Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
have been in the making in the last few decades (e.g., photovoltaic solar, wave power, and wind
turbines); however, these alternatives rather than replacing hydrocarbons have merely comple-
mented them on a relatively small scale.
Planned obsolescence
Planned obsolescence is a deliberate approach to limit a product's useful life and is a strategy
followed by many product manufacturers to promote consumption. Under this approach,
products (mainly consumer products) have been imbedded with some type of feature that
shortens their life cycle. Premature failure forces consumers to purchase replacements, thus
boosting sales. Some of the planned obsolescence practices include:
1.
Limiting life. Product usability is limited to a number of uses or time span.
2.
Design for limited repair. When products fail, they cannot be repaired or repair costs are
comparable to a similar new product.
3.
Design for fashion. Products are linked to short-living fashion cycles, hence creating the
need for replacement.
4.
Design for reduced satisfaction. Products are designed in a way that looks less appealing
as they are used, thus accelerating the need for replacement.
5.
Design for functional enhancement. New versions of products are constantly updated with
new features making the previous version look obsolete (Guiltinan, 2009).
Planned obsolescence can be a good business strategy to boost profits, but it is an atrocious
practice from the sustainability point of view. The constant manufacturing of short-lived prod-
ucts requires a steady use of resources (e.g., raw materials, energy, and water) and disposal or
recycling of the defunct products. In general, the food industry makes good efforts in the
opposite direction by trying to extend the life of food products. However, there are many
short-lived objects that are used as promotional items in marketing strategies of food products
(e.g., toys) that obviously have little value from a performance point of view but have an
important environmental impact in terms of use of resources and disposal.
INNOVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY
The challenge for the future is production of enough fuel, food, and materials to sustain the
industrial economy and population. Before the advent of fossil fuels, all needs were addressed
by biological materials harvested from the land and sea. For approximately two hundred years,
a gradual transition brought the system to what we have in place today, which is inherently
unsustainable. And unless some breakthrough discovery in the area of nuclear fusion, solar
energy capture/storage, or photosynthesis system, which converts solar energy and carbon
dioxide into sugars, takes place soon, the biobased system that existed before the fossil fuels
era may well come back into existence. The challenge is population and size of the economy.
There are about ten times more people in the world today than in the 1800s; so the question is,
will there be enough land, water, and nutrients to support a population of this size/An addi-
tional concern is climate change, which can change agriculture on a different level altogether.
Research is taking place around the world to discover new technologies and rediscover
some older ones that would allow the production of fuels, chemicals, and food from plant
material as a replacement for oil. Also, efforts are in place to reduce carbon emissions
