Lecture 2: Sustainability

Sustainable development: " meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs"
1) Integrates economy and ecology
2) Not how we can measure sustainability, but how we can measure up to it
3) Possibility of humans and other organisms flourishing forever
4) Useless to apply concept to non-renewable resources and irreversible
processes
Sustainability scenarios:
A) Population and physical economy well within carrying capacity regardless of
B) Constant carrying capacity but human growth is still within it
growth
C) Chaotic oscillation between carrying capacity and population
D) Decreasing carrying capacity and increasing population until population hits
peak and drops
Ideal time scale for sustainability is within 100 (10^2) years
Four grand objectives - understand each one and examples of each
Maintain Existence of Human
Maintain capacity for sustainable
Maintain diversity of life
Maintain aesthetic richness of planet
Species
development
1) Climate Change
1) Water supply
1) Water supply
1) Smog
2) Organism damage
2) Resource depletion (fossil fuels)
2) Loss of biodiversity
2) Degradation of land
3) Water supply
3) Resource depletion (non-fossil fuels)
3) Ozone
5) Thermal
3) Oil spills
depletion
pollution
4) Resource depletion (fossil fuels)
4) Landfill exhaustion
4) Acid deposition
6) Land usage
4) Odors
patterns
Lecture 3: Industrial Ecology
Industrial ecology and sustainable engineering
1) Focuses on design &
3) Companies as agents
manufacturing as well as
for environmental
their consequences
improvement
2) Emulate natural systems as
4) Regional/local/global
models for industrial activity
view of issues
Analogies to biological system
Analogy 1: Organism - companies/factories are industrial
organisms
Capable of independent activity, utilizes energy and
materials, releases waste energy and materials,
reproduces, responds to external activity, grows and dies
Analogy 2: Ecosystem
Type 1: Unlimited resources --> unlimited waste
Type 2: Limited energy/resources --> internal processes
--> limited waste (similar to how industrial
ecosystems work)
Type 3: Energy input --> no waste

5) Human activity in the context of larger

ecosystems: as source of resources and sink
for wastes
6) Old idea: natural and industrial separate
entities --> new idea: industrial is part of
larger natural system

7) Industrial ecology: study of human transformations of

materials and energy from ecosystem perspective

Analogy 3: Engineering by organisms

Analogy 4: Evolution

1: State 1 --> State 2 (example: fixing a roof on a factory, not

engineering, no environmental change occurs)
2: State 1 -->[Organism]<--> State 2 (example: constructing
log roads)
3: [Organism 1]-->[Organism 2]----X{Resource flow} (example:
urbanized areas being built change flow of water bodies)
4: State 1 -->[Organism]<--> State 2 ----X{Resource flow}
(example: humans build car, consumes fossil fuels)
5: see the diagram (example: urban areas raising regional
temperatures)
6: see the diagram (example: production and usage of cars
consumes fossil fuels, creating greenhouse gas effect)

- Gradual transformation of organisms to

adapt to environment, other factors
- Industrial evolution powered by use
and development of various
manufacturing tools, new energy
sources, development of new materials
and technology,
and information explosion (sharing of
ideas, patents, like horizontal gene
transfer)

Lecture 4: Biological and Engineering Analogy

Metabolism: aggregate of all physical/chemical processes taking place within an organism or group of organisms, change of energy and material to "useful"
forms
Energy flow charts, examples
Biological Definition
Engineering Definition / Analogy
Metabolite - product of metabolic process that is essential to
Materials used in manufacturing process, or
another process in the same organism
intermediate products between processes
Enzyme organic compound within a living cell that
Factories; reactors or machines that operate on
accelerates a specific biochemical transformation
materials/intermediate products
without itself being affected
Pathway Reaction network linking starting materials to
Route of transformation of industrial materials
intermediate and final products
into final products (map of processes)
Industrial genome (designs the enzymes)
Machine and reactor designers
Chemical transformation
unit process
Physical
unit operation
transformation
Lecture 5: Consumption of Resources
Class 1: Background
Consumption
Class 2: Overconsumption

necessary consumption, consuming what is needed to survive and reproduce

level/quality of consumption that undermines a species' own life support system and for which individuals and collectives have choices
(Murica)
Class 3: Mis-consumption
undermines an individual's own well-being even if there are no aggregate effects on the population or species (hard drugs)
The Rebound Effect - as products become more efficient, they save money for the consumer, who then uses the savings to buy/use more
Discount rate equation
A=
A is the present value of an
V is the future value
t is the time in years
i is the discount
V(1+i)^-t
amount
rate
Pollution prevention (P2)
Consists of actions that contribute to reducing the generation of hazardous substances or dissipation of natural resources
Two goals: every atom that enters a manufacturing process should leave that process as a part of a salable product, every erg of energy used in manufacturing should
produce desired material transformation
Approach to P2
P2 focuses on
Techniques of
Multiscale approach to
Benefits of P2
P2
enhanced P2
Construct process flow diagram
Reduction of
Process/Technolo
Micro - modify chemicals or
Save money on compliance costs, energy and
discarded/dissipated
gy modification
materials
materials, waste treatment and disposal costs
materials,
energy
and
Evaluate environmental impacts
Good
Meso - modify existing
Demonstrate proactive environmental
water rather than finding
and issues
housekeeping
process
commitment
alternatives
Processes, not products
Identify P2 opportunities
A Single Facility
Input substitution
Macro - make waste
Reduces potential legal liabilities,
products useful
environmental impacts
Analyze
somewhere else
Document
On-site/off-site
Make Workplace Healthier
Alternatives
Results
reuse
Lecture 6: Life Cycle Assessment
LCA is an objective process to evaluate the environmental burdens associated with a product, process or activity throughout its entire life cycle, from raw
material extraction to final disposal
Design for a desire for greener products and
A desire to internalize externalities
Possibility for a common metric
consumption
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LCA Framework: (interpretation is a key part throughout entire framework)

Goal and Scope Definition

Inventory Analysis

Support broad environmental assessments, establish baseline information for a process, rank the relative
contributions of individual steps or processes, identify data gaps, guide product/process development,
provide information and direction to decision makers
Identify system boundaries: impact categories, physical boundaries, chemicals of concern, data limitations,
quality issues

Impact
Assessment

Choose a functional unit - normalize

the data
This step depends on the purpose of
the study and can be anything

Problems in Life Cycle Impact Analysis

Hard to define functional unit where a product has multiple functions
Inventory cutoff criteria

Boundary selection leading to truncation errors

Allocation of environmental burdens

Lecture 7: Impact and Interpretation Stages of LCIA

Impact and interpretation stages (LCIA)

Classification

- Assignment of resource uses and releases to environmental impacts, cause and effect chains
(stressors and impacts)

Characterization

- Quantitative determination of impacts resulting from stress indicated by LCI values (see
characterization equation)
- Impacts must be defined, contribution must be quantified, i.e. greenhouse gas emission in mass

Normalization

- Relate the impact values from the characterization to a common set of reference values (see
normalization equation)
- i.e. how much more methane is produced into atmosphere than carbon dioxide?

Valuation (Weighting)

- Assigning weighting factors to different impact categories based on their perceived relative
importance

LCAs are good for evaluating global effects, but less successful at evaluating local effects such as human toxicity or ecosystem degradation
The paradox of LCA is that they are too problematic that they border on unworkable as a routine assessment tool, shows substantial utility as consciousnessraising devices that lead to environmental improvement
Lecture 8: SLCA and DFE Matrix
Materials
Choice

Energy
Use

Solid
Residues

Liquid
Residues

Gaseous
Residues

Row
Score

Scoring

Premanufacture
Product Manufacture

4.0 - Acceptable
3.0 - 3.9 Acceptable with
review
2.0 - 2.9 Tolerable
1.0 - 1.9 Undesirable

Product Packaging
Product Use
Product Recycling,
Disposal
Column Score

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0.0 - 0.9 Unacceptable

(#Col)(#Row)x4 = Perfect
Score

Lecture 9: System Concepts and Analysis

A simple system is where the output is linearly related to the input; it is stable and easily returns to stability if disturbed and actions are easy to trace with
predictable effects
A complex system is where the output/input relationship is mathematically complex; the system is constantly evolving to external responses and cause-effect
links are hard to establish
Common feature is that it exhibits unpredictable behavior as seen by an average observer
Propensi
As self-organizing systems are moved away from equilibrium, they become more organized, use more energy, build more structure, things happen in spurts
ties:
as new attractors become available
Window of
A viable system must have just the right amount of complexity. Complex systems strive for optimum, not minimum or maximum
Vitality:
Holonic System: SOHO - Self-Organizing Holarchic Open System
Holon
Holarchy
Nested
An entity that exists contextually in a nested network of proximate holons which are inside, outside, and
network of
perhaps lateral to the holon of interest (it's a piece of the whole)
- Small holons are
holons
faster, large holons are slower
Technological Holarchies (TH)
Canno
Mutual causality of the feedback loops that give a system its coherence
n
Attrac
Nexus of organizational structure (set of behaviors) that is coherent and
tor
organized within limits

Each holon in a Technical Holarchy is independent teach is useful in their own right

They can exchange information, but not control

Each holon can evolve, emergent behavior can occur

Analytical approach to SOHO systems
Define Describe the system as a
Evaluate system integrity (which
Is the system
How do we
How do we deal
Syste
SOHO (attractors, context,
attractors are acceptable or not)
integrity
maintain
with emergent
m
canon)
threatened
integrity?
complexity?
Lecture 10: Food Webs: Networks of Resource Transfer and Information, Industrial Symbiosis (IS)

Food Web Characteristics

Body Size

Longevity

Vulnerability to Habitat
Framentation

Biological

Top Carnivore

Carnivore

Herbivore

Primary Producer

Decreasing

Ability to Evolve

Geographic Stasis

Species Richness

Ability to Evolve

Species Richness

Diversity of Resource
Consumption

Industrial

Human Customer

Manufacturer

Fabricators

Resource Processors

Decreasing

Longevity

Geographic Stasis

Vulnerability to Economic
Stress

Increasing

Increasing

Industrial Symbiosis get traditionally un-related industries to take advantage of one anothers byproducts. Ex: One companys waste heat is another
companys process heat
Primary Opportunities for IS
By-product Exchanges
Utility / Infrastructure Sharing (i.e.: Shared
Electricity)
Joint Provision of Services
(i.e.: Shared
cafeteria)

Types of IS
Waste Exchange
Within a Facility of
Firm
Among Co-located
Firms

Among Nearby
Firms
Among Distant
Firms

Lecture 11: Budget / Reservoir, Domestic Accounting, Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Budget
An accounting of the
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Reservoir
A container in which a

Sources and Sinks

Reservoirs from which a

Flux
The rate at which a

Pool Size
Quantity of a resource

Cycle
A system of connected

receipts, disbursements,
valued resource is
material comes, and
resource enters or
in a reservoir
and reserves of a valued
stored
into which it goes
leaves a resource
resource
Tracking Material Flows at Different Organizational Levels
Single Facility
In a Defined Entity
Across Facilities
In a City or Region
On an island
Nationally
Quantify Stock Use per Capita
Step 1: Determine content of major reservoirs (ex: copper in a house)
Step 2: Multiply by the # of units in the reservoirs (ex: copper in
Lecture 12: National Material Accounts (NMA), and Physical Input-Output Accounts (PIO)

NMAs describe the

metabolic inputs and
outputs of entire
societies

NMAs indicate
differences in
material use among
societies

NMAs indicate both

direct and indirect
flows

EIOs describe the

domestic monetary
exchanges among
industrial sectors

PIOs describe the

domestic physical
materials exchanges
among industrial sectors

reservoirs that transfer

and conserve a specific
resource
Globally
a neighborhood)

NMAs and PIOs are recent and

accurate; they can be policy
relevant

If final demand doubles

EIO (Economic Input-Output

Account)

PIO (Physical Input-Output

Account)

In monetary units

In physical units

Usually highly aggregated

Usually Highly Detailed

Can be quick

A lot of hard work

Lecture 13: Design for X

Design for X addresses the following phases

Development

Production / Operations

Utilization

Disposal

Reliability

Assembly

Ergonomics

Environment

Safety

Manufacturability

Aesthetics

Recycling

Quality

Cost

Serviceability

Disassembly

Minimum Risk

Standards

Maintainability

Remanufacturing

Lecture 14 : Energy in Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Engineering

Virtual Energy: The amount of energy required to produce a commodity or service

Principals of Green Infrastructure Design and Operation
Sites should be chosen to
minimize ecosystem
disruption

Material and energy

inputs should be
renewable

Recycled Material
should be used if
possible

Inputs and Outputs

should be nonhazardous

Processes and systems

should be as efficient as
possible

Maintenance and Refurb.

Should be facilitated

One size fits all

solutions should be
avoided

Durability, not
immortality should
be design goal

Flexible designs
facilitate future
improvements

Systems should be
designed to encourage
recycling at end of life

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Preventing waste
formation is better than
treating waste

Lecture 15: Water Resources

Virtual Water: The volume of water required to produce a commodity or service

Note that this includes all the required water throughout the lifecycle of the product; from cradle to grave
Water, unlike energy can be cycled back and forth
through a system

Energy has a finite

limit
The only thing that stops water from being usefully cycle is its quality after going
through a process

Major Water Using Industry

Chemical

Paper

Petroleum & Coal

Computing the National Water Footprint

Use (DWU) + Virtual Water Exported (VWE)

Primary Metals (Ore

Refining)

Food and Food Processing

Agriculture

Water Footprint (WFP) = Agricultural Water Use (AWU) + Industrial Water Use (IWU) + Domestic Water

Lecture 16: Industrial Ecology Models

Industrial Ecology Models
Class I (One Entity Is
Represented)
A
Human Driving Factors
B
Transformation

Class II (Two Entities are

Represented)
Human Driving Factors + Transformations
Transformations + Environmental
Implications

Class III (All Three Entities are Represented)

Human Driving Factors + Transformation + Environmental Implications

C
Environmental Implications
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) Scenarios
Usage = Populations
GDP/Capita Intensity of Usage
1 (Global Scale)
2 (Regional Scale)
A (Economy)
Rapid Economic Growth, Self-Reliance
Heterogeneous, Self-Reliance
B
Convergence, Dematerialization
Local Solutions to Sustainability
(Environment
)
Story and Simulation Method Steps; Industrial Ecology wont reach optimum utility without good scenario capacity
1. Define Goals and Outline
2. Quantify Driving
3. Quantify
4. Compare Results with Original
5. Iterate
Scenarios
Forces
Indicators
Storylines

Define the
Set the Time
Establish the Spatial
Prescribe the Type and number of
Mathematically Describe
Identify Indicators of Results
Problem
Horizon
Scale
scenarios
drivers

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Lecture 18: The Status of Resources; what are our resource sinks looking like in the future?
Chicken Little
Supplies of Critical Resources will soon be
Cornucopian
Resources and their suitable alternatives are virtually infinite
Perspective
depleted
Perspective
Simon (Infinite Resources) vs. Ehrlich (Imminent Shortages) - Simon won
Resource Availability Assessment
How much
How much of what exists
What factors other than occurrence limit
How fast is the resource being
Can the rate of demand be
exists?
can be extracted?
extraction?
consumed?
changed?
Six key questions about Resource Availability
How accurate
Will some resources
Even if we have
Even if materials are
Even if materials are technologically
Can substitute materials
are the
become scarce not
resources
abundant globally, is the
available, does their recovery and/or
and/or technologies be
"Chicken Little"
because of
identified, do we
local supply adequate? (A
use impose unacceptable
developed and implemented
and
abundance but
have enough
problem of distribution,
environmental/toxicological
as fast as they are needed?
Cornucopian
because they are
energy to
import/export, energy
penalties?
views of
only available as corecover them?
required to do all that)
resource
products?
supplies?
No resource problems if:
Energy was
Political considerations were
Technology were instantly ready with excellent substitutes
No environmental concerns existed
unlimited
absent
as needed
Potentially Limited Resources
Resource
No Obvious Substitute
Hitchhiker
Large Energy
Toxicity Limited
Appears Small
Available Only
Requirement
Au, Cu, Zn, PGMs
In, Re, Eu, Hf, Er
Cd, Ga, Te, In, Re
Al, Ti
Pb, Hg, As, Cd
Lecture 19: Industrial Ecology and Sustainability in the Corporation
Alpha
Customer comes to the service (i.e.: Mechanic,
Beta
Services goes to the customer (i.e.: Postal Delivery, Building Remodeling,
Service
Hospital, Hotel, etc.)
Service
etc.)
Gamma
Remote Provisioning (i.e.: Electronic Bank, Burglar Alarm, etc.)
Service
Environmental Benefits of Moving from Products to Services (Thinking about the services that products provide)
Less
Enhanced
More rapid product turnover
Improved product
Improved product
Economies of scale in service
material per
incentives for
with progressive efficiency
operation
durability
provisioning and end of life
service unit
eco-design
improvement
reclamation
Corporate Benefits of Moving Products to Services
Extend and diversity service offerings
Safeguard market share by creating barriers to
Facilitate communicate with customers
imitation
Alternative Corporate Approaches to Environment and Sustainability
Defensive (respond to regulations)

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Cost-Oriented (employ IE/SE when there are obvious

benefits)

Proactive (integrate IE/SE into the business)