Sustainable Development and Goals

Sustainable Development

• The United Nations Brundtland Commission in 1987 addressed sustainable development
• Gro Harlem Brundtland, a Norwegian politician, chaired the commission
• The commission produced the Brundtland Report, titled "Our Common Future"
• The commission raised political awareness of sustainability issues
• It established a common definition of sustainable development
• It introduced the concept of intergenerational equity
• Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising future generations' ability to meet their own needs

Sustainable Development Goals

• Goals were planned in 2015
• The target date for achieving these goals: 2030
• The goals include:
  • No Poverty
  • Zero Hunger
  • Good Health and Well-being
  • Quality Education
  • Gender Equality
  • Clean Water and Sanitation
  • Affordable and Clean Energy
  • Decent Work and Economic Growth
  • Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
  • Reducing Inequality
  • Sustainable Cities and Communities
  • Responsible Consumption and Production
  • Climate Action
  • Life Below Water
  • Life On Land
  • Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
  • Partnerships for the Goals
• Ban Ki-moon, former UN Secretary-General, stated, "We don't have plan B because there is no planet B"

EU Priorities (2024-2029)

• There are 7 priorities for 2024-2029
• Visit https://commission.europa.eu/priorities-2024-2029_en for more info

European Strategy for Plastics

• Proposed in May 2018, rules address 10 single-use plastic products
• These products are most often found on Europe's beaches and seas
• They account for 70% of all marine litter items
• It went into effect on 2 July 2019
• Single-use plastics cannot be placed on EU markets if sustainable alternatives are easily available and affordable
• This rule applies to cotton bud sticks, cutlery, plates, straws, stirrers, and sticks for balloons

Code of Ethics (Engineers Ireland)

• Part 2 is on Environmental and social obligations

• Visit https://www.engineersireland.ie/Professionals/News-Insights/Resource-centre/Regulations-and-governance/Code-of-ethics for more info

• 2.0 details ENVIRONMENTAL & SOCIAL OBLIGATIONS

• 2.1 states that Members must consider the effects of their work on health, safety, and society's welfare

• As designers, operators, or managers, members should eliminate risks to health and safety and minimize adverse impacts on the natural environment

• 2.2 stipulates Members should promote sustainable development principles/practices, fulfilling present and future generations' needs

• 2.3 states Members should aim for the most efficient natural resource consumption possible, including reducing energy use, waste, and pollution

• 2.4 stipulates Members should promote social and environmental factors to colleagues, employers, and clients, collaborating to mitigate adverse impacts

• 2.5 states Members should foster environmental awareness in the profession and among the public

Keeling Curve

• Measures atmospheric CO2 at Mauna Loa, Hawaii since 1958

• Volcanic eruption on Nov 28 2022 disrupted data collection

• Data collected at Mauna Kea since Dec 14

• Most recent measurement was 424.0 parts per million (Feb 24 2025)

• There is a 33% increase

• There has been a 50% increase since industrial revolution, with 280 ppm in 1750

Greenhouse Gases

• Water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, chlorofluorocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons are all examples of Green House Gasses
• For Simplified diagram of solar energy balance, visit http://thermopedia.com/content/826/

IPCC Reports

• United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the head organization

• Includes assessment and special reports:

  • First (1990)
  • 1992 supplementary report
  • Second (1995)
  • Third (2001)
  • Fourth (2007)
  • Fifth (2014)
  • Sixth (2022, final synthesis report March 2023)

• Includes these special reports:

  • Emissions Scenarios (2000)
  • Renewable energy sources (2012)
  • Extreme events and disasters (2012)
  • Global Warming of 1.5 °C (2018)
  • Climate Change & Land (2019)
  • Ocean & Cryosphere (2019)

• First report (1990) says CO2 is responsible for over half the enhanced greenhouse effect

• It predicts global mean temps to inc by 0.3°C per decade

• Fifth report (2014) claims clear human influence on the climate

• There will be an increase in the global water cycle due to greater variation

• Global surface temperature increase by the end of the 21st century is likely to exceed 1.5 °C relative to the 1850 to 1900 period

• Sixth report (2022) states human-induced climate change is affecting weather and climate extremes worldwide

• Many changes from past/future greenhouse gas emissions are irreversible for centuries/millennia

• With further global warming, every region will experience concurrent, multiple climate impact-drivers

• Limiting human-induced global warming requires limiting cumulative CO2 emissions, reaching net zero CO2 emissions, and reducing other greenhouse gases

COP26 - 26th United Nations Climate Change conference(2021)

• The goal was to "keep 1.5 °C alive"
• Glasgow Climate Pact included phasedown on coal power
• Paris agreement reaffirmed to keep avg well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels while increasing efforts to limit increase to 1.5°C
• The pact established 140 countries to reach net-zero emissions
• The pact established 100 countries to reversing deforestation by 2030

Energy & Development

• Visit http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-index-hdi for more
• Visit http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/energising-human-development for more

Energy in Ireland

• Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) is Ireland's national sustainable energy authority to ensure facilitating transition to more sustainable energy sources
• EU 2030 climate and energy framework sets the following targets:
  • 40% cuts in GHG (relative to 1990)
  • 27% renewable energy
  • 27% improvement in energy generation efficiency
• SEAI provides policy advice and technical support

Electricity: energy sources and uses

• Visit https://www.seai.ie/publications/Energy-in-Ireland-2022.pdf for more

Carbon Emissions (Life Cycle)

• Carbon emissions by technology measured in Median g CO2-eq/kWhe:
  • Coal: 1001
  • Natural gas: 469
  • Biomass: 230
  • Solar PV: 46
  • Geothermal: 45
  • Solar thermal: 22
  • Nuclear: 16
  • Wind: 12
  • Hydroelectric: 4

Principles of Sustainable Engineering

• 12 principles of sustainable engineering listed

• See https://www.e-education.psu.edu/eme504/ for more info

• Avoid hazard/exposure to ensure that material/energy inputs and outputs are not hazardous

• Creative designs/by-products to allow for waste minimization over waste management

• Plan for recycle and reuse to design for easy separation and purification

• Smaller is generally better to design components for maximum mass, energy, temporal efficiency for lower expenses

• Production should respond to real-time demands

• Not all products should receive the same end-of cycle treatment (use entropy and complexity as guidelines)

• Over-design is a design flaw, so, you need a to consider A product must not outlast its uses

• Design for realistic uses and conditions and to ensure a product have realistic capabilities/capacities

• Minimize the use of different materials, esp. adhesives, sealants, coating to minimize material diversity

• Take into account methods of extraction of needed resources to limit product creation to only one part of the cycle, including transport

• Evaluate products based on the life-cycle analysis to ensure the ractcion and methods of extraction needed resources includes and transport

• You should prioritize Avoid using non-renewables, except when using renewables may be more damaging to prioritize the use of renewable materials and readily available resources

Life Cycle Analysis

• Compare sustainable nature of a reusable cup to a disposable cup

• LCA example: https://au.keepcup.com/media/KeepCup%20LCA%20Report.pdf

• Consider Keep Cups vs alternatives as part of this analysis

• 3 use intensities can change results:

  • Light use: 1 coffee per day, 250 coffees per year
  • Medium use: 2 coffees per day, 500 coffees per year
  • Heavy use: 3 coffees per day, 750 coffees per year

• Assumes there are 250 working days

• With Keep Cups, their main impacts fall outside the company's control with most of it happening during the use stage

• As such, handwashing over dishwashing can reduce household energy

• Most variability falls out of KeepCups direct control, as it sits in the washing of the cups (use stage).

• The best-case scenario is if all cups were rinsed.

• The worst-case scenario is if all cups were sold in Victoria (where electricity is mostly coal-based) and all KeepCup users opted for dishwashing them

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

• Purpose of LCA: to analyze environmental impact across product lifecycle
• Understand/address environmental impacts from manufacture/use of products/services

Uses for LCA include:

• Identifying ways to reduce environmental impact
• Informing design choices
• Selecting environmental performance indicators and how to measure them
• Help market a product
• ISO 14040:2006 focuses on Environmental Management - Life Cycle Assessment - Principles And Framework, available at https://eu.i2.saiglobal.com/management/display/anchorViaIP/249569/-/7dd0394db8499b0fe24aca1d4de349ef for guidance
• ISO 14044:2006 concerns Environmental Management - Life Cycle Assessment - Requirements And Guidelines, available at https://eu.i2.saiglobal.com/management/display/anchorViaIP/249777/-/31f93edac84efcb3f5d201a5ac25e79d for the requirements

Scope of Life Cycle Assessment

• Defining goal/scope

• Life cycle inventory analysis (LCI) phase

• Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase

• Life cycle interpretation phase

• Reporting and critical review

• Limitations of the LCA

• Relationships between the LCA phases

• Compilation/evaluation of potential impacts on the environment from a product system throughout its life cycle

• Life cycle has to involve consecutive/interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material acquisition

• Consider the functional unit, which pertains to Quantified performance of a product system for use as a reference unit, such as cup of coffee, hour of game play, pair of dried hands (paper vs. hot air), etc

• Comparative assertion states the Environmental claim regarding the superiority or equivalence of one product versus a competing product that performs the same Function

LCA Phases

• Consists of 4 phases: goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, impact assessment, and interpretation
• Definition of goal and scope is Define the system boundary and level of detail, and the product system to be used
• Contrast cradle-to-gate and cradle-to-grave

Inventory Analysis

• Life cycle inventory analysis (LCI) is the Compilation and quantification of inputs and outputs for a product throughout its life cycle
• Energy inputs, raw material inputs, other inputs
• Products, co-products, waste
• Emissions to air, water, soil
• Other environmental aspects should all be factored in

Impact Assessment

• Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) focuses on understanding and evaluating the magnitude and significance of the potential environmental impacts for a product system across its life cycle
• It will associates inventory data with categories and indicators

Additional Notes

• The goal and scope needs to address issues identified in the goal and scope, since LCIA is not a complete assessment of all environmental issues of the product system under study
• Summarize and analyze the results
• Outcomes from inventory analysis and impact assessment must also be considered
• Reach conclusions, explain limitations, provide recommendations, and link back to your primary goals
• Since it is a iterative process all the steps should loop back to the start of the Life cycle assessment framework
• Decisions within an LCA must be based on natural science