Engineering a Sustainable Future

[legendary]

I want to understand what the best sustainable technologies and practices are for creating a better future.

Whether you believe in anthropogenic climate change or not, it is undeniable that the current stage orange businesses are taking a tremendous toll on the environment & human life:

• Deforestation & ecological imbalance
• Extinction of plant and animal species
• Health problems/deaths due to pollution (air, water, noise, etc.)

The first step is to understand which technologies are likely to give us maximum benefits for minimum possible investment (aka optimal solution)

The energy sector is the biggest contributor to Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, followed by the automotive sector, manufacturing sector, and others. So we ought to tackle these as a priority (at least according to me) in order to solve this problem effectively.

Here are the technologies that I find promising, followed by their perceived drawbacks:

• Thorium as Nuclear fuel for electricity generation (Technology isn't available yet. U233 is a by-product, which can be used on nuclear warheads)
• Wind Energy for renewable energy generation (Not energy dense. Kills birds)
• Solar farms (Requires a large area)
• Photovoltaic panels on rooftops (Not reliable throughout the year)
• Battery technology for cars (Expensive. Range isn't competitive with gasoline cars)
• 3D printing for mass-production (Currently too expensive)

Which technologies, do you think, have a promising future?

I'd be glad to know what you folks think. Additionally, if you see any additional challenges we have as a global community, please comment.

P.S.:

Leo's life purpose course has shown me that I ought to make a better use of my engineering skills and use it on these challenges.

But I'm sure that info from this thread will be useful for others who might want to build a life purpose around sustainable engineering.