As a former chemical engineer - I would suggest that each idea needs to have a system-based design and cost benefits analysis.
Many products and ideas suffer from the lack of a cradle-to-grave design and cost benefit analysis. in the name of quick successes and implementation, many products and systems / solutions have taken short-cuts - mostly by lobbying political leaders and governments - a good example is the "global warming" crowd - no one has given any solutions or problems a cradle-to-grave design, and cost-benefit analysis.
Some well know examples:

• nuclear energy
• solar energy
• hydro-electric power
• plastics
• styrofoam
  We have seen the consequences of nuclear energy which was sold to the public as the cheapest alternative energy source - until the now infamous disasters, the latest being Japan's Fukushima and previously Chernobyl ...
  There remains unresolved problems and costs of disposing or securing nuclear wastes.
  We tend to let the superficial "solutions" convince us of the easy and obvious solutions and totally ignore the long-term impacts.
  For any new idea, it is critical that the long-term impact is carefully considered and analyzed and start small scale and see the real-world implementation issues.
  Solar and wind energy has issues with:
• land use conflicts
• unpredictable and uncontrollable generations not matching, and often opposite to, demand
• transmission cost
• storage
• low energy production density
  I can go on and on ...
  So, interesting to read and ponder, but the professional engineers are not wasting time on these ideas although there are a few examples here and there and they might have special reasons and motivation and on a small scale - amusing at best to those who are in the profession / industry.