LIFE CYCLE AND THE APPROACHES TO SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH Paper presented at International Conference on Sustainability Engineering and Science Auckland, NZ Feb. 20-23, 2007 Professor Michael Overcash Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering North Carolina State University overcash@ncsu.edu

Sustainability Challenges NUMEROUS DEFINITIONS NO AGREEMENT FORTHCOMING STRATEGY IS THUS MORE PERCEPTIONAL METRICS DEVELOPED PROVIDE SATISFACTION IN MEASUREMENT NOT ALL ISSUES ARE TECHNICAL

Sustainability is a Complex System There are other complex systems that have been addressed by the scientific community Research also addresses these complex systems in a similar fashion Two elements are generally needed for research on complex systems

SET OF RESEARCH TOOLS TO EXPLORE UNDERLYING PHENOMENA A MACRO MODEL OBEYS THERMODYNAMIC LAWS AND OTHER ENGINEERING PRINCIPLES IS AN INCLUSIVE APPROACH THAT RELATES MANUFACTURING TO ENVIRONMENT SET OF RESEARCH TOOLS TO EXPLORE UNDERLYING PHENOMENA

DETAILED BRUNDTLAND SUSTAINABILITY CONCEPT TO MEET THE NEEDS OF THE PRESENT WITHOUT COMPROMISING THE ABILITY OF FUTURE GENERATIONS TO MEET THEIR OWN NEEDS, HARMONY MUST BE ACHIEVED AMONG, EXPLOITATION OF RESOURCES DIRECTION OF INVESTMENTS ORIENTATION OF TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE

Sustainability in Economics This generation must save and invest for future generations to enjoy a better quality of life Edmund S. Phelps Columbia University 2006 Nobel Prize for Economics

Cleaner production (industry) is an integral part of the overall environmental context:

WORLD ECONOMIC PYRAMID (Hart, 1997) 100 > 20 K $ 1,500 1.5 K $ 4,000 < 1.5 K $ Per Capita Annual Income Million Population

Tools for Sustainability Research Life cycle is a principal tool for the environmental and resource areas Thus we look at life cycle of large or complex systems

CONCLUSIONS SUSTAINABILITY IS BOTH A FUZZY CONCEPT AND A PROFOUND AREA FOR QUANTITATIVE/ENGINEERING RESEARCH CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS ARE INCREASINGLY CHALLENGED TO ADDRESS ISSUES OF SUSTAINABILITY LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY REMAINS A CRITICAL TOOL TO ACHIEVING QUANTITATIVE RESULTS NECESSARY TO ESTABLISHING NET ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT – THE PATH TO SUSTAINABILITY