Aerospace & Ocean Engineering

1. Chemical Engineering Aerospace & Ocean Engineering Biological Systems Engineering Mining & Mineral Engineering Civil & Environmental Engineering Environment Manufacturing GREEN ENGINEERING & ENVIRONMENTAL LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS AT VIRGINIA TECHDr. Sean McGinnisDirector – Green Engineering ProgramVT College of Engineeringwww.eng.vt.edu Extraction Society Economics Use Disposal Technology • VIRGINIA TECH GREEN ENGINEERING PROGRAM MISSION: • To increase students’ awareness of the environmental impact of engineering practice • To provide students with courses and other educational experiences in which they learn skills to minimize environmental impacts and to design for sustainability • To facilitate interdisciplinary research and collaboration in areas of green engineering and sustainability among faculty • To engage the university, local, and global communities in discussions focused on engineering approaches to sustainability. • Since green engineering is multidisciplinary, the program searches for opportunities in education, outreach, and research across all VT colleges and departments. • GREEN ENGINEERING: • Green Engineering is the design of materials, processes, devices, and systems with the objective of minimizing overall environmental impact across the entire life cycle. • Green Engineering considers life-cycle environmental impacts as initial design constraints. It recognizes that environmental impacts are more effectively minimized the further upstream they are considered. • Green Engineering focuses at the interface between the environment, technology, economics, and society. • GREEN ENGINEERING DESIGN PRINCIPLES: • Consider the entire life cycle • Environmental impacts occur across multiple life cycle phases for products/processes and are most effectively minimized by good design • Materials Selection • The mass and production energy of materials used are key factors for determining life cycle environmental impact • Consider waste as a design flaw • Waste from all life cycle phases should be minimized through the use of materials which either return to nature or can be recycled indefinitely • Look to nature for sustainable designs • Nature designs materials and systems with high performance, efficient energy use, and no waste Mechanical Engineering Computer Science • LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS (LCA): • A method based on scientific data for analyzing and quantifying environmental impacts of products, processes, and systems over their entire life cycle • LCA provides objective environmental data for decision-making on issues that cross political, economic, social, technological, and environmental boundaries • 3. Translate inventory outputs to potential environmental impacts across categories (ISO 14042) • Use scientifically derived characterization factors for comparison • Define the project scope, boundaries, and assumptions (ISO 14040) • What system boundaries? Which impact categories? Which data sources? • 2. Compile a detailed inventory of all inputs and outputs (ISO 14041) • Confirm mass balance (inputs = outputs) within system boundaries • 4. Data Interpretation (ISO 14043) • How should different impact categories be weighted? • How accurate and sensitive are results to the data? • LCA provides the data/analysis, not the decision Life Cycle Air Emissions for B20 and B100 Compared to Petroleum Diesel Life Cycle Total and Fossil Fuel Production Energies (including feedstock) for Biodiesel and Petroleum Diesel NREL LCI Database http://www.nrel.gov/lci NREL LCI Database http://www.nrel.gov/lci Atmosphere Climate Change Ozone Depletion Smog Formation Acidification Human Health Electrical & Computer Engineering Materials Science & Engineering Manufacturing recycle Extraction Use Hydrosphere Eutrophication Acidification Aquifer depletion Ecotoxicity Human Health reuse Disposal compost Comparison of Net CO2 Life Cycle Emissions for Biodiesel Blends and Petroleum Diesel Comparison of Total Wastewater Flows for Biodiesel and Petroleum Diesel Life Cycles Example: Biodiesel Production From Soybeans Biosphere Soil depletion Deforestation Resource Depletion Ecotoxicity Human Health “An Overview of Biodiesel and Petroleum Diesel Life Cycles” http://www.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/fy98/24772.pdf Industrial System Engineering Engineering Science & Mechanics Engineering Education spm 2/17/07