Design for Cost and Environment Flashcards
Define material energy content.
The amount of energy required to mine, refine, and process materials to produce basic material stock.
Define commercially available material.
Most materials, possibly containing a small amount of recycled material.
Define fully-recycled material.
A material that has been completely recycled.
Define virgin material.
A material that contains zero recycled material (a.k.a. primary raw material).
What is a carbon footprint?
The mass of CO2 produced over some time period by some entity or process.
What is an energy footprint?
A description of a thing’s energy sources (fossil/non-fossil)
What is a land footprint?
A ratio of the land required by a thing (marine/forest/graze/crop/urban)
What is a water footprint?
Describes the water required by a process/thing (blue, grey, black, domestic consumption, gross consumption)
Explain some of the challenges of environmental impact analysis.
- It’s difficult to get accurate energy and cost data on material production.
- It’s difficult to take into account the construction of infrastructure.
- There are many types of material.
- Quantities of recycled material may vary.
- Energy prices can change rapidly.
What are the four key environmental problems facing the world today?
> Global warming
Pollution
Habitat destruction
Resource depletion
What professional standards exist that help to protect the environment?
ISO 14001 - framework for setting up an environmental management system.
