THE PRINCIPLES of GREEN ENGINEERING

WE SHOULD NOT OPTIMIZE OUR EXISTING INDUSTRY. INSTEAD, WE SHOULD REDEFINE THE PROBLEMS IN IT AND FIX THEM.

Figure from SOURCE 4

There are many approaches to creating sustainable structures and design process. They can be developed in industrial quarters, local communities, and within the home, where they can be personalized. Many available resources for products for the home are available to the general public, as well as for architectural firms and design entrepreneurs alike. But for the industrial and engineering sectors of society, developments of sustainable products and initiatives are still in progress.

STANDARD PRINCIPLES

William McDonough and Michael Braungart (authors of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things), as well as Paul T. Anastas and Julie B. Zimmerman (EPA) co-authored an article in Environmental Science and Engineering in the December 1st, 2003 issue that specifically identify what these principles are. With Julie Zimmerman's cooperation, I am able to reveal their design initiatives. I have been asked to state them word for word.

3 Tenets of C2C (Cradle to Cradle [design]):
1. Waste equals food
2. Use current solar income
3. Celebrate diversity

12 Principles of Green Engineering
1. Principle 1 Designers need to strive to ensure that all material and energy inputs and outputs are as inherently non-hazardous as possible.
2. Principle 2 It is better to prevent waste than to treat or clean up the waste after it is formed.
3. Principle 3 Separation and purification operations should be designed to minimize consumption and material use.
4. Principle 4 Products, processes, and systems should be designed to maximize mass, energy, space, and time efficiency.
5. Principle 5 Products, processes, and systems should be "output pulled" rather than "input pushed" through the use of energy and materials.
6. Principle 6 Embedded entropy and complexity must be viewed as investment when making design choices and recycle, reuse, or beneficial disposition.
7. Principle 7 Targeted durability, not immortality, should be a design goal.
8. Principle 8 Design for unnecessary capacity or capability (e.g., "one size fits all") solutions should be considered a design flaw.
9. Principle 9 Material diversity in multicomponent products should be minimized to promote disassembly and value retention.
10. Principle 10 Design of products, processes, and systems must include integration and interconnectivity with available energy and material flows.
11. Prniciple 11 Products, processes, and systems should be designed for performance in a commercial "afterlife".
12. Principle 12 Material and energy inputs should be renewable rather than depleting.

The Cradle to Cradle vision is responsible for addressing the important question "What should I do to fulfill these Tenets?" The 12 Principles of Green Engineering address the question "How do I do it?"

Braungart and McDonough have created their own list of target chemicals and toxins--affecting both human and ecological systems of design--that need to be considered when developing sustainable processes of industry and engineering. Not being stated directly, the criteria for their list involve the health and productivity of human and ecological systems.

MBDC ("McDounough Braungart Design Chemistry"):
1. Human health criteria
   i.e.,
   • carcinogenity
   • toxicity
   • mutagenicity
2. Ecological health criteria
   i.e.,
   • algae
   • bioaccumulation
   • climatology
   • fish toxicity
3. Each ingredient must meet the parameters of the criteria to be considered "sustainable" to health.
4. Other examples include synthetic materials, each of which affects human and ecological health
   i.e.,
   • PVC (carpet backing, electrical appliances, etc...)
   • VOC (volatile organic compounds) (paints, textiles, carpetting, etc...)

There is also...

The "Herman Miller Design Protocol"
1. This list or goals and "protocols" contains much of the same that can be found within the MBDC, with the exception of...
2. Recyclability
3. Renewable content, and
4. Disassembly

I owe much to the authors of this source (SOURCE 4) for allowing me to use this material, as well as elaborating on the importance of each point within their contributions to the source.

Why is it so important for industrialized nations to become more sustainable? What are some alternatives for those who are unable to participate in the consumption of industrial products? What about those who are in states of extreme poverty and population growth? Put simply, it can be as small as starting in the home, or in a society with municipal infrastructures, otherwise known as "built environments."

GO HERE FOR A PDF FILE ***you need Adobe Acrobat 5 or higher to view it*** It is a dual-pdf with an article on sustainability in the built environment, as well as a section on the status of our technology (sources 5 and 6).

Basically, the built environment is the civil structures of urban, suburban, and rural settings. Within this diversity, people may live differently, on different incomes, and with different ideals. The status-quo is not sustainable in the long term (the universal consupmtion of fossil fuel resources, which are obviously non-renewable), so to achieve a sense of sustainability on a more practical level, it is necessary to start small. This is easiest in the built environment setting of your home town.

Through the repeated recovery of materials and energy, we can establish a longer product life, and can therefore become gradually more efficient in producing materials that can serve a wide range of customers and applications. When the criteria are met, progress is made to ensure a sustainable industry. However, in different regions of the world where industry and complex engineering processes are obsolete, different choices must be made.

EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE A SAY, REGARDLESS.

IN OUR COUNTRY, which is based off the principle that we, as humans, are a democratic body with the right to freedom of choice and acquisition of knowledge, we are given a privelege others may not have.

In this instance, other alternatives to sustainable designs and engineering within the built environment must be found and developed. There are many non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as governmental organizations (bound to the limits of funding and complex taxation processes alloted by various people and institutions, which are not always equal or fair for diverse communities) that aid in the awareness, development, and distribution of such alternatives...