Chapter 23 Sustainable design engineering and science: Selected challenges and case studies

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses selected challenges and case studies for sustainable design engineering and science. Environmental aspects of sustainable design are presented, although issues of corporate social responsibility and trade-offs between societal and environmental variables are mentioned. The case studies highlight specific trade-offs that arise in sustainable design applications. The first case study provides an overview of economic, environmental, and societal aspects of mobile telephone production, use, and remanufacturing. The second case study provides a quantitative methodology for the evaluation of sustainable design policies related to automotive fuel efficiency. The two case studies are starkly different in approach. While the first takes a high-level and empirical view of existing mobile phone design and remanufacturing activities, the second takes a mathematical approach toward modeling the impacts of environmental policy options on engineering design. By presenting both case studies in this chapter, the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches are presented as they apply to sustainable design.