The Theory and Practice of Sustainable Engineering

431 Pages·2011·3.071 MB·English

by  Braden R. Allenby

T T
HE HEORY AND
P S
RACTICE OF USTAINABLE
E
NGINEERING
Braden R.Allenby
Arizona State University
International Edition contributions by
Sudhir Chella Rajan
Indian Institute ofTechnology Madras
Prentice Hall
Upper Saddle River Boston Columbus San Francisco New York Indianapolis
London Toronto Sydney Singapore Tokyo Montreal Dubai Madrid
Hong Kong Mexico City Munich Paris Amsterdam Cape Town
Vice President and Editorial Director,ECS:Marcia J.Horton
Executive Editor:Holly Stark
Editorial Assistant:Keri Rand
Marketing Manager:Tim Galligan
Production Manager:Pat Brown
Publisher,International Edition:Angshuman Chakraborty
Acquisitions Editor,International Edition:Arunabha Deb
Publishing Assistant,International Edition:Shokhi Shah
Art Director:Jayne Conte
Cover Designer:Jodi Notowitz,Wicked Design
Full-Service Project Management:Sandeep Rawat/Aptara®,Inc.
Printer/Binder:Courier Westford
Cover Printer:Courier Westford
Pearson Education Limited
Edinburgh Gate
Harlow
Essex CM20 2JE
England
and Associated Companies throughout the world
Visit us on the World Wide Web at:www.pearsoninternationaleditions.com
© Pearson Education Limited 2012
The right ofBraden R.Allenby to be identified as author ofthis work has been asserted by him in
accordance with the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Authorized adaptation from the United States edition,entitled The Theory and Practice ofSustainable
Engineering,1st edition,ISBN 978-0-13-212799-8 by Braden R.Allenby published by Pearson
Education ©2012.
All rights reserved.No part ofthis publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system,or
transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording or otherwise,
without either the prior written permission ofthe publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying in
the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd,Saffron House,6–10 Kirby Street,
London EC1N 8TS.
All trademarks used herein are the property oftheir respective owners.The use ofany trademark in this
text does not vest in the author or publisher any trademark ownership rights in such trademarks,nor does
the use ofsuch trademarks imply any affiliation with or endorsement ofthis book by such owners.
Microsoft® and Windows® are registered trademarks ofthe Microsoft Corporation in the U.S.A.and other
countries.Screen shots and icons reprinted with permission from the Microsoft Corporation.This book is
not sponsored or endorsed by or affiliated with the Microsoft Corporation.
ISBN 10:0-273-75216-2
ISBN 13:978-0-273-75216-5
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
14 13 12 11 10
Typeset in Minion-Regular by Sandeep Rawat/Aptara®,Inc.
Printed and bound by Courier Westford in The United States ofAmerica
The publisher’s policy is to use paper manufactured from sustainable forests.
To my family,and especially to Carolyn,my patient partner
He,only,merits freedom and existence
Who wins them every day anew.
—Goethe,Faust,lines 11,575–76
CONTENTS
List of Text Boxes 8
Preface and Operating Manual 9
Chapter 1 SO WHAT IS DIFFERENT NOW? OR, WHY WE
NEED SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING 15
1.1 Introduction 15
1.2 Welcome to the Anthropocene 18
1.3 Evolution of the Anthropocene 21
1.4 The Fingerprint of the Anthropocene:
Energy and Water 26
1.5 The Fingerprint of the Anthropocene: Human Imprints
on Sinks and Material Flows 35
1.6 Conclusion 45
Exercises 48 • Annotated Bibliography 49
Chapter 2 THEMES OF THE ANTHROPOCENE 50
2.1 Introduction 50
2.2 Globalization and Multiculturalism,
Then and Now 51
2.2.1 Multiculturalism and Technological Evolution 57
2.2.2 Changes in Governance 59
2.3 Information and Communications Technology
and Systems 62
2.4 Technology and Sustainability 67
2.5 Demographic Trends 69
2.5.1 Urbanization 70
2.5.2 Urbanization and Sustainable Engineering 72
2.5.3 Age-Related Demographic Issues 78
2.5.4 Demographics and Risk 85
Exercises 87 • Annotated Bibliography 88
Chapter 3 COMPLEXITY 90
3.1 Complexity 91
3.2 Simple versus Complex Systems 92
3.3 Different Forms of Complexity 101
4
Contents 5
3.4 Understanding Complexity 106
3.5 Models, Ideology, and Complexity 107
Exercises 111 • Annotated Bibliography 112
Chapter 4 SUSTAINABILITY 113
4.1 Introduction 113
4.2 Sustainable Development 114
4.2.1 Pillars of Sustainable Development 115
4.2.2 Sustainability as Myth 118
4.3 Sustainability and Resources 122
4.4 From Sustainability to Sustainable
Engineering 128
4.5 Sustainability and Global States 132
Exercises 135 • Annotated Bibliography 136
Chapter 5 HOMO FABER: HUMAN HISTORY
AND TECHNOLOGY 138
5.1 Introduction 138
5.2 The Railroad as Technology System 147
5.3 Technology Clusters 156
Exercises 160 • Annotated Bibliography 161
Chapter 6 CHARACTERISTICS OF TECHNOLOGY 163
6.1 Introduction 163
6.2 Product Design 163
6.3 Behavior of Technological Systems 168
6.4 The Three Levels of Technology Systems 178
6.5 Concluding Observations 184
Exercises 186 • Annotated Bibliography 187
Chapter 7 INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY 189
7.1 Introduction 189
7.2 Industrial Ecology 190
7.3 Life Cycle Assessment 198
7.4 Streamlined LCA 205
7.5 Systems Engineering 210
Exercises 213 • Annotated Bibliography 213
6 Contents
Chapter 8 THE FIVE HORSEMEN: EMERGING
TECHNOLOGIES 215
8.1 Introduction 215
8.2 The Five Horsemen 219
8.3 The Human as Design Space 239
Exercises 243 • Annotated Bibliography 244
Chapter 9 GREEN CHEMISTRY 245
9.1 Introduction 245
9.2 The CFC Case Study 253
9.3 Antimicrobials and Pharmaceuticals
as Earth Systems 256
9.4 Policy Implications 261
Exercises 263 • Annotated Bibliography 264
Chapter 10 SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING:
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGY 265
10.1 Introduction 265
10.2 Framing ICT 267
10.3 Infrastructure Operations 272
10.4 Services 277
10.5 The Virtualization of Work, Digital Nomads,
and the Triple Bottom Line 280
10.6 Virtualization of Work and the Evolution
of Institutional Complexity 288
10.7 Conclusion 296
Exercises 297 • Annotated Bibliography 297
Chapter 11 THE FIVE HORSEMEN, MILITARY OPERATIONS,
AND NATIONAL SECURITY 299
11.1 Introduction 299
11.2 Thinking about National Security 302
Case 1: Cyborg Insects and Other Surveillance
Devices 313
Case 2: Telepathic Helmets 316
Case 3: Lethal Autonomous Robots 319
11.3 Concluding Thoughts 323
Exercises 324 • Annotated Bibliography 325
Contents 7
Chapter 12 THE MACROETHICS OF SUSTAINABLE
ENGINEERING 326
12.1 Introduction 326
12.2 Framing Ethics 328
12.3 The Challenge of Macroethics 335
Exercises 340 • Annotated Bibliography 341
Chapter 13 THE ARAL SEA, THE EVERGLADES,
AND ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT 342
13.1 Introduction: Adaptive Management 342
13.2 The Aral Sea 345
13.3 The Florida Everglades 350
13.4 Themes 355
13.5 Adaptive Management Principles 357
Exercises 359 • Annotated Bibliography 359
Chapter 14 EARTH SYSTEMS ENGINEERING AND
MANAGEMENT: SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING
AT A PLANETARY SCALE 361
14.1 Introduction 361
14.2 Geoengineering 363
14.3 Urban Design and Management,
and High Modernism 367
14.4 Theoretical ESEM Principles 370
14.5 ESEM Governance Principles 375
14.6 ESEM Design and Management Principles 381
14.7 Sustainable Engineering, ESEM,
and the Final Principle 387
Exercises 388 • Annotated Bibliography 389
Chapter 15 THE ENGINEER AS LEADER 391
15.1 Introduction 391
15.2 Attitude and Preparation 393
15.3 Lead by Following 397
15.4 Personal Characteristics 398
Exercises 400
Appendix A: Introduction to Sustainable Engineering Generic Syllabus 401
Appendix B: Glossary of Key Terms 413
Index 423
LIST OF TEXT BOXES
BOX 1.1 What Is Sustainable Engineering? 16
BOX 1.2 Exponentials 19
BOX 1.3 Case Study:Corn-Based Ethanol 42
BOX 1.4 Writing for Your Audience 46
BOX 2.1 Monsanto,Genetically Modified Organisms,
and Corporate Responsibility 63
BOX 2.2 Lessons ofthe Autonomic City for Sustainable Engineering 76
BOX 3.1 Plug-in Automobiles and Biofuel:Why Not to Fall in Love
with a Technology 104
BOX 4.1 The President’s Council on Sustainable Development 119
BOX 4.2 Reserves and Resources 125
BOX 4.3 Toxicity,Hazard,and Risk 133
BOX 5.1 Aspects ofTechnology 139
BOX 5.2 Technological Determinism 143
BOX 5.3 The Technological Trajectory ofMoney 145
BOX 5.4 Perception and Technology 159
BOX 6.1 Levels I and II,Revisited:The Shop Floor 182
BOX 8.1 Transhumanism 217
BOX 8.2 Who Defines the Playing Field? Conservation Biology
and the Biodiversity Crisis 224
BOX 8.3 Integrating the Brain with the Machine 228
BOX 8.4 Using Metaphors and Analogies 234
BOX 9.1 Principles ofGreen Chemistry 248
BOX 9.2 Arsenic Management in the United States 251
BOX 10.1 A Telecom Firm Perspective on Sustainable Engineering 268
BOX 10.2 Design for Environment 273
BOX 10.3 Scenarios and Scenario Planning 281
BOX 10.4 ICT at the Bottom ofthe Pyramid 293
BOX 11.1 Hard and Soft Power in the Modern World 304
BOX 12.1 Respect and Reciprocity:The Golden Rule 329
BOX 14.1 Mining as ESEM 385
8
PREFACE AND OPERATING MANUAL
When in the Course ofhuman events it becomes necessary
for one people to dissolve the political bands which have
connected them with another and to assume among the
powers ofthe earth,the separate and equal station to which
the Laws ofNature and ofNature’s God entitle them,a
decent respect to the opinions ofmankind requires that
they should declare the causes which impel them
to the separation.
—AMERICANDECLARATIONOFINDEPENDENCE
No one confuses a textbook with the American Declaration of Independence.
Nonetheless,one may take guidance from that document:When the world and
“human events”change to the extent that old ways of framing problems and
designing solutions become increasingly inadequate, and a different kind of
book is necessary,readers are owed an explanation.In this case,one has a book
purporting to be primarily an engineering textbook,yet even a cursory perusal
reveals that there are more words than numbers; more sentences than equa-
tions; more qualitative than quantitative exercises; more policy observations
than algorithms.What sort of engineering text is this,then,and what possible
explanation for its obstreperous deviancy?
To begin with the second question,which will segue into the first:There
are some fundamental issues with engineering,engineering education,and sus-
tainability as an objective policy and design criterion—not to mention chang-
ing demands on the engineering profession, technology as a practice and a
social force,and our society—that demand corresponding change in education.
1. Engineering education is increasingly broken.It tries to teach ever more
complicated technologies, and problem solving in ever more complex
social and environmental contexts, in a four-year, highly reductionist,
and quantitative program that has been inadequate for years.1With the
1You needn’t take my word for it.Take a look at the recently released 2010 book,Holistic
Engineering Education: Beyond Technology,edited by Domenico Grasso and Melody Brown
Burkins (New York:Springer).It has chapters by people such as Jud King,who used to be
provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs for the University of California;Jim
Duderstadt, who used to be dean of engineering and then president at the University of
Michigan;and a number of other industry and engineering luminaries who,in one way or
another,in elegant and direct prose,clearly highlight the inadequacy of current engineering
education in the United States,Europe,and elsewhere,and its inability to produce graduates
adequate to the ever increasing burden ofmodern engineering practice.
9