Erasmus Mundus Action 4 project Promoting European Education in Sustainable Development TEMPUS Joint European Project_ 25163_ 2004

Bridging the gap between University and businesses Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

Technology and Sustainable Development

Role of Engineers Case study
Professor Jordi Segalas Technology and Sustainable Development Polytechnic University of Catalonia Barcelona, SPAIN

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

What role can engineers play, in sustainable development?

Are we followers?

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

The current world view - relative importance?

Environment (technology can fix it)
Economy laws are inevitable - market laws Environment is used to fulfill the demands of the Economy laws. (Resources, waste and pollution absorption)

Economy (inevitable laws)

Society adapts to the inevitable economy laws:
Society

As much money as sooner as possible.

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

But this is what we all ultimately depend on for life - so...

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

Engineers provide the interfaces...

Products Products
Environmental laws are inevitable - laws of nature. Environment nurtures, supports and makes possible. Society - which has a mixture of instinctive and learned/cultural laws Society has invented, to serve societys purposes. Economy - whose rules and practices are totally invented by society

Economy Economy --invented! invented! Society Society Infrastructure Infrastructure

Environment Environment --inevitable inevitable SO: why do so many regard Economic laws as inevitable (globalisation, etc); but
Environmental laws, and limits, as manipulable?
Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

Serving Needs, or Quality of Life, or Wants?

Traditional cultures, having more limited means to satisfy human needs, tend to meet as many needs as possible with as few resources as possible. In contrast, industrial capitalism emphasises the creation of specialised products that fight for market niches to fill needs that, as often as not, cannot be satisfied by material goods.
(Natural Capitalism, Ch. 14)

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

Example: which of these is more worth an engineers energy & interest?

Hasbro's Tooth Tunes toothbrushes have an MP3 player built in. They use bone-conduction to rattle the sound through your teeth for 3 minutes, making sure you brush for the American Dental Association's recommended time.

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

Example: which of these is more worth an engineers energy & interest?

Design of Temporary Shelters for Refugees Thousands of refugee deaths from hypothermia could be prevented every year if a new hi-tech UK-designed tent lining performs well in tests in Afghanistan. A team from the University of Cambridge has developed linings for existing refugee tents that will pay for themselves in saved heating costs in one winter. They are made of a sandwich of materials: polyester wadding like you'd find in a puffa jacket and a cheap breathable waterproof membrane.

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

Choosing what you are engineering for - engineers cant be neutral

Luxury

OK

NEVER

NEVER

Quality

GOOD

y t y i t l i i l i ip b b a p a sh i n i n h i rrs a MAYBE t a t de s e s u d u a S a S Le e L
GOOD

Affluence

NEVER

Needs

BRILLIANT

MAYBE Technology

No net impact

In - between

High impact

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

Engineers reputation as professionals, not mercenaries - whose interests do we serve?

Video Videotoothbrush toothbrush OK NEVER
In Indevelopment developmentby by Panasonic, this NEVERthis Panasonic, electric electrictoothbrush toothbrush has hasaaminiature miniaturevideo video camera camera mounted mounted beside the beside thebristles bristlesto to allow allowthe theuser userto tosee see on onaamonitor monitor the NEVER the 40% of debris 40% of debristhey they normally normallymiss. miss.
(TYNKYN (TYNKYN- -EC EC11/01) 11/01)

GOOD

MAYBE

BRILLIANT

GOOD

MAYBE

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

What defines a socially sustainable product?

Is being manufactured sustainably enough, whatever the products social impact? Or, should engineers push for socially sustainable features in the products: for instance.affordability and accessibility for the excluded - the poorest 10%? Or, should we put our energy and interest into products and projects which serve needs rather than artificially created wants?
Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

Case Study

http://www.interfacesustainability.com/

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

Enterprise core

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

Enterprise relation to Society

The company is part of a supply chain, with suppliers and customers and a market, our share of which we hope to increase. Products flow through that supply chain in one direction; money flows in the other direction.

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

XX Century Enterprise Model

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

1. Zero Waste

Against ideal operational standardszero waste they identified $70 million in waste, based on 1994 operations10 percent of sales!

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

1. Zero Waste
Total manufacturing waste sent to landfills has decreased by 63% since 1996.

The cumulative avoided costs from waste elimination activities since 1995 have totaled over $299 million.

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

2. Benign Emissions

Interface identified and inventoried 247 air emissions stacks and 19 waste water effluent pipes at their manufacturing locations.

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

2. Benign Emissions

Reduced the number of stacks on its facilities by 35 percent and the number of effluent pipes by 53 percent.

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

3. Renewable Energies
The third front, Renewable Energy, means eventually harnessing solar energy Harnessing renewable energy will attack numerous unwanted linkages, both to the lithosphere and to the biosphere, and will allow closed loop recycling

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

3. Renewable Energies
An emphasis on initiatives that improve efficiency and conserve energy has reduced the total energy used at carpet manufacturing facilities (per unit of product). It is down 41% since 1996. use of renewable energy increased from 11% to 13% in 2005.

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

4. Closing cycles
Two cycles are introduced: a natural, organic cycle, emphasizing natural raw materials and compostable products ("dust to dust") a technical cycle, giving manmade materials and precious organic molecules life after life, through closed loop recycling.

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

4. Closing cycles
The ReEntry program diverted 85 million pounds of material from landfill between 1995 and 2005. In 2005, 18 million pounds was diverted from landfill and used in recycling (71%), energy capture and conversion (28%), and repurposed (1%).

The percentage of recycled or biobased content in products worldwide has increased from 0.5% in 1996 to 15.9% in 2005.

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

4. Closing cycles
Water intake per square meter of carpet is down 81% in modular carpet facilities and down 52% in broadloom facilities from 1996 due to conservation efforts and process changes

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

5. Efficient resources/goods transport

We can: videoconference to avoid the unnecessary trip for a meeting. drive the most efficient automobiles available. site our factories near the markets they serve plan logistics for maximum efficiency

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

6. Sensitivity Hookup
service to the community through involvement and investment in the community (especially in education), closer relations among ourselves (inside the circle) to get all of us in alignment, and with suppliers and customers.

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

6. Sensitivity Hookup

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

7. Redesign of commerce
Redesigning commerce probably hinges, more than anything else, on the acceptance of entirely new notions of economics, especially prices that reflect full costs. It means shifting emphasis from simply selling products to providing services Relationships based on delivering, via leasing agreements, the services our products provide, in lieu of the products themselves

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

7. Redesign of commerce
Other examples: Photocopies: Xerox: Sells copy services instead of copy machines. Elevator: Schindler, Sells vertical transport maintenance free instead of elevators We can go farther: In ICT: You can buy hours of word editor instead of hardware and software. In civil engineering: you can provide the service: connection between two places instead of roads. The enterprise is responsible for maintenance, in case of interruption enterprise is fined.
Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

 service oriented resource-efficient wasting nothing solar driven cyclical (no longer take-makewaste linear) strongly connected to stakeholders: communities (building social equity), customers, and suppliers and to one another. Our communities are stronger and better educated

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

Redefine engineering culture away from Building things to meeting needs sustainably?
The 19th (& 20th?) Century Engineer The 21st Century Engineer

I built all this!

I didnt need to build anything new!

Visible construction, at great public expense, to meet societys wants

Providing and Refurbishing the minimum to meet societys needs

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

Engineers provide the interfaces... Becoming

Products Products
sustainable requires leaders who recognise this world view, and act accordingly.

Economy Economy --invented! invented! Society Society--instinctive? instinctive? Infrastructure Infrastructure Environment Environment-inevitable inevitable

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NTUU KPI, 12-23 February 2007