Sustainable Development in Practice Case Studies for Engineers and Scientists

by Azapagic, Adisa; Perdan, Slobodan

• ISBN13: 9780470972847
• ISBN10: 047097284X
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2010-12-15
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Sustainable Development in Practice: Case Studies for Engineers and Scientists, is a completely revised and updated second edition of this successful text. The book explores the concept of sustainable development and its implications for science and engineering practice and looks at how sustainability criteria can be combined with traditional scientific and engineering considerations to design and operate industrial systems in a more sustainable manner. Taking a life cycle approach to address economic, environmental and social issues, the book will present a series of new practical case studies drawn from a range of sectors, including mining, energy, food, buildings, transport, waste, and health.Most of the existing books on sustainable development are aimed at the social sciences and humanities. This book uniquely, is aimed at engineers and scientists and it successfully combines technical, economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainable development in the case studies. Clearly structured throughout, the book opens with a general introduction to the issues surrounding sustainable development and explores the concept of sustainable development and its implications for technical experts. Recognising that practical interpretation of sustainable development depends on the context, the second part of the book is devoted to a set of case studies drawn from a range of industrial sectors including mining, energy, food, buildings, transport, waste and health. Each case study sets out real practical problems and explores the scientific and technical aspects of each problem whilst also taking into consideration its economic, environmental and social ramifications to position the expert analysis in the context of sustainable development.This book is essential reading for all engineers and scientists concerned with sustainable development. In particular, it provides key reading and learning materials for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses in environmental, chemical, civil or mechanical engineering, manufacturing and design, environmental science, green chemistry and environmental management.Completely revised and updated throughout, the Second Edition now covers twelve new sectors/applications. These new applications are particularly pertinent to sustainable development with each case study including a section on communicating ideas/processes with the non-engineering and non-scientific audience to draw out the importance of this subject for engineers and scientists. The book now includes a supplementary website that includes further case study material not included in the book.

Table of Contents

About the Editors ix

List of Contributors xi

Preface xiii

Part 1

1 The Concept of Sustainable Development and its Practical Implications 3
Slobodan Perdan

2 Measuring Sustainable Development: An Overview 26
Slobodan Perdan and Adisa Azapagic

3 Assessing Environmental Sustainability: Life Cycle Thinking and Life Cycle Assessment 56
Adisa Azapagic

Part 2

4 Translating the Principles of Sustainable Development into Business Practice: An Application in the Mining and Minerals Sector 83
Adisa Azapagic and Slobodan Perdan

5 Climate Change and Policy: The Case of Germany 117
Wolfram Krewitt and Hans Mu¨ller-Steinhagen

6 Sustainability Assessment of Biofuels 142
Adisa Azapagic and Heinz Stichnothe

7 Scenario Building and Uncertainties: Options for Energy Sources 170
Richard Darton

8 Fuel Cells in Stationary Applications: Energy for the Future? 189
Martin Pehnt

9 Sustainability of Nuclear Power 211
Adisa Azapagic and Slobodan Perdan

10 Municipal Solid Waste Management: Recovering Energy from Waste 261
Adisa Azapagic

11 Sustainability Issues in Food Provisioning Systems 326
Adisa Azapagic, Heinz Stichnothe and Namy Espinoza-Orias

12 Providing Sustainable Sanitation 348
Richard Fenner and Amparo Flores

13 Sustainable Process Design: The Case of Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM) 374
Adisa Azapagic

14 Urban Sustainability: The Case of Transport 420
Slobodan Perdan and Adisa Azapagic

15 Aviation and its Response to Environmental Pressure 449
Alice Bows and Kevin Anderson

16 Health Impact Assessment of Urban Pollution 467
Zaid Chalabi and Tony Fletcher

17 Social and Ethical Dimensions of Sustainable Development: Mining in Kakadu National Park 483
Slobodan Perdan

Index 511