Assessing and Measuring Environmental Impact and Sustainability

Table of contents

1. Cover image
2. Title page
3. Table of Contents
4. Copyright
5. Contributors
6. Preface
7. Acknowledgments
8. Introduction
   1. Introduction
   2. Suitability Definitions, Systems Approach to Sustainability, and Ways to Express and Measure Sustainability
   3. Quantification of the Environmental Impacts: Footprints
   4. Sustainable Design, Planning, and Management
   5. Policies Toward the Sustainability
   6. Conclusion
   7. References
9. Chapter 1. Engineering sustainability
   1. Introduction
   2. Extending boundaries
   3. Systems analysis approach to sustainability and engineering challenges
   4. Case studies
   5. Summary
   6. References
10. Chapter 2. Recent developments in the application of Fisher information to sustainable environmental management
    1. Introduction
    2. Information theory
    3. Comparison of Computational Approaches: Assessing Sustainability in Model Systems
    4. Application to real urban, regional, and national systems
    5. Concluding remarks
    6. Acknowledgments
    7. Disclaimer
    8. Appendix 2.1 Approaches to estimating FI
    9. Appendix 2.2 FI at tipping points
    10. References
11. Chapter 3. Sustainable process index
    1. Measuring ecological impact—the normative base of the SPI
    2. Assigning footprints to material flows
    3. LCA with the SPI
    4. Applications of the SPI
    5. Characteristics of the SPI assessment
    6. Tools Based on the SPI
    7. Conclusion
    8. References
12. Chapter 4. Moving to a decision point in sustainability analyses
    1. Introduction
    2. Defining a system in the context of sustainability
    3. Indicator-based system assessment for sustainability
    4. History of sustainability analysis through the use of indicators and metrics
    5. Research methodology
    6. Case studies from engineering systems
    7. Conclusions
    8. Acknowledgment
    9. References
13. Chapter 5. Overview of environmental footprints
    1. Glossary
    2. Introduction
    3. Life cycle thinking and LCA framework
    4. Direct, indirect, and total effects
    5. Measuring environmental sustainability
    6. Key environmental footprints
    7. Other environmental footprints
    8. Concluding remarks
    9. Acknowledgment
    10. References
14. Chapter 6. N footprint and the nexus between C and N footprints
    1. Motivation
    2. Background on footprints
    3. Scale of footprints
    4. Nitrogen accounting and footprint
    5. Eco-LCA nitrogen footprint
    6. Eco-LCA nitrogen inventory and calculations
    7. Eco-LCA nitrogen footprint for 2002 US economy
    8. Eco-LCA nitrogen footprint for products
    9. Case study: comparison of Eco-LCA nitrogen footprint for fuels
    10. Nexus of carbon and nitrogen footprint
    11. C–N nexus for product scale: case study of fuels
    12. Appendix 6.1
    13. References
15. Chapter 7. The water footprint of industry
    1. Introduction
    2. The WF concept
    3. Methods to trace natural resources use and pollution over supply chains
    4. Direct and indirect WFs of different sectors of the economy
    5. Water stewardship and transparency
    6. Conclusion
    7. Acknowledgment
    8. References
16. Chapter 8. Life cycle sustainability aspects of microalgal biofuels
    1. Introduction
    2. Background
    3. Political motivation
    4. LCA framework
    5. Sustainability metrics
    6. Case study
    7. Water footprint of biofuels
    8. Comparison of prior microalgal biofuel LCAS
    9. Conclusions
    10. References
17. Chapter 9. Methods and tools for sustainable chemical process design
    1. Nomenclature
    2. Introduction
    3. Sustainable process synthesis and design framework
    4. Case study
    5. Concluding remarks
    6. Appendix A
    7. References
18. Chapter 10. Life cycle assessment as a comparative analysis tool for sustainable brownfield redevelopment projects: Cumulative energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions
    1. Introduction and purpose
    2. Relevance
    3. Brownfield site histories
    4. Environmental assessment and remediation
    5. Site development and building design features
    6. LCA methodology
    7. LCA results
    8. Discussion
    9. Conclusions
    10. Acknowledgments
    11. Appendix A Commuter transportation survey
    12. Appendix B CCGT LCA input data
    13. Appendix C Sigma site LCA input data
    14. References
19. Chapter 11. The Environmental Performance Strategy Map: An integrated life cycle assessment approach to support the strategic decision-making process
    1. Introduction
    2. From Environmental Assessment to Strategic Environmental Maps
    3. The Environmental Bill of Materials and Technology Routing
    4. Uncertainty estimation in the definition of the EPSM
    5. The E3-Methodology in LCA evaluation
    6. Chapter Conclusions
    7. References
20. Chapter 12. Green supply chain toward sustainable industry development
    1. Introduction
    2. Development of GSCM
    3. Formulation of GSC Model
    4. Further reading
    5. Conclusions
    6. Acknowledgment
    7. References
21. Chapter 13. Supply and demand planning and management tools toward low carbon emissions
    1. Introduction
    2. Carbon Pinch Analysis design method
    3. Carbon footprint improvement based on Pinch Analysis
    4. Carbon emission Pinch Analysis
    5. Conclusion
    6. References
22. Chapter 14. Setting a policy for sustainability: The importance of measurement
    1. Introduction
    2. The process analysis method
    3. Some examples of sustainability assessment
    4. Summary and conclusions
    5. References
23. Chapter 15. Sustainability assessments of buildings, communities, and cities
    1. Introduction
    2. Framework of sustainability assessment
    3. Systems for sustainability assessment of buildings
    4. Sustainability assessment of urban communities
    5. Systems for sustainability assessment of cities
    6. Discussion and conclusions
    7. References
24. Index