EDWARD NG | UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO | 2009

Engineering and Public

Policy for the 21st Century
A Brief History of Technology and Society, 1950-
2009
Contents
List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... 3
Abstract .................................................................................................................................... 4

Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 5

Section 1: The Rise of Suburbia ............................................................................................... 7

Section 2: The Immediate Consequences................................................................................ 8

Section 3: The Big Picture ...................................................................................................... 10

Section 4: The Next Steps ...................................................................................................... 14

Conclusion.............................................................................................................................. 17

Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 18
List of Figures
Figure 1: The number of US motor vehicles and vehicles miles traveled have risen steadily over
the past 4 decades (U.S. Department of Transportation) .............................................................. 9

Figure 2: US petroleum flow in millions of barrels (Energy Information Administration) ........... 11

Figure 3: US petroleum imports have vast outstripped production in the past decade (Energy
Information Administration) ......................................................................................................... 11

Figure 4: Fuel prices have fluctuated sharply within recent years(Energy Information
Administration) ............................................................................................................................. 12

Figure 5: Fuel prices jumped considerably both during the 1970s and 2000s (Energy Information
Administration) ............................................................................................................................. 13

Figure 6: Energy efficiency and consumption has increased steadily from 1980-2006 (Energy
Information Administration) ......................................................................................................... 15

Figure 7: CAFE Standards increased US fuel mileage even when fuel prices declined in the
1980s(Energy Information Administration) .................................................................................. 15
Abstract

The pro-suburbia policies facilitated by engineering improvements in transportation

implemented at the start of the Cold War have led to the requirement of intensive
infrastructure and the development of an unsustainable energy policy. The failures of these
policies have since revealed themselves at the beginning of the 21st century, with implications
ranging from a damaging foreign policy to energy scarcity to concerns of global warming. The
greatest challenge of this half of the century is to redevelop an unsustainable standard of living
into a sustainable one through the implementation of effective government policies and
engineering solutions. While this essay discusses predominantly US policies and practices,
Canadian policies and practices have not deviated significantly from our southern counterparts.
Introduction

The ebb and flow of revolutionary developments in engineering and the implementation of
public policy have defined human civilization for the past 6 thousand years. A 6 400 kilometre
wall made of brick, mud, and stone located along the border of the Chinese territory of Inner
Mongolia is a lasting testament to this relationship. It was only when some of the earliest civil
engineers were able to design and build reliable walls that the ancient Chinese dynasties could
throw vast resources to build the massive wall as part of their civil defence, allowing other
societal and technological development to progress. The advancements in agricultural
engineering with the establishment of the first farms led to the development of permanent
residences and eventually governance beyond early tribes. The construction of a vast 85 000
km road network allowed the Roman Empire to ensure the control and expansion of its borders
while at the same time facilitating trade throughout.

In turn, public policies have recently had a profound effect on the direction of engineering. As
the slow realization of the negative consequences of rapid growth came about during and after
the Industrial Revolution, governmental policies began to shape the direction of technological
progress. Concerns about the effects on human health, safety, and the environment arose as a
result of the vast increase in fossil-fuel burning steam engines. The Great Smog of 1952 in
London first drew widespread public attention to the serious health effects of air pollution, and
set off a number of anti-pollution measures aimed at reducing the consequences of uninhibited
progress in the developed world. As emissions standards had continued to rise, the
development of more efficient industrial processes were introduced to meet the demands of
the new legislation. A few decades later, the 1970s Oil Crisis would compel the US government
to force car manufacturers to improve gas mileage through legislation.

While the immediate cause-and-effect processes between engineering and public policy is
certainly obvious, the wider implications of engineering and policy have not recently been
dutifully explored. The rapid technological advancements occurring just within the 20th century
have dramatically and rapidly altered all aspects of life – from societal behaviour to the physical
landscape. The rapid introduction of disruptive and enabling technologies has often left policy
makers pursuing short-sighted, reactive strategies in order to reduce just some of the negative
consequences of new engineering developments. Consequently, at the time a more correct
policy is legislated, the entrenchment of the old methods and practices from outdated policies
will have created an added challenge to the application of a more effective strategy.

This statement could never be more valid and pertinent than today. The current challenges
Western civilization faces, as a result of the rapid technological progress of the previous
century, are enormous. Our response to the ordeals of energy scarcity, failing infrastructure,
and global climate change will determine whether we will maintain or supersede the current
standard of living. These issues have been created as a result of rapid development, having
become entrenched by the pro-growth, pro-suburban policies set since the 1950s. A decades-
old policy has since defined where most North Americans go to sleep, where they go to work,
where they go to buy goods and services, and how they travel. The end result has been an
unsustainable, nearly-dysfunctional, energy-intensive lifestyle which has since become
threatened by global instability, fickle financial markets, and damage to the environment.

However, through a combination of policy and clever engineering solutions, facilitating and
improving the current standard of living in lieu of global instability may be accomplished within
this century. By implementing a number of governmental policies facilitated by engineering,
North Americans can reduce the dependency on extra national fuel sources, provide more
effective and efficient infrastructure, and begin the long process towards lessening climate
change.
Section 1: The Rise of Suburbia
While suburbs had existed since the turn of the 19th century, post-World War II suburbia has
since defined the current North American lifestyle. The majority of Americans currently live in a
suburban neighbourhood, of which have been characterized as morose fields of monotonous
single-family, single-income, detached homes. These scarcely functioning communities,
produced on an industrial scale as a result of the U.S. policies implemented at the beginning of
the Cold War, has since consumed vast quantities of infrastructure and caused millions of
dollars of superfluous losses through lost productivity and inefficiencies. The sharp rise and fall
of oil prices during the 1970s and the first decade of the 21st century has since revealed the
energy-intensive and unsustainable nature of suburbia.

The development of suburbs was first facilitated by advances in the transport engineering. The
incremental improvements of faster and more affordable transportation, from horse-drawn
trolleys, railroad, streetcars, and eventually the gas-powered automobile had made low-density
development more accessible to the average citizen, giving way to an ever-increasing expansion
of suburbia as travel time shortened. As an example, the first ‘streetcar buildouts’, suburbs
facilitated by public transportation, were developed in the 1870s (Hayden 76). No longer were
suburbs restricted only to wealthy Protestant, established individuals whom could afford the
costly transport to and from the city, but to a varied mixture of skilled workers and people of
modest middle income individuals, expanding the number of eligible suburban dwellers
(Hayden 73). Eventually the transportation engineering advancements culminated with the
Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, which largely developed greater capacity road networks and
expanded the distance of fringe suburbs from the city core significantly.

With the logistical foundations of suburbia in place, the development of the vast tracts of
homes during the post-World War II era rested primarily upon public policy. And so, with the
support of the Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Affairs, banks gave loans for the
construction of 10 million new homes during the 8 years following World War II (Hayden 132).
The shift towards the privatization of the housing industry supported by public money and
policy meant that large swaths of farmland were turned into large tracts of single unit homes
within a few months, produced with little regard to supporting infrastructure, and community
and regional planning. Since then, the 1950s model of rapid development of fields of suburban
homes has largely been unchanged and unchallenged, leaving all levels of government, and
ultimately the taxpayer, to pick up the costs of the inefficiencies of a poorly-planned growth
model.
Section 2: The Immediate Consequences
Today’s legacy of a near-continuous, unchecked growth of suburbia facilitated by transport
engineering advancements is an impressive but failing network of infrastructure, characterized
as a sort of extensive life-support system for bedroom communities. The public events of the
collapse of the overloaded I-35W Mississippi Bridge and an overpass near a Montreal suburb
two years prior have only since revealed the immense strain placed upon North American
infrastructure, which has been partly caused by rapid unsustainable postwar suburban growth.
A 2005 report from the American Society of Civil Engineers estimated that an investment of
$1.6 trillion will be required to rebuild US infrastructure simply to meet existing US government
regulations (American Society of Civil Engineers).

While the immense cost of rebuilding aging infrastructure cannot only be a result of the
development of suburbia, the diversion of resources in order to build and maintain low-density
communities has exacerbated the costs of failing infrastructure and will continue do so if
appropriate policies are not applied immediately. Without proper policy to control growth, the
current rate of development of suburban housing will result in further expansion of 150 million
gallons of unnecessary capacity per day for water and sewer systems, and an excess of nearly
200 000 miles of additional road infrastructure (Transit Cooperative Research Program 9-11). At
the present time when current infrastructure is already in need of costly repairs as a result of a
failed infrastructure policy; allowing the construction of unneeded infrastructure to later
inevitably maintain would simply be irrational.

The vast network of roads, water and sewer infrastructure has not only proved to be costly
through the development of unneeded capacity, but it has also left current infrastructure under
significant strain. The conversion of undeveloped rural areas to a location where hundreds of
homes need to be powered, watered, and serviced by road and transit has placed tremendous
pressure on existing infrastructure, which have often been constructed to simply service
existing or newly planned low-density suburban development. The extension of infrastructure
from low-density subdivision to subdivision pushes the limits of the infrastructure capacity
within built-up regions, as new housing continues to be built further and further away from
business and industrial centres.

The stress on infrastructure has never been as conscientious in the public’s eye then with
roadways. For many North Americans, sitting in heavy congestion, sometimes on a 3-lane ‘high-
capacity’ freeway, has become part of the daily routine. The dislocation of residences from
where people are employed, entertained, and purchase goods and services have created an
under-capacity of road infrastructure around destination centres, while at the same time
creating an over capacity for suburban areas at the edge of the city limits. From 1982 to 2008,
the percent of US roadways which were said to experience severe traffic congestion increased
from 34% to 58% (American Road & Transportation Builders Association 2), caused by an
upsurge in the vehicle miles traveled and number of motor vehicles (see Figure 1). Annual costs
of congestion due to lost productivity and fuel costs have continued to increase to nearly $90
billion (American Road & Transportation Builders Association 2).

US Motor Vehicles and Vehicle Miles Travelled

(1970-2003)
250 14,000

Vehicle Miles Traveled per Motor Vehicle (miles)

Motor Vehicles (in millions)

12,000
200
10,000
150 8,000

100 6,000

4,000
50
2,000

0 0
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000

Year

Motor vehicles Vehicle Miles Traveled per Motor Vehicle

Figure 1: The number of US motor vehicles and vehicles miles traveled have risen steadily over the past 4
decades (U.S. Department of Transportation)

Despite increasing commute times, current transit systems have not been a viable alternative
to the automobile outside of the city core. The number of vehicles as a percentage of the
American populace has only increased since World War II, doubling from 20% to 60% over the
course of 40 years (Bruegmann 78). The reasons of car ownership are many, with advantages
over other transit alternatives, including walking, biking, and public transit, within low-density
development readily apparent. By design, navigating through the characteristic hierarchical
road system of low-density development necessitates a greater travelling distance then the
more traditional grid road system, with destinations being built further away and scattered
throughout the city.

As a result, walking and cycling to a location outside a subdivision becomes less desirable due
to the increased traveling distance, while the flexibility required to navigate to various
destinations throughout cities is lost with the rigid scheduling and routes of public transit. The
disadvantages are compounded when the same congested roadways are used as with private
automobiles and public transit, lengthening commute times even further.
Section 3: The Big Picture
While suburban homes are often ideally seen as private enclaves separated from the rest of
society, international, geopolitical events have affected the suburban style of living significantly,
and will most likely worsen if current policies are sustained. Twice in the past half-century, the
fluctuations in the pricing of a single commodity have affected the behaviour of millions almost
overnight. Compounded by the over-reliance of this vital resource in low-density exurbs, a
single, vital commodity has helped to define post-Cold War US foreign policy and become the
most significant contributor of greenhouse gases.

Used to create everything from plastic toys to high-strength composite materials, and fuelling
everything from planes to cars, petroleum has become infused into nearly every aspect of
modern life. Indeed, the future of not only of North America, but the world, will largely be
based on how integrated the future standard of living is with this crucial commodity. The
availability of conventional oil is shrinking rapidly, and dramatic steps must be carried out to
reduce the dependency on oil. While reducing all dependency on oil is unlikely, reducing the
bulk direct dependency on oil is within the next decade is certainly achievable. Many of the
engineering achievements in the 21st century will be judged and valued in its ability to reduce
our current dependency on oil.

The reliance on oil cannot be understated, much in part due its vast utility. The rapid growth
policies of the postwar era were largely based and facilitated by the local abundance of oil
reserves, which had included the automobile-dependent exurbs. Indeed, the need for energy
which fuelled such development has been met largely with petroleum - about 40% of all current
US energy consumption may be traced to petroleum, with electric power generation and
transportation being the main consumers of all energy at 40% and 29% respectively (see Figure
2).

However, as a finite resource, the US government became quick to secure international oil
reserves in order to sustain its energy-intensive growth policies; by 1970 US oil production had
peaked and by the 1990s, imports were twice that of US oil production (see Figure 3), a portion
of which is sourced from countries such as Venezuela and Iran. As a result of the sustained
availability of a cheap fuel source, the US has become the second largest consumer of energy
per capita within the G8, and for a significant period of time, the largest emitter of greenhouse
gases.

The heavy reliance on a single commodity has also left the current standard of living exposed to
security risks, financial speculators, and increasing global demand; which exist well beyond the
influence of millions of powerless stakeholders. The past few years have seen the price of crude
quadruple from $30 a barrel in 2003 to over $140 at its peak in July of last year, squeezing
already thin budgets for many working, middle-income families. The price of going anywhere in
Figure 2: US petroleum flow in millions of barrels (Energy Information Administration)

US Petroleum Production and Imports

(1949-2007)
6,000,000
Thousands of Barrels

5,000,000
4,000,000
3,000,000
2,000,000
1,000,000
0
1949 1959 1969 1979 1989 1999

Year
Production Imports

Figure 3: US petroleum imports have vast outstripped production in the past decade (Energy Information
Administration)

a car had doubled within a year (see Figure 4) and while using alternative means of
transportation may had been a viable option for some, the short-sighted development of low-
density suburbia has left those alternatives as either inconvenient or non-existent. However,
the rising costs of oil have not only affected the price paid at the gas pumps, but also fuelled
inflation through the staggering increase in the costs of logistics and petroleum-based
materials. Millions were affected through the rampant speculation of oil from those working on
Wall Street, which were in turn fuelled through the illusions of unending growth. The modern
world’s extreme dependency of a singular, finite, and increasingly scarce commodity had gone
from an extraordinary technical solution to a vast economic problem.

US Regular Conventional Retail Gasoline

Prices (1990-2009)
450
400
Prices (Cents per Gallon)

350
Retail Gasoline

300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Aug 15, 1990 Sep 23, 1994 Nov 01, 1998 Dec 10, 2002 Jan 18, 2007
Date

Figure 4: Fuel prices have fluctuated significantly within recent years (Energy Information Administration)

However, the dependency on oil has left a greater impact than just the exposure of
disempowered North Americans to financial markets. The sharp increase in atmospheric
greenhouse gases in the post-industrial revolution has now left the vast majority of the
scientific community to conclude that humanity is heading into irreversible climate change.
Reports from various governmental bodies, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC), indicate that a wide range of devastating consequences are to result; rising sea
levels, increased extreme weather events, species extinction, changes in water availability and
agricultural yields, and an increased range for disease vectors, all which threaten to further
destabilize already vulnerable developing nations.

Even developed nations, of who are the most equipped to cope with the consequences of
climate change struggle to do so. The 2003 European heat wave, the extreme flooding in the US
Midwest in 2008, and the on-going catastrophic drought in Australia have only since revealed
the vulnerabilities of today’s infrastructure to meet the demands of climate change. While the
effects of climate change are already felt and seen, a rapid reduction of the use of dirty fuel
sources, including petroleum, may dampen the consequences of climate change for future
generations.
It would also be disingenuous to disregard the role of petroleum in current geopolitics. Since
petroleum has become an essential economic lubricant of the developed world, uncomfortable
and perhaps secretive relationships have arisen in lieu of the necessity of oil. Over the past 3
decades, the US dependence on imported oil has risen from 12% of all oil consumption, to
nearly 75% (Energy Information Administration). The overreliance on not just a finite resource,
but of one which is sourced and transported from unstable regions creates an uncertainty
which may be at times overwhelming. The first oil crisis during the 1970s revealed the
detriment such a reliance on oil had, even when US domestic oil production was a much greater
percentage of oil consumption than imports.

Oil prices nearly tripled overnight (see Figure 5) due primarily to the oil embargo instituted by
OPEC, a vast oil cartel of countries containing an estimated two-thirds of the world’s oil
reserves, which in turn was induced by on-going conflicts in the Middle East. In response,
drastic measures such as oil rationing, the extension of daylight savings time, and the legislation
of Corporate Average Fuel Economy regulations were enacted in order to reduce US oil
consumption. However those measures were merely reactionary, too late to prevent a major
economic disruption. In a state of déjà vu, the 1979 Iranian Revolution forced oil prices to $100
per barrel, causing a similar recession during the early 1980s. And again in 2008, oil prices
soared to $140 per barrel from the large increase in petroleum demand from developing
nations. The dependency on oil had tied the ordinary American consumer to events in far off
lands, for better or for worse.

Historical US Gasoline Price in 2008 Real

Dollars (1950-2009)
350.0
Gasoline Price (cents per gallon)

300.0
250.0
200.0
150.0
100.0
50.0
0.0
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Year

Figure 5: Fuel prices jumped considerably both during the 1970s and 2000s (Energy Information Administration)
Section 4: The Next Steps
The current style of living developed over decades of short-sighted policy-making is clearly
unsustainable. The vast expanses of suburbia cannot continue to be built, and neither may we
continue to depend on petroleum as our primary source of energy. The inefficiencies of
suburbia, coupled with an unstable source of energy, have left the developed world hostage to
geopolitics, financial markets, and dwindling of easily accessible energy supplies, which in turn
disrupt normal societal functions. Without government intervention, the threats posed to
energy-intensive economies will continue to exist and most likely worsen as energy
consumption is projected to increase 50% over the next 2 decades (Energy Information
Administration). To help counteract this disturbing trend, increases in energy efficiency,
encouraged through economic incentives and government legislation, and enabled by
engineering solutions, will provide long-term benefits in a relatively short period of time.

Energy efficiency has often been called the ‘fifth fuel’, alongside coal, natural gas, nuclear and
renewable energy sources, and has been long neglected as a primary means to reduce energy
consumption and the infrastructure required to support it. Simply put, energy efficiency utilizes
existing technologies that will reduce energy usage in a number of energy-intensive
applications, including lighting, transportation, HVAC systems, and appliances, reducing energy
consumption significantly without large capital input. Already, the past 2 decades have seen
dramatic improvements in terms of energy input per GDP dollar produced, greatly as a result of
engineering advances and functional government policy in a number of areas, ultimately
decreasing energy input by 70% in both the US and Canada (see Figure 6).

A significant portion of the decrease in energy input per GDP has been due to effective
government policy. Public programs such as Energy Star and legislation such as the Corporate
Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards have driven energy efficiency forwards further than
what would occur if electricity prices or consumer choices were allowed to dictate such
advancements. The CAFE standards, a sales-weighted fuel economy standard first enforced in
1978, pushed overall fuel mileage from 18.8 mpg to 26 mpg within four years, as fuel prices
rose to its 1981 peak of $3.05/gallon (see Figure 7). Overall fuel mileage continued to increase
to 29 mpg by 1988 with rising CAFE standards even as fuel prices collapsed in the 1980s. Since
then, the CAFE standard has remained stagnant, with average fuel economy barely increasing
by 1 mpg for 18 years, even under the condition of rapidly rising fuel prices at the start of the
21st century. Similarly, tighter performance standards in refrigerator efficiency in California lead
to a 4.4 percent increase year-on-year increase from 1975 to 1985, and continued to increase
as government standards were raised, even as electricity prices declined below 1975 electricity
prices (McKinsey Global Institute 13).
 US & Canada Energy Profile (1980-2006)
25,000 120

20,000 100

Quadrillion BTU
BTU per GDP $

80
15,000
60
10,000
40
5,000 20

0 0
1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

Year
Canada-Consumption/GDP $ US-Consumption/GDP $
Canada-Total Consumption US-Total Consumption

Figure 6: Energy efficiency and consumption has increased steadily from 1980-2006 (Energy Information
Administration)

The challenges to meet these standards were met through clever engineering solutions,
whether through more efficient engines, sealants, or electronic control systems, that allowed
these and a variety of other consumer products to consume less energy.

CAFE Standards and Fuel Prices (1977-2006)

35 $3.50

30 $3.00

25 $2.50
Miles per Galon

$ per Gallon

20 $2.00

15 $1.50

10 $1.00

5 $0.50

0 $0.00
1977 1982 1987 1992 1997 2002

Year

CAFE Standard CAFE Fuel Price

Figure 7: CAFE Standards increased US fuel mileage even when fuel prices declined in the 1980s(Energy
Information Administration)
Increasing these standards in a technologically feasible manner will allow for additional
reductions in energy consumption at a cost far lower than any new heavy infrastructure
required to sustain unrestricted growth. A 2007 report by the McKinsey Global Institute
estimates that effective governmental regulation will save 16 quadrillion BTU (QBTU) in energy
consumption in the residential sector globally by 2020, preventing the construction of 610 new
power plants.

Within heavy industry, advancements primarily lying within co-generation, optimization of

electric motors, thin slab casting in the iron and steel industry, furnace and steam efficiency in
refining, and the additional use of recycled paper in the pulp and paper industry are estimated
to be able to abate 53 QBTU of growth in global energy consumption (McKinsey Global Institute
24). Another report from the World Resources Institute estimates that raising the CAFE
standard to 30 mpg for light duty vehicles will save 49 billion gallons of petroleum or 6 QBTU in
the US by 2025 (World Resources Institute 6). By encouraging the development of more
efficient technologies, either through more aggressive federal efficiency standards and
appropriate economic incentives (or disincentives) in all sectors, a significant reduction in
energy usage may be realized saving billions in the construction of new power plants or
imported fuel.

Other government initiatives not directly applicable to the market have been pushed on both
sides of the border. A proposed expansion of the US Weatherization Assistance Program, which
targets low-income homes, will pursue a retrofit of one million homes annually, and will save an
estimated at least 1.6 QBTU annually by 2037 (National Renewable Energy Laboratory 107). The
promotion of electric smart grids by the Obama administration to improve load levelling and
electric grid monitoring will help to provide utility companies a means to reduce peak loads and
implement a more distributed generation system – both of which will help build additional
capacity to the existing system without the construction of new centralized power plants. In
addition, Ontario’s Places to Grow initiative calls for the densification of existing and limitation
of new development through the establishment of the Greenbelt. Another initiative from the
Toronto-based transportation authority Metrolinx, MoveOntario 2020, establishes a plan to
drastically expand transit systems, which will help to reduce automobile dependency in the
region. It is important to note - all these programs will be facilitated by engineers who will help
plan and develop everything from massive infrastructure projects to more efficient home
appliances.
Conclusion
While both the US and Canadian governments are now taking an interest in energy,
infrastructure, and the environment, the recent massive infusion into public infrastructure has
merely been a reaction to the failed policies of the past, spurred through necessity rather than
insight. If the proper foresight had been applied to the rapid development in the post-war era,
the large number of the issues confronting us today would have at very least been lessened.
The knowledge required for such foresight has always been available, but has often been
usurped by policies and practices which reflect short-term gains or band-aid solutions: cheap
energy, larger roads, and cookie-cutter subdivisions. Rather, those professionals with first-hand
knowledge, including engineers, should influence future public policy towards sustainable long-
term solutions. Solutions which will spur further economic growth by preventing the problems
of energy scarcity and failing infrastructure while developing a talent trust to solve the practical
problems which will inevitably confront us.

While the problems we face currently will be solved by today’s engineers with clearly defined
goals, the implications of upcoming areas of technology, including geoengineering,
nanotechnology, bioengineering, are still a large unknown. Currently, very little public policy
has been developed in order to deal with both the potential negative and positive externalities
– that is there is no pointed direction for the use of these applied technologies, nor any
investigation into the possible pitfalls of these sectors. Eventually however, these policies must
be put into place. There are few others able to predict the repercussions and present solutions
for these emerging sectors than engineers. The implementation of programs to encourage
some of today’s young bright minds, who in the recent past helped to generate the illusion of
tremendous wealth at Wall Street, should spur innovation and solutions to solve the problems
of the future.

The lack of foresight in the pro-suburban, rapid growth policies set out at the beginning of the
Cold War has already defined the latter half of this decade and will do so for the next. The
product of these policies is a lifestyle exposed to the instability of international geopolitics. The
greatest engineering challenge of the early 21st century, that is, of maintaining the current
North American standard of living while reducing the reliance on extra-national disturbances,
lies immediately ahead. The combination of engineering development and government policies,
will help dampen the concerns global warming, energy security, and help to normalize
international relations. While significant adjustments must be made to current practices, the
warrant of sacrificing current conveniences for the sake of energy and infrastructure is
unnecessary. Indeed, if the correct policies are implemented, a lifestyle which is more self-
reliant and sustainable will stand even stronger in the face of dwindling energy resources and
global instability.
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