Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
At the beginning of the industrialization the prime focus of the study and engineering
was to find the ways, means and methods to get maximum production output. Taking
example of industrial revolution in England the major focus to increase the industrial
production output. Steam engines were a major contributor to this industrial growth.
The major source of energy at that time was coal and which was found in abundance
at that time. To fuel the growth of industry more and more coal was excavated and in
some cases imported to England. Without thinking aboutits impact on the
environment.This leads to very high levels of pollution creating a health hazard.
There were acid rains and smog allover England.
With the increasing Pollution and reducing natural resources various new parameters
or indicators were devised. New concepts of environmental impact such as Carbon
footprint, air pollution, greenhouse gas emission, water contamination were
developed. They were used as a benchmark to know the environmental impact of
any activity. Now polluting the environment was considered an important factor while
designing any process. The impact on the environment was studied in detail and the
manufacturing process were developed around this. Still one problem remains and
that was the ever limiting resources.
By studding the environmental impact and making it as low as possible we can
reduce pollution but still some pollution will remain. With ever increasing demands in
terms of goods and energy this small impact also accumulates to a big value. In other
words with all this we can achieve only so much but still we need to find out ways and
means to ensure our existence as the natural resources keeps on depleting.
So, it is necessary to device way to reduce the environmental impact not only by
reducing the pollution but also by deigning the product which require less energy and
natural resources to manufacture, to transport, to use and most importantly to
recycle. Hence, the concept of Sustainability was developed.
"Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs." Bruntland Report for the World
Commission on Environment and Development (1992)
The concept of sustainabilty can be applied to each and every activity that we can
thinl of weather it is designing, deveoping, manufacturing, transportation, storage, or
any other activity it can be related to industry or even simple things like deciding how
much toothpast is required while brushing. In this report we would be presenting the
study done on sustainablilty in manufacturing and design.
Environmental impact
It can be defined as the change or effect that one activity produces on the
surrounding environment. The impact can be understood by listing down the
disturbances produced by certain activity. The impact can be good or bad i.e.
Installation of wind turbines can greatly affect the bat or the bird population in that
area, so the installation can be said to have an environmental impact of reducing the
bird population in the surrounding area.
In manufacturing scenario we consider the possible impact on the environment at
each and every stage of the product lifecycle. This can be broadly classified into the
following categories.
1. Material impact: this is the impact which the raw material used to make the
product produces on the environment. Taking an example of a fertilizer
manufacturing company. They used various chemicals to produce synthetic
fertilizers now in certain cases the raw material leaks in to the environment
may be due to mishandling or due to the very nature of the chemical. This has
a big impact on the environment near the manufacturing unit.
4. Impact while using the product: The impact due to the use of the product is
mostly underestimated in the industry but if studies carefully it impacts the
environment near the end customer. It can be said that to produce a car we
produce some quantity of CO2 but when the product (car) is used it consumes
a lot of fossil fuel and produces the green house gasses and may be in some
cases more than that were initially produced and estimated at the time of
manufacturing the car. So it is very important to understand the environmental
impact which a product produces when it is in use.
5. End of life impact: This is impact which the product produces when it has
completed its usage or workable life. Once the product has completed its
workable life or is damaged during the use it needs to be scraped. Now all the
scrap which is produced by scraping the product creates a negative impact on
the environment. Taking example of the modern-day electronic scrap such as
mobile phones, laptops and other electronic products, they are not
biodegradable and have to be scraped or recycled with great care.
3. Air acidification: This the amount of acids or fumes other than the green house
gases which is emitted into the atmosphere. It includes chemicals like sulfuric
acid, hydrochloric acids, etc. This chemical can pollute the air and the water
resources in the near vicinity of the production unit. This impact is measured in
terms of Kg of sulfur dioxide equivalent.
Use of software to calculate the environmental impact and using it to create or design
a more efficient product which will have lesser impact on the environment and will
have better sustainability.
In our study we have used the Soildworks simulation sustainability express module to
develop models and estimate the environmental impact.