{"id":429,"date":"2022-03-30T17:05:44","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T21:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/engineeringinsociety\/?post_type=chapter&p=429"},"modified":"2022-04-09T19:54:46","modified_gmt":"2022-04-09T23:54:46","slug":"sustainability-from-sahar-bani-soltan-douglas-college-instructor","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/engineeringinsociety\/chapter\/sustainability-from-sahar-bani-soltan-douglas-college-instructor\/","title":{"raw":"Sustainability by Sahar Bani Soltan, Douglas College instructor","rendered":"Sustainability by Sahar Bani Soltan, Douglas College instructor"},"content":{"raw":"

Trends in Global Emissions<\/h1>\r\nGlobal Carbon Emission from Fossil Fuels from 1900 - 2014\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_431\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"562\"]\"Graph Global Carbon Emissions from 1900-2014 Source: Boden, T.A., Marland, G., and Andres, R.J. (2017). Global, Regional, and National Fossil-Fuel CO2Emissions. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.A. doi 10.3334\/CDIAC\/00001_V2017.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nSource: Boden, T.A., Marland, G., and Andres, R.J. (2017). Global, Regional, and National Fossil-Fuel CO2Emissions. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.A. doi 10.3334\/CDIAC\/00001_V2017.\r\n\r\n\"Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels have significantly increased since 1900. Since 1970, CO2<\/sub> emissions have increased by about 90%, with emissions from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes contributing about 78% of the total greenhouse gas emissions increase from 1970 to 2011. Agriculture, deforestation, and other land-use changes have been the second-largest contributors\".[footnote]https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/ghgemissions\/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-data#Reference%201[\/footnote]\r\n

The Climate is Changing<\/h1>\r\nThe IPCC is the Intergovernmental\u00a0 Panel on Climate Change.\u00a0 It is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change.\u00a0 You can learn more about them here: https:\/\/www.ipcc.ch\/<\/a>\r\n\r\nHere is the way that the IPCC defines climate and climate change.\r\n

Climate<\/h2>\r\n\"Climate in a narrow sense is usually defined as the average weather, or more rigorously, as the statistical description in terms of the mean and variability of relevant quantities over a period of time ranging from months to thousands or millions of years. The classical period for averaging these variables is 30 years, as defined by the World Meteorological Organization. The relevant quantities are most often surface variables such as temperature, precipitation, and wind. Climate in a wider sense is the state, including a statistical description, of the climate system <\/em>to be\"\r\n

Climate Change<\/h2>\r\n\"Climate change refers to a change in the state of the climate<\/em> that can be identified (e.g., by using statistical tests) by changes in the mean and\/or the variability of its properties and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer. Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forcings<\/em> such as modulations of the solar cycles, volcanic eruptions and persistent anthropogenic<\/em> changes in the composition of the atmosphere<\/em> or in land use<\/em>. Note that the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)<\/em>, in its Article 1, defines climate change as: \u2018a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.\u2019 The UNFCCC thus makes a distinction between climate change attributable to human activities altering the atmospheric composition and climate variability attributable to natural causes\".\r\n\r\n[footnote]PCC, 2018: Annex I: Glossary [Matthews, J.B.R. (ed.)]. In: Global Warming of 1.5\u00b0C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5\u00b0C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, H.-O. P\u00f6rtner, D. Roberts, J. Skea, P.R. Shukla, A. Pirani, W. Moufouma-Okia, C. P\u00e9an, R. Pidcock, S. Connors, J.B.R. Matthews, Y. Chen, X. Zhou, M.I. Gomis, E. Lonnoy, T. Maycock, M. Tignor, and T. Waterfield (eds.)]. In Press[\/footnote]\r\n

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)<\/h1>\r\nClimate change results in a global crisis. What will be an answer to a global crisis? Sustainability and the full Life Cycle Analysis (LCA).\r\n\r\nNorth American working group of the Mining and Sustainable Development, (MMSD-NA, 2002) developed\u00a0\u201cseven questions to guide sustainability assessments of the Full-Life cycle of mining projects as discussed in Gibson et al. (2005). They\u00a0are related to the engaging community, people's well-being, the integrity of the environment, the economic viability of the project and the community, acceptable to the community by accounting for the traditional activities of the community, project consequences, periodic reassessment of the results.\r\n\r\nAnd, we need to implement LCA into our design to ensure minimizing harmful material\/processes in the environment and a more sustainable design. This means (Jha, N. K. 2015):\r\n
\u2022Design for Assembly (Mining <\/span>Material Process, <\/span>Product Manufacturing, <\/span>Distribution)<\/span><\/div>\r\n
\u2022Design for Disassembly (<\/span>Design for Recycling, <\/span>Design for Reuse, <\/span>Design for Disposal)<\/span><\/div>\r\n
\r\n
<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nThere are a couple of LCA tools available at this time\r\n
\u2022Sphera (Gabi) Database https:\/\/gabi.sphera.com\/databases\/gabi-databases\/<\/a><\/div>\r\n
\u2022Simapro Database https:\/\/simapro.com\/<\/a><\/div>\r\n
\u2022Emissions Impact Dashboard for Microsoft<\/div>\r\n
\u2022https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/sustainability\/emissions-impact-dashboard?activetab=pivot_2%3aprimaryr12<\/a><\/div>\r\n
\u2022Life cycle initiative https:\/\/www.lifecycleinitiative.org\/<\/a><\/div>\r\n
\u2022 U.S. Life Cycle Inventory Database: https:\/\/www.nrel.gov\/lci\/<\/a><\/div>\r\n
<\/div>\r\nAs the industry is responding to the call from the public\/policymakers, they develop some platforms to integrate the LCA aspects into the modeling. For example, Solidworks uses \"The GaBi environmental LCA database and a set of environmental impacts obtained through a combination of scientific experimentation and empirical results obtained in the field. (Solidwork Sustainability 2022)\". They are using four key environmental indicators (carbon footprint, total energy consumed,\u00a0 air acidification, and water eutrophication) indicators.\r\n\r\nSome related information:\r\n\u2022 Carbon footprint:\r\nhttps:\/\/www.newsteelconstruction.com\/wp\/the-carbon-footprint-of-steel\/<\/a>\r\n\u2022 Water\r\nhttps:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/5494047_Mechanisms_and_Assessment_of_Water_Eutrophication<\/a>\r\n\u2022 Air Acidification\r\nhttps:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/topics\/engineering\/acidification-potential<\/a>\r\n\u2022 Total Energy Consumed\r\nhttps:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/336227431_The_Material_Indices_Method_in_the_Sustainable_Engineering_Design_Process_A_Review<\/a>\r\n\r\nThe above indicators are related to product developments. However, for some projects such as mining projects we need other indicators. Overall sustainable development (SD) indicator is defined (Martinho (n.d.)) as the average of social summary measure (Soc), economic summary measure (Eco), and environmental summary measure (Env).\r\n

List of Resources<\/h1>\r\n\u2022 Boden, T.A., Marland, G., and Andres, R.J. (2017). Global, Regional, and National Fossil-Fuel CO2Emissions. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.A. doi 10.3334\/CDIAC\/00001_V2017.\r\nRetrieved from https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/ghgemissions\/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-data on Feb 19, 2022\r\n\u2022 Bob Gibson, Selma Hassan, James Tansey. Sustainability Assessment Criteria and Processes. Routledge; 2005. Accessed February 20, 2022.\r\nhttps:\/\/search.ebscohost.com\/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,sso&db=nlebk&AN=142635&site=eds-live&scope=site\r\n\r\n\u2022 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2008) \u201cClimate Change 2007 Synthesis Report\u201d Retrieved from\r\nhttps:\/\/www.ipcc.ch\/site\/assets\/uploads\/2018\/02\/ar4_syr_full_report.pdf on Feb 19, 2022\r\n\u2022 Imperatives (1987) Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future\r\n\u2022 Jha, N. K. (2015). Integration of Green Design and Manufacturing for Sustainability in Undergraduate Engineering Curriculum.\r\n\u2022 Martinho M. (N.D.) \u201cIntegrating social, environmental and economic dimensions into a monitoring framework\u201d Retrieved from https:\/\/slideplayer.com\/slide\/4509562\/ on March 10th\u2022 MMSD-NA, Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development Project North America, Task 2 Work Group (2002) Seven Questions to Sustainability: How to Assess the Contribution of Mining and Minerals Activities, Winnipeg, IISD\r\n\u2022 Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development North America, MMSD (2002) https:\/\/www.Iisd.Org\/pdf\/2002\/mmsd_sevenquestions.Pdf\r\n\u2022 Pacific Climate Impact Consortium (2012) http:\/\/www.plan2adapt.ca\/tools\/planners?pr=0&ts=8&toy=16\r\n\r\n\u2022 Solidworks (2022) Retrieved it from https:\/\/www.solidworks.com\/solutions\/what-life-cycle-assessmentlca#:~:\r\ntext=SOLIDWORKS%C2%AE%20Sustainability%20provides%20actionable,as%20well%20as%20offering%20alternatives On March 12, 2022\r\n\u2022 UN (1987) Our Common Future Retrieved from https:\/\/www.are.admin.ch\/dam\/are\/en\/dokumente\/nachhaltige_entwicklung\/dokumente\/bericht\/our_common_futurebrundtlandreport1987.pdf Retrieved On March 14, 2022","rendered":"

Trends in Global Emissions<\/h1>\n

Global Carbon Emission from Fossil Fuels from 1900 – 2014<\/p>\n

\"Graph
Global Carbon Emissions from 1900-2014 Source: Boden, T.A., Marland, G., and Andres, R.J. (2017). Global, Regional, and National Fossil-Fuel CO2Emissions. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.A. doi 10.3334\/CDIAC\/00001_V2017.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Source: Boden, T.A., Marland, G., and Andres, R.J. (2017). Global, Regional, and National Fossil-Fuel CO2Emissions. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.A. doi 10.3334\/CDIAC\/00001_V2017.<\/p>\n

“Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels have significantly increased since 1900. Since 1970, CO2<\/sub> emissions have increased by about 90%, with emissions from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes contributing about 78% of the total greenhouse gas emissions increase from 1970 to 2011. Agriculture, deforestation, and other land-use changes have been the second-largest contributors”.[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

The Climate is Changing<\/h1>\n

The IPCC is the Intergovernmental\u00a0 Panel on Climate Change.\u00a0 It is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change.\u00a0 You can learn more about them here: https:\/\/www.ipcc.ch\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is the way that the IPCC defines climate and climate change.<\/p>\n

Climate<\/h2>\n

“Climate in a narrow sense is usually defined as the average weather, or more rigorously, as the statistical description in terms of the mean and variability of relevant quantities over a period of time ranging from months to thousands or millions of years. The classical period for averaging these variables is 30 years, as defined by the World Meteorological Organization. The relevant quantities are most often surface variables such as temperature, precipitation, and wind. Climate in a wider sense is the state, including a statistical description, of the climate system <\/em>to be”<\/p>\n

Climate Change<\/h2>\n

“Climate change refers to a change in the state of the climate<\/em> that can be identified (e.g., by using statistical tests) by changes in the mean and\/or the variability of its properties and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer. Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forcings<\/em> such as modulations of the solar cycles, volcanic eruptions and persistent anthropogenic<\/em> changes in the composition of the atmosphere<\/em> or in land use<\/em>. Note that the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)<\/em>, in its Article 1, defines climate change as: \u2018a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.\u2019 The UNFCCC thus makes a distinction between climate change attributable to human activities altering the atmospheric composition and climate variability attributable to natural causes”.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)<\/h1>\n

Climate change results in a global crisis. What will be an answer to a global crisis? Sustainability and the full Life Cycle Analysis (LCA).<\/p>\n

North American working group of the Mining and Sustainable Development, (MMSD-NA, 2002) developed\u00a0\u201cseven questions to guide sustainability assessments of the Full-Life cycle of mining projects as discussed in Gibson et al. (2005). They\u00a0are related to the engaging community, people’s well-being, the integrity of the environment, the economic viability of the project and the community, acceptable to the community by accounting for the traditional activities of the community, project consequences, periodic reassessment of the results.<\/p>\n

And, we need to implement LCA into our design to ensure minimizing harmful material\/processes in the environment and a more sustainable design. This means (Jha, N. K. 2015):<\/p>\n

\u2022Design for Assembly (Mining <\/span>Material Process, <\/span>Product Manufacturing, <\/span>Distribution)<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2022Design for Disassembly (<\/span>Design for Recycling, <\/span>Design for Reuse, <\/span>Design for Disposal)<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

There are a couple of LCA tools available at this time<\/p>\n

\u2022Sphera (Gabi) Database https:\/\/gabi.sphera.com\/databases\/gabi-databases\/<\/a><\/div>\n
\u2022Simapro Database https:\/\/simapro.com\/<\/a><\/div>\n
\u2022Emissions Impact Dashboard for Microsoft<\/div>\n
\u2022https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/sustainability\/emissions-impact-dashboard?activetab=pivot_2%3aprimaryr12<\/a><\/div>\n
\u2022Life cycle initiative https:\/\/www.lifecycleinitiative.org\/<\/a><\/div>\n
\u2022 U.S. Life Cycle Inventory Database: https:\/\/www.nrel.gov\/lci\/<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

As the industry is responding to the call from the public\/policymakers, they develop some platforms to integrate the LCA aspects into the modeling. For example, Solidworks uses “The GaBi environmental LCA database and a set of environmental impacts obtained through a combination of scientific experimentation and empirical results obtained in the field. (Solidwork Sustainability 2022)”. They are using four key environmental indicators (carbon footprint, total energy consumed,\u00a0 air acidification, and water eutrophication) indicators.<\/p>\n

Some related information:
\n\u2022 Carbon footprint:
\nhttps:\/\/www.newsteelconstruction.com\/wp\/the-carbon-footprint-of-steel\/<\/a>
\n\u2022 Water
\nhttps:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/5494047_Mechanisms_and_Assessment_of_Water_Eutrophication<\/a>
\n\u2022 Air Acidification
\nhttps:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/topics\/engineering\/acidification-potential<\/a>
\n\u2022 Total Energy Consumed
\nhttps:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/336227431_The_Material_Indices_Method_in_the_Sustainable_Engineering_Design_Process_A_Review<\/a><\/p>\n

The above indicators are related to product developments. However, for some projects such as mining projects we need other indicators. Overall sustainable development (SD) indicator is defined (Martinho (n.d.)) as the average of social summary measure (Soc), economic summary measure (Eco), and environmental summary measure (Env).<\/p>\n

List of Resources<\/h1>\n

\u2022 Boden, T.A., Marland, G., and Andres, R.J. (2017). Global, Regional, and National Fossil-Fuel CO2Emissions. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.A. doi 10.3334\/CDIAC\/00001_V2017.
\nRetrieved from https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/ghgemissions\/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-data on Feb 19, 2022
\n\u2022 Bob Gibson, Selma Hassan, James Tansey. Sustainability Assessment Criteria and Processes. Routledge; 2005. Accessed February 20, 2022.
\nhttps:\/\/search.ebscohost.com\/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,sso&db=nlebk&AN=142635&site=eds-live&scope=site<\/p>\n

\u2022 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2008) \u201cClimate Change 2007 Synthesis Report\u201d Retrieved from
\nhttps:\/\/www.ipcc.ch\/site\/assets\/uploads\/2018\/02\/ar4_syr_full_report.pdf on Feb 19, 2022
\n\u2022 Imperatives (1987) Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future
\n\u2022 Jha, N. K. (2015). Integration of Green Design and Manufacturing for Sustainability in Undergraduate Engineering Curriculum.
\n\u2022 Martinho M. (N.D.) \u201cIntegrating social, environmental and economic dimensions into a monitoring framework\u201d Retrieved from https:\/\/slideplayer.com\/slide\/4509562\/ on March 10th\u2022 MMSD-NA, Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development Project North America, Task 2 Work Group (2002) Seven Questions to Sustainability: How to Assess the Contribution of Mining and Minerals Activities, Winnipeg, IISD
\n\u2022 Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development North America, MMSD (2002) https:\/\/www.Iisd.Org\/pdf\/2002\/mmsd_sevenquestions.Pdf
\n\u2022 Pacific Climate Impact Consortium (2012) http:\/\/www.plan2adapt.ca\/tools\/planners?pr=0&ts=8&toy=16<\/p>\n

\u2022 Solidworks (2022) Retrieved it from https:\/\/www.solidworks.com\/solutions\/what-life-cycle-assessmentlca#:~:
\ntext=SOLIDWORKS%C2%AE%20Sustainability%20provides%20actionable,as%20well%20as%20offering%20alternatives On March 12, 2022
\n\u2022 UN (1987) Our Common Future Retrieved from https:\/\/www.are.admin.ch\/dam\/are\/en\/dokumente\/nachhaltige_entwicklung\/dokumente\/bericht\/our_common_futurebrundtlandreport1987.pdf Retrieved On March 14, 2022<\/p>\n

  1. https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/ghgemissions\/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-data#Reference%201 ↵<\/a><\/li>
  2. PCC, 2018: Annex I: Glossary [Matthews, J.B.R. (ed.)]. In: Global Warming of 1.5\u00b0C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5\u00b0C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, H.-O. P\u00f6rtner, D. Roberts, J. Skea, P.R. Shukla, A. Pirani, W. Moufouma-Okia, C. P\u00e9an, R. Pidcock, S. Connors, J.B.R. Matthews, Y. Chen, X. Zhou, M.I. Gomis, E. Lonnoy, T. Maycock, M. Tignor, and T. Waterfield (eds.)]. In Press ↵<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":9,"menu_order":5,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-429","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":93,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/engineeringinsociety\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/engineeringinsociety\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/engineeringinsociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/engineeringinsociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/engineeringinsociety\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":505,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/engineeringinsociety\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/429\/revisions\/505"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/engineeringinsociety\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/93"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/engineeringinsociety\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/429\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/engineeringinsociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/engineeringinsociety\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=429"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/engineeringinsociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=429"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/engineeringinsociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}