EEC196, Fall 2015

Last Name: Liu

First Name: Charles
Last 4 digit student #: 998395801

HW #1, Due, in class: October 14, 2015

Q. What do you know about the following two major incidences? Do you think engineers could play any
role in the design, test, manufacturing and contribute to damage prevention, based on what we know so
far?
(a) VW pollution emission
(b) BP oil spill
Guideline: You answer should be limited to a 1 page max (one side), letter size, min font size 10, max
font size 12, single space. You can use this question page to write your answer. Please write your name
and student number. No handwritten HW will be accepted.
I feel like both of these issues really underline a huge problem we have in this world today and that is
taking our environment and resources for granted. Everyone seems to be trying to make money over
keeping the Earth clean and safe to live in. I believe that the VW pollution emission incident was a huge
act of greed and selfishness that caused incredible harm to the environment, played with the trust of its
loyal customers by cheating them, and gave them an excuse to slack off instead of furthering science. No
company should lie to their customers and sell something that they claim to be superior to the actual
product. If every company did that then we would have a society that sold nothing but knockoffs and
nothing would ever improve. Companies are required to innovate in order to have an edge over its
competitors, so VWs lie to avoid innovating is horrible practice. They were irresponsible and I believe that
they will never come back from it, unless they do something completely different like going electric.
Speaking of electric, I believe that the oil spill is a good example of why we need clean and efficient
renewable energy. Gasoline and oil cause so many environmental problems like the emission of
greenhouse gases to all the horrible oil spills that take years to clean up, ruining many lives in the
process. The recent oil spill in Santa Barbara has forced students to give up going to the beaches that
they are prided for and the life around that area has changed completely for the species living there. The
damage from BP will takes years and years to fully clean and it still wont be the same again. Electric cars
are a much better solution in terms of environmentally friendliness and efficiency. A car that is powered of
gas barely uses any of the power generated from the fuel. Most of it is given off as heat or friction so only
a small fraction is used to propel the car forward. Creating electric motors that can run more efficiently is
much more practical then continuing the use of electric cars. Completely off tangent, but I believe that
engineers in any stage can indeed find a problem from their coworkers and fix it. Like in a kitchen, if the
sous chef makes the dish incorrectly the main chef will notice and do something about it. Engineering
teams should be able to tell if there is an error in any position of the production flow chart and prevent or
fix the damage. I believe that the two companies that we are talking about are all a result of an entire line
of people not being fully attentive or just not caring. As unsettling as that may be, it is very possible and I
hope that companies will start to see these errors and focus more on the environmental impacts that
affect the only planet we are currently able to live on.