Green engineering

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Green engineering approaches the design of products and processes by applying financially and technologically feasible principles to achieve one or more of the following goals: (1) decrease in the amount of pollution that is generated by a construction or operation of a facility, (2) minimization of human population exposure to potential hazards (including reducing toxicity), (3) improved uses of matter and energy throughout the life cycle of the product and processes, and (4) maintaining economic efficiency and viability. [1] Green engineering can be an overarching framework for all design disciplines.

Contents

History

The concept of green engineering began between 1966 and 1970 during the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development under the name: "The Ten Ecological Commandments for Earth Citizens". [2] The idea was expressed visually as the following cycle starting with the first commandment and ending with the tenth:

  1. Respect the laws of nature
  2. Learn as responsible earth citizens from the wisdom of nature
  3. Do not reduce plurality richness, abundance of living species
  4. Do not pollute
  5. Face earth-responsibility every day for our children and our children's children
  6. Follow the principle of nature precaution/sustainability in all economic activities!
  7. Act as you speak!
  8. Prefer small clever and intelligent problem solutions, including rational and emotional intelligence factors
  9. Information about environmental damage belongs to mankind - not (only) to privilieged big business
  10. Listen carefully [to] what your own body tells you about [the] impact of your very personal social and natural environment upon your wellbeing [2]

The idea was then presented by Peter Menke-Glückert at the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Conference at Paris in 1968. These principles are similar to the Principles of Green Engineering in that each individual has an intrinsic responsibility to uphold these values. The Ten Ecological Commandments for Earth Citizens is thought by Dr. Płotka-Wasylka to have influenced The Principles of Green Engineering, which has been said to imply that all engineers have a duty to uphold sustainable values and practices when creating new processes.

Green engineering is a part of a larger push for sustainable practices in the creation of products such as chemical compounds. This movement is more widely known as green chemistry, and has been headed since 1991 by Paul Anastas and John C. Warner. Green chemistry, being older than green engineering, is a more researched field of study and began in 1991 with the creation of the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry.

12 Principles of Green Engineering

On May 19, 2003, Paul Anastas along with his future wife, Julie Zimmerman created the 12 Principles of Green Engineering. This expanded upon the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry to not only include the guidelines for what an environmentally conscious chemical should be in theory, but also what steps should be followed to create an environmentally conscious alternative to the chemical. [3] Environmentally conscious thought can be applied to engineering disciplines such as civil and mechanical engineers when considering practices with negative environmental impacts, such as concrete hydration. These principles still were centered around chemical processes, with about half pertaining to engineers. [4] There are many ways that both the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry and 12 Principles of Green Engineering interact, referred to by Tse-Lun Chen et al. as "cross connections". Every one Principle of Green Engineering has one or more corresponding "cross connections" to Principles of Green Chemistry. For example, principle 1 of green engineering is "Inherent Rather than Circumstantial", which has cross connections to principles 1, 3, and 8 of green chemistry. [5]

9 Principles of Green Engineering

On May 19, 2003, during a conference at the Sandestin Resort in Florida, a group consisting of about 65 chemists, engineers, and government officials met to create a narrowed down set of green principles relating to engineers and engineering. After 4 days of debating and proposals, the Sandestin Declaration was created. [6] This declaration established the 9 Principles of Green Engineering, which narrowed down the focus to processes engineers can abide by, with a focus on designing processes and products with the future in mind. The resulting 9 Principles were later supported and recognized by The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Science Foundation, Department of Energy (Los Alamos National Laboratory), and the ACS Green Chemistry institute®. [6]

Sustainable Engineering

"Sustainable engineering" and "green engineering" are terms that are often used interchangeably. The main difference between the two being that green engineering is "optimized to minimize negative impacts without exhausting resources available in the natural environment" and sustainable engineering is "more directed toward building a better future for the next generations". [7] The idea of sustainable development became intertwined with engineering and chemistry early in the 21st century. One often cited book that brought the idea of sustainable development to engineers was the publishing of: "Sustainable Infrastructure: Principles into Practice", written by Charles Ainger and Richard Fenner.

Principles

Green engineering follows nine guiding principles:

  1. Engineer processes and products holistically, use systems analysis and integrate environmental impact assessment tools.
  2. Conserve and improve natural ecosystems while protecting human health and well-being.
  3. Use life-cycle thinking in all engineering activities.
  4. Ensure that all material and energy inputs and outputs are as inherently safe and benign as possible.
  5. Minimize the depletion of natural resources.
  6. Prevent waste.
  7. Develop and apply engineering solutions while being cognizant of local geography, aspirations, and cultures.
  8. Create engineering solutions beyond current or dominant technologies; improve, innovate, and invent (technologies) to achieve sustainability.
  9. Actively engage communities and stakeholders in development of engineering solutions. [8] [9]

In 2003, The American Chemical Society introduced a new list of twelve principles:

  1. Inherent Rather Than Circumstantial – Designers need to strive to ensure that all materials and energy inputs and outputs are as inherently nonhazardous as possible.
  2. Prevention Instead of Treatment – It is better to prevent waste than to treat or clean up waste after it is formed.
  3. Design for Separation – Separation and purification operations should be designed to minimize energy consumption and materials use.
  4. Maximize Efficiency – Products, processes, and systems should be designed to maximize mass, energy, space, and time efficiency.
  5. Output-Pulled Versus Input-Pushed – Products, processes, and systems should be "output pulled" rather than "input pushed" through the use of energy and materials.
  6. Conserve Complexity – Embedded entropy and complexity must be viewed as an investment when making design choices on recycling, reuse, or beneficial disposition.
  7. Durability Rather Than Immortality – Targeted durability, not immortality, should be a design goal.
  8. Meet Need, Minimize Excess – Design for unnecessary capacity or capability (e.g., "one size fits all") solutions should be considered a design flaw.
  9. Minimize Material Diversity – Material diversity in multicomponent products should be minimized to promote disassembly and value retention.
  10. Integrate Material and Energy Flows – Design of products, processes, and systems must include integration and interconnectivity with available energy and materials flows.
  11. Design for Commercial "Afterlife" – Products, processes, and systems should be designed for performance in a commercial "afterlife."
  12. Renewable Rather Than Depleting – Material and energy inputs should be renewable rather than depleting. [10]

Systems approach

Many engineering disciplines engage in green engineering. This includes sustainable design, life cycle analysis (LCA), pollution prevention, design for the environment (DfE), design for disassembly (DfD), and design for recycling (DfR). As such, green engineering is a subset of sustainable engineering. [11] Green engineering involves four basic approaches to improve processes and products to make them more efficient from an environmental standpoint. [12]

  1. Waste reduction;
  2. Materials management;
  3. Pollution prevention; and,
  4. Product enhancement.

Green engineering approaches design from a systematic perspective which integrates numerous professional disciplines. In addition to all engineering disciplines, green engineering includes land use planning, architecture, landscape architecture, and other design fields, as well as the social sciences(e.g. to determine how various groups of people use products and services. Green engineers are concerned with space, the sense of place, viewing the site map as a set of fluxes across the boundary, and considering the combinations of these systems over larger regions, e.g. urban areas. The life cycle analysis is an important green engineering tool, which provides a holistic view of the entirety of a product, process or activity, encompassing raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, distribution, use, maintenance, recycling, and final disposal. Assessing its life cycle should yield a complete picture of the product. The first step in a life cycle assessment is to gather data on the flow of a material through an identifiable society. Once the quantities of various components of such a flow are known, the important functions and impacts of each step in the production, manufacture, use, and recovery/disposal are estimated. In sustainable design, engineers must optimize for variables that give the best performance in temporal frames. [13]

The system approach employed in green engineering is similar to value engineering (VE). Daniel A. Vallero has compared green engineering to be a form of VE because both systems require that all elements and linkages within the overall project be considered to enhance the value of the project. Every component and step of the system must be challenged. Ascertaining overall value is determined not only be a project's cost-effectiveness, but other values, including environmental and public health factors. Thus, the broader sense of VE is compatible with and can be identical to green engineering, since VE is aimed at effectiveness, not just efficiency, i.e. a project is designed to achieve multiple objectives, without sacrificing any important values. Efficiency is an engineering and thermodynamic term for the ratio of an input to an output of energy and mass within a system. As the ratio approaches 100%, the system becomes more efficient. Effectiveness requires that efficiencies be met for each component, but also that the integration of components lead to an effective, multiple value-based design. [14] Green engineering is also a type of concurrent engineering, since tasks must be parallelized to achieve multiple design objectives.

Implementation

Ionic liquids

An ionic liquid can be described simply as a salt in a liquid state, exhibiting triboelectric properties which allow it to be used as a lubricant. Traditional solvents are composed of oils or synthetic compounds, like fluorocarbons which, when airborne, can act as a greenhouse gas. Ionic liquids are nonvolatile and have high thermal stability and, as Lei states, "They present a “greener” alternative to standard solvents". [15] Ionic liquids can also be used for carbon dioxide capture or as a component in bioethanol production in the gasification process. [3]

Ceramic tiles

Ceramic tile production is typically an energy and water-intensive process. Ceramic tile milling is similar to cement milling for concrete, where there is both a dry and wet milling process. Wet milling typically produces a higher quality tile at a higher cost of energy and water, while dry milling would produce a lower quality material at a lower cost. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials into useful products. Chemical engineering uses principles of chemistry, physics, mathematics, biology, and economics to efficiently use, produce, design, transport and transform energy and materials. The work of chemical engineers can range from the utilization of nanotechnology and nanomaterials in the laboratory to large-scale industrial processes that convert chemicals, raw materials, living cells, microorganisms, and energy into useful forms and products. Chemical engineers are involved in many aspects of plant design and operation, including safety and hazard assessments, process design and analysis, modeling, control engineering, chemical reaction engineering, nuclear engineering, biological engineering, construction specification, and operating instructions.

Industrial ecology (IE) is the study of material and energy flows through industrial systems. The global industrial economy can be modelled as a network of industrial processes that extract resources from the Earth and transform those resources into by-products, products and services which can be bought and sold to meet the needs of humanity. Industrial ecology seeks to quantify the material flows and document the industrial processes that make modern society function. Industrial ecologists are often concerned with the impacts that industrial activities have on the environment, with use of the planet's supply of natural resources, and with problems of waste disposal. Industrial ecology is a young but growing multidisciplinary field of research which combines aspects of engineering, economics, sociology, toxicology and the natural sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Life-cycle assessment</span> Methodology for assessing environmental impacts

Life cycle assessment (LCA), also known as life cycle analysis, is a methodology for assessing environmental impacts associated with all the stages of the life cycle of a commercial product, process, or service. For instance, in the case of a manufactured product, environmental impacts are assessed from raw material extraction and processing (cradle), through the product's manufacture, distribution and use, to the recycling or final disposal of the materials composing it (grave).

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chemical reactor</span> Enclosed volume where interconversion of compounds takes place

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green building</span> Structures and processes of building structures that are more environmentally responsible

Green building refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from planning to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition. This requires close cooperation of the contractor, the architects, the engineers, and the client at all project stages. The Green Building practice expands and complements the classical building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, and comfort. Green building also refers to saving resources to the maximum extent, including energy saving, land saving, water saving, material saving, etc., during the whole life cycle of the building, protecting the environment and reducing pollution, providing people with healthy, comfortable and efficient use of space, and being in harmony with nature. Buildings that live in harmony; green building technology focuses on low consumption, high efficiency, economy, environmental protection, integration and optimization.’

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food engineering</span> Field of applied physical sciences

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Life-cycle engineering</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecological design</span> Design approach sensitive to environmental impacts

Ecological design or ecodesign is an approach to designing products and services that gives special consideration to the environmental impacts of a product over its entire lifecycle. Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan define it as "any form of design that minimizes environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself with living processes." Ecological design can also be defined as the process of integrating environmental considerations into design and development with the aim of reducing environmental impacts of products through their life cycle.

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This page is an index of sustainability articles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable engineering</span> Engineering discipline

Sustainable engineering is the process of designing or operating systems such that they use energy and resources sustainably, in other words, at a rate that does not compromise the natural environment, or the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Circular economy</span> Production model to minimise wastage and emissions

A circular economy is a model of resource production and consumption in any economy that involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials and products for as long as possible. The concept aims to tackle global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution by emphasizing the design-based implementation of the three base principles of the model. The main three principles required for the transformation to a circular economy are: designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems. CE is defined in contradistinction to the traditional linear economy. The idea and concepts of a circular economy have been studied extensively in academia, business, and government over the past ten years. It has been gaining popularity because it can help to minimize carbon emissions and the consumption of raw materials, open up new market prospects, and, principally, increase the sustainability of consumption.

Sustainable refurbishment describes working on existing buildings to improve their environmental performance using sustainable methods and materials. A refurbishment or retrofit is defined as: "any work to a building over and above maintenance to change its capacity, function or performance' in other words, any intervention to adjust, reuse, or upgrade a building to suit new conditions or requirements". Refurbishment can be done to a part of a building, an entire building, or a campus. Sustainable refurbishment takes this a step further to modify the existing building to perform better in terms of its environmental impact and its occupants' environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel A. Vallero</span> American environmental author and scientist

Daniel A. Vallero is an American environmental author and scientist. He was born in East St. Louis, Illinois and grew up in Collinsville, Illinois. He received a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in city and regional planning from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. He also earned a masters in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Kansas and a PhD in civil and environmental engineering from Duke University with a thesis on "“Dicarboximide Fungicide Flux to the Lower Troposphere from an Aquic Hapludult Soil”

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2014), Green Engineering. http://www.epa.gov/oppt/greenengineering/
  2. 1 2 Płotka‐Wasylka, Justyna; Kurowska‐Susdorf, Aleksandra; Sajid, Muhammad; de la Guardia, Miguel; Namieśnik, Jacek; Tobiszewski, Marek (2018-09-11). "Green Chemistry in Higher Education: State of the Art, Challenges, and Future Trends". ChemSusChem. 11 (17): 2845–2858. doi:10.1002/cssc.201801109. ISSN   1864-5631. PMID   29963770. S2CID   49643745.
  3. 1 2 3 Lozano, Francisco J.; Lozano, Rodrigo; Freire, Paulo; Jiménez-Gonzalez, Concepción; Sakao, Tomohiko; Ortiz, María Gabriela; Trianni, Andrea; Carpenter, Angela; Viveros, Tomás (2018-01-20). "New perspectives for green and sustainable chemistry and engineering: Approaches from sustainable resource and energy use, management, and transformation". Journal of Cleaner Production. 172: 227–232. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.10.145. hdl: 10453/129794 . ISSN   0959-6526.
  4. ↑ "12 Principles of Green Engineering". American Chemical Society.
  5. ↑ Chen, Tse-Lun; Kim, Hyunook; Pan, Shu-Yuan; Tseng, Po-Chih; Lin, Yi-Pin; Chiang, Pen-Chi (2020-05-10). "Implementation of green chemistry principles in circular economy system towards sustainable development goals: Challenges and perspectives". Science of the Total Environment. 716: 136998. Bibcode:2020ScTEn.716m6998C. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.136998. ISSN   0048-9697. PMID   32044483. S2CID   211080215.
  6. 1 2 "Sandestin Declaration: 9 Principles of Green Engineering". American Chemical Society.
  7. ↑ larsen-engineers (2020-07-24). "The Difference Between Green Design and Sustainable Design—and Why Both Should Be Part of Your Next Project". Larsen Engineers.
  8. ↑ Green Engineering: Defining the Principles Conference, Sandestin, Florida, May 2003.
  9. ↑ P.T. Anastas and J.B. Zimmerman (2003). Design through the Twelve Principles of Green Engineering. Env. Sci. and Tech., 37, 5, 94A-101A.
  10. ↑ American Chemical Society (2014). 12 Principles of Green Engineering. http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/greenchemistry/what-is-green-chemistry/principles/12-principles-of-green-engineering.html.
  11. ↑ Cabezas, Heriberto; Mauter, Meagan S.; Shonnard, David; You, Fengqi (2018). "ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering Virtual Special Issue on Systems Analysis, Design, and Optimization for Sustainability". ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. 6 (6): 7199. doi: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.8b02227 .
  12. ↑ D. Vallero and C. Brasier (2008), Sustainable Design: The Science of Sustainability and Green Engineering. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, ISBN   0470130628.
  13. ↑ D. Vallero and C. Brasier (2008).
  14. ↑ D. Vallero (2003). Engineering the Risks of Hazardous Wastes. Butterworth-Heinemann, Amsterdam, Netherlands and Boston MA, ISBN   0750677422.
  15. ↑ Lei, Zhigang; Chen, Biaohua; Koo, Yoon-Mo; MacFarlane, Douglas R. (2017-05-24). "Introduction: Ionic Liquids". Chemical Reviews. 117 (10): 6633–6635. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.7b00246 . ISSN   0009-2665. PMID   28535681.
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