Civil engineers work designing, building, and maintaining structures. This encompasses everything from roads and railways to buildings, oil rigs, and structures, to the extraction of renewable energy.

Their work is varied and used in all walks of life. One thing all of their projects have in common is that they will be affected by climate change.

Civil engineers need to be aware of climate change statistics, to know what is coming, and how best they can help to prevent it and prepare the structures of the future to cope with it.

Because of this, the relationship between civil engineers and climate scientists is an important one.

If you would like to work within this very exciting and changing field consider an online MCE degree. An online civil engineering degree would give you the skills you need to get started.

Climate Change

Climate scientists study climate change, from why it’s happening and its history to what we can expect in the future.

A study has recently been published to help civil engineers account for ongoing climate change in infrastructure design.

The study shows where we are with climate change right now, and that we can expect the earth’s temperature to have risen by four degrees before 2100.

What This Means for Civil Engineers

These warmer temperatures mean that infrastructures, especially roads, bridges, houses, and structures that endure heavy use, will be under new stresses, which will only increase over time.

They will face a general rise in heat, which could weaken their structures, but also extreme weather conditions such as heatwaves, storms, flooding, and snowfall. It’s up to civil engineers to find ways to help these structures cope and to find new designs for any future building work.

Civil Engineering to Combat Climate Change

Civil engineers are very aware of climate change and are working on ways to counter it. While finding new ways to design and manufacturer buildings and roads might be tough, at least they know what to expect and are able to begin preparing for it.

The true challenge may be repairing and replacing those structures which already exist and are already starting to feel the strain of the earth’s rising temperatures.

However, this isn’t all civil and structural engineers are doing to combat climate change. They are also working tirelessly in the field of renewable energy and water engineering.

Water Engineering

Water is one of our most used resources but, unfortunately, it’s also the most wasted and the most often contaminated. Civil engineers work to find ways to extract water and put in place systems to make sure it is safe for consumption. They also design and build infrastructures to help cut down on waste.

Renewable Energy

Civil and structural engineers also work at designing structures and strategies for extracting and using renewable energy. This could include the design and structure of large wind farms.

As you can see, civil engineers have a very important role to play when it comes to both reducing climate change and dealing with its effects, both now and in the future.