and Transportation
Carbon footprint represents the individual’s contributions to greenhouse gas emissions from human activities that burn fossil fuels, such as gas-powered transportation.Copyright 2022, Sintegrity, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0, Wikimedia
Students are introduced to the concept of a “carbon footprint” and then explore what greenhouse gasses are by analyzing a scientific article. Next, students calculate their carbon footprint for their typical daily trip to school. Finally, students participate in a class discussion to reflect on the final Carbon Footprint Reflections worksheet section.
To help people lower their carbon footprints engineers are creating a wide range of clean energy processes and products to transform from non-renewable fossil fuels to alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, hydropower, and biomass to power our world. Civil engineers help to decarbonize cities, for example, by installing green roofs on buildings to fight urban heat island effects and infrastructure to support electrified fleet vehicles like buses that reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality. Environmental engineers pursue “green engineering” by developing processes that conserve natural resources, improve energy efficiency, minimize waste, and reduce pollution and greenhouse gases. Materials engineers are exploring and developing ways to capture CO2 from the atmosphere and convert it into useful applications, such as carbon capture and storage in concrete. Engineering is at the heart of creating a sustainable and equitable future for everyone.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Know what carbon footprint means.
- Assess their general individual carbon footprints.
- List ways for reducing carbon footprints.