Abstract:
Sustainable development is a comprehensive and complex system of systems requiring multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary science and technology inputs with economic, environment and social objectives. The trade space is very wide and the multitude of trade-offs generate considerable challenges and make it often difficult to achieve an effective balance In the last sixty years the planet’s population has grown exponentially, from 2.5 to 7 billion people, and the technological progress achieved has been tremendous. And they are expected to continue increasing even at faster rates. All these associated technological activities in the pursuit of better living standards have created a considerable depletion of resources, pollution of land, water and air. Thus and because most of our resources are limited, it is imperative that we achieve more with less. In broad terms, sustainable development is achieved when the present needs and challenges are met without placing in jeopardy the ability of future generations to meet their own needs and challenges.
The global energy demand is expected to increase by more than 50% from now to 2025. The three main reserves of fossil fuels: oil, natural gas and coal are decreasing very rapidly and will not be always available to meet the global demands in the near future. The continuation of associated fossil fuel emissions will not be environmentally accepted, and there is a need to remediate some of the deleterious effects already sustained by the environment. Energy security has become a major and critical issue as fossil fuels are confined to a few areas in the world and their availability is controlled by political, economic and ecological factors. This means that in a short term, considerable energy efficiencies and savings must be achieved, and alternative and renewable sources of energy must now be developed, with associated advances in energy storage and conversion materials and technologies such as batteries, super capacitors and fuel cells. The transportation industry accounts for one quarter of global energy use and has by far the largest share of global oil consumption. It used 51.5% of the oil worldwide in 2003. Mobility projections show that it is expected to triple by 2050 with associated energy use.
Considerable achievements have recently been obtained in the development of new and advanced materials such as light weight metallic alloys, metal matrix composites, intermetallics and carbon fiber composites. A significant number of nano, nano-structured and nano-hybrid materials systems have also been deployed. In addition component redesign using a materials and functional systems integration approach was used resulting in considerable system improvements and energy efficiency. This resulted in their introduction in the energy, transportation and manufacturing industries in a wide variety of devices and components with considerable technological, economic, environment and social impacts. This presentation focuses on the role of new and advanced materials in sustainable development and focus of key areas such as energy, environment, transportation and manufacturing.
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