Green Business And Sustainability At Car Service Workshop

We are doing a website for a business (cars service workshop). We have required writing about Sustainable Technology in the following area:
1. Green Business.
2. Life Cycles.
3. Waste.
4. Water.
5. Energy

What is Green Business and Sustainability?

Green Business

A green business or sustainable business can be defined as an enterprise that has low negative effects on the local and global economy, society, community, and environment. This cars services workshop is an organization that takes part in green or environmentally friendly activities to ensure that all manufacturing activities, product, and processes address present environmental concerns adequate while still maintaining a profit. Some of the processes include recycling of waste from old tires and used water. The green business adopts practices, policies, and principles that improve the quality of life of their communities, employees, customers, and the globe (Abraham, 2017).

Business Sustainability Audit

A sustainability audit is a tool that is used in comparing the practices of the business with the best practices of sustainability. A business sustainability roadmap is a map of strategy which provides contextual framework businesses that are focus towards taking up opportunities and challenges of appropriate development. The business sustainability roadmap assists businesses in implementing tools like environmental accounting life-cycle assessment, environmental audit, cleaner production, and system of environmental management (Agugliaro, 2011). The Business sustainability roadmap helps in auditing and evaluating service and product efficiency and effectiveness.

                                                                                        

When carrying out the business audit of the Cars Service Workshop, the following questions need to be answered in every destination:

Destination/Questions	Indicative milestone
1. What is our commitment to sustainability? Are we attaining them? The cars service workshop business is committed towards sustainability and have fully internalized systems and issues that promote due diligence. Some of these systems include water recycling system and tire waste management	· Demonstrated commitment to relevant laws by the workshop · Commitment system in place fir economic, social, and environmental performance
2. Where do we want to be? How do we get there? The car service workshop establishes the benchmarking system that they are going to implement to ensure sustainability. Some of these systems include implementation of the solar heating system	· System or system improvement as implemented such as supporting and eco-efficiency system · The process of improvement implemented · Implementation of community consultation process
3. Is sustainability part of the way our business breathes or lives? The car service workshop establishes a culture where continuous improvement is embedded so that innovation, efficiency, and quality become business as usual.	· Report on sustainability verified by the third party. · All staff engaged in education on sustainability · Program of sustainability in place.
4. Are business value realized from sustainable practices? The workshop has a net positive effect on the economy, society, and environment. There have been a higher number of customers seeking services	· The system of production are closed loop · Productivity gains have been realized

Short-term Business Cost and Long-term Benefits of Cars Service Workshop

A short-term business cost of the Cars Service Workshop are expenses associated with the implementation and embedding sustainability in the business. The cars service workshop will also incur the short-term cost of staff education on sustainability on innovation, culture building, efficiency, and quality activities. Some of the innovations include the use of alternative renewable sources of energy in lighting and heating. The long-term benefits of the Cars Service Workshop are the resultant profits that the business will realize after the implementation of sustainability practices in the car service workshop. Some of the long-term benefits associated with sustainability practices include market advantage, innovation, strategic advantages, and quality and efficiency of performance realization in car service (Bunse, 2011).

Active Participation of Employees on Sustainability Issues

The first step in ensuring active participation of employees in sustainability issues is engaging them is sustainability education. Through education, the staff will learn their baseline position and benchmark the emission, waste, raw materials, energy, and water intensity of their services and goods and strategies that can be developed to improve performance (Galitsky, 2010).

Business Sustainability Audit and Roadmap

Greenwash

This act involves misleading consumers who visit the workshop to service their vehicles regarding benefits of the policy or product to the environment through unsubstantiated claims, public relations and advertising. The sustainable car service workshop practice can ensure that Greenwash is avoided by preventing deceptive claims, and the disclosures and qualifications of the business should be understandable, prominent, and clear by using a plain language and sufficiently large type and avoiding making inconsistent statements. The environmental benefits should not be stated or implied in case the benefits are negligible (Ganapathy, 2009).

Life Cycles of Tires

The relevant product that is related to the car service workshop is tired which are used in the cars services workshop. Tires are majorly used in the workshop for the purposes of replacement of wore out tires with new ones during services of the vehicle. Tires are also used in the workshop in numerous ways such in form of mats and rubber clothing like gloves footwear (Islam, 2011).

Composition and Source

The percentage composition of tires includes high-strength steel cords, carbon black silica, natural rubber, synthetic rubber, and another chemical such as anti-degradants, zinc oxide, or oils to protect the compound. The following are raw materials of tire manufacturing:

                                                                                               

Silica and carbon are the basic fillers of tires which provide the necessary structure to the compound. Steel cords of high-strength are applied under the passenger tread car tires while other wires of steel are positioned near the bead to assure rim adherence. Synthetic rubber is added to natural rubber to attain the elasticity desired.  63% of the consumption of natural rubber is by the tire (Melamed, 2009).

Vulcanization

This is the process through which rubber is mixed with sulfur and accelerators for 10 minutes at 170 C molten or extruded into shape. Then it is heated after rubber has taken final form so as to improve utility, elasticity and resilience (Mulder, 2017).

Manufacturing Process

The schematics below shows the manufacturing process of the tire production process:

                                                                              

Short-term Cost and Long-term Benefits of Sustainability

Uses

The tires are applied at consumer sector to make rubber clothing like glove wear and also other products such as golf ball, mat, and eraser. In the industrial sector, the tires are used in handling product material like transmission belt and conveyor, and also in sealing and packing devices. In the transport sector, the tires are used in automotive belts, tubes, and pneumatic tires (Wirtenberg, 2014).

Environmental Impacts of Tire Life-Cycle

The environmental impacts of the final rubber are greater is tire-derived fuel, land disposal, and civil engineering and lowest in agricultural, ground rubber, and stamp (Takahashi, 2011).

                                                                      

When the tire is used as fuel consumption, there will be a great economic, social, and environmental impact since it will result in pollution of the environment hence affecting the health of people around the place and may also cause degradation of the ozone layer. The tires are imported from India and the environmental, social, and economic cost of its importation is catered for by the workshop since they will be responsible for proper disposal and recycling of the tires. The environmental cost of importation will be paid by the business since it will be the take charge of all the environmental, social and economic effects that the tires will have on the society, economy, and environment through recycling, reusing, and proper disposal of tires before they have negative impacts on the society, environment and the economy (Sutherland, 2012).

Sustainability of Tires

The sustainability of tires can be ensured by the business through carrying out sustainable practices such as reuse, recycling, and proper disposal of the tires for their intended purposes have been attained. The tires can also be used as construction materials and ground rubber application. The tires can be reused to control erosion, coastal and fluvial protection, construction bale, slope stability, geotextile as compacted shred or lose shred, artificial turf, road furniture, running trucks, and children's playground (Muthulingam, 2014).

Waste

Waste has become a critical part of our lives and has enormously affected the economy, society, and environment. The following is the lifecycle of the tires are discussed above:

                                                                                          

Active Participation of Employees on Sustainability Issues

Fishbone analysis technique is used to identify the numerous types of wastes that may be produced from the business on a daily basis as shown below:

                                                                    

Innovative Waste Management

There are numerous ways in which the waste from cars services are reduced, reused, and recycled around the globe. Some of the waste like used rags and absorbent materials are reused through washing and then drying under the sun. Used rinse water and wash water are normally recycled before being channelled to water sources or even reused for cleaning again by other car dealers around the globe. The water used in washing the cars is also used in rinsing oil from the hands just as a way of preventing wastage (Mulder, 2017). Other innovative ways that have been implemented by other car dealers around the globe include retreading, small-scale reuse, pyrolysis, incineration, and landfilling. Used batteries are very toxic and the only way of recycling them is to secondary smelters or manufacturers. Recycling process of these batteries can be divided into lead refining, lead reduction, and battery breaking (Melamed, 2009).

Landfilling is normally used on waste materials that cannot be recycled or reused such as used batteries. Used tires can be sold to the construction company to be used for road construction slope stabilization, construction bale, erosion control, and also building insulation. Components such as transmission fluids, engine oil, and antifreeze can be recycled and used for the purposes of oiling for lubrication. Incineration is normally used for the production of energy from waste tires especially in the United States as a way of recovering the potential energy value of the waste tire. Pyrolysis is normally used for thermal decomposition of organic material under the elimination of oxygen and is normally done on tire waste (Islam, 2011).

Suitable Waste Management for Cars Service Workshop

Some of the waste management processes above are only possible for large car companies that deal in car services due to the complexity of the processes required. However, some of these waste management can be implemented to the cars service workshop, these include recycling used rinse water and wash water should be before being channelled to water sources or even reusing the water for cleaning again. Some of the ways in which water can be recycled include filtering or using chemicals to remove oil from the water. The water used in washing the cars can also be used in rinsing oil from the hands just as way of preventing wastage (Agugliaro, 2011).

Greenwash and Sustainability

The Used batteries should be sent to the secondary smelters or manufacturers where they can be safely recycled due to their toxic nature. The cars service workshop can send their used tires to the construction company to be used for road construction slope stabilization, construction bale, erosion control, and also building insulation. Components such as transmission fluids, engine oil, and antifreeze can be recycled and used for the purposes of oiling for lubrication of moving parts of the machine during repair of vehicles (Muthulingam, 2014).

Energy

Energy Consumption Processes

During car service, the major energy types used in the workshop include compressed air, gas, steam, and electricity. Some of the processes within the cars service workshop that increase the energy consumption within the business include general utilities, compressed air system, heat and steam distribution, lighting, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, painting systems, and body weld. During painting system, energy is used to condition the air for the drying and painting steps and also the treatment of the emission and drying process. Electrostatic painting is the process used for painting in the workshop and it involves giving paint spray an electrostatic charge of approximately 70V and then is attracted to the vehicle body (Wirtenberg, 2014).

The heating, ventilation, and air conditioning of the workshop is also a major consumer of energy. These systems majorly involves the use of motors, steam, heat, and compressed air distribution in the whole workshop. The lighting system is used to provide task lighting to specific areas, light in other rooms of the workshop, and overall ambient light in the entire workshop. Incandescent, compact fluorescent, and fluorescent lights are generally used for task lighting and offices (Sutherland, 2012).

Ways of Improving Energy Efficiency

An alternative way of painting system that can be adopted by the workshop to improve the energy efficiency involves the use of infrared-curing to save time and energy and reduce the dryer size. To improve energy efficiency when managing general utilities, the employees at every level should be made aware of energy use and the objective of the business for improvement in energy efficiency. There should be the use of a minimum quantity of compressed air for the shortest duration possible, monitored constantly, and reweighted to improve the efficiency of compressed air used in pressure washing and drying (Ganapathy, 2009).

The energy used in lighting system can be improved through shutting off lights during non-working hours by automatic controls like occupancy sensors which turn on lights when it detects the presence of a person in the workplace and turns off lights when the space is not occupied. The workshop should implement the new local cooling system and ventilation controls response to present conditions in the workshop. This can be done by using intermittent air supply systems where the air is supplied specifically when employees are present. The workshop can also replace the current welding system with high efficiency wielding power sources which provide improved efficiency in electricity and power factor (Agugliaro, 2011).

Life Cycles of Tires

Small Scale Renewable Energy Options

The cars service workshop has an option of integrating small-scale renewable energy option so as to become environmentally friendly. The workshop can implement solarwall heating system which uses traditional steel siding painted black to absorb solar radiation for insulation. The workshop can also implement solar panels to be used as the major source of lighting and air conditioning around the workshop to minimize the energy consumed by lighting in the workshop (Galitsky, 2010).

Water

Uses of Water in the Workshop

One of the uses of water in the car service workshop is in cooling the engines of the running cars during repairing. The engines need to be constantly supplied with water to assist in cooling after the car has been completely repaired. Water is also used in washing the cars in case the owner demands so. Cleaning of the cars is one of the services offered by the workshop to the customers and there is need for a constant and reliable water supply in and out of the workshop. Water is also used in cleaning the oily tools and equipment after the completion of repairing process. Oil is difficult to remove from the tools without the addition of detergents, hence the employees will need a supply of these detergents to facilitate cleaning of oily tools. Water is also used in the general cleaning of the workshop floors and walls to remove stains that may become permanent when left for a long duration and also in lavatories (Bunse, 2011).

Water Measurement

The quantity of water being used in the cars service workshop can be measured by considering the following:

1. Amount of water needed to wash a single average car = A
2. Average number of cars washed per day = B
3. Amount of water used in general cleaning of the workshops, tools, and clothes on daily basis = B
4. Amount of water used in lavatory = C
5. Amount of water being wasted on daily basis = D
6. The total amount of water needed in the workshop on daily basis = A + B + C + D

Installation of Timers and Controls

After the determination of the amount of water used in the car service workshop on a daily basis, a plan can be put in place to reduce the amount of water used in the workshop on a daily basis. Apart from reusing and recycling method that have always been use in the company, another plan that can be implemented is the use of timers and control to the water system. The technology that can be used is installation of timers and controls which will only allow the flow of water at a given duration of washing the cat after which the supply will be cut to avoid wastage (Ganapathy, 2009). The controls will regulate the amount of water that the business can use for the whole day after which no extra water will be allowed to flow into the workshop until the following day.

Composition and Manufacturing Process of Tires

Water Pollution in the Business

The aspect of the workshop that is the major pollutant of water is the release of water from washed cars into the water sources before carrying out ant water treatment process. The water flowing after cleaning the cars is normally contaminated with oil and other chemicals used for lubrication and engine oil, this contaminated water is dangerous to the aquatic life. Unnecessary running of engines in the workshop also results in air pollution due to the emission of exhaust gasses into the atmosphere (Takahashi, 2011).

Conclusion:

A green business or sustainable business can be defined as an enterprise that has low genitive effects on the local and global economy, society, community, and environment. A business sustainability roadmap is a map of strategy which provides contextual framework businesses that are focus towards taking up opportunities and challenges of appropriate development. Other innovative ways that have been implemented by other car dealers around the globe include retreading, small-scale reuse, pyrolysis, incineration, and landfilling.

This research paper is about sustainable technology is the areas of energy, water, life cycle, and green business in the Cars Service Workshop business. Sustainable technologies rely on resources that are renewable or so abundant that they can be treated as such. For a technology to be sustainable, its use should not have any long-term adverse effect on the environment. Some of the advances in sustainable technology include tidal energy, smart monitoring and predictive analytics, bioplastics, biofuels, next-generation nuclear power, and nanotechnology.

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