Preventive Engineering: Strategy for Dealing with Negative Social and Environmental Implications of Technology

Preventive engineering approaches make use of information on how technology affects human life, society, and the biosphere, so as to adjust engineering theory and practice to create a greater compatibility between technology and its contexts. A detailed study of undergraduate engineering education and a variety of new approaches (such as the design for the entire life cycle, energy end-use oriented strategies, the design of healthy workplaces, and sustainable city concepts) demonstrates a largely untapped potential for such preventive approaches. Developing this potential could bring competitive advantages to industry, economic benefits to society, and a better quality of human life within current constraints.