[PDF] Technology For A Quieter America eBook

Author : National Academy of Engineering
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 210 pages
File Size : 38,63 MB
Release : 2010-10-30
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 0309156327

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Exposure to noise at home, at work, while traveling, and during leisure activities is a fact of life for all Americans. At times noise can be loud enough to damage hearing, and at lower levels it can disrupt normal living, affect sleep patterns, affect our ability to concentrate at work, interfere with outdoor recreational activities, and, in some cases, interfere with communications and even cause accidents. Clearly, exposure to excessive noise can affect our quality of life. As the population of the United States and, indeed, the world increases and developing countries become more industrialized, problems of noise are likely to become more pervasive and lower the quality of life for everyone. Efforts to manage noise exposures, to design quieter buildings, products, equipment, and transportation vehicles, and to provide a regulatory environment that facilitates adequate, cost-effective, sustainable noise controls require our immediate attention. Technology for a Quieter America looks at the most commonly identified sources of noise, how they are characterized, and efforts that have been made to reduce noise emissions and experiences. The book also reviews the standards and regulations that govern noise levels and the federal, state, and local agencies that regulate noise for the benefit, safety, and wellness of society at large. In addition, it presents the cost-benefit trade-offs between efforts to mitigate noise and the improvements they achieve, information sources available to the public on the dimensions of noise problems and their mitigation, and the need to educate professionals who can deal with these issues. Noise emissions are an issue in industry, in communities, in buildings, and during leisure activities. As such, Technology for a Quieter America will appeal to a wide range of stakeholders: the engineering community; the public; government at the federal, state, and local levels; private industry; labor unions; and nonprofit organizations. Implementation of the recommendations in Technology for a Quieter America will result in reduction of the noise levels to which Americans are exposed and will improve the ability of American industry to compete in world markets paying increasing attention to the noise emissions of products.

Author : Adnan Akay
Publisher :
Page : 160 pages
File Size : 11,53 MB
Release : 2016-07-01
Category :
ISBN : 9780989943130

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This workshop report address the contributions of noise control engineers to improving both quality of life and the U.S. economy by providing domestic manufacturers with the expertise to develop, produce, and sell the quieter products now demanded by global markets. Expected future noise control engineering technologies are also addressed.

Author : Pranab Saha
Publisher : SAE International
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 48,78 MB
Release : 2021-08-11
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 0768099463

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What is acoustics? What is noise? How is sound measured? How can the vehicle noise be reduced using sound package treatments? Pranab Saha answers these and more in Acoustical Materials. Acoustics is the science of sound, including its generation, propagation, and effect. Although the propulsion sources of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and electric motor-powered vehicles (EV) are different and therefore their propulsion noises are different, both types of vehicles have shared noise concerns: Tire and road noise Wind noise Vehicle noise and vibration issues have been there almost from the inception of vehicle manufacturing. The noise problem in a vehicle is very severe and is difficult to solve only by modifying the sources of noise and vibration. Sound package treatments address the noise and vibration issues along the path to reduce in-cabin noise. In Acoustical Materials, readers will grasp the science of reducing sound and vibration using sound absorbers, sound barriers, and vibration dampers. Sound provides information on the proper operation of the vehicle, but if unchecked, can detract from the consumer experience within the vehicle and create noise pollution outside the vehicle. Acoustical Materials provides essential information on the basics of sound, vehicle noise source, how these are measured, how vehicle owners perceive sound, and ultimately, how to solve noise problems in vehicles using sound package materials.

Author : Michael R Greenberg
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 281 pages
File Size : 12,90 MB
Release : 2019-08-13
Category : Health & Fitness
ISBN : 0429559771

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This book explains how the U.S. federal system manages environmental health issues, with a unique focus on risk management and human health outcomes. Building on a generic approach for understanding human health risk, this book shows how federalism has evolved in response to environmental health problems, political and ideological variations in Washington D.C, as well as in-state and local governments. It examines laws, rules and regulations, showing how they stretch or fail to adapt to environmental health challenges. Emphasis is placed on human health and safety risk and how decisions have been influenced by environmental health information. The authors review different forms of federalism, and analyse how it has had to adapt to ever evolving environmental health hazards, such as global climate change, nanomaterials, nuclear waste, fresh air and water, as well as examining the impact of robotics and artificial intelligence on worker environmental health. They demonstrate the process for assessing hazard information and the process for federalism risk management, and subsequently arguing that human health and safety should receive greater attention. This book will be essential reading for students and scholars working on environmental health and environmental policy, particularly from a public health, and risk management viewpoint, in addition to practitioners and policymakers involved in environmental management and public policy.

Author : Robert Pool
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 369 pages
File Size : 44,44 MB
Release : 1997-07-17
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 0198026722

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We have long recognized technology as a driving force behind much historical and cultural change. The invention of the printing press initiated the Reformation. The development of the compass ushered in the Age of Exploration and the discovery of the New World. The cotton gin created the conditions that led to the Civil War. Now, in Beyond Engineering, science writer Robert Pool turns the question around to examine how society shapes technology. Drawing on such disparate fields as history, economics, risk analysis, management science, sociology, and psychology, Pool illuminates the complex, often fascinating interplay between machines and society, in a book that will revolutionize how we think about technology. We tend to think that reason guides technological development, that engineering expertise alone determines the final form an invention takes. But if you look closely enough at the history of any invention, says Pool, you will find that factors unrelated to engineering seem to have an almost equal impact. In his wide-ranging volume, he traces developments in nuclear energy, automobiles, light bulbs, commercial electricity, and personal computers, to reveal that the ultimate shape of a technology often has as much to do with outside and unforeseen forces. For instance, Pool explores the reasons why steam-powered cars lost out to internal combustion engines. He shows that the Stanley Steamer was in many ways superior to the Model T--it set a land speed record in 1906 of more than 127 miles per hour, it had no transmission (and no transmission headaches), and it was simpler (one Stanley engine had only twenty-two moving parts) and quieter than a gas engine--but the steamers were killed off by factors that had little or nothing to do with their engineering merits, including the Stanley twins' lack of business acumen and an outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease. Pool illuminates other aspects of technology as well. He traces how seemingly minor decisions made early along the path of development can have profound consequences further down the road, and perhaps most important, he argues that with the increasing complexity of our technological advances--from nuclear reactors to genetic engineering--the number of things that can go wrong multiplies, making it increasingly difficult to engineer risk out of the equation. Citing such catastrophes as Bhopal, Three Mile Island, the Exxon Valdez, the Challenger, and Chernobyl, he argues that is it time to rethink our approach to technology. The days are gone when machines were solely a product of larger-than-life inventors and hard-working engineers. Increasingly, technology will be a joint effort, with its design shaped not only by engineers and executives but also psychologists, political scientists, management theorists, risk specialists, regulators and courts, and the general public. Whether discussing bovine growth hormone, molten-salt reactors, or baboon-to-human transplants, Beyond Engineering is an engaging look at modern technology and an illuminating account of how technology and the modern world shape each other.

Author : James P. Cowan
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 208 pages
File Size : 18,10 MB
Release : 2016-03-22
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 1118895673

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Provides a summary of current research results on the physiological and psychological effects of sound on people Covers how the operation of the hearing mechanism affects our reactions to sounds Includes research results from studies on noise sources of public concern such as transportation, public utility, and recreational sources, with emphasis on low frequency sound and infrasound Covers sounds that affect some but not others, how sounds can be controlled on a practical level, and how and what sounds are regulated Includes coverage of both positive and negative effects of sound

Author : National Research Council (U.S.). Committee for a Study of Potential Energy Savings and Greenhouse Gas Reductions from Transportation
Publisher : Transportation Research Board
Page : 228 pages
File Size : 25,78 MB
Release : 2011
Category : Science
ISBN : 0309167426

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It is not intended to model or quantify the impacts of each policy option over time but instead to examine the means by which each influences behavior and the demand for and supply of energy- and emissions-saving technology, particularly in the modes of transportation with the greatest effect on the sector's consumption of petroleum and emissions of GHGs. In choosing among policies, elected officials must take into account many factors that could not be examined in this study, such as the full range of safety, economic, and environmental implications of their choices; therefore, the report does not recommend a specific suite of policies to pursue. Instead, the emphasis is on assessing each policy approach with regard to its applicability across transportation modes and its ability to affect the total amount of energy-intensive transportation activity, the efficiency of transportation vehicles, and GHG emissions characteristics of the sector's energy supply.

Author : John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 61 pages
File Size : 19,28 MB
Release : 2013-06-04
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 0309285453

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America's national parks provide a wealth of experiences to millions of people every year. What visitors see-landscapes, wildlife, cultural activities-often lingers in memory for life. And what they hear adds a dimension that sight alone cannot provide. Natural sounds can dramatically enhance visitors' experience of many aspects of park environments. In some settings, such as the expanses of Yellowstone National Park, they can even be the best way to enjoy wildlife, because animals can be heard at much greater distances than they can be seen. Sounds can also be a natural complement to natural scenes, whether the rush of water over a rocky streambed or a ranger's explanation of a park's history. In other settings, such as the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, sounds are the main reason for visiting a park. The acoustical environment is also important to the well-being of the parks themselves. Many species of wildlife depend on their hearing to find prey or avoid predators. If they cannot hear, their survival is jeopardized-and the parks where they live may in turn lose part of their natural heritage. For all these reasons it is important to be aware of noise (defined as unwanted sound, and in this case usually generated by humans or machinery), which can degrade the acoustical environment, or soundscape, of parks. Just as smog smudges the visual horizon, noise obscures the listening horizon for both visitors and wildlife. This is especially true in places, such as remote wilderness areas, where extremely low sound levels are common. The National Park Service (NPS) has determined that park facilities, operations, and maintenance activities produce a substantial portion of noise in national parks and thus recognizes the need to provide park managers with guidance for protecting the natural soundscape from such noise. Therefore, the focus of the workshop was to define what park managers can do to control noise from facilities, operations, and maintenance, and not on issues such as the effects of noise on wildlife, noise metrics, and related topics. To aid in this effort, NPS joined with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and with the US Department of Transportation's John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center to hold a workshop to examine the challenges and opportunities facing the nation's array of parks. Entitled "Protecting National Park Soundscapes: Best Available Technologies and Practices for Reducing Park- Generated Noise," the workshop took place October 3-4, 2012, at NPS's Natural Resource Program Center in Fort Collins, Colorado. Protecting National Park Soundscapes is a summary of the workshop.