Technology today is undergoing a rapid, unprecedented, and accelerating period of transformation. The implications of climate change, underpinned by geopolitics, for scientists and engineers are profound, as they and their societies attempt to harness these new technologies to address critical global environmental challenges, often without a full understanding of the long-term consequences. This textbook is designed to fill the gaps at a time of rapid changes in technology and the global e...

The field of industrial ecology is evolving rapidly, and its tools and foundational concepts underpin many areas of sustainability in business and policy. Industrial ecology provides a systemic understanding of material and energy flows that is vital as limits in materials availability, limited recycling, increased demand for the quantification of environmental impact, and concern about future sustainability rise rapidly.This volume focuses on core topics of industrial ecology and ...

Solving the world's water problems is proving to be one of the greatest investment opportunities of our time. Already, world water supplies are inadequate to meet demand, and the problem is going to get much worse in the years ahead. The World Bank estimates that 1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and about 50 percent of the world's hospital beds are populated by people who have contracted water-borne diseases. If present consumption rates continue, in 25 years the world...

Transition Engineering: Building a Sustainable Future examines new strategies emerging in response to the mega-issues of global climate change, decline in world oil supply, scarcity of key industrial minerals, and local environmental constraints. These issues pose challenges for organizations, businesses, and communities, and engineers will need to begin developing ideas and projects to implement the transition of engineered systems. This work presents a methodology for sh...

This student version of the popular bestseller, Life Cycle Assessment Handbook, is not a watered-down version of the original, but retains all of the important information and valuable lessons provided in the first book, along with helpful problems and solutions for the student learning about Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).As the last several decades have seen a dramatic rise in the application of LCA in decision making, the interest in the life cycle concept as an environmen...

This open access book includes a selection of contributions from the Life Cycle Management 2019 Conference (LCM) held in Poznań, Poland, and presents different examples of scientific and practical contributions, showing an incorporation of life cycle approach into the decision processes on strategic and operational level. Special attention is drawn to applications of LCM to target, organize, analyze and manage product-related information and activities towards continuous improvement, along...

This open access book provides insight into the implementation of Life Cycle approaches along the entire business value chain, supporting environmental, social and economic sustainability related to the development of industrial technologies, products, services and policies; and the development and management of smart agricultural systems, smart mobility systems, urban infrastructures and energy for the built environment.The book is based on papers presented at the 8th Internationa...

While the last few decades have witnessed incredible leaps forward in the technology of energy production, technological innovation can only be as transformative as its implementation and management allows. The burgeoning fields of renewable, efficient and sustainable energy have moved past experimentation toward realization, necessitating the transition to more sustainable energy management practices. Energy Management is a collective term for all the systematic practices to minimize and ...

Decision Consequence Analysis (DCA) is a framework for improving the quality of decision results. The framework is a systematic, multi-criteria quantification of uncertainties and the opportunities for managing and reducing the potential negative consequences of such uncertainties. DCA is demonstrated throughout Sustainable Land Development and Restoration for each stage of system based management of environmental issues. DCA links disciplines and incorporates components of risk modelling,...

As businesses face an increasing array of environmental challenges, including climate change, air and water pollution, and solid waste management, environmental management has become an increasingly important area of expertise. Elements of Environmental Management is an interdisciplinary textbook for students and business professionals that integrates corporate environmental strategy with environmental economics, environmental law, and environmental engineering.Written by ...

This book is a uniquely pedagogical while still comprehensive state-of-the-art description of LCA-methodology and its broad range of applications. The five parts of the book conveniently provide: I) the history and context of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) with its central role as quantitative and scientifically-based tool supporting society’s transitioning towards a sustainable economy; II) all there is to know about LCA methodology illustrated by a red-thread example which evolves as the re...

Life Cycle Assessment addresses the dynamic and dialectic of building and ecology, presenting the key theories and techniques surrounding the use of life cycle assessment data and methods.Architects and construction professionals must assume greater responsibility in helping building owners to understand the implications of making material, manufacturing, and assemblage decisions and therefore design to accommodate more ecological building. Life Cycle Assessment is a guide for arch...