Brainstorm project topics
provide at least 3 possible topics for your project
for each of these project topics, outline 3 smaller questions that you have to answer to get at your larger question.
include a few sentences on how you think you might try to answer these questions
This is to give you practice decomposing questions and thinking about what sorts of issues you are interested in solving.
Possible Topic 1: Urban Planning In planning, how can we create affordable yet sustainable housing for future generations? Questions to answer:
-Cost: The biggest factor is how to make it affordable to the general population. This could be done by looking at current sustainable housing and figuring out how to lower the price of different aspects of the house.
-Technology: What kind of emerging tech could we use to mass produce these types of houses. We could look at on the rise technology/trends to see if a technology will be useful, yet affordable to use in a house. Look at the cost of current technology on the market to see when it could be mass produced.
-Space: Everyone wants a white picket fence and a yard, as the population continues to grow and space becomes more limited, how can we give those needs to people without making it only for the wealthy? This one I am not sure of yet, I do not think we will ever really "run out" of land to give to people, so this will focus more on land people actually want to live in like coastal regions or near cities. An idea would be suburbs limiting the growth rate in a city so they do not reach their boundaries and can ease into change. Possible future tech could address these issues?
Possible Topic 2: Electric Cars When comparing electric and gasoline fueled cars, are electric actually more environmentally sound? 3 or more aspects are to be looked at:
-The CO2 produced from charging electric cars compared to produced with that produced from gasoline. For this we could look at the cost to retrieve the gasoline compared to getting the electricity. We could look at the impact electric has on the grid vs. gasoline output from cars. We would have to refine it to be the same sample size of electric cars.
-With the rise of more sustainable power, could the gap be closed for electric cars CO2 output? As wind, solar, etc. continue to grow, I think the impact/cost effectiveness will drop substantially with lower cost of technology. We could look at current outputs of wind/solar and see the change over time as to how much more effective they have become and when the gap will be closed.
-Is there an even better option out? Is electric even worth it? or should we just jump to a newer form of transport? That video you showed us from anonymous discussing how he was able to raise his MPG from 15 to 50. If that video could actually be real, could we legitimately jump the gap and just skip electric all together
Possible Topic 3: As Emerging countries continue to grow, their CO2 output will grow. Since we are already creating too much CO2, how can we meet a middle ground? How can we modernize them without destroying the planet?
-Could we provide resources to them to set them on a sustainable path? If major countries were to provide renewable resources to the emerging countries, what would be the cost to us and would be the emissions savings? We could look at the different costs to produce renewable fuels and compare it with the lowered CO2 it would create.
-Is it morally right to deny them their right to modernize? Most poor countries have been taken advantage of by many of the world powers today. They have had many advantages/resources stolen from them to produce more in another country. Is it right to even restrict them for the sake of the world, even though we created the situation we are in today. Not really sure yet how to solve this one, it is more of a philosophical question rather than being math based.
-What would be the CO2 output of emerging countries if we allowed them to modernize? With the modern technologies of today, do 3rd world countries have to go through the same struggle other countries did. By comparing the CO2 outputs of many modern countries of the same size, we could see the possible production of CO2 from 3rd world countries. If they are able to modernize without completely destroying everything, we could cut our carbon emissions to match theirs. If we are able to make possible cuts, we could possibly allow modernization across the globe.
