Introduction to Sustainability (eBook)

TABLE OF CONTENTS 5
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 11
CHAPTER 1 - BASIC INFORMATION ON SUSTAINABLE ISSUES 12
1.1 The purpose of this book 12
1.2 Defining sustainability 21
1.3 Weak and strong sustainability 26
1.4 Sustainable development vs. economic growth 27
1.5 People’s participation 32
1.6 The ecological footprint 35
1.7 The ecological rucksack 39
1.8 Emergy accounting 41
1.9 Resilience ( social, economical, and political) 43
1.10 Environmental resilience 44
1.11 Externalities 45
1.12 Capital 46
1.13 Local Agenda 47
1.14 The Bellagio principles 48
CHAPTER 2 – THE CULTURE OF WASTE 54
2.1 Introduction 54
2.2 First part: Current generation and treatment of waste 54
2.3 Hazardous waste 70
2.4 Recycling 71
2.5 Incinerators 71
2.6 Second part: Decreasing waste generation 75
2.7 Nature’s closed waste cycle 75
2.8 Society’s open path for wastes 76
2.9 Ecosystem metabolism and metabolism in society 79
2.10 Why is waste produced? 79
2.11 What can be done to correct this situation? 83
2.12 Conservation of resources 84
2.13 Actions to reduce consumption 101
2.14 Working together 105
CHAPTER 3 – SUSTAINABILITY IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT 116
3.1 Sustainability at the individual level 116
3.2 Sustainability in the household 117
3.3 Urban transportation 124
3.4 Upgrading slums in cities 128
3.5 Environmental sustainability 131
3.6 Team efforts toward sustainable environment 139
3.7 Sustainability in public administration and in urban life 139
3.8 Sustainability in public health 142
3.9 Sustainability in education 143
3.10 Sustainability in commerce 145
3.11 Reducing energy consumption 148
CHAPTER 4 - INDUSTRIAL APPROACH TO SUSTAINABILITY 160
4.1 Sustainability in industry 160
4.2 Sustainability in transportation 198
4.3 Sustainability in agriculture 211
4.4 Forestry sustainability 213
4.5 Sustainability in the construction industry 214
CHAPTER 5 - ENERGY SUSTAINABILITY 230
5.1 Introduction 230
5.2 Brief technical information on energy conversion equipment 234
5.3 Non-conventional sources for energy generation 244
CHAPTER 6 –MEASURING SUSTAINABILITY 276
6.1 Types of indicators 276
6.2 Approach for choosing indicators 278
6.3 Sustainable vs. common indicators 279
6.4 Indicator uses 280
6.5 Indicator linkages 285
6.6 Integration of sustainable indicators 286
6.7 Weight of indicators 287
6.8 The choice of indicators 288
6.9 Multipliers 292
6.10 Framework for indicators 295
6.11 Thresholds 297
6.12 Carrying capacity 298
6.13 Selection of a set of final indicators 304
6.14 Monitoring progress 305
6.15 Indicators for the city 306
CHAPTER 7 – SUSTAINABLE IMPACT ASSESSMENT ( SuIA) 326
7.1 Urban and regional sustainability 326
7.2 Agreeing on the goal 331
7.3 Understanding the problem 333
7.4 Resources inventory Factors to consider 334
7.6 People’s opinion 337
7.7 Criteria and indicators to gauge projects 339
7.8 Application example: A community looks for a sustainable energy option 342
CHAPTER 8: CASE EXAMPLE - A COMMUNITY IN SEARCH OF ITS FUTURE 370
8.1 Background information for a process 370
8.2 Introduction to the sustainable initiative for a community 374
8.3 The process 377
8.4 Impacts created by tourism 391
8.5 How to measure impacts 396
8.6 Conclusions from studies 398
APPENDIX 405
A.1 The Zeleny method for determining weights 406
A.2 Determination of Return on Investment and Net Present Value 410
A.3 A guide to strategic planning 413
A.4 Visualizing progress towards sustainability goals 417
A.5 Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) 421
A.6 Regression analysis for weights determination 426
A.7 Discharges and their effect on the environment 432
GLOSSARY 438
BIBLIOGRAPHY 446
INDEX 450

CHAPTER 2 – THE CULTURE OF WASTE (p. 43)

2.1 Introduction

Sustainability relates with Economics, Society, and Environment. However, one common fact that links them all is the generation of waste. This chapter is divided into two: The first part analyses the current generation of waste as well as its treatment. The second intends to establish policies for the future treatment of waste or, better yet, for ceasing the generation of waste. This first part begins by raising some capital questions:

What is waste?
Which are the components of waste?
Where is waste generated? and
How is waste treated?

The second part will deal with:

Why is waste produced? and
What is society doing to correct this problem?

2.2 First part: Current generation and treatment of waste

2.2.1 What is waste?
The dictionary defines ‘waste’ as something useless, unwanted, or defective and the word ‘by-product’ as something produced in an industrial or biological process in addition to the principal product. From the point of view of sustainability, the word ‘waste’ does not have that meaning as, though it may be unwanted, it is not something useless and is certainly not defective.

Even if in a manufacturing process a product or part of it does not conform to the manufacturer’s quality specs, it does not thereby become waste, but is, rather scrap material that is usually brought back to its original state and then processed again.

The Indigo Development Corporation (see Internet References at the end of this chapter) has a good definition of waste: they call waste a ‘dissipative use of natural resources’, as indeed it is, because if released into the air, soil or water there will actually be an unrecoverable dissipation of a natural resource.

Therefore, it is believed that the kind of ‘waste’ referred to here could be better called a by-product, and, as a consequence, having some economic value. The logging industry provides a very good example: A tree is sawed and transported to a sawmill, where it is de-barked the bark being the first by-product, which used then in the sawmill as fuel for a boiler or for producing ethanol (section 5.3.4.2).

The de-barked timber is then sawed into raw wood products, such as saw logs, veneer, building materials, pulpwood, etc., all of which could as easily be regarded as the main product. In the process sawdust is generated, which is another by-product normally utilized to produce particleboards, and also as biomass (section 5.3.4).

The branches of trees, cut into small pieces, are also used as mulch in gardens to retain humidity around plants. Raw wood products have many different uses, such as for boards and structural units in house construction, doors, windows, cabinets, furniture, etc. At the end of their life, these products are considered waste, and this is wrong since many beams, floors, windows can be reused for the same purpose, or taken advantage of the beauty of their grain to make useful and beautiful things.