Transcript Slide 1

Roland Clift
Centre for Environmental Strategy
University of Surrey
OVERVIEW
 What is sustainable development?
 What are the issues?
 How does this relate to the role of engineers?
 Examples
 Exercise
Sustainable Development is
“ … development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs”
Our Common Future, World Commission on
Environment and Development, Oxford
University Press (1987) (“The Brundtland
Report”)
The overarching goal of sustainable
development is
“… enabling all people throughout the world to
satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality
of life without compromising the quality of life of
future generations”
One Future – different paths,
UK Strategic Framework for Sustainable
Development, 2005
THE HUMAN ECONOMY
E
SUN
FOOD
etc.
HUMAN
SOCIETY
E
SUN
GOODS
&
SERVICES
E
WASTE
AGRICULTURE
INDUSTRY
DISPERSED
EMISSIONS
NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT:
THE APPROACH
An approach which seeks to reconcile
human needs and the capacity of the
environment to cope with the
consequences of economic systems
THREE DIMENSIONS OF
SUSTAINABILITY
ECO-CENTRIC
CONCERNS
Natural resources
and ecological
capacity
Techno-economic
systems
TECHNO-CENTRIC
CONCERNS
Human capital and
social expectations
SOCIO-CENTRIC
CONCERNS
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
 Natural resources
 Water
 1 billion people lack access to clean water
 2.5 billion people (more than 1/3 of
population) lack adequate sanitation
 Air
 Air in most cities in the world is polluted
 Land
 Land contamination
 Deforestation
 Desertification
 50% of natural resources (fossil fuels,
minerals) have already been consumed
NATURAL RESOURCES:
WHAT DO WE USE?
Energy (CO2)
Cement
Aluminium
Steel
Land
Wood
0
2
4
6
8
10
Number of planets needed to sustain current global consumption in
2050 if all countries consumed as Britain does today
WHO USES WHAT?
 Inequitable distribution of resources between
nations
 The US, Japan, Germany, Canada, France, Italy
and the UK (less than 12 % of the world's
population) consume:
43% of the world's fossil fuel
production,
64% of the world's paper, and
55-60% of all the aluminium, copper,
lead, nickel and tin
 20% of the population in the developed nations
consume 86% of the world’s resources
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ISSUES
 Population increase
 current 6 billion to 10 billion in this century?
 Income distribution and poverty
 The richest 20% (1.2 billion) of the world’s
population receive nearly 83% of total world
income
 At the same time, the poorest 20% of the
population receive 1.4% or less than $1 a day
 Almost half of the world's population of six
billion lives on less than $2 a day
 About 790 million people are hungry and food
insecure
SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING
 Sustainable engineering means providing for
human needs and improving quality of life
without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their needs
 Engineers can contribute to sustainable
development in many ways, e.g.
 designing sustainable buildings
 designing transportation
 manufacturing plants
 water and food provision systems
 introducing ICT to reduce material use,
emissions and waste in products and
services
THE ROLE OF ENGINEERS IN
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
 Economy
 to optimise economic returns
 Environment
 to optimise the use of natural resources and
minimise environmental impacts
 Society
 to supply human needs and improve quality of
life
 Examples of human needs:
 Housing, food, health, energy,
communication, mobility…
CONSTRUCTION: BUILDINGS
 Energy use in buildings
constitutes 30-50% of total
energy requirements of a
society
 This energy use contributes
to more CO2 emissions than
traffic or industry
 Reason: poor insulation
and inefficient combustion
systems
 Relatively cheap fuels and
profligate use of energy
ICT: TELECOMMUTING
 For Cambridgeshire CC
 Commute miles down by up to 500,000-1.25
million per year
 Commute hours could be reduced by 40,000 –
75,000 per year
 Reductions in emissions 26,200 kg CO,
323,000 kg CO2 and 4,500 kg NOx per year
 Positive high quality of life
 Self-reported health benefits
 Greater use of local services
 see www.sustel.org and www.flexibility.co.uk
ICT: INTERNET SERVICES
 Online services: home shopping, banking,
entertainment, even learning
 Traffic reduction is difficult to measure. RAC
(1997) predicted that by 2007 will cut shopping
travel by 17%
 Possible dematerialisation e.g. online
subscriptions for software updates
 Social inclusion
 Better accountability of service providers
 Has made the world far smaller
 Information transfer: news and media
SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING:
FRESH AND WASTE WATER
 The supply problems - shortage of water
 1 billion people lack access to clean water
 Provision of water to developing countries
 Increasing the efficiency of use and reducing
demand for fresh water
 e.g. using ‘grey water’ for toilets or to water
the gardens (the example of the eco-house)
 Rethinking systems for treating and recycling
water
 e.g. sea water desalination
SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING: WASTE
 Developed countries, each person 500kg p.a.
 Prevention of waste generation
 increased process efficiencies
 reduced consumption of materials
 Re-use and recycling
 turning waste into valuable resources
 provision of facilities for recycling
 Leasing rather than buying products
 Waste-to-energy schemes
 Incinerating municipal solid waste
 A plant in Sheffield provides heating to 3,000 homes
and 90 buildings
 Saves 200,000 MW of fossil fuel and 60,000 t of CO2
SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING:
FUELS AND ENERGY
 Global warming and limited supply of carbonbased fuels will require the use of non-carbon
energy sources
 Wind and solar power
 Biomass
 Hydrogen (generated by using solar energy or
nuclear power)
 Electric batteries
 Fuel cells
 Also more security of supply
EXERCISE: YOUR CONTRIBUTION?
 Write down three ways in which you will be able
to contribute, as an engineer, to sustainable
development in future.
 Discuss your choices with your neighbour.
 Write a combined list of six ways you can
contribute.
 Pass your list down to the front, to be collated.
 See if your ideas change by the end of the
semester.
LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT
Introduction
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
 Concepts: setting goals for environmental
management activities e.g.
 Dematerialisation, energy efficiency
 Sustainable Development, Product
Stewardship, Producer Responsibility.
 Tools: measure progress towards goals e.g.
 Environmental Auditing, Environmental
Impact Assessment, Risk Assessment, Life
Cycle Thinking, Life Cycle Assessment
MATERIALS/ENERGY
(Jackson)
Materials/ energy (JACKSON)
Timing of Measures
Concept
PREVENTION
Design
Resource
Inputs
Mining And Processing
Manufacturing
END OF PIPE
Product Distribution
Service
Provision
Waste
Management
CONTAINMENT
DISPERSAL
REMEDIATION
A NEW APPROACH
 Increased material efficiency: reducing raw
material inputs and waste outputs
 Removing hazardous materials for a more
acceptable alternative.
 Designing service systems to minimise
environmental impacts
PURCHASING DECISIONS FOR
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
 Often driven by immediate criteria e.g. price,
functionality, appearance, etc.
 There is another way of thinking:
 chain of processes upstream and downstream
from the product in the shop
 e.g. mobile phone
 What happens before you purchase?
 How is it used?
 What happens when it reaches end of life?
 Implications for design
ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEM ANALYSIS
ENVIRONMENTAL
INTERVENTIONS
MATERIALS AND
ENERGY
EMISSIONS
AND WASTES
ECONOMIC
SYSTEM
ENVIRONMENT
SERVICES
LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT
PRIMARY RESOURCES
Wastes
and
Wastes and
E
Energy
conversion
Extraction
Emissions
Emissions
Material
purification
E
E
Manufacturing
Recovery
E
PRODUCT IN USE
FOOD MILES
e.g. BEANS FROM KENYA
LIFE CYCLE THINKING
 Thinking qualitatively about impacts:
 upstream and downstream
 Application of systems analysis
 “Cradle to grave” quantification of:
 material and energy inputs
 outputs as emissions
 together known as “environmental
interventions” of the system
 Avoids displacing environmental problems
 Promotes responsible product design
 Formal environmental management tool: LCA
WHAT IT DOES
Life cycle thinking examines the environmental
interventions and potential impacts throughout a
product’s life (i.e. cradle-to-grave) from raw
material acquisition through production, use and
disposal.
The general categories of environmental impacts
needing consideration include resource use,
human health, and ecological consequences.
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
 Environmental impacts
Global warming
Ozone layer depletion
Loss of biodiversity
Summer and winter smogs
Acid rain
Eutrophication
Human and eco-toxicity
PHASES OF LCA
PHASES OF LCA
Life cycle assessment framework
Goal and
scope
definition
Inventory
analysis
Impact
assessment
Interpretation
Direct applications:
-Product development
-Strategic planning
-Public policymaking
-Marketing
-Other
ACRONYMS, ACRONYMS….
DfE
Design for the Environment
IPPC
Integrated Pollution Prevention & Control
EoL
End-of-Life
WEEE (EEE)
Waste Electronic & Electrical Equipment
ELV
End-of-Life Vehicles
IPP
Integrated Product Policy
EPD’s
Environmental Product Declarations
DESIGN
FOR
ENVIRONMENT
(DFE)
Design for Environment (DFE)
PROCESS
Process
Design
space
Product
strategy
Product
development
Product
specification
DFE STRATEGIES BENEFITING FROM
A LIFE CYCLE APPROACH
Product life extension
Material life extension
Reduced use of materials
(dematerialisation)
Energy efficiency
Pollution minimisation
LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT
Manufacturing
Distribution
Material and
Energy
Extracton
Use
Waste
Management
EARTH
TAKE-BACK
Manufacturing
Distribution
Material and
Energy
Extracton
Use
Waste
Management
EARTH
ASSET RECOVERY
COMPONENT
MANUFACTURE
ASSEMBLY
USE
Partial
Disassembly
MATERIALS
PRODUCTION
Complete
Disassembly
Waste
Raw
Materials
Inspection
FOREGROUND SYSTEM:
Set of processes whose selection or mode of operation
is affected directly by decisions based on the study.
BACKGROUND SYSTEM:
All other processes which interact directly with the
foreground system, usually by supplying material or
energy to the foreground or receiving material energy
from it. A sufficient (but not necessary) condition for a
process or group of processes to be in the background
is that the exchange with the foreground takes place
through a homogeneous market.
PRIMARY
RESOURCES
BACKGROUND
SYSTEM
MATERIALS
AND ENERGY
RECOVERED
MATERIALS
AND ENERGY
FUNCTIONAL
OUTPUTS
SOLID
WASTE
FOREGROUND
SYSTEM
WASTE
MANAGEMENT
EMISSIONS
FUNCTONAL
OUTPUT:
MANAGEMENT
OF WASTE
Figure 1: Distinction between Foreground and
Background Systems
ASSUME
-
-
THEREFORE
-
other products from Foreground are
used in Background
other Functional Outputs from
Background unchanged
other products from Foreground
displace activities in Background and so
avoid some burdens
TOTAL INVENTORY is then:
DIRECT BURDENS from Foreground
plus
INDIRECT BURDENS from Background,
due to inputs to Foreground
minus
AVOIDED BURDENS from Background
displaced by outputs from
Foreground
INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY
RESOURCE
EXTRACT
PROCESS
RECYCLE
MANUFACTURE 1
CASCADE
RE-PROCESS
USE 1
RE-PROCESS
RECYCLE
MANUFACTURE 2
RE-USE
WASTE
USE 3
etc.
USE 2
RE-USE
WASTE
USE 3
etc.
RE-PROCESS
INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY FOR PLASTICS
RESOURCE
EXTRACTION &
PROCESSING
POLYMERISATION
BLENDING &
FORMING
USE
RE-USE
FUEL
MECHANICAL RECYCLING
DEPOLYMERISATION
CHEMICAL RECYCLING & PYROLYSIS
ENERGY RECOVERY
DISPOSAL
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Life cycle approaches are here to stay…
Skill base is insufficient
Open range for consultants
Professional bodies need to recognise
Environmental System Analysis as an
essential body of skills and tools