resource and reserves
RESOURCE = stock or supply of a physical material / the amount that exists in both undiscovered and discovered deposits
e.g. oil, water, coal, soil, air
RESERVE = proven resources that can be economically and technically extracted
e.g. oil fields, areas with sunlight, coal mine
renewable and non-renewable resources
renewable = resources that continue to exist despite being consumed or can replenish themselves over time even as they are used
- e.g. wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, hydropower (dams)
non-renewable = a resource that doesn’t replenish itself at a sufficient rate for sustainable use
- e.g. coal, petroleum, natural gas, fossil fuels, minerals
waste mitigation strategies
reduce or eliminate materials directed to landfills
WMS examples
- Re-use = reuse the same product in the same or different context
- Repair = reconstruction or renewal of any part of an existing product
- Re-engineer = redesign parts to improve efficency ( characteristics or performance e.g. speed, energy, consumption)
- Recycle = using the materials from obsolete products to create the products
- Recondition = rebuilding a product so it’s in an “as new” condition
- Dematerialisation = reducing the quantities of materials –> “do more with less”
- e.g. shifting from paper to digital communication, fossil fuels to solar power
methods for designing out waste
- Circular Economy
- Energy Recovery
- WEEE Recovery
- Raw material recovery
- Recycling
- Dematerialization
raw material recovery
process of separating the parts of a product to recover the parts and materials
WEEE recovery
WEEE is a complex mixture of materials and components from electrical products that can cause environmental and health problems if not properly managed because of their hazardous content
energy recovery
generating energy in the form of electricity/heat from the primary treatment of waste
- e.g. waste-to-energy (WtE) –> produces electricity/heat through combustion
life cycle analysis (LCA)
assesses environmental impacts associated with all stages of a product’s life from cradle to grave
circular economy
the use of waste as a resource within a closed-loop system
- maximizing the use of resources and minimizing waste by keeping products, materials, and resources in use for as long as possible
external drivers and social change
- waste charges
- energy costs
- public opinion
- environmental comp
energy utilization, storage, and distribution
goal is to reduce the amount of energy required to provide products or services
- e.g. driving less to conserve energy
embodied energy
all energy needed to produce and maintain a product or service.
- it’s valuable for calculating the effectiveness of an energy-producing/saving device
components of embodied energy
- Materials: Energy used to extract and produce materials
- Transport: Energy used to transport the materials to the factory or the building site
- Assembly: Energy used to construct the building or create the product
- Recurring: Energy used to maintain parts of the building, or to use the product
- Recycling: Energy used to recycle the components at the end-of-life.
distributing energy
how electricity is distributed along the grid and the energy loss involved from small source collection and delivery to large scale and its effect on the environment
- National and international grids are not designed for small-scale energy producers to feed electricity into so only efficient at a large scale.
- Smart Grid technologies allow for small-scale and sustainable energy producers to provide power
local combined heat and power (CHP)
a technology that uses a single fuel source to produce heat and electricity
- consumers don’t have to purchase energy from a local utility in addition to burning fuel on-site to generate heat.
- reduce cost and emissions
systems for individual energy generation
systems for the small-scale production of energy –> typically used for single households with the goal of a zero- or low carbon footprint
Benefits = lower environmental impact, typically use renewable energy such as solar or wind, meets the needs of a single user
Considerations = high initial cost, may require owner to carry out maintenance
quantification and mitigation of carbon emissions: measuring
- record carbon emissions
- discovered how much is being produced
- discover who /where it’s produced
- calculate your carbon footprint
Batteries
convert chemical energy into electrical energy
- Batteries contain heavy metals that when disposed of improperly can cause pollution, soil, air, and water contamination + health problems
environmental impact of batteries
- LiPo (Lithium Polymer): Low
- Li-Ion (Lithium Ion) battery: Low
- Lead Acid Battery: High
- NiCd (Nickel Cadmium) battery: High
- NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride): Low
clean technology
products, services, or processes that reduce waste and require the minimum amount of non-renewable resources
drivers for cleaning up manufacturing
- promoting positive impacts of the company’s products or services.
- ensuring neutral impact or minimizing negative impacts through conserving natural resources
- reducing pollution and use of energy
- reducing wastage of energy and resources
- social, economic, political
end-of-pipe techs
technology that is used to reduce pollutants and waste at the end of a process
- Incremental solutions: changing/improving a part of a system
- Radical solutions: changing the whole thing/completely new product
green design
improves an existing product by redesigning aspects of it to address environmental objectives
