Ethics and Engineering
Confronting the Energy
Challenge
Yvonne Raley
Did you know?
The U.S. currently uses 25% of the world’s
oil supply – about 20 million barrels per
day
But the U.S. makes up only 5% of the
world’s population
The U.S. uses 15 times more energy per
person than developing nations
But the U.S. produces only 10% of the
world’s oil supply
Where we get our oil
Canada
Mexico
Saudi Arabia
Nigeria
Venezuela
and about 10 other countries
The Future
Current Oil
Demands
U.S.: 20 million
barrels / day
World: 78 billion
barrels per day
China: 5.2 billion
barrels / day
2025 Oil Demands
U.S.: 27.3 billion
barrels / day
World: 119.2 billion
barrels / day
China: 14.2 billion
barrels / day
The Future
By 2025, the world’s largest
economy is expected to
be….
CHINA
What we do with all that oil
Renewable energy
As you can see, renewable energy, such as
Wind
Solar
Hydro-power
only provides 6.1% of the U.S. consumption
of energy
And that's too bad because
7 billion tons of CO2 is put into the air each
year, 5 of which are produced by burning
fossil fuels (coal, oil)
The other 2 tons are produced by
deforestation
But only 4 billion tons of CO2 can be
absorbed by the oceans and plants
And the rest?
The three remaining tons are
a main contributor to the
greenhouse effect
(global warming)
Not Good
If global temperatures rise in the way
predicted
that is
between 1.4 and 5.8 Degrees Celsius in the
next 100 years, …
… the following may occur
Rise in Sea Levels and a Shift in Coastline
Major Changes in Weather Patterns
Droughts, Water Shortages
Change in Biodiversity
The Upshot
We need to reduce our demand for
oil
Reducing our demand for oil
Just a good idea or a
moral obligation?
Moral Obligation
Environment: helps reduce global
warming
Fairness: increases availability of oil
for developing nations
Sustainability: we won’t run out of
available resources
We are all involved
Design
Production
Marketing
Sales
Consumption
How do we determine what our
obligations are?
Moral Theory
A moral theory can help.
What does a moral theory do?
It helps us answer ethical questions
It helps us decide what course of action is
morally right
It provides an explanation of why a course
of action is right
Moral Theories
There are several moral theories.
Not all of them provide the same
answers to moral questions.
But each of them captures an
important aspect of morality.
Utilitarianism
For this talk, we focus on just one
theory, called utilitarianism.
What is utilitarianism?
One Principle
Utilitarianism relies on one simple
principle, the principle of utility:
Whatever is good or right is that which
promotes the greatest overall utility
What is utility?
What is desirable?
British Philosopher
Jeremy Bentham
had a very simple
way of determining
utility:
Utility = promotes
pleasure
Disutility = promotes
pain
Utilitarianism can then be defined
like this
The morally right act, for any
particular situation, is the act that
produces the greatest amount of
overall pleasure.
Effects
Utilitarianism basically measures right
and wrong in terms of the effects it
produces.
An action is right if it produces
pleasure for those affected by the
action.
An action is wrong if it produces pain
for those affected.
Example
For instance:
Running someone over with your car is
morally wrong because it produces
pain.
Helping a friend in need is morally
right because it produces pleasure.
How to measure effects
Now we need just one more thing.
How do we measure the effects of
our actions?
Bentham provided four ways of
measuring an action’s effects.
How to measure effects
Scope: Who/ how many people will
experience pleasure / pain?
Duration: How long does the
pleasure / pain last?
Intensity: How intense or strong is
the pleasure / pain?
Probability: How likely is the
pleasure / pain?
Back to Energy
Let’s see if we can apply utilitarianism to a
moral question about the energy
challenge.
Does utilitarianism morally obligate us to
invest in the technology of hybrid cars?
What does “investing”
mean?
1. Buy a hybrid car
2. Promote the purchase of buying hybrid
cars
3. Improve hybrid technology
For engineers, the last of these is most
relevant
The Effects of Hybrids
Let’s start by considering the scope of
hybrid technology:
Who is affected by hybrid technology?
Scope
The owner
The environment (or everyone who
needs utilizes the environment)
Global needs (those in other countries
who also want to use transportation)
So that’s pretty much everybody.
But not to the same degree.
That’s where the other three ways of
measuring effects come in.
Measuring Effects
We have to measure the
duration
intensity
probability
Of all the effects for all of those concerned.
This is hard.
Duration, intensity, and probability of the
following effects for OWNERS:
Pleasure
Gas savings
Tax rebate
Pleasure gained by
helping environment
Pain
Purchase price
Battery life
Repair costs
Duration, intensity, and probability of the
following effects for ENVIRONMENT:
Pleasure
Reduction of fossil fuel emissions:
decrease in global warming
Decrease in pollution: reduction of
asthma, other respiratory problems,
cancer
Duration, intensity, and probability of the
following effects for the world’s
population:
Pleasure
Reduction of US
dependence on
foreign oil: reduction
of political tension
Increase in available oil
for other countries
Pain
Oil price decrease:
decrease of
incentive for other
countries to lower
consumption
There’s more
We might also consider the following:
Unemployment rates in U.S. or other countries
Other technologies that might be better:
biodiesel, or smaller, lighter vehicles that
simply use less gas (Smartcar), electric cars
Improvements in public transportation
It’s not easy
As you can see, it is not easy to weigh all
of these effects.
But utilitarianism suggests that we must.
We cannot just consider what’s good for
us, we have to look at everyone
concerned.
Other Applications to
Engineering
Utilitarianism can be used to evaluate the
moral impact of many technological
changes
Such as….
What are our moral obligations to invest in
or improve the following:

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
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Wind energy
Solar energy
Energy efficient appliances
Energy efficient housing design
Insulation
Reducing energy transmission and
distribution losses
 Energy efficient pumps and motors
Can You Do it?