Role of Engineers in Sustainable Development

Sustainable Technology
Role of Engineers
Case study

Professor Jordi Segalas
Technology and Sustainable Development
Polytechnic University of Catalonia
Barcelona, SPAIN

Course SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
NTUU “KPI”, 3 December 2008

What role can engineers play, in
sustainable development?

Are we
followers?


The current world view
- relative importance?
Economy laws are
‘inevitable’ - market
laws
Environment
Environment is used to fulfill
(‘technology
the demands of the Economy
can fix it’) laws. (Resources, waste and
pollution absorption)
Economy
(‘inevitable laws’)
Society adapts to the
inevitable economy laws:
As much money as sooner as
Society possible.


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


Engineers provide the interfaces...
Environmental laws are
‘inevitable’ - laws of nature.
Products
Products
Environment nurtures,
supports and makes
possible….
Society - which has a
Economy
Economy mixture of instinctive and
learned/cultural laws
--invented!
invented!
Society has invented, to
serve society’s purposes….
Society
Society Economy - whose rules and
practices are totally ‘invented’
Infrastructure
Infrastructure by society
Environment
Environment
--‘inevitable’
‘inevitable’
SO: why do so many regard Economic laws as ‘inevitable’ (globalisation, etc); but
Environmental laws, and limits, as manipulable?

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)


Example: which of these is more worth
an engineer’s 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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ViXgz0pGjQ&feature=related


Example: which of these is more worth
an engineer’s 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.


Choosing what you are engineering
for - engineers can’t be neutral

Luxury OK NEVER NEVER

y
liltty
bii i ip
Affluence

ab
in a r sh ip
Quality GOOD ttaine rsh
a
s MAYBE NEVER
u s ad e
S u e ad
S Le
L
Needs BRILLIANT GOOD MAYBE

Technology
No net impact In - between High impact


Engineers’ reputation as professionals, not
mercenaries - whose interests do we serve?
•• “Video toothbrush”
“Video toothbrush”
•• “In development by
“In development by
OK NEVER Panasonic, this
NEVER
Panasonic, this
electric toothbrush
electric toothbrush
has aaminiature video
has miniature video
camera mounted
camera mounted
beside the bristles to
beside the bristles to
allow the user to see
allow the user to see
GOOD MAYBE on aamonitor the
NEVER
on monitor the
‘40%’ of debris they
‘40%’ of debris they
normally miss.”
normally miss.”
•• (TYNKYN - -EC 11/01)
(TYNKYN EC 11/01)

BRILLIANT GOOD MAYBE


What do you think? - discuss in
groups...
• Engineering is never neutral - every product
or project - or research topic - lies
somewhere on that matrix, and is going to
affect the sustainable/unsustainable
balance…. SO:

• What are the social responsibilities of
engineering – whom do we want to serve?


What defines a socially
sustainable product?
• Is being manufactured sustainably enough,
whatever the product’s 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’?


Case Study

http://www.interfacesustainability.com/


Enterprise core


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.


XX Century Enterprise Model


1. Zero Waste

Against ideal operational
standards—zero waste—
they identified $70 million
in waste, based on 1994
operations—10 percent of
sales!


1. Zero Waste

Total manufacturing waste sent to landfills has decreased by 66% since 1996.


1. Zero Waste

The cumulative avoided costs from waste elimination activities since 1995 have
totaled over $372 million.

2. Benign Emissions

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


2. Benign Emissions

Net absolute greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced by 82% from our
1996 baseline. 33% from improved efficiencies, process changes, and direct
renewable energy purchases.

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



Total energy used at carpet manufacturing facilities (per unit of product) is down
45% since 1996.


Use of renewable energy increased to 27% in 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 man-
made materials and precious
organic molecules life after life,
through closed loop recycling.


4. Closing cycles

ReEntry program has diverted 133 million pounds of material from landfills
between 1995 and 2007.

4. Closing cycles

The percentage of recycled and bio-based materials used to manufacture our
products worldwide has increased from 0.5% in 1996 to 25% in 2007.

4. Closing cycles

Water intake per production unit is down 45% in broadloom facilities from 1996
due to conservation efforts and process changes.

4. Closing cycles

Water intake per production unit is down 75% in modular carpet facilities from
1996 due to conservation efforts and process changes.

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


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.



to reduce the frequency of injuries by almost 63% since 1999.


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


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.

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


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

I built all I didn’t need
this! to build
anything new!

Visible construction, at great public Providing and Refurbishing the
expense, to meet society’s wants minimum to meet society’s needs


Engineers provide the
interfaces... • Becoming
Products
Products sustainable
requires leaders
who recognise
this world view,
and act
Economy
Economy accordingly.
--invented!
invented!

Society --instinctive?
Society instinctive?
Infrastructure
Infrastructure
Environment --
Environment
‘inevitable’
‘inevitable’


Thank you for your attention!

Professor Jordi Segalas
Technology and Sustainable Development
Polytechnic University of Catalonia
Barcelona, SPAIN


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