Technology for the Future

Transcription

1 Technology for the Future CCST Apr, 2013 Hayden Kwok-Hay So Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future. Niels Bohr Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering 2 Global Warming 5-yr temperature anomalies 1881 to 2009 source: NASA 3 Compelling Evidence n Global sea level rose about 17 centimeters in the last century n The Earth has warmed since 1880 with all 10 of the warmest years occurred in past 12 years n Oceans have been warmed by F since 1969 n Ice sheets have been shrinking n Glaciers have been retreating Source: 4

2 E-waste Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Broadly speaking: Any discarded electronic devices Computer, monitor, mobile phones, DVD player, refrigerator, etc All of them contain electronic components: e.g. integrated circuits (IC), transformers, capacitor, etc Electronic components connected with printed circuit boards (PCB) PCB is made of many layers of plastics and metal wires 5 WEEE-specific Problems (1) Lead in CRT monitory Mercury in LCD display Cadmium in PCB and old Ni-Cd batteries Brominated flame retardant (BFR) in PCB, connectors and cables Rapidly increasing Rapid increase in electronic market in developing world Largest increase (in terms of % by mass) in municipal waste in many urban cities Low awareness Lack of facilities Dismantling, recycling and discarding ewaste requires dedicated facilities Requires highly trained worker to classify waste: computer ~3 years mobile phone ~18 months 6 Many people do not understand the environmental and health risk of e-waste Short lifespan of electronic devices: WEEE-related Problems Contain highly harmful substances: E.g. Treatment of a CRT monitor is very different from an LCD monitor 7 8

3 WEEE directive WEEEman WEEE directive by the European Commision 2002/96/ EC Principle: The manufacturer/ importer of EEE has to bear the responsibility of the lifecycle of the equipment Includes manufacturing and disposal Requires producers to bear the responsibility of collecting WEEE A warning label in a headphone bought in The bar indicates it is a product from after tons sculpture made with electronic waste Recycling Products (US) Case Study: Apple Gift Card for recycling old computer Manufacturing products has higher carbon footprint than using them 11 Free recycle with shipping paid Old batteries recycling at Apple stores

4 Recycling Products (HK) Not just waste Urban Mining Valuable e-waste n E-waste also contains many valuable materials n Valuable metal: Gold, silver, aluminum, copper 1 tonne of cell phone è 5g gold (more than 1 tonne of ore) 100kg copper 3kg silver n Rare earth elements: Indium from LCD Antimony from silicon wafer 15 16

5 Recyclers in Guiyu From TIME Photos A small village near Shantou, China One of the largest electronic recycling center Unfortunately, very poorly managed People have little protection against the harmful materials in the e-waste pile 17 Black market for e-waste 18 Administrivia Case: unusable TV illegally exported to West Africa Project: Website due on 24/4 12:30pm (before lecture) Editing will be disabled afterwards Final project report due 1/5 11:59pm Individual report Final presentation order online Peer review assignment online

6 BP Oil Spill Mexico Gulf 21 Renewable/Clean Energy 22 Wind Farm Blowing of turbines drive generators Clean and reliable May generate day & night But Only work in areas with high wind Not reliable Large blades kill/scare away birds Nuclear Bio Fuel Solar Clean Renewable Wind Geo -Thermal Fossil Land-based Ocean-based 23 24

7 Solar Energy Helios n Convert radiation from the Sun into electricity by photovoltaics and other means. n Pros: always available (during day time), renewable, free n Cons: doesn t work at night, cloudy day, large area n Increase in efficiency recent years: 17% in 1980s, around 40% in Biofuel: Biodiesel and Ethanol n Generate electricity through Biomass Sugar cane, core, animal manure, etc n Make biodiesel/ ethanol to use in car n Pros: Net carbon neutral (hopefully) n Cons: Food for electricity? Pest? 26 Nuclear - Pros n Some experts regard nuclear energy as a clean energy source: It does not generate green house gases (e.g. CO2) during the process n So long as the radioactive by-product is handled properly, the process is safe Nuclear - Cons n The danger associated with nuclear is large especially with regard to the treatment of radioactive waste Natural/man-made disaster n Germany: Nuclear currently supply ~25% of electricity Eliminate nuclear power entirely by 2022 Replaced by renewable energy sources, mostly wind 27 28

8 Biodegradable Circuit Boards n All electronics gadgets contain one or more PCBs n PCBs are made of many layers of plastics and thin lines of metals n Contains lots of harmful heavy metal n Biodegradable PCB? Biodegradable Transistors n Conventional transistors (all integrated circuits) are built using (tiny) silicon + metal n Biodegradable transistors are made of biodegradable polymers, silk, etc Biodegradable Transistors (2) n Build transistor using blood, milk and mucus protein

9 Reduce n Recall the differentiation between want and need n Judge when you really need to get a new phone, TV, etc n Need to drive down production of unused products Data Center in Numbers n 11.8 million servers in USA in 2007 n 30.3 million worldwide n Every 1 W generated requires 0.5 W for heat removal Every watt counts Datacenters n Google s data center in The Dalles, Oregon, n Projected to consume upwards of 103 Mega Watts HEH s max demand 2552 MW CLP s max demand 6284 MW (Castle Peak 4108 MW, Black Point 2500 MW, Penny s Bay 300 MW) n Cheap electricity from nearby Dalles Dam Photograph: CCST9015 Craig Mitchelldyer/Getty - HS Images 35 n Google awarded a patent on floating data center (4/28/2009) n Generate electricity using tidal wave n Sea water for cooling servers 36

10 Real Google Center Summary n We need to find a better way to care for the world n Technology both helps and hurts the world at the same time n More innovations needed n Huge engineering effort Cross disciplinary View of the Earth as seen by the Apollo 17 Reduce Do you part: Take care of Planet Earth. Recycle Reuse 37 38