Sustainable Engineering: Concepts, Design and Case Studies

This is the Safari online edition of the printed book.

Sustainable Engineering: Design and Analysis is the first textbook to offer a unified approach and comprehensive tools for evaluating and reducing the environmental impacts of engineering designs. It builds on the authors' comprehensive benchmarking study of the incorporation of sustainability concepts in engineering curricula, and integrates well-accepted principles and methods from their highly successful textbook, Green Engineering. David Allen and David Shonnard cover everything students and professionals need to improve sustainability in any engineering discipline. They integrate coverage of sustainability concepts and lifecycle principles, quantitative engineering design principles and methods, evaluation tools, case studies, industry perspectives, and more. Readers will learn how to utilize green materials, design green processes and products, and assess the economic value of green designs. Using this book, engineering faculty can bring greater coherence to their instruction on sustainability issues, easily integrating sustainability topics into existing courses. Note: This text condenses the new Second Edition of Green Engineering: Environmentally Conscious Design of Chemical Processes, also scheduled for publication in 2011.

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