Transitioning to Sustainable Engineering Systems

Chris McMahon*, Susan Krumdieck

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingBook chapterResearchpeer-review

Abstract

The industrial exploitation of engineering and technology over recent centuries has had enormous impacts on the Earth’s ecosystems, ranging from extraction of non-renewable resources to the deleterious effect of many pollutants. This chapter first reviews such impacts by describing human activities in terms of material flows, the factors that contain them and the principal impacts that they engender, before considering them in the context of recent development of Earth system models of the interlinked physical, chemical, biological and human processes that transport and transform materials and energy in complex dynamic ways. The use of modelling of such systems is described, and the engineering approaches to system change to reduce the impact of human activities are outlined, ranging from efficiency improvements, sobriety and substitution through addition of functions for improved control of systems to servitisation and to the various approaches of the circular economy. Transition engineering is introduced as a systematic approach to the embedding of sustainability thinking into engineering practice. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the key questions faced by those seeking to effect sustainable transitions and of the challenges faced by engineering systems designers arising from the need for such transitions.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHandbook of Engineering Systems Design
EditorsA. Maier, J. Oehmen, P.E. Vermaas
Place of PublicationCham
PublisherSpringer
Publication date2022
Pages1011–1033
ISBN (Print)9783030811587
ISBN (Electronic)9783030811594
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Keywords

  • Engineering systems
  • Engineering systems design
  • Earth system
  • Climate
  • Material flows
  • Sustainability transitions
  • Transition engineering

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