Sustainable Engineering
Principles and Practice

A multidisciplinary introduction to sustainable engineering exploring challenges and solutions through practical examples and exercises.

Bhavik R. Bakshi (Author)

9781108420457, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 June 2019

490 pages, 187 b/w illus. 87 tables 110 exercises
25.3 x 19.2 x 2.7 cm, 1.21 kg

'Sustainable Engineering provides a comprehensive engineering treatment of sustainability. This is the only textbook covering many of the new approaches to sustainable engineering. Clear, succinct chapters, and the range of quantitative problems, make for a welcome textbook that will be widely useful for undergraduate engineering classes. It includes recent concepts such as water footprinting, energy return on investment, material flow analysis, energy analysis, ecosystem services calculations, techno-economic analysis, and industrial symbiosis. The problems are quantitative and thorough, with sufficient worked examples that they can be mastered in an introductory sustainable engineering course. The sustainability framing is broad and thorough, allowing undergraduates to see the big-picture context for sustainable engineering. References are also excellent, encouraging students to become familiar with key data sources, software, and the relevant scientific literature.' Valerie Thomas, Anderson Interface Professor of Natural Systems, Georgia Institute of Technology

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.

Subject Areas: Environmental science, engineering & technology [TQ], Energy technology & engineering [TH], Chemical engineering [TDCB], Engineering: general [TBC], Ecological science, the Biosphere [PSAF]