Engineering Sustainability: A Technical Approach to Sustainability

Abstract

Sustainability is a critically important goal for human activity and development. Sustainability in the area of engineering is of great importance to any plans for overall sustainability given 1) the pervasiveness of engineering activities in societies, 2) their importance in economic development and living standards, and 3) the significant impacts that engineering processes and systems have had, and continue to have, on the environment. Many factors that need to be considered and appropriately addressed in moving towards engineering sustainability are examined in this article. These include appropriate selection of resources bearing in mind sustainability criteria, the use of sustainable engineering processes, enhancement of the efficiency of engineering processes and resource use, and a holistic adoption of environmental stewardship in engineering activities. In addition, other key sustainability measures are addressed, such as economics, equity, land use, lifestyle, sociopolitical factors and population. Conclusions are provided related both to pathways for engineering sustainability and to the broader ultimate objective of sustainability.

Challenges of Microgrids in Remote Communities: A STEEP Model Application

“…The STEEP model, proposed in this paper, is based on the fundamental sustainability principles [41,44,45,136,137] and the authors' field experience. Several definitions have been provided for sustainability, but it has been defined in terms of distributed off-grid energy generation system as the "perceived potential for a system or project to endure, build a self-perpetuating capacity within a community, and ultimately reach the end of its pre-determined lifespan or evolve into another beneficial form" [41].…”

“…It then attempts to address the identified problem by proposing the STEEP model based on the enabling factors such as social (S), technical (T), economic (E), environmental (E) and policy (P) perspectives. This model is derived from the fundamental sustainability principle [41][42][43][44][45], the authors' practical experience, best practices and the background knowledge of microgrid concept. The model intends to provide insights into the necessary approaches and actions for achieving sustainable microgrids in remote communities.…”

An urban approach to planetary boundaries

“…Some researchers suggest upper limits for several of these targets, e.g., caloric intake, energy consumption, and GDP (Raworth 2012). The methodology presented in this paper uses boundaries without upper-bounds to facilitate easier comparison across cities and over time, and is consistent with several engineering approaches (Gnanapragasam et al 2010;Rosen 2012).…”

Climate Responsive Design Simulation and Modelling for Industrial Heritage

“…In this sense, there is an abundant scientific literature on the process of sustainable building design. e concept of sustainability has different meanings when it comes to sustainable design [1]. Since the 1990s, the building sector has recognized that its activity has a major impact on the environment and has changed the way buildings are designed to mitigate environmental impacts.…”