Technology can be used to further develop an existing system, or can make it possible to find a different solution to the problem. Finally, a more practical reason to study the basics of technology is that it makes it much easier to be on speaking terms with many of the engineers you will meet in the workplace some day in the future. The course in Environmental Technology is deliberately separated from Cleaner Technology. We wish to highlight that technical solutions in common use are in many cases the sources of environmental impacts. We believer that the answer is that the latter are often based on the former and the two approaches do not necessarily stand in conflict with each other.
Emphasis is placed on what actually constitutes 'industrialised' society.
All the facets of the system are included in discussions. These range from sources, distribution, utilisation and final disposal to the appearance of the various pieces of equipment that actually build the systems. The course is based on four central themes, the first describing the development and constraints of industrialised society in general. The underlying forces behind development are discussed, and the environmental problems are presented from an engineering perspective, taking into consideration such limitations as resource availability and thermodynamic efficiency. This section of the course elaborates on the fundamental limitations of the production system, why we need a change, and what type of change we need.