Sustainable Engineering Principles and Practice

Drawing on multidisciplinary perspectives from engineering, economics, business, science, and human behavior, this text presents an unrivalled introduction to how engineering practice can contribute to sustainable development. Varied approaches for assessing the sustainability of engineering and other human activities are presented in detail, and potential solutions to meet key challenges are proposed, with an emphasis on those that require engineering skills. Each concept and approach is supported by mathematical representation, solved problems, real-world examples, and self-study exercises. Topics covered range from introductory material on the nature of sustainability, to more advanced approaches for assessment and design. Prerequisites for each chapter are clearly explained so the text can be adapted to meet the needs of students from a range of backgrounds. Software tutorials, project statements and solutions, lecture slides, and a solutions manual accompany the book online, making this an invaluable resource for courses in sustainable engineering, as well as a useful reference for industry practitioners.

Part I. Introduction and Motivation: 1. The basis of human well-being; 2. Status of ecosystem goods and services; 3. Sustainability: definitions and challenges; Part II. Reasons for Unsustainability: 4. Economics and the environment; 5. Business and the environment; 6. Science, engineering, and the environment; 7. Society and the environment; Part III. Sustainability Assessment: 8. Goal definition and scope; 9. Inventory analysis; 10. Mathematical framework; 11. Footprint assessment; 12. Energy and material flow analysis; 13. Exergy analysis; 14. Cumulative exergy consumption and emergy analysis; 15. Life cycle impact assessment; 16. Ecosystem services in sustainability impact assessment; Part IV. Solutions for Sustainability: 17. Designing sustainable processes and products; 18. Ecosystem ecology; 19. Industrial symbiosis and circular economy; 20. Ecosystems in engineering; 21. Economic policies; 22. Societal development.

Bhavik R. Bakshi is the Morrow Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Ohio State University (OSU). He also holds appointments in Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering at OSU and as a Visiting Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, India. He has developed and taught a course on Sustainable Engineering for twenty years at OSU, and shorter versions at institutions such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, McGill University, Montreal, and South China University of Technology.