ENST 302

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ENST 302

• Richard R. Johnson

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PROTECTED The air on Rockleigh Place in
southeast Houston was so bad in February that
state monitor Gulshan Sood wears a mask, even
inside his vehicle. Houston Chronicle, February
5, 2005, p. A1
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How (In)Efficient Are We?
In other words, 96 of the materials used in
manufacturing in the US are thrown away before
the product hits the shelves. For every ton of
post-consumer waste, there are about 24 tons of
pre-consumer waste.
Sources Prof. Robert U. Ayres, personal
correspondence
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How Much is 96?

• 17.5 billion tonnes of inputs yielding 700
  million tonnes of products
• This works out to approximately 155,000 pounds of
  waste per person in the US in a single year, and
  this does not include what happens to the
  products themselves.

Analysis performed for the year 1993. Data
provided by Prof. Robert U. Ayres in a personal
correspondence.
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and what about that 4?

• 80 of products are discarded after a single use.
• Overall, Americas material efficiency is no more
  than about 1-2.
• New York Citys Fresh Kills Landfill is now the
  highest point on the east coast south of Maine

Sources http//cc.oulu.fi/polamwww/waste.html
http//www.tufts.edu/tuftsrecycles/NotEnough.html
http//www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/i
s_20_40/ai_114783747 http//www.nyc.gov/html/dos/
html/fklf/fklf_04.html
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Recycling Can Yield Significant Materials Savings!
1 tonne of recycled iron eliminates the need for
extracting and processing 17.3 tonnes of
materials. 1 tonne of recycled copper eliminates
the need for extracting and processing 612 tonnes
of materials. For uranium, silver, gold, and
platinum the amounts saved by recycling are
nearly astronomical. - Robert Ayres, 2001
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Design Paradigms
Typical Product Life Cycle Cradle to Grave
Cradle
Grave
Resource Extraction
Manufacturing
Point of Sale
Product Use
Disposal
Waste
Waste
Waste
Waste
Many aspects of this system are powered by
non-renewable energy!
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We Have a Design Crisis!
The environmental crisis is a design crisis It
is a consequence of how things are made,
buildings are constructed, and landscapes are
used Our present forms of agriculture,
architecture, engineering, and industry are
derived from design epistemologies incompatible
with natures own. -- Sim Van der Ryn and
Stuart Cowan from Ecological Design
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Is this our future???
More than any other time in human history,
mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to
despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to
total extinction. Let us pray that we have the
wisdom to choose correctly. -- Woody Allen, My
Speech to the Graduates
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Ecology as a Metaphor for Industry
In nature an ecological system operates through
a web of connections in which organisms live and
consume each other and each others waste. The
system has evolved so that the characteristic of
communities of living organisms seems to be that
nothing that contains available energy or useful
material will be lost Ecologists talk of a food
web an interconnection of uses of both organisms
and their wastes. In the industrial context we
may think of this as being use of products and
waste products. The system structure of a
natural ecology and the structure of an
industrial system, or an economic system, are
extremely similar. -- Robert Frosch and
Nicholas Gallopoulos, 1989
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Sustainable design Two Metabolisms
Producers
Consumers
This is the cycle of materials in nature the
natural metabolism. This is a solar-driven
process. There is no concept of waste all
nutrients are recycled.
Recyclers
Cradle to Cradle Life Cycle
Industrial Nutrients
Manufacturing
Point of Sale
Product Use
Re-use and Recycling of Industrial Nutrients
Likewise, materials in the industrial
metabolism are not meant to be literally
consumed, but rather used for the service they
provide. Ideally, this process is solar-driven
and the materials are returned to the industrial
metabolism to create new products at the end of
the product life.
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Ray Anderson and Interface, Inc.
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If a product is not designed to safely return to
either the natural or industrial metabolisms, it
should not be made!
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Industrial EcosystemKalundborg, Denmark
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Kalundborg, Denmark
Oil Refinery
Sulfuric Acid Plant
Greenhouses
Sulfur
Heat
Cooling Water
Waste Water
Gas
Steam
Gas
Coal-fired electric power generating plant
District heating for 5,000 households
Gypsum wallboard plant
Heat
Gypsum
Steam
Nitrogenous Sludge
Heat
Fish Farm
Farms
Pharmaceutical Plant
Yeast
Farms
Cement Plant
Fly Ash
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Kalundborg Results

• Reduction in consumption of resources
• Oil 45,000 tons/year
• Coal 15,000 tons/year
• Water 600,000 m3/yr
• Reduction in waste emissions
• Carbon Dioxide 175,000 tons/year
• Sulfur Dioxide 10,200 tons/year
• Wastes for which value was realized
• Sulfur 4,500 tons/year
• Gypsum 90,000 tons/year
• Fly Ash (for cement) 130,000 tons/year
• Total investment to enable waste exchanges 75M
• Estimated savings 160M

Source United Nations Environment
Programme http//www.uneptie.org/pc/ind-estates/ca
sestudies/kalundborg.htm
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What is Sustainability?
Sustainable development is defined
as development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs. -
World Commission on Environment and Development,
1987
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Seventh Generation Design?
When you in sit in council for the welfare of
the people, you counsel for the welfare of that
seventh generation to come. They should be
foremost in your mind, not even your generation,
not even yourself, but those that are unborn. So
that when their time comes here they may enjoy
the same thing that you are enjoying now. - Oren
Lyons is the Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan,
Onondaga Council of Chiefs of the Hau de no sau
nee
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Rice University Sustainability Policy
Rice University recognizes the critical
importance of sustainability. Its present needs
must be met while protecting the interests of
future generations. The Shell Center for
Sustainability, the Center for the Study of
Environment and Society, the Environment Energy
Systems Institute and student organizations
should be utilized to foster environmental
consciousness and mitigate the universitys
ecological footprint. Rice University works with
students, faculty, and staff to improve
environmental sensitivity. University practices
will evolve along with the Rice community to keep
abreast with changing needs and new technologies.
The University believes that students who
graduate from Rice need to understand the
concepts of sustainability and possess a sense of
responsibility for the future.