Class 2

Sustainable Engineering

Dr. Aswathy G P
Assistant Professor
Department of ECE
TKM College of Engineering

22 November 2021

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Contents

1 Three Pillar Model of Sustainability

2 Social Sustainability

3 Economic Sustainability

4 Environmental Sustainability

5 Helix of Sustainability

6 Sustainability Matrix

7 Review Questions

8 Subject Coverage

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Three Pillar Model of Sustainability
Economy
Society
Environment

Fig. 1: Pillars of Sustainability

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Three Pillar Model of Sustainability

Fig. 2: Three Pillar Model of Sustainability

Social + Environmental = Bearable development

Social + Economic = Equitable development
Environmental + Economic = Viable development
Social + Environmental + Economic = Sustainable develop-
ment

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Three Pillar Model of Sustainability

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Three Pillar Model of Sustainability

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Three Pillar Model of Sustainability

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Social Sustainability

Core values of social sustainability

Quality of life
Growth
Equality
Inter-generational equity
Equal access to social resources for current as well as future
generations
Intra-generational equity
Equal access to social resources within the current generation

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Social Sustainability

Measures to be implemented and monitored

Alleviate/lessen poverty
Provide adequate health care and safety to all sections in the society
Provide necessary basic education to all
Protection of human rights
Provide adequate sanitation to all
Provide adequate food security to all
Provide adequate shelter to all
Provide drinking water to all
Plan and implement policies and programmes for improving social
status of people

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Economic Sustainability

It is commonly presented in monetary terms i.e., in terms of

economic growth
Developing economies - population explosion is unsustainable
Developed economies - population increase is sustainable but
resource consumption is unsustainable
Goal - To establish profitability, coupled with optimum use of
resources and no/less environmental concerns

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Economic Sustainability

Measures to be implemented and monitored

Optimum use of raw materials
Maintain a steady flow of income to workers to improve quality of life
Incentives should be given to green projects
Investments should be made at the right time for industrial expansion
Proper research and development should be carried out to adopt eco-
friendly and economic production techniques in the industry
Create awareness among workers about environment friendly practices
Value added products should be made along with the real products
from industry

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Environmental Sustainability

Definition
Improving the quality of life while living within the carrying ca-
pacity of our planet
If the natural resources are used up at a faster rate than it can
be replenished, degradation of environment occurs

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Environmental Sustainability

Measures to be implemented and monitored

Optimum ulitisation of resources
Tapping more renewable resources (solar, wind, tidal power etc.)
Minimize pollution and waste
Popularising public transport system to reduce air pollution
Maintaining environmental quality and ecological balance to pave the
way for a green future
Create awareness about environmental problems among public
Laws protecting our environment should be made more stringent

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Helix of Sustainability

A concept coined to help manufacturing industry move to more sus-

tainable practices
Sustainable use of materials has targeted the idea of converting the
linear path of materials to a circular material path that reuses material
as much as possible
Linear path - raw material extraction, product use and disposal
Circular material path - raw material extraction, product use and
reuse

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Helix of Sustainability

Fig. 3: Helix of Sustainability

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Sustainability Matrix

Fig. 4: Sustainability Matrix

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Review Questions

1 What are the three pillars of sustainability?

2 Discuss about the concept of social sustainability? What are
the measures to be to be implemented and monitored?
3 Discuss about the concept of economical sustainability? What
are the measures to be to be implemented and monitored?
4 Discuss about the concept of environmental sustainability? What
are the measures to be to be implemented and monitored?
5 Explain helix of sustainability?
6 Draw and explain sustainable development matrix?

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Subject Coverage

Module 1

Sustainability: Introduction, concept, evolution of the concept;Social,

environmental and economic sustainability concepts; Sustainable
development, Nexus between Technology and Sustainable develop-
ment; Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable De-
velopment Goals (SDGs), Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)

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