“What is Sustainability?”

The question seems to be “What is Sustainability?” The quick answer is that Sustainability is actions and commitment to ensure that ‘the actions we take today allow for future generations to have the opportunity for comparable actions tomorrow’.

How can we understand this in realistic contemporary terms? Well, let’s take a look.

We all have computers, a surprise to our previous generations, and they have an impact that we should be considering.

· Our purchasing decisions should address ‘Green Production’ considerations. Things like least amount of cast off contaminants in the process, least amounts of recyclables in the finished product, lowest power profile…resulting in lowest carbon signature…all need to be looked at in a Sustainable analysis.

· In the case of our Computers, like TVs and Microwaves, we leave them plugged in everyday…all day long…and powered up. A Sustainable action would be for us to take steps to turn off the power and save the energy, and the extended carbon footprint. Our action, multiplied by millions of households, has a real impact on our use of energy.

· If we trash our monitor, electing to use a new thin screen monitor, we have contaminants that need to be recovered and recycled to achieve a Sustainable action.

· And if we look closer at our computer we find a wide variety of recyclable parts and elements, from gold, platinum, and copper…to rare earth elements, many of which are environmental hazards that must be managed if we are going to keep a check on our environment and stand up to the Sustainability markers that we should be addressing.

Industrial Sustainability calls for a much broader review. Trash and cast off materials all need to be recycled. Energy needs to be optimized, in process and in product performance. Contaminants, runoff chemicals, bio-hazards, toxins…all need to be considered and reduced, and whenever possible Industrial Sustainability needs to consider Green Chemistry (natural vs. synthetics), reduce or eliminate toxins, design quality and environmental factors into the project, and build to extend system performance and overall life.