Sustainable Engineering: Concepts, Design and Case Studies

Product Author Bios

David T. Allen holds the Melvin H. Gertz Regents Chair in Chemical Engineering at the Cockrell School of Engineering, University of Texas at Austin. His current research involves understanding how anthropogenic emissions perturb complex chemical reaction networks, worsening urban air quality. David R. Shonnard holds the Richard and Bonnie Robbins Chair in Sustainable Materials at Michigan Tech, and directs the Sustainable Futures Institute. His interests include environmentally-conscious chemical process design, life-cycle assessment, environmental transport, bioengineering, and sustainability. Allen and Shonnard co-authored Green Engineering.

Assessing Engineering Designs for Environmental, Economic, and Social Impact

Engineers will play a central role in addressing one of the twenty-first century’s key challenges: the development of new technologies that address societal needs and wants within the constraints imposed by limited natural resources and the need to protect environmental systems.

To create tomorrow’s sustainable products, engineers must carefully consider environmental, economic, and social factors in evaluating their designs. Fortunately, quantitative tools for incorporating sustainability concepts into engineering designs and performance metrics are now emerging. Sustainable Engineering introduces these tools and shows how to apply them.

Building on widely accepted principles they first introduced in Green Engineering, David T. Allen and David R. Shonnard discuss key aspects of designing sustainable systems in any engineering discipline. Their powerful, unified approach integrates essential engineering and quantitative design skills, industry perspectives, and case studies, enabling engineering professionals, educators, and students to incorporate sustainability throughout their work. Coverage includes

• A concise review of the natural resource and environmental challenges engineers face when designing for sustainability
• Analysis and legislative frameworks for addressing environmental issues and sustainability
• Methods for identifying green and sustainable materials
• Principles for improving the sustainability of engineering designs
• Tools for evaluating sustainable designs and monetizing their benefits

Online Sample Chapter

Sustainable Engineering: An Introduction to Sustainability

Table of Contents

Preface                        ix

Acknowledgments                               xi

About the Authors                             xiii

Chapter 1: An Introduction to Sustainability                       1

1.1 Introduction     1

1.2 The Magnitude of the Sustainability Challenge 2

1.3 Energy 3

1.4 Materials Use 8

1.5 Environmental Emissions 13

1.6 Summary 27

Problems 28

References 32

Chapter 2: Risk and Life-Cycle Frameworks for Sustainability                 35

2.1 Introduction   35

2.2 Risk 35

2.3 Life-Cycle Frameworks   42

2.4 Life-Cycle Assessment Tools   55

2.5 Summary   57

Problems   57

Appendix: Readily Available Hazard References   61

References   62

Chapter 3: Environmental Law and Regulation              65

3.1 Introduction   65

3.2 Nine Prominent Federal Environmental Statutes   68

3.3 Evolution of Regulatory and Voluntary Programs from End-of-Pipe to Pollution Prevention and Sustainability   72

3.4 Pollution Prevention Concepts and Terminology   73

3.5 Environmental Law and Sustainability   74

Problems   75

Appendix   77

References   89

Chapter 4: Green, Sustainable Materials              91

4.1 Introduction   91

4.2 Environmental and Natural Resource Use Footprints of Material Extraction and Refining   91

4.3 Tracking Material Flows in Engineered Systems   99

4.4 Environmental Releases   107

4.5 Summary   114

Problems   114

References   115

Chapter 5: Design for Sustainability: Economic, Environmental, and Social Indicators           117

5.1 Introduction   117

5.2 Sustainable Engineering Design Principles   118

5.3 Economic Performance Indicators   126

5.4 Environmental Performance Indicators   133

5.5 Social Performance Indicators   146

5.6 Summary   149

Problems   149

Appendix   151

References   160

Chapter 6: Case Studies 165

6.1 Introduction   165

6.2 Biofuels for Transportation   166

6.3 Transportation, Logistics, and Supply Chains   181

6.4 Sustainable Built Environments   186

6.5 Additional Case Studies   201

References   201

Index           207