assignment.1.202
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Question 1, 1.5: How do the concepts of green design, industrial ecology, and sustainable
development differ from past approaches to engineering design? Prepare a brief report on this
topic, using some specific examples for illustration.
Previously, engineers wouldn’t take into consideration the consequences to the
environment from the discarded product when designing and manufacturing it; being
accountable of any problems related to the “technology development and deployment”. An
engineer was expected to design a product that was efficient functionally and profitable.
Nowadays, laws and regulations have been modified, and companies are now held accountable
for their discarded products, and responsible for it’s environmental safe disposal, which forced
the rethinking of the designing, manufacturing and processing of a product. An example of the
regulations at play is IBM, the information technology company, was demanded to recollect all
of their discarded computers since they had toxic metals that were harmful to the
environment.
Today, with concepts such as green design, industrial ecology, and sustainable
development, we may establish three central categories that engineers focus on when
designing a product: material selection, manufacturing processes, and energy use, being the
sources of impacts on the life cycle assessment. Material selection includes the material used,
the type and the quantity needed to manufacture the product, which has to have two qualities:
be environmentally friendly and reliable. The manufacturing process refers to the system or
method devised to convert a given raw material into a completed product, after the crude
material has undergone refining, transportation, manufacturing and assembly. Lastly, the types
and quantities of energy used directly affect environmental quality. For example, energy use
can take 2 different forms: heating or electricity. By considering these sources of impacts, engineers can now lessen or even completely
get rid of the consequences of production on the environment: minimizing waste and use of
energy, lessening the amount of materials used, recycling materials, and eliminating the
harmful substances. For example, after it was discovered that batteries produced a
considerable emission of mercury engineers reconsidered the initial design of batteries and
brought it down to almost nothing. A similar situation happened with computers, when the
possibility to cut down the energy required from then was discovered engineers reduced the
watts required from 800 to 400, a considerable amount.
Therefore, any engineering advancements that reduces energy and material use as well
as the emission of pollutants in the air and contaminants in the water, will be considered as
preferable and beneficial for the environment, which clearly states how the concepts of green
design, industrial ecology and sustainable development differ from past approaches to
engineering design. Question 2: Using the Canadian National Pollutant Release Inventory (through the Environment
Canada Website), choose any 3 chemicals and determine their quantities released to the air,
water and land.
According to the Canadian National Pollutant Release Inventory on the Environment
Canada Website (
www.ec.gc.ca
), here are the quantities released in air, water and land for
these 3 chemicals. This data was collected in 2012.
Chemical
Quantity released
in air
Quantity released in
water
Quantity released
in land
Total
Lead (Pb)
115,318 tons
13,915 tons
117,596 tons
246,829
tons
Mercury
(Hg)
2,386 tons
4,447 tons
23 tons
6,856 tons
Cadmium
(Cd)
8,534 kg
2,738 kg
269 kg
11,541 kg
Question 3, 2.11: Investigate the estimated resource base of world energy supplies of either
crude oil or natural gas (choose one). One useful website is the Energy Information
Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy (
www.eia.doe.gov
). Comment on when or
whether we might be “running out” of this nonrenewable resource based on current estimates.
Also discuss whether the environmental implications of future energy resource extraction might
change because of the location or difficulty of exploiting the remaining reserves. Summarize
your findings in a brief report.
According to the article “World Oil Outlook 2010” written by the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries also referred to as OPEC, the estimation of resource base of
world energy supplies of natural gas in 2009 is 187 trillion cubic meters include 45 trillion cubic
meters for Russia, 30 trillions for Iran and 25 trillion for Qatar, being the top three countries
accounting for over 50% of the total world reserve of gas.
Based on current estimations from 2009 to 2030, projections of the world’s energy
demand for natural gas show a rise due to the considerable growth in population. Despite the
increase of renewable energy, it is very difficult to determine whether we will or not run out of
this non-renewable source, the fossil fuel natural gas, knowing that fossil energy counts for 80%
of total energy demand within the outlook of 2009 to 2030. it is important to note that there is
a possibility of discovery of new sources of natural gases within the years to come, which can
have a great influence on future projections. Another possibility will be that engineers may
consider extraction from different locations.
Finally, the extraction of oil and gas will not be limited to land since it is also possible in
water. However, it brings up many important and severe concerns, and poses environmental
consequences. Oil spills are a common environmental disaster when handling the extraction of
resources such as oil or gas from the ocean floors. A particular example is the oil spill that
happened in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20th, 2010, causing colossal damage to the marine
environment in addition to economic damages that may affect future generations to come.
Question 4, 12.15: Use the 20-year Global Warming Potential (GWP) values in Table 12.9 to calculate an equivalent CO
2
emission rate for worldwide greenhouse gas emissions as given in Table 12.1. Assume that total CFCs are divided equally among the three compounds listed. What is the percentage contribution of actual CO
2
emissions to the total equivalent CO
2
? What is
the next most important greenhouse gas emission based on this analysis? How do these results compare to those using the 100-year GWP in Example 12.17?
Here below is a table where calculations for an equivalent CO
2
emission rate for worldwide greenhouse gas emissions given in Table 12.1. The values for the 20-year GWP were collected from Table 12.9. Greenhouse Gas
Annual Emissions in the World (Mt/yr)
20-Year Global Warming Potential
Equivalent CO
2
(Mt/yr)
Carbon dioxide (CO
2
)
29,800
1
29,800*1= 29,800
Methane (CH
4
)
375
56
375*56= 21,000
Nitrous oxide (N
2
O)
5.7
280
5.7*280= 1,596
CFC-11 (CFCl
3
)
0.7/3= 0.23
5,000
0.23*5,000= 1,150
CFC-12 (CF
2
Cl
2
)
0.7/3= 0.23
7,900
0.23*7,900= 1,817
CFC-113 (C
2
F
3
Cl
3
)
0.7/3= 0.23
5,000
0.23*5,000= 1,150
HCFC-22 (CF
2
HCl)
0.2
4,300
0.2*4,300= 860
Total
57,373
57,373 Mt/yr represents 100% of equivalent CO
2
. Therefore, 29,800 Mt/yr represents 52%. ((29,800/57,373)*100)
The percentage contribution of actual Carbon dioxide (CO
2
) emissions to the total equivalent CO
2
is 52%.
Based on this analysis, the next most important Greenhouse gas is Methane (CH
4
) since it has the second largest emission number after the Carbon dioxide (CO
2
): 375 Mt/yr. It is the next largest contributor with 37%.
When comparing the results for the 20-year GWP to the 100-year GWP chart from Example 12.17, we can see that the percentage contribution of actual Carbon dioxide emissions
to the total equivalent CO
2
is smaller for the 20-year GWP: 52% for 20-year GWP and 67.9%
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((29,800/43,860)*100) for 100-year GWP. Therefore, the equivalent CO
2
emission rate using 100-year GWP decreases by 33% comparing to 20-year GWP. It is important to note however, that the equivalent CO
2
emission is the same for both the 20-year and 100-year GWP, which is 29,800 Mt/yr.
Methane’s equivalent CO
2
emission for the 20-year GWP is more than twice of what is obtained using the 100-year GWP: 21,000 Mt/yr using the 20-year GWP and 7,875 Mt/yr using the 100-year GWP.
Nitrous oxide’s equivalent CO
2
emission for the 100-year GWP is marginally greater than the one using the 20-year GWP: 1,596 Mt/yr using the 20-year GWP and 1,767 Mt/yr using the 100-
year GWP.
Also, the equivalent CO
2
emissions for CFC-11, -12, and -113 are fairly close if not the same using both the 20-year GWP and the 100-year GWP.
Parallel to the Methane, HCFC-22’s equivalent CO
2
emission for the 20-year GWP is more
than twice of what is obtained using the 100-year GWP: 860 Mt/yr using the 20-year GWP and 340 Mt/yr using the 100-year GWP.
It is clear that the total correspondent Carbon dioxide emissions values obtained using the 20-year GWP are significantly greater than the values obtained using the 100-year GWP.