Giving a number to the environmental impact of industrial processes
- Wits University
As responsible citizens, engineers need to ensure that they do their best to be socially responsible and reduce all impacts as far as possible.
Prof. Kevin Harding describes how the environmental impacts of industrial processes can be mitigated.
What did we do: As engineers, it is easy to be the target of claims of environmental harm – be it from pollution from chemical or industrial facilities, digging up sensitive land for mining, or simply by being visually unappealing or causing load noises.
While it may never be possible to reduce environmental impacts to zero, as responsible citizens, we need to ensure that we do our best to be socially responsible and reduce all impacts as far as possible. The first step in reducing impacts is to understand where and how big they are. This work uses several tools to quantify these environmental impacts.
Why did we do it: When building a new industrial facility, modifying an existing one or trying or determine the impacts of any product, process or service, simply saying it is “environmentally friendly” is not enough.
Improving one aspect of a process could have a negative effect elsewhere. It is important to determine the full extent of the impact on the environment (air, solid and water emissions) by including all the steps from cradle to grave to get a reliable number for the actual extent of possible harm.
This could also be extended to include social and economic aspects to make it a full sustainability assessment.
Why does it matter: Reducing environmental impacts is not only a socially responsible thing to do, but it is also often the law and a requirement for corporate reporting. Additionally, many European and other trading partners require an indication of the environmental impacts before they will accept products across their borders.
What are the next steps: Once the environmental impacts can be located and quantified, steps can be taken to reduce these through engineering solutions or other means.
Environmental quantification and monitoring is an ongoing process of checks and improvements. With each iteration we aim to reduce the harm to the environment as well as the people affected by the activities.