Thermal engineering challenges for the 21st century

Abstract

Despite the number of global engineering challenges that have been identified for the 21st century, this article focuses only on those challenges that are primarily germane to thermal engineering. Some specific challenges that have been identified include energy conservation and efficiency of mechanical equipment, energy conservation / thermal management in buildings, development of sustainable energy generation, and advancement of thermal management technologies from nano- to macro-scale. Thermal engineers will also be required to attain a better understanding of fundamental phenomena governing complex and integrated mechanical, chemical and energy systems as well as broaden the perspectives to include an ever-widening range of length and time scales.