Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
2. Every process, product, facility, constructed infrastructure, and techno-
logical system should be planned to the extent possible to be easily adapted
to foreseeable environmentally preferable innovations. For example, build-
ings should be designed to be capable of supporting photovoltaic systems
by leaving an unshaded south-facing rooftop, even if such a system is not
installed during the initial construction.
3. Every molecule that enters a specific manufacturing process should leave
that process as part of a salable product.Thus, for example, processes should
be designed so that process chemicals can be resold for other uses as a resid-
ual material, rather than having to be disposed of as waste.
4. Every erg of energy used in manufacture should produce a desired
material transformation.
5. Industries should make minimum use of materials and energy in prod-
ucts, processes, services, and operations. The materials used should be the
least toxic ones suitable for the purpose, all else equal.
6. Unfortunately, the cases where all else is equal are usually trivial; it is far
more common to have difficult tradeoffs. For example, in many cases
involving manufacture of complex objects, experience indicates that there
is a tradeoff between energy consumption and toxicity of materials.
7. Industries should get most of the needed materials through recycling
streams (theirs or those of others) rather than through the extraction of raw
materials, even in the case of common materials.
8. Every process and every product should be designed to preserve the
embedded utility of the materials used. An efficient way to accomplish this
goal is by designing modular equipment and by remanufacturing.
9. Every product should be designed so that it can be used to create other
useful products at the end of its current life; at the least, end-of-life mate-
rials recovery should be facilitated by initial design.
10. Every industrial landholding, facility, or infrastructure system or com-
ponent should be developed, constructed, or modified with attention to
maintaining or improving local habitats and species diversity and to mini-
mizing impacts on local or regional resources.
11. Close interactions should be developed with materials suppliers, customers,
and representatives of other industries, with the aim of developing coopera-
tive ways of minimizing packaging and of recycling and reusing materials.
These principles cannot be implemented unless environmental concerns are
an integral part of the initial design activities for virtually every technoloical
