With so many factors to consider, it is not always clear which approach to take. Thankfully, Professional Engineering and IMechE held the Sustainability in Engineering webinar series last week (25-29 September) to get you up to date on the latest technology and techniques.
Each of the expert-led sessions is now available to watch on-demand. Register for free here to view them at your leisure and share with colleagues.
Here are six of the key messages from the week.
Start with sustainability
Human-made objects now outweigh all life on Earth, said Tom Festa, director of Recharged Heritage Limited and a trainer at IMechE. The amount of plastics that has been manufactured is more than twice as heavy as marine and terrestrial animals put together, he added.
The relationship between the amount of things we make and the curve of global warming is closely related, Festa said, so we need a more sustainable approach. ‘Industry 5.0’ could offer a solution, he claimed, with sustainability introduced as a core principle.
“The engineering community is waking up to the need that we have to stabilise and do things slightly different,” he said. “Engineers need to adopt a slightly different view, we'll have to look not only at profitability, the cost of the item, but also sustainability… you can still do fantastic engineering, still get fantastic profitability, and get fantastic products out there that the world needs, without damaging the planet that we live on.”
Simulation early on can cut emissions later
Engineers today are designing more and more complex products with new electronics, sensors, and software, said Pepi Maksimovic, director of application engineering at engineering software firm Ansys. This brings additional considerations for sustainability and product development.
Thankfully, she said, simulation can accelerate creation of sustainable products by predicting how they will behave in real-world conditions, saving natural resources and cutting emissions.
One project at Lufthansa Cargo and chemicals company BASF used simulation to enable use of a coating that is applied to aircraft fuselage and engine nacelles, using a specific pattern to reduce drag. The coating can save 700kg of fuel on a typical flight, she said, or about 25,000 tonnes of carbon savings annually across 23 aircraft.
Don’t ignore compressed air
Compressed air generation – a ubiquitous utility at most manufacturing facilities – accounts for about 10% of UK industrial electricity consumption, equivalent to 8,500 gigawatt hours (GWh) in 2020, said Oliver Kent, product marketing manager at industrial equipment supplier Atlas Copco. In comparison, Sizewell B nuclear power station generated 10,357 GWh last year. It is vital, therefore, that companies consider how to make their compressed air systems more efficient, to reduce energy use, production costs, and carbon footprint.
Compressed air use can be optimised by understanding its application, eliminating wastage, and identifying easy wins, Kent said. Half of compressed air is lost due to leaks, artificial demands, and equipment that has not been isolated, he added.
Always remember product end-of-life
Choosing the most sustainable route to creating greener parts is not always easy, said Sam Guest, product manager for injection moulding at rapid manufacturing specialist Protolabs, with several sometimes-contradictory factors to consider. One thing is clear, however – short-term thinking is not the right approach to take.
Considering parts’ end-of-life is vital, he said. “When your product does come to the end of its life, you also need to think about how you can make your product simple to disassemble and recycle. There are both ethical and legal obligations to help ensure this…
“By considering what materials you use during design, you're going to help yourself during end of life. Virtually all metals can and should be recycled. With plastics some are easily recycled, some are difficult to recycle, and some are almost impossible to recycle.”
Consider every option
When it comes to rapid prototyping and manufacturing, the manufacturing process you pick has a big effect on sustainability, said Charlotte-Anne Smith, application engineer at Protolabs. The three techniques that the company specialises in – injection moulding, CNC and 3D printing – each has different considerations in material use, wastage, and energy.
“There's also questions that you ask your supplier, in terms of their processes and energy consumption, material waste management etcetera,” she said. “The more you understand their capabilities, the better the part can be designed for that relevant process, and therefore optimised as much as possible.
“Ultimately, everyone involved in the product lifecycle has an element of responsibility to meet the objective of designing and producing sustainable products.”
Look beyond humanity
As we strive for sustainability, companies need to move away from human-centric approaches to engineering, said Dragos Dascalu, sustainability lead at software multinational Dassault Systèmes.
“As engineers, we have a responsibility and we have a certain awareness that a ‘life-centred approach’ looks at much more than the human needs, and it understands the rhythms or the patterns that give us reliable food supplies, give us reliable energy,” he said. We must live in "mutual benefit" with the species and systems around us, he added.
In practical terms, this means considering entire product lifecycles to ensure sustainability, reducing waste, optimising logistics, and considering the use of AI, he said.
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Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.