Handbook of Sustainable Engineering

Handbook of Sustainable Engineering Joanne Kauffman • Kun-Mo Lee Editors Handbook of Sustainable Engineering With 429 Figures and 123 Tables Editors Joanne Kauffman Kun-Mo Lee Alliance for Global Sustainability (retired) Department of Integrated Research System for Environmental Engineering Sustainability Science (IR3S) Ajou University The University of Tokyo Suwon, Korea Tokyo, Japan and Paris, France ISBN 978-1-4020-8938-1 ISBN 978-1-4020-8939-8 (eBook) ISBN Bundle 978-1-4020-8940-4 (print and electronic bundle) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-8939-8 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London Library of Congress Control Number: 2013933866 © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013 This work is subject to copyright. 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Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Foreword The future of our planet, how we live and interact with each other and the world around us, and how we hand it on to the next generation is a concern that has seldom been so widely shared at all levels of society throughout the history of human civilization. Although how we do this remains a subject of intense debate both within and between nations, there is growing recognition of the need for new, innovative pathways to development. As we come to the conclusion that we must take a longer-ranging view regarding our use of resources and become more aware that the choices we make can have irrevocable consequences for the world and therefore to humanity, interest in sustainability in its broadest sense is on the increase. To promote awareness of the problem is one thing; to tackle the issue itself is something else. It is a positive development that the sustainable option is increasingly being sought and given preference as a matter of course to solve the problems and challenges we meet in many academic disciplines and professional fields today. This Handbook of Sustainable Engineering, edited by Joanne Kauffman and Kun-Mo Lee, offers a practical and timely tool outlining for many detailed topics and subjects where the current dangers lie and what the possibilities for alternative solutions are. It points the way forward to where more research is needed, as well as to sometimes surprisingly simple and low-cost options that are already available if we but consider going beyond conventional practice. Topics such as policy-making and management as well as product development and rethinking energy use and infrastructure all find a place here. Engineering is a discipline that touches on many aspects of everyday life for everyone, and therefore, sustainable engineering is one of the best ways to make a change for the better in a relatively short time. I applaud the editors for taking on the task of advancing sustainable engineering and recommend this work to all those who at any level or in any way shape our world with their inventions, products, and decisions. Thinking outside the conventional box is no longer a luxury but a necessity, and this book can act as a way to immerse oneself in and acquaint oneself with new criteria for solutions to old problems. I hope this pioneering compilation of knowledge will find its way not just into academic libraries but also into the thinking and creative scientific process of the next generation of engineers all over the world. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been instrumental in raising awareness of the imminent dangers of the present way of using resources, v vi Foreword and it is particularly gratifying to see that indeed changes are now being made and that seeking sustainable solutions is becoming the norm. Still, we have a long way to go, and the sooner we can make the necessary changes in our thinking and in doing business as well as in day to day life, the better it will be for us all. I warmly recommend this work and hope it will contribute to a better, fairer, brighter, and more sustainable world. R. K. Pachauri Director General, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) & Senior Adviser, Yale Climate and Energy Institute (YCEI) Preface The Handbook of Sustainable Engineering developed from a shared concern of the need for practical guidance for both academic and professional engineers to incorporate the goals of sustainable development into the research, development, and application of modern technologies to meet societal needs. Today, the world faces three stark challenges that rarely come to the fore of political discourse in spite of mounting scientific and visceral evidence of their urgency: a climate change, an energy crisis, and a world food and water crisis. In spite of the tepid response on the part of policy-makers to these issues and their looming disastrous impacts, a growing community of scientists and engineers is committed to meet these challenges and to contribute to finding ways to overcome them. Among the members of this community are the contributors to this Handbook. Our primary objective is to facilitate the generation and diffusion of engineering approaches that go beyond conventional thinking and current practice. To that end, the Handbook addresses various ways and means that may help to advance the kind of solutions that are put forward in the sections on water, energy, and materials, as well as in the sections on industrial processes and product development. A second objective is to provide theoretical as well as practical insight into the potential for engineers to critically assess their work in terms of its contribution to sustainable development. Specifically, the Handbook addresses the need for change in engineering education as well as examines very practical application of the new skills and ways of thinking that redound from sustainable engineering education. Engineering is a very broad field and the concept of sustainable engineering has many aspects. The chapters in the Handbook represent various approaches to sustainable engineering, both theoretical and practical. Yet, we find that a general definition of sustainability as a future-oriented principle that calls for holistic solutions for sustainable development encompasses all of the analyses represented. In this way, each individual chapter as well as the Handbook as a whole challenges the present dominant development pattern and proposes alternative engineering approaches and strategies. The Handbook is organized in two parts that encompass both theoretical and practical perspectives. The first part addresses four core elements of sustainable engineering: 1. Educating the next generation of engineers 2. Meeting the global water crisis vii viii Preface 3. Ensuring sustainable production and products 4. Advancing sustainable product services and consumption The second part of the Handbook, Volume II, addresses three contemporary forces for change in engineering today: 1. Policy and decision-making 2. The quest for alternative energy sources 3. The development and application of new materials that take less energy to produce than do conventional materials Given the future orientation of the principle of sustainability, education and outreach play a pivotal role. Thus, Volume I of the Handbook opens with the section on education for sustainable development (ESD). The aim is to prepare scientists and engineers of the future with the tools and skills they need to overcome the limitations of traditional disciplinary education in order to embed their solution options into the social, economic, and environmental realities that confront societies today. Section editor Roger Baud has brought together a number of authors who present successful experiments in education in sustainability and sustainable development. The selection of chapters provides vivid examples and pathways to prepare future engineers to responsibly respond to contemporary complex engineering challenges. Water section editor Keith R. Cooper

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