Lecture 8

Defining
Sustainable
Development
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 Sustainable development
• meeting the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their
own needs.

–World Commission on Environment and

Development (1987): Our Common Future

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Elements of sustainability
Environment

Economy Society

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Elements of sustainability
ENVIRONMENT

•biodiversity
•materials
•energy
•biophysical interactions

Economy Society

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 Elements of sustainability

•money and capital

•employment
•technological growth
•investment
•market forces
• Economy

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 Elements of sustainability

•human diversity (cultural, linguistic, ethnic)

•equity (dependence / independence)
•quality of life
•institutional structures and organization
•political structures
Society

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 Ecology

Economy Equity

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 Sustainability: PROBLEMS
• Depletion of finite resources
–fuels, soil, minerals, species
• Over-use of renewable resources
–forests, fish & wildlife, fertility, public funds
• Pollution
–air, water, soil
• Inequity
–economic, political, social, gender
• Species loss
–endangered species and spaces
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 Sustainability: SOLUTIONS

 Cyclical material use

– emulate natural cycles; 3 R’s
 Safe reliable energy
– conservation, renewable energy, substitution,
interim measures
 Life-based interests
– health, creativity, communication, coordination,
appreciation, learning, intellectual and spiritual
development

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Two key sustainable development concepts:

EQUITY

LIMITS TO GROWTH

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 Two key sustainable development concepts:

 the concept of needs, particularly the essential

needs of the world’s poor
»
» EQUITY

• the quality of being fair or impartial;

fairness; impartiality
• something that is fair and just

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• Contrast with:
» EQUALITY

• the state or quality of being equal;

correspondence in quantity, degree,
value, rank, or ability.
• uniform character, as of motion or
surface.

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 the idea of limitations (ecological,
technological, and social) which affect the
environment’s
ability to meet present and future needs
• LIMITS TO GROWTH

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• LIMITS TO GROWTH
–- quantitative and qualitative limits
–- living within the regenerative and
assimilative capacities of the planet
•

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 Sustainable development...
• implies limits
 Not predefined absolute limits, but limitations
imposed by:
–the ability of the biosphere to absorb the effects of
human activities
–adaptability of human social and political
organization
–technolog

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 Sustainable development and
economic growth
Economic growth must be made:
–less material intensive (‘dematerialization of the
economy’)
–less energy intensive
–more equitable in its impacts

• Economic growth may be reduced or curtailed

to meet limitations imposed by environment,
technology, or society

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 Institutional gaps impeding
sustainable development
2 major gaps:
• fragmented decision making
–narrow mandates, jurisdictional rigidity, lack of
communication and coordination
• lack of accountabiity
–failure to make the bodies whose policy actions
degrade the environment responsible for their
actions

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materials and energy

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Obsolescent “frontier” civilization:
• Obsolescent “frontier” civilization
ENERGY HEAT

NON-RENEWABLE CONSUMER HIGH

and RENEWABLE SOCIETY THROUGHPUT
CONVENTIONAL
URBAN SYSTEM WASTE &
MATERIALS
TOXINS

One-way flow of materials and energy

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 Sustainable civilization:
Energy Efficiency
Low-quality
ENERGY Heat Energy
LOW
RENEWABLE THROUGHPUT
CONSERVER
SOCIETY Low-volume
MATERIALS
Nontoxic
Waste Minimization Waste
Toxics control Materials
•Cyclical flows of materials
•Appropriate energy usage
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• Sustainability:
Sustainability:

How do we move from

rhetoric to reality?

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principles

policy

practice

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• To be useful, principles of sustainability must:

• be easily understood
• be applicable in many contexts
• be transferrable across scales
• translate well from fundamental values
into applied policy and practical action
• identify possibilities for radical
transformative change AND
 positive incremental change
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 Guideposts for Sustainability
• Activities are sustainable when they:

1. Use materials in continuous cycles.

2. Use continuously reliable sources of
energy.
3. Encourage desirable human traits
(equity; creativity; communication;
coordination; appreciation; intellectual and
spiritual development).

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 Sustainability:
What Does it Mean for
Engineers?

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 Objectives
By the end of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Define sustainability.

2. List the 3 pillars of sustainability.

3. Give an example of ways that engineers can contribute to a

sustainable future.

4. Give an example of a sustainability indicator/metric for

engineering designs.

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What is Sustainability?

• Meeting society’s present needs without

compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.
(Brundtland Commission, 1987)

• Humans are integral part of the natural

world and nature must be preserved.

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Triple Bottom Line Solutions

• Good for the environment

• Good for economics

• Good for society

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 The 3 Pillars
• People
– Fair practices for all people and does not exploit interest of
separate parties based on money, status or growth.

• Planet
– Management of renewable and non renewable resources while
reducing waste.

• Profit
– Financial benefit enjoyed by the majority of society.

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Yes, engineers are part of the
problem.

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We’re also an integral part of the
solution.

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We’re also an integral part of the
solution.

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We’re also an integral part of the
solution.

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We’re also an integral part of the
solution.

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Examples of Other Ways that
Engineers Can Contribute to a
Sustainable Future

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But not if we keep designing things in the
same old way.

Engineers of the future need to think

differently.

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 Traditional Engineering Design Criteria:
• Function
• Cost
• Safety

Sustainable Engineering Design Criteria:

The above plus:
• Impact on people (society)
• Impact on the planet (environment)

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Questions for future engineers to ask about
their designs:

• Will it be made from recycled materials?

• How much energy will it use?

• Will it be powered by a battery or solar cells?

• Will it be able to be recycled at the end of its

useful life?

• Will it have parts that contain toxic metals

that must be disposed of?
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Examples of Sustainability Indicators/Metrics for
Engineering Designs

What criteria can we use to compare 2 engineering designs to

determine which is more sustainable?

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 Life Cycle Analysis

• Process of comparing sustainability indicators

for various engineering designs.
•

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 Life cycle assessment(LCA)
• Life cycle assessment is a way to investigate, estimate, and
evaluate the environmental burdens caused by a material,
product, process, or service throughout its life span. 
• Environmental burdens include the materials and energy
resources required to create the product, as well as the
wastes and emissions generated during the process. 
• By examining the entire life cycle, one gets a more
complete picture of the environmental impact created and
the trade-offs in impact from one period of the life cycle to
another. 
• Results of LCAs can be useful for identifying areas with
high environmental impact, and for evaluating and
improving product designs. 

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 Defining a Product Life Cycle
• Typically, a product life cycle is defined as a linear progression: 
• First, raw materials are extracted from the earth.  Some examples
are ore, water and oil. 
• Second, raw materials are processed into finished materials.  For
example, bauxite ore is processed into aluminum and oil is
processed into plastics. 
• Third, the materials are manufactured or assembled into a final
product.  This stage can often be considered in two parts: first
materials are manufactured into parts (for example, an aluminum
sheet is manufactured into an automobile body panel).  Then the
parts are assembled into a final product (for example, the body
panel along with the windows, engine, and many more parts are
assembled into a car). 
• Fourth is the use stage when a consumer has control of the
product. 

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• Finally is the waste management stage or
end-of-life stage when the product is broken
down into component materials for
remanufacturing or recycling, or is discarded. 

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• a sixth stage of distribution as the materials and
product are transported between stages
• During each of these stages, the activities that occur
require material and energy resources, and generate
wastes and emissions.  Material and energy resources
include items such as ores, catalysts, water, coal,
natural gas, or electricity.  Wastes include solid wastes
(trash) or hazardous wastes.  Emissions include
pollutants released to the air, such as sulfur dioxide or
carbon dioxide or soot, or to the water, such as sewage
or solids.  Life cycle assessment gathers information
about the quantity of these resources and wastes at
each life cycle stage.  
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 Why Use Life Cycle Assessment
• Life Cycle Assessment gives you a complete picture of a product’s
environmental impacts. 
• It lets you see during which parts of its life cycle the product most
negatively impacts the environment. 
• For example, the life cycle of an automobile consumes much more
energy during the use phase (through the gasoline used to operate
the vehicle) than during the prior stages to create the materials and
parts for the automobile. 
• Likewise, an LCA helps to identify which impacts are the most
significant across the life cycle. 
• For example, pollutant emissions to water may not be the worst
impact at any individual stage of a product life cycle, but when
summed across all stages may in fact have the largest impact

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 Information from an LCA can be use:

• to differentiate the impacts of two comparable

products:  plastic versus paper versus glass cups. 
Each requires different raw materials inputs
(petroleum, trees, or sand), and different types
and amounts of energy to produce.  Likewise,
each production process produces different
wastes and emissions.  But the plastic or paper
cups would likely be thrown away after one or
maybe two uses, adding burdens in a landfill. 
The glass cup would be reused, but would require
water and detergents for cleaning

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• to assess design options for the same product:  automobiles
use a wide variety of materials in the various parts.  Steel has
typically been used, but plastics and composite materials
have been replacing it.  Steel is heavier than the plastics or
composites, adding weight to the car that increases the fuel
needed to operate the car.  However, steel parts are easily
recycled at the end of the vehicle’s life. 

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• to identify where in the life cycle an impact should be
targeted for reduction: 
• A package delivery company may be concerned about its
carbon dioxide emissions.  One option is to make changes to
its delivery vehicles or routing to reduce fuel consumption
and the related CO2 emission.  However, examining the life
cycle of the service might identify the company’s building
electrical usage as a greater contributor to those emissions,
and thus reductions could be gained via energy conservation
measures in offices or purchasing wind power.   

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• Examining the entire life cycle provides a
broad perspective for an analysis and helps to
avoid making decisions that in the end cause
greater harm.
 

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