Technology & Engineering
Sustainable Engineering
Sustainable engineering involves designing and implementing technological solutions that minimize negative environmental impacts, conserve resources, and promote long-term ecological balance. It focuses on creating innovative and efficient systems that meet present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This approach integrates environmental, social, and economic considerations to develop solutions that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient.
Written by Perlego with AI-assistance
Related key terms
1 of 5
9 Key excerpts on "Sustainable Engineering"
eBook - PDFSustainability Science and Engineering
Defining Principles
- Martin A. Abraham(Author)
- 2005(Publication Date)
- Elsevier Science(Publisher)
4. Implementation resources for engineering sustainable facilities As mentioned throughout the discussion of the roadmap presented in Section 3., effective implementation requires the continuous application of specific sustainability principles, concepts, heuristics, strategies, guidelines, specifica-tions, standards, processes, tools, best practices, lessons learned, or case studies. The challenge is that the body of knowledge on sustainability of the built en-vironment is rich, extensive, and diverse. Since specific engineering guidance is outside the scope of this chapter, a set of implementation resources is presented in this section, which includes, among others: General international information web sites such as: (1) the International In-stitute for Sustainable Development provides an extensive compilation of sus-tainable development principles from numerous sources that address three major aspects: environment, economy, and community [13] ; and (2) the Sus-tainability Web Ring , an Internet tool that allows users to navigate easily between Web sites that address with the principles, policies, and best practices for sustainable development [14] . Specific guidance web sites such as the: (1) Sustainable Design and Develop-ment Resource of the Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) of the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) of the US. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) [15] ; (2) Sustainable Design Web Site of the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence (AFCEE) [16] ; (3) Minnesota Sustainable Design Guide [17] ; and (4) Green Buildings Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development of the US Department of Energy [18] .
eBook - PDFEngineering Your Future
An Australasian Guide
- David Dowling, Roger Hadgraft, Anna Carew, Tim McCarthy, Doug Hargreaves, Caroline Baillie(Authors)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
SUMMARY In this chapter, we have examined how engineered solutions might be evaluated against the environmental, social and economic constraints of ecologically sustainable development. There are many different types of engineers, for example, technical specialists designing technological solutions, managers overseeing budgets and organising others’ work, researchers seeking new applications of engineering and physics fundamentals, ‘hands on’ engineers working with operators and tradespeople in heavy industry and policy specialists creating paper-based engineering solutions or working in non- traditional fields. Practising Sustainable Engineering does not erase the need for technical specialists, researchers or hands-on engineers. Rather, it calls on engineers to recognise situations in which a technical decision or solution is most likely to be successful, and in which engineers need to apply their skills and knowledge in unique ways. 3.1 Discuss the origins of Sustainable Engineering, what it is and why it is important. Ecologically sustainable development originated from concerns of the environmental movement about industrialisation and its impacts. The modern environmental movement was triggered during the 1960s and 1970s by key events such as the publication of Silent spring (Carson 1962) and protests about hydro-electric dams in Tasmania. Sustainable Engineering is increasingly demanded by business, society, government and the engineering profession. Sustainability asks the engineer to consider and take account of energy and resource use, degradation of the natural environment and the broader environmental, social and economic consequences of their work. 3.2 Detail strategies for practising Sustainable Engineering and how to evaluate a solution using a triple bottom line analysis.
eBook - ePub- Toolseeram Ramjeawon(Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
It is much more than the narrow discipline-specific activity of “protection of the environment” and engineers are required to take a wider perspective including goals such as poverty alleviation and social justice. There are a number of academic and professional institutions who have formulated Sustainable Engineering principles. The overarching goal is to generate a balanced solution to any engineering problem. If an engineering project benefits only one of the three sustainability dimension but ignores the others, it will be unsustainable in the long term. Some of the aspects that differentiate the traditional and sustainable approaches in engineering are given in Table 2.1. Table 2.1 Sustainability Approaches in Engineering Traditional Engineering Sustainable Engineering Considers the object or process Considers the whole system in which the object or process will be used Focuses on technical issues Considers both technical and nontechnical issues synergistically Solves the immediate problem Strives to solve the problem for infinite future Considers the local context Considers the global context Assumes others will deal with political, ethical, and societal issues Acknowledges the need to interact with the experts in other disciplines related to the problem Engineers understand the concept of physical principles such as conservation of mass, energy, or momentum. They provide the ideas, rules, or concepts to keep in mind when solving an engineering problem. Similarly, we need to be able to set our choices and engineering decisions against guiding principles for sustainability. The WFEO Model Code of Practice for Sustainable Development and Environmental Stewardship links the Code of Ethics with professional practice
eBook - PDFEnvironmental Engineering
Fundamentals, Sustainability, Design
- James R. Mihelcic, Julie B. Zimmerman(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
Design a future without pollution and waste 4. Create efficient, healthy, resilient cities 5. Foster informed decisions and actions Engineers must develop and implement solutions to these challenges with an understanding of the potential benefits and impacts over the lifetime of the design to advance solutions to sustainability challenges that are in and of themselves sustainable. In this way, the traditions of innovation, creativity, and brilliance that engineers use to find new solutions to any challenge can be applied to designing sustainable solutions—that is, solutions that not only address grand societal chal- lenges but also are in, and of themselves, sustainable by not creating legacy adverse impacts on the environment and society. Mutual bene- fits resulting from this green engineering view of design include a com- petitive and growing economy in the global marketplace, improved quality of life for people, and enhanced protection and restoration of natural systems. 1.3.1 FRAMEWORKS FOR SUSTAINABLE DESIGN To support the design of these sustainable solutions, the Principles of Green Engineering (Application 1.10) were developed to provide a framework for thinking in terms of sustainable design criteria that, if fol- lowed, can lead to useful advances for a wide range of engineering problems. Green chemistry is a field devoted to the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazard- ous materials (Anastas and Warner, 1998). Green chemistry focuses on addressing hazard through molecular design and the processes used to synthesize those molecules. The fields of green chemistry and green engineering also use the les- sons and processes of nature to inspire design through biomimicry (Benyus, 2002). Biomimicry (from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, mean- ing to imitate) is a design discipline that studies nature’s best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems.
- Juan Lucena, Jen Schneider, Jon A. Leydens(Authors)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- Springer(Publisher)
To achieve this vision, the leadership of the world engineering community will join together in an integrated partnership to actively engage with all disciplines and decision makers to provide advice, leadership, and facilitation for our shared and sustainable world (World Federation of Engineering Organisations, 1997, p. 7). In 1999, the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) released a “Statement on Sustainable Development Education” which states that Engineering students should learn about sustainable development and sustainability in the general education component of the curriculum as they are preparing for the major design experience. For example, studies of economics and ethics are necessary to understand the need to use Sustainable Engineering techniques, including improved clean technologies. In teaching sustainable design, faculty should ask their students to consider the impacts of design upon U.S. society, and upon other nations and cultures. Engineering faculty should use systems approaches, including interdisciplinary teams, to teach pollution prevention techniques, life cycle analysis, industrial ecology, and other Sustainable Engineering concepts…. ASEE believes that engineering graduates must be prepared by their education to use Sustainable Engineering techniques in the practice of their profession and to take leadership roles in facilitating sustainable development in their communities” (ASEE Board of Directors, 1999). In addition, as a part of its code of ethics, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has declared that its engineers shall “strive to comply with the principles of sustainable develop-
No longer available |Learn more- (Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- University Publications(Publisher)
________________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ________________________ Chapter- 5 Sustainable Design Sustainable design (also called environmental design, environmentally sustainable design, environmentally conscious design, etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of economic, social, and ecological sustainability. Intentions The intention of sustainable design is to eliminate negative environmental impact completely through skillful, sensitive design. Manifestations of sustainable design require no non-renewable resources, impact the environment minimally, and relate people with the natural environment. Applications Applications of this philosophy range from the microcosm — small objects for everyday use, through to the macrocosm — buildings, cities, and the Earth's physical surface. It is a philosophy that can be applied in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, urban planning, engineering, graphic design, industrial design, interior design, and fashion design. Sustainable design is mostly a general reaction to global environmental crises, the rapid growth of economic activity and human population, depletion of natural resources, damage to ecosystems, and loss of biodiversity. The limits of sustainable design are reducing. Whole earth impacts are beginning to be considered because growth in goods and services is consistently outpacing gains in efficiency. As a result, the net effect of sustainable design to date has been to simply improve the efficiency of rapidly increasing impacts. The present approach, which focuses on the efficiency of delivering individual goods and services, does not solve this problem.
eBook - PDFSustainable Solutions for Environmental Pollution, Volume 1
Waste Management and Value-Added Products
- Nour Shafik El-Gendy(Author)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Wiley-Scrivener(Publisher)
3.3 Sustainable Development, Sustainable Development Engineering and Environmental Engineering Many SD definitions are “catchphrases” and not real ones reflecting the intimacy of the term. The definition should be formed of a number of com- ponents and not a catchphrase. We would rather then put the SD description definition to be covering the following: Sustainable Development Principles 131 • Develop novel clean technologies capable of achieving (MPMP). • Develop technologies capable of using RRMs to achieve sus- tainability (and may be growth) of raw materials rather than the present situation associated with the continuous and critical depletion of raw materials. • The use of natural distributed RRMs in contradistinction to the present depleting raw materials concentrated in certain parts of the world causing continuous conflicts and wars. • Produce environmentally friendly products easy to degrade and/or reuse. • Develop clean and environmentally friendly housing, office buildings and shopping centers. • Develop efficient technologies for waste treatment and recycle. • Build a socioeconomic and political framework to apply the above (including the necessary non-profit tendencies and change of consumer habits, etc.). • Develop efficient IBRs. In the light of the ISA discussed below (Section 4), one can stress again the view of SDE as a subsystem of SD. This SDE subsystem will definitely lie among the technological subsystems of SD; the latter at the same time includes non-technological subsystems like socioeconomic, political ethical/moral, etc. Thus EE is a subsystem of SDE. Our technological target therefore is to achieve sustainability, while EE’ and EE are sub- systems of this sustainability, i.e., necessary but not sufficient for sustain- ability. The focus of this paper is more on SD with respect to production while the relation with consumption will lie in the background.
Available until 4 Dec |Learn more- Raymond N. Yong, Catherine N. Mulligan, Masaharu Fukue(Authors)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
463 13 Sustainable Geoenvironmental Engineering Practice 13.1 Introduction 13.1.1 Undeniable Facts The fact that humans require the various elements of a built environment for survival means that harvesting and exploitation of the natural resources and capital items of the geoenvironment are needed to support their needs. What is needed, in the face of this real-ity, is the implementation of • Development and construction techniques, protocols, and activities in a built envi-ronment that accord with the objectives of protecting and maintaining optimal site functionality • Harvesting, exploitation, and development techniques, procedures, plans, etc., that minimize adverse impacts on the geoenviroment • Geoenvironmental engineering management practices that protect the geoenvi-ronment from deleterious and adverse stressor impacts generated from sources associated with the efforts in support of the needs of humans, i.e., sustainable geoen-vironmental engineering practice In the face of the demands to support the needs of the human population, there are some undeniable facts and concerns that need to be confronted. These include • Continued extraction of nonrenewable natural resources such as metal and min-eral resources together with fossil fuels will not only result in their depletion, but will ultimately lead to their exhaustion • Continued exploitation of renewable natural resources at a pace that does not per-mit them to fully replenish or regenerate themselves will also ultimately lead to their exhaustion • Industrial activities such as farming, manufacturing, production, power genera-tion, etc.
eBook - PDF- Mahamane Ali(Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- IntechOpen(Publisher)
It is not clear that the standard of living that we have become accustomed to can be supported sustainably. The calculus of sustainability has not truly entered into decision-making about production and engineering. Therefore, there is a need to change the curricula to explicitly teach engineers to consider sustainability in their design decision-making. Sustainability is a cross-cutting theme that should be present throughout an engineer’s education rather than being contained within a single dedicated course. Thus, it is useful to have examples that can carry the essential themes and background to support the emergence of a calculus of sustainability in engineering design. At San Clara University, sustainability concepts are taught using some of the examples that follow in some of the undergraduate courses: Engineering (for juniors), Civil Engineering Materials (for juniors), Green Construction Design (for seniors), and Sustainable Water Resources (a new elective course). 2. Sustainable development The term “sustainable development” is being interpreted differently by developed nations on one hand and by developing countries on the other. For example, a measure against pollution in a developed country may make sense, but will be a luxury for a developing country. Developing nations may insist on more attention to economic growth than to environmental problems. In developed countries, a check on economic growth to protect ecosystem is often considered a check on freedom and free enterprise. How then to resolve the conflict between a desire to develop, and the need to maintain the integrity of ecosystem? Figure 1 presents a simple schematic model for a country, which can help guide sustainability decision making.
Index pages curate the most relevant extracts from our library of academic textbooks. They’ve been created using an in-house natural language model (NLM), each adding context and meaning to key research topics.
