Item 4: What difficulties do you have writing in your engineering classes? You may use your work in MLE1101 to give examples. How do you resolve the d

Currently, there is limited writing in my engineering class as most of my modules are calculating- based. Most of my writing is done on EG1471 and on my CM1502 laboratory reports. Therefore, one of the difficulties that I have in my engineering class will be writing the laboratory report for CM1502. I could still remember how hard for me to write my first chemistry report because it is totally different from what I did during my junior college or secondary school years. During that time, our chemistry reports required only our experimental results and some simple deductions which we could conclude from the experiment. But now, there are many items that I have to include in my university chemistry report. Being exposed to this for the first time is a challenging task for me.
For each experiment, seven items need to be included into the laboratory report. These items are Aim, Introduction, Procedure, Data and Analysis, Discussion, Conclusion and Reference. In order to write a good report, every item in the report requires a higher level of detailed writing and good organisation skills. The ideas bring across in the report must be explicit so that my tutor can understand the report I wrote. Thus, to resolve the difficulties I faced in writing my laboratory report, I have to refresh on what I have learned in EG1471 and apply the writing skills on to my report.
Firstly, the Aim of the report acts like the thesis statement of an essay. It contains the main idea and the specific topic of what I am going to investigate in a very clear and brief manner. Secondly, for the Introduction of the report, it defines the subject of the report. It contains the relevant information to support the thesis and suggests ways to approach the experiment. The paragraph in the Introduction must be well linked with transition signals to ensure the flow of the report. Next, for the Procedure of the report, I can apply what I have learned for process essay using chronological order. This forms of writing able me to describe the procedure precisely. Therefore chronological order signal words are important to link the sequence of the steps clearly. For Data and Analysis, it only involves the calculating and plotting of graph or charts; hence not much of writing involves. After that, under the Discussion, I have to relate my data to the existing theory. Therefore, the data and graph serve as supporting details to support my hypotheses graphically. Furthermore, I have to organise my writing and sometimes, planning (brainstorm) is required which was taught by EG1471. Transition signals have to be used to ensure a logical flow in the discussions. In Conclusion, I have to reiterate the thesis of the experiment and summarise what I discovered based on the experimental results. Lastly, for Reference, I have followed the APA style given by EG1471 except that, for the report, in-text citations are not required.
Generally, writing a good report requires not only a good theoretical background, but also requires a good foundation in writing. It will be very disturbing for the readers or tutors to understand my work if the report is not well-organised and full of grammatical errors. With the help of EG1471, I am able to organise my ideas well. However, I found out that there is a lack in transition signals in my report and quite a few grammatical errors. Thus, these are two of the areas have to improve on to make my report a better one. This can be done by doing some grammars exercise in the SELF or read more English articles. I can also refer back to the EG1471 textbook to refresh on some of the transition signals which I can used.

Writing Assignment 2: Based on Stephens’ article and your related readings, do you think R&D (i.e., Research and Development) should focus on coal-bas

Fossil fuels such as coal have been a primary source of energy for the world since the start of civilization. However, these natural fuels will be depleting soon. According to Biotour (n.d), “the world will run out of oil by the year 2043” and if the demand continues to rise, “the world’s oil supply may be depleted of as soon as the year 2020.” Hence, alternative sources that are not reliant on fossil fuels should be used in the future. Generally, Research and Development (R&D) should focus on technologies which are not reliant on fossil fuels rather than on coal-based Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies.
The burning of fossil fuels will emit carbon dioxide which exacerbates the effects of global warming. Thus, CCS was introduced to capture the emissions of carbon dioxide. Based on Stephen’s article (2006), CCS “incorporates a variety of technology associated with the capturing of carbon dioxide from power plants and storing it in naturally occurring, underground geologic reservoirs.” It is true that countries such as America and China have abundance of coal and we cannot neglect CCS. However, CCS serves as a temporary solution. It will be of no use once coal is completely depleted. Stephens (2006) has said that CCS is no longer restricted by the feasibility of technology. Thus it is invalid to play the emphasis of R&D in CCS.
Furthermore, CCS posed many doubts and problems which have yet to be solved. Firstly, CCS cannot be applied for every country. The storage locations for carbon dioxide are not feasible for every country. Those countries without the proper storage space such as ocean storage or oil and gas fields will not be able to use CCS technology.
Another problem Stephens (2006) mentioned is the “lack of clear regulations that provide economic incentives for investment.” The economic incentives generated by CCS are still very vague and investors will be reluctant to invest this technology. Moreover, “the (CCS) technology is used in small-scale applications, [and] it has not been demonstrated on a commercial-scale power plant.” Presently, there is no large-scale power plant proven to be successful in using CCS technology. Thus investors may not have the confidence in expanding this technology, fearing that they will lose all their investment if CCS technology does not work in large-scale.
In addition, there is a risk of leakage of carbon dioxide and the consequences are devastating. Schiermeier (2006) commented that “a sudden catastrophic release of carbon dioxide, which is heavier than air, can suffocate people at low lying areas.” He also said that “gas-filled reservoirs could potentially trigger landslides and tsunamis.” For ocean storage, if there is a leakage under the sea, it will increase the acidity of the seawater, thus threatening the marine life. To add on, when carbon dioxide is injected into deep saline aquifers, brines will be displaced into overlying aquifers, “with concomitant potential to contaminate potable water supply” (Schiermeier, 2006). With so many problems associated with CCS, R&D should not be focused on CCS technologies.
Although the costs of building plants for both CCS and other technologies are comparatively the same, more efforts should be placed on the latter. Other technologies which are not reliant on fossil fuels are renewable and sustainable. Most importantly, they are environmental friendly. Such technologies include solar, nuclear and water energy. They are in abundance and obtainable without much efforts. These technologies have been improvised for the past decades and should not be neglected.
Results have shown that R&D has increased the efficiency of existing technologies. According to National Academy of Engineering (2008) the efficiency of solar cells has increased from “10 percent to 34 percent.” In the case of hydroelectric power, Power Technology (2008) stated that the Xiaolangdi hydroelectric plant in China “generated 5.1 billion kWh of electricity a year.” It is because of R&D that we are able to capture the natural energy and convert it into the useful forms we need. The efficiency of the existing technologies can then be further improved with the help of R&D.
Using the non fossil fuel technologies will not produce any form of pollutions. It only produces clean energy which is not harmful to the environment. Some people have raised doubts on using non fossil fuel technology such as nuclear energy. Although the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster has drastic effects on the health of people and environment, the present nuclear plants have been improved with minimum hazards with the help of R&D. As quoted in RadWaste (1996-2008), “The nuclear industry is highly regulated.” Hence, careful procedures have been carried out to ensure the safety of humans and environments. Most of all, the energy produced by nuclear technology is very high. A major commercial plant called ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) which is based at Cadarache in France will produce “a power level of 500 megawatts.” (National Academy of Engineering, 2008). This cannot be done without the efforts of the R&D in the past decades.
Technologies not reliant on fossil fuels are largely dependent on natural sources and weather conditions. It may be true that poor weather can result in poor power productivity; however, technologies have allowed us to store energy for further usage. For instance, “sunlight could power the electrolysis of water, generating hydrogen as fuel” (National Academy of Engineering 2008). R&D has thus stretched the technical abilities in creating storable fuels.
In conclusion, R&D should place more attention on technologies not reliant on fossil fuels, which are more feasible and environmentally friendly. These technologies can be used for many generations which serve as permanent solutions when fossil fuels are used up. On the other hand, CCS technology will no longer require in our generation when the coal has been used up. Therefore, if R&D focuses on non fossil fuel technologies, it can then further improved on the efficiency on the existing technologies, making them more affordable and provide efficient ways to store the energy.


References
Biotour. (2008). Fossi Fuel. Retrieved October 2, 2008, from
http://www.biotour.org/content/Inform%20yourself/fossilfuels.html
National Academy Of Engineering Of The National Academies. (2008). Grand Challenge for
engineering: Making solar energy economical. Retrieved October 2, 2008, from
http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/9082.aspx
Nature Publishing Group. (2008). Putting the carbon back (pp.620-623)
Power-Technology. (2008). Industrial Projects: Xiaolangdi hydroelectric power plant. Retrieved
October 2, 2008 from http://www.power-technology.com/projects/xiaolangdi/
RadWaste. (1996-2008). Waste link: Laws and regulations. Retrieved October 2, 2008 from
http://www.radwaste.org/laws.htm
Stephens, J.C. (2006). CCS: Research is not enough. In The world energy book (pp.15-18).
London: World Energy Council

Item 3: Summary of an article

One of the grand challenges that engineers have to face will be finding alternative sources of energy in terms of electrical energy for the growing population. Currently, our main source of energy comes from fossil fuels which include oil, natural gas and the coal. However, these natural fuels are non-sustainable and they are depleting at an alarmingly rate. Furthermore, since the start of industrialisation, the use of fossil fuels has worsened the problems of air and water pollution. Hence, the alternative source must be sustainable and environmentally friendly. Solar energy is one of them. Although the sun’s energy can produce much more commercial energy that human normally use, there are many obstacles which hinder us from optimising the sun’s energy. Firstly, the efficiency of the solar cells is very low. They are not able to convert all the sunlight captured into electricity for commercial usage. Engineers have to work on different methods such as applying nanotechnology to enhance the performance of solar cells. Secondly, the manufacturing cost to produce solar cells is very high. This means that each individual will be heavily charged as using solar energy is expensive. Therefore, new components can be used to modify existing solar cells which can help to reduce the production costs. Lastly, engineers must provide efficient ways to store solar energy. This is necessary because sunlight is not available during night time and cloudy days. Thus, solar energy must be tapped and stored for further use. This introduced the invention of fuel cells where hydrogen is used as a fuel. Making use of solar energy, hydrogen can be produced by electrolysis of water. The combustion of hydrogen produces energy and water, which is an environmentally clean by-product. All in all, our ability of using solar energy can be further optimised with the help of engineers. By limiting the mentioned obstacles to the minimum, solar energy can then be economically used as the main source of energy in place of the fossil fuels.

References
National Academy Of Engineering Of The National Academies. (2008). Grand Challenge for
engineering: Making solar energy economical. Retreieved September 21, 2008, from
http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/9082.aspx