Table Of ContentTo
Wolfram Krewitt (1962–2009)
whose passion for sustainable development will be greatly missed
Sustainable Development in Practice: Case Studies for Engineers and Scientists, Second Edition
Edited by Adisa Azapagic and Slobodan Perdan
© 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. ISBN: 978-0-470-71871-1
Sustainable Development in Practice
Sustainable Development
in Practice
Case Studies for Engineers and Scientists
Second Edition
Editors
ADISA AZAPAGIC and SLOBODAN PERDAN
School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science,
The University of Manchester
Thiseditionfirstpublished2011#2011byJohnWiley&Sons,Ltd.
Wiley-BlackwellisanimprintofJohnWiley&Sons,formedbythemergerofWiley’sglobalScientific,
TechnicalandMedicalbusinesswithBlackwellPublishing.
Registeredoffice: JohnWiley&SonsLtd,TheAtrium,SouthernGate,Chichester,WestSussex,
PO198SQ,UK
Editorialoffices: 9600GarsingtonRoad,Oxford,OX42DQ,UK
TheAtrium,SouthernGate,Chichester,WestSussex,PO198SQ,UK
111RiverStreet,Hoboken,NJ07030-5774,USA
Fordetailsofourglobaleditorialoffices,forcustomerservicesandforinformationabouthowto
applyforpermissiontoreusethecopyrightmaterialinthisbookpleaseseeourwebsiteat
www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell.
Therightoftheauthortobeidentifiedastheauthorofthisworkhasbeenassertedinaccordancewiththe
UKCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recordingorotherwise,
exceptaspermittedbytheUKCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,withoutthepriorpermissionof
thepublisher.
Designationsusedbycompaniestodistinguishtheirproductsareoftenclaimedastrademarks.Allbrand
names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor
mentionedinthisbook.Thispublicationisdesignedtoprovideaccurateandauthoritativeinformationin
regardtothesubjectmattercovered.Itissoldontheunderstandingthatthepublisherisnotengagedin
renderingprofessionalservices.Ifprofessionaladviceorotherexpertassistanceisrequired,theservicesof
acompetentprofessionalshouldbesought.
LibraryofCongressCataloguing-in-PublicationData
Sustainabledevelopmentinpractice:casestudiesforengineersandscientists/editors,
AdisaAzapagicandSlobodanPerdan.–2nded.
p.cm.
Includesindex.
ISBN978-0-470-71871-1(cloth)–ISBN978-0-470-71872-8(pbk.)
1. Engineering–Research.2. Sustainabledevelopment. I.Azapagic,Adisa.II.Perdan,Slobodan.
TA160.S872011
620.0028’6–dc22
2010029203
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
Thisbookispublishedinthefollowingelectronicformats:ePDF[9780470972854];
WileyOnlineLibrary[9780470972847]
Setin10/12pt.TimesRomanbyThomsonDigital,Noida,India.
FirstImpression 2011
Contents
About the Editors ix
List of Contributors xi
Preface xiii
Part 1
1 The Concept of Sustainable Development and its PracticalImplications 3
Slobodan Perdan
2 Measuring Sustainable Development:An Overview 26
Slobodan Perdan and Adisa Azapagic
3 AssessingEnvironmentalSustainability:Life Cycle Thinking
and Life Cycle Assessment 56
Adisa Azapagic
Part 2
4 Translating the PrinciplesofSustainable Development into
Business Practice:AnApplicationin the Miningand MineralsSector 83
Adisa Azapagic and SlobodanPerdan
5 Climate Change and Policy: The Caseof Germany 117
Wolfram Krewitt and Hans Mu¨ller-Steinhagen
6 Sustainability Assessment of Biofuels 142
Adisa Azapagic and Heinz Stichnothe
7 ScenarioBuilding and Uncertainties:Options for EnergySources 170
Richard Darton
8 Fuel Cells inStationaryApplications:Energy for the Future? 189
MartinPehnt
9 Sustainability of Nuclear Power 211
Adisa Azapagic and SlobodanPerdan
viii Contents
10 Municipal Solid WasteManagement:Recovering Energy from Waste 261
Adisa Azapagic
11 Sustainability Issuesin Food Provisioning Systems 326
Adisa Azapagic, Heinz Stichnothe and Namy Espinoza-Orias
12 ProvidingSustainable Sanitation 348
Richard Fenner and AmparoFlores
13 Sustainable ProcessDesign: The Caseof Vinyl Chloride
Monomer(VCM) 374
Adisa Azapagic
14 Urban Sustainability: The Case ofTransport 420
Slobodan Perdan and Adisa Azapagic
15 Aviationand itsResponse toEnvironmental Pressure 449
Alice Bows and Kevin Anderson
16 Health Impact Assessment ofUrban Pollution 467
ZaidChalabi and TonyFletcher
17 Socialand EthicalDimensions of Sustainable Development:
Mining in Kakadu NationalPark 483
Slobodan Perdan
Index 511
About the Editors
Adisa Azapagic is Professor of Sustainable Chemical Engineering at The University of
Manchester. Her research interests are in the areas of engineering for sustainable devel-
opment, life cycle assessment, sustainable consumption and production and corporate
sustainability.Shehaspublishedwidelyintheseareas,includingthebookonPolymers,the
Environment and Sustainable Development, also published by Wiley. Adisa has held a
numberofinternationalhonoraryappointments,suchas:ErskineFellowatUniversityof
Canterbury;UNESCO/ICSU/TWASFellowatITAM,MexicoCity;andRoyalAcademyof
Engineering &Leverhulme Trust Scholar at University of Sydney.
Dr. Slobodan Perdan is Research Fellow at the University of Manchester. He is a
philosopher by background with expertise and interests in the areas of sustainable
development and moral philosophy. He has written on a variety of issues concerning
sustainabledevelopmentandhasresearchedawiderangeofsubjects,includingenviron-
mental philosophy, engineeringethics andcorporate sustainability.
List of Contributors
Kevin Anderson School of Mechanical, Aerospaceand Civil Engineering,The
UniversityofManchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Adisa Azapagic School ofChemicalEngineering andAnalytical Science, The
UniversityofManchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
AliceBows SchoolofEarth,AtmosphericandEnvironmentalSciencesandSustainable
Consumption Institute, The UniversityofManchester, Oxford Road, Manchester
M13 9PL, UK
ZaidChalabi LondonSchoolofHygiene&TropicalMedicine,KeppelStreet,London
WC1E 7HT, UK
Richard Darton Keble College,OxfordUniversity, Oxford OX1 3PG, UK
Namy Espinoza-Orias School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, The
UniversityofManchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Richard Fenner Centre for Sustainable Development, Department of Engineering,
UniversityofCambridge, Trumpington Street,Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK
TonyFletcher LondonSchoolofHygiene&TropicalMedicine,KeppelStreet,London
WC1E 7HT, UK
Amparo Flores Centre for Sustainable Development, Department of Engineering,
UniversityofCambridge, Trumpington Street,Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK
WolframKrewitt GermanAerospaceCentre,InstituteofTechnicalThermodynamics,
Pfaffenwaldring38–40,70569 Stuttgart, Germany
Hans Mu€ller-Steinhagen German AerospaceCentre, Institute ofTechnical
Thermodynamics, Head ofInstitute, Pfaffenwaldring 38–40, 70569 Stuttgart,
Germany
Martin Pehnt Institut f€ur Energie-undUmweltforschung, Heidelberg, Germany
Slobodan Perdan School ofChemical Engineeringand Analytical Science, The
UniversityofManchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
xii ListofContributors
Heinz Stichnothe School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, The
University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK and vTI, Institut f€ur
Agrartechnologie und Biosystemtechnik, Bundesallee 50, 38116
Barunschweig, Germany
Preface
Thisbookisaboutsustainabledevelopmentanditsimplicationsforscienceandengineering
practice.Itisaimedatengineeringandsciencestudentsandeducators,aswellaspractising
engineersand scientists.
Part 1 of the book explores the concept of sustainable development and its practical
implications, gives an overview of the main approaches to measuring sustainability and
introduces life cycle thinking, the approach applied throughout the book.
Recognising that practical interpretation of sustainable development depends on the
context, Part 2 of the book is devoted to case studies. These are drawn from a range of
sectors, including mining and minerals, energy, waste, food, health, sanitation, and
transport. They explore scientific and technical aspects of different systems, but also
considerrelevanteconomic,environmentalandsocialramificationstopositionengineering
and scientificpractice inthe contextofsustainable development.
As demonstrated throughout the book, sustainable development poses significant
challenges to science and engineering. However, we hope that the book also shows that
meeting these challenges provides engineers and scientists with an opportunity to con-
tributetoa better qualityof life for everyone, now andinthe future.
Adisa Azapagicand SlobodanPerdan
Manchester, April 2010
