Journal 10:Technology & Environment

How technology help environmet?

•Wireless communications and Web-based information will help reduce the mounds of paper in our lives as well as the environmental impacts from paper and ink manufacturing and use.

•Advanced display systems will imitate paper in their flexibility and portability, and images may be projected directly on the retina of the eye. "This capability, coupled with a cellular phone, could provide everyone from couch potatoes to business travelers with faxes and customized news anywhere," says the report.

•Genetic engineering and plant manipulation will pave the way for crops that use nutrients more efficiently, requiring less fertilizer or water while providing higher yields.

•"Smart" filters will improve water treatment at sewage plants and municipal water supplies by adjusting to unclog themselves. Membranes and other techniques will remove organic compounds, which currently can result in undesired reactions with chlorine.

•"Green" companies will create products -- plastics, paper, beverage containers, and inks, as well as cars and computers -- that will be more biodegradable or recyclable.

•Lighter cars will be built with less steel and more lightweight aluminum, magnesium, titanium, and composites. A family sedan will be able to get at least 80 miles per gallon of gas, generate less pollution, and use less gas.
The lab's forecast is the first of a series of annual updates on environmental science and technology, and where they are headed in the 21st century.