Sustainability

There are four “don’ts” of sustainability, adapted on the following slides, are taken from “the Natural Step”, originated by Karl Henrik Robert of Sweden.

http://www.naturalstep.org/

1. Don’t take excess from the ground and spread it on the Earth’s surface.

2. Don’t make new things (unknown to nature) and spread them on the Earth’s surface.

Bioaccumulation of PCBs in the Great Lakes

Source: http://concernedcitizens.homestead.com/osf.html

PCBs in the Arctic PCBs enter the St. Lawrence and other waterways Initially picked up by algae and zooplankton in Gulf

of St. Lawrence These in turn are consumed by relatives of shrimp

called copepods. Copepods are the primary food of smaller fish, who

are consumed by mackerel and larger fish Ultimately seals, whales and finally polar bears and

humans. PCBs concentration in human breast milk of Inuit's

on the west coast of Greenland and Baffin Island rises to the level of toxic waste. http://eces.org/articles/000754.php

3. Don’t harvest renewable resources at a faster rate than they can recover.

www.esig.ucar.edu/rates/

The Favela (Brazil) vs. McMansion (USA)

4. Don’t allow a skewing of resources to select parts of the human population.

The do’s of sustainability Move closer to solar as the primary energy source. Use local resources first. Keep resources in place. Natural systems are best, imitate local ecosystems as

much as possible in designing human systems. Account for Nature’s services. Do not externalize costs, internalize them. Develop communal resource management systems. “Small is Beautiful”: example - microlending

Solar and Wind Power

Erosion on Madagascar: what happens when soil cover is lost

Erosion in the Betsiboka

River Valley, Madagascar

Riparian Buffer for erosion control, Putnam County, Ohio

www.oh.nrcs.usda.gov/. ../riparian.html

Logging with

horses

Table 14.2

Table 14.3

Industrial Ecology

The “science of sustainability” Predicated on two precepts:

– We are interested in sustainability– We want to remain industrial

The Master Equation ISAT 428: Industrial Ecology

Industrial Ecology

Two personalities:– An analogy with the cyclic nature of biological

economies– A set of methodologies for pursuing

sustainability Goal: mimic the inherent efficiency of

nature Information is key

What are the analogs to

Species? Population? Community? Ecosystem? Niche? Predator/Prey relationships? Succession?

Master Equation

where– Population is growing (as is growth rate)

– GDP is the country's Gross Domestic Product, also growing in rough proportion to the drive toward increased quality of life

– Env_impact is largely technology driven, and has a somewhat bell shaped curve with time. Env_impact per unit_GDP must shrink if overall Env_impact is to shrink.

GDPunit

impactEnv

person

GDPPopulationimpactEnv

_

__

Tools

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Design for Environment (DFE) Material Flow Analysis (MFA)

Life Cycle Assessment

An underpinning tenet of Industrial Ecology Predicated on the ability to evaluate the

(relative) impacts of production or design decisions throughout the life span of the product in question.

Three Major Elements of LCA

Inventory Analysis: This optimization problem first requires information about impacts

Impact Analysis: Then alternative strategies are compared

Improvement Analysis: Evaluation and implementation of opportunities to reduce environmental impacts

Design for Environment

One of the DFx family:– Manufacturability– Reliability– Cost– &c

Brings results of LCA to product/service design

Material Flow Analysis

Similar to LCA but based on mass balance around a geographic system (e.g. a nation)

Examines movement of material with view towards reduction (“dematerialization”)

Can be used for energy as well