Green Engineering: Enhancing Sustainability Through Environmentally Friendly Materials

Overview of Green Engineering

Questions:

1. Define green materials, review their availability, cost and environmental implications, 

2. Give specific example of ONE (1) green material/product, the key features and its applications, and 

3. Conduct literature review to support selected material/product that can be categorised as a ‘green’material/product. 
 

The direction in which engineering is taking is to come up with methods which are environmental friendly. The perception of the world moving significantly in a direction where it faces challenges in general as the population is gradually increasing the consumption of material continue to grow at a fast rate. Most dependable raw materials of nonrenewable fossil fuels and most relevant material virtually decreases. The danger of this material being in unavailable in the next future pushes for new thinking to bring in a different solution to the approaching and existing problems. Green engineering comes in to solve this issue by a technical approach where the issue is being addressed in an engineering designing and analysis to enhance the overall output. (Butscher et.al, 2011).  In a more general view of the relationship between green construction and the overall solution, provision is that it tries to bring realization and sustainability. The key principal driving green engineering is the aspect of minimizing all environmental impacts on all fields while approaching problems addressing ecological and economic aspects also social and sustainability issues at large.  This paper will place emphasis on the verdict in the next future about green engineering. 

The rapid growth of green construction is possible because it is, in general, an interdisciplinary, making it best considered to be one set of concepts that will be in application among and across all engineering fields. In the discipline of material science in combination with engineering, it will establish a focus control where the design will be the primary focus and produce environmentally friendly materials to enhance sustainability. (Broek, 2012).  As much as before making any material scientists require designing materials, which will include their effect on the environmental defects, health including social consequences across the cycle of production and use. The crucial period of average change of raw materials involves the interchange of product with a vital processor rather a system which will make it a success in the verge of discussion the key concepts in this cycle requires a lot of planning and thus green engineering materials are in consideration.

The actual cycle of manufacturing involves output and input processes which may be in acquisition from manufacturing all the way to use and the most important one disposal. The last bit about them should make them not destroy the environment but rather conserve it. It is to show evident that when the materials are in the disposition of, they should be biodegradable, or another instance is recyclable. Raw materials are usually extracted from the earth which will cause depletion of the material when this happens waste materials are as a result. (Chawla, 2012). Waste products can have high impacts on the ecosystem which may include disruption of the ecosystem and energy use. Green engineering is aimed to use less energy and produce high-end products and in return to be environmentally friendly.

Green Construction As an Interdisciplinary Approach

The act of transforming raw materials into products it involves the use of energy, the use of additional chemicals contributes the overall process. When the product has been in use, and now it is to be disposed of, appropriate methods should be used to enable a successful transformation to save the environment. Transportation also has to be carefully be transited to avoid any errors that may result from massive damages. Some of the essential benefits of the implementation of the use of green materials engineering as the next generation savior include health benefits from their use, also an observation will be made In the entire environmental quality which will enable reductions of cost of productions and thus this will be incorporated in different fields to enhance economic growth.

It will become of importance when this is in the application in the design stages where a provision of prediction through the entire stages of production. For elaborations over this concept is that a less mass material will be in position, and this will be in subjection to all the factors which are likely to encounter it in the future and once predictions are relevant, evaluation of the same concept is attributed to a large mass which is the entire verdict.  A green material must have some features which are a key to environmental conservation. When finding inputs to use during manufacture, they should be affordable; the design should be simple, and the composition of the material be known and be environmentally friendly in the long run.

Input should be less, and the output is large to meet the economic grounds to have a sustainable living. The materials should either be biodegradable or rather be able to be manipulated once its primary use is over and maybe to be able to be combined with other materials to come up with a new product from the waste products which would be a waste and pollute the environment. The dangerous aspect of production is a major constraint in the designing of green engineering materials. It is to make an emphasis on this idea of planning. The substances generated to make manufacturing a success have a great impact on the overall production stages. Green architecture is in recognition the process to be of inefficient economically and to the environment which calls for immediate action on most comprehensive formulas to solve the mistakes on production.

The general cycle approach lies in the four key structures of sustainability that is to reduce waste production to the environment, and the materials produced should be manageable in a healthy environment. The overall pollution materials provided by the product should be in a way that pollution prevention becomes easy and should not involve hectic processes at last. (Green et.el, 2012). The result from the material should be an enhanced version of the previous one to enable long time use and reduce poor usage leading to accumulation of waste products in the environment causing problems and affecting the ecosystem at last. In every step encompassed above gives an approach which depends on looking at the impacts rather of space and time.

The Importance of Raw Materials Conservation

To make a decision to use nuclear power, can be a good resolution. But a consideration should be in mind for the radioactive material production by the plant should be disposed of properly or else it will cause a massive loss of human lives at last because the materials can affect the health of the people living around the plant. Thus, green engineering comes in to make a halt to that voice and produce a sustainable solution which is friendly to all life types ranging from the atmosphere to the waters. 

An example of a green material is the solar energy use to generate power and use in many areas of energy production to run machines. This type of authority source meets the green engineering forum requirements and it very efficient. Some of the key features of this kind of include:

The first one is that this sort of material and product reduces environmental impact. To explain this, the viewing from its production it takes the pure material to build the panel to come up with power the product is smokeless and clean this makes the environmental conservation easy. Globally most building and construction proposals are responsible for an enormous amount of share in the energy use which includes a use of electricity, water, and the overall material consumption in the long run.

One of the better ways to deliver is the creation of a building to use natural solar energy to cater for most of the buildings requirements. If it is to make a reference to the invention of the power plant. The central park in Sydney, the construction sector is built in a tremendous way that it can deliver a much more significance cut-offs in an emission of harmful gasses at a less cost. The secret behind this is the use proper deign which utilizes natural means to replenish and offer the comfort of its occupant a significant solution to most of the energy problems.  In today’s environment, buildings contribute up to 18% of the most emissions of carbon dioxide emissions.

Solar energy serves to be an engineering material for meets all the put measures. In sustainability, it is available in a natural way rather unlike the oil crisis if fossil fuel is in use in place. When fossil fuel gets in depletion, it puts the global at a much higher risk of the world going without energy for long. Environmental relation of solar energy and the actual perception is correct for the later does not pollute the environment rather it tends to protect it. It should be an adoption in many fields to make sure the success of the use of friendly energy sources is in use. 

However, in the modern society implications have to be put up to do more research and provide integrated synergetic designs which will make it a success both in new constructions while conserving that in the retrofitting of the structures which existed before. This type of design can be in attribution to the sustainable designing architecture, which makes the design be incorporation with an integration of building a life cycle in it the key goals being to have green practice as the primarily employed design in creating a synergy in the overall layout.

Benefits of Green Materials Engineering

Solar energy is a renewable source of energy that implies that it will not be depletion and that one feature of the green material. In a life cycle assessment, solar power helps in avoiding a narrow outlook on the environment which makes good relations too in a social and economic facelift. Assessing in full range on the impacts of all the process involved in the production to the use and the final product produced it can majorly be in sight that it is not causing any environmental problems. The emphasis put forward to curb global warming are best in an explanation of the nature of using the solar energy to meet our needs.

In setting and structure of efficiency, solar power as a green engineering material does not require a lot of construction funds rather it easy to build and easy to maintain. In contrast, buildings are also varied in the use of an energy efficient tool to solve the problem of power consumption. Thus, a sustainable design becomes an implication. Another vital information as a feature of is that it is energy efficient, only requiring simple tools and a small amount of input is required to bring up a total some efficient energy to place. Thus, designing should be made to create a low energy house to ensure zero energy building is in an acquisition. It implies that the house will be naturally using the solar energy to perform all its functions put in place. By putting the use of natural energy as the key aspect of providing energy will meet all the needs and conserving water, for no water will be required to produce the energy and also no pollution will be released to pollute water.

As part of water conservation, the solar power contains U.V rays which can be manipulated in the engineering perspective to make an efficiency in treating water. To a much larger extent facilities and the building should increase the dependence on water collected purified and reused on site. Comparing the materials used to have relatively fewer elements successfully. Thus, this is a provision to the environmental protection agency rights. In the long run the operations and maintain ace are optimized thus ensuring proper ascertainment of the products. Green engineering materials should be able to reduce waste products by all costs while increasing production. 

Solar energy is the radiant heat from the sun and can harness to through different ways to realize a broad range of uses. With the ever evolving technology ranging from photovoltaic cells to solar heating devices all work with the help of the solar energy. It being a green engineering material it can be used to perform in many aspects.

The energy harnessed from the sun in the form of heat can be converted into various ways to make it useful. With the use of a solar comb system, this system uses sunlight to heat water. When individuals are in location geographical areas where the temperatures are 60 and 70 degrees can comfortably heat water using this system. It can also be in use for ventilation and conditioning. Thus, principal applies to when in tropical regions the buildings are m in a way that during the day the materials used to make the house absorb the energy from the sun then after when the condition changes to freezing the absorbed heat warms the house thus. It will be making the living of the occupants better.

Features of Green Materials

The energy collected from the sun can also be used to cook; It is real with the help of solar cookers, devices which have been in a designation.  It will be in a way that contributes to focus the heat collected from different parts of the stove to one point where it is used to heat water, hence, can be used to cook. With the implementation of this method, many of the forests will be saved from deforestation or rather it will ensure a good transition between the methods of conserving the environment and preventing global warming.

Using solar concentrating technologies. It can be easy to concentrate heat and be in use for industrial purposes. For example in the evaporation ponds of some companies where it requires them to evaporate some substances then be in evaluation it is possible because the efficient solar energy is in use in this method. In another instance solar distillatory can be made portable, and this will enable treatment of water possible thus solar energy can be used to treat water.

The use of photovoltaic cells can be put in place and power be in production. Apart from the conventional way to produce electricity using photovoltaic cells. Another method where solar concentrators are used to heat a power plant and thus, in turn, generate energy. In so doing, the Society will be lightened and at the same time, the environment is protected.

With the conventional way to go green most building and urban planning is changing the face of the society by introducing a perfect way to let the house be building in a way that it will use the natural existing lighting and heat to provide energy for the home. By loading the house with solar heaters, solar panels into the structure of the house, it enables a perfect transition for the actual perception to allow the projection of a green and environmental conservative society. 

The increase of population influences the extent to which some resources are used in the community. Food shortage to some countries can also be a problem. The introduction of engineering aspect in making the greenhouses which become a traditional place for most natural occurring gasses and temperature to the control of a button allows the growing of food crops in the greenhouses to counter the use. Flowers cannot be well growing in some areas due to the unfavorable climatic conditions. It is now can be in doing in the greenhouses. Thus promoting a real serenity for a production of many crops and flowers.

Solar power has been incorporated into different carrying devices to provide the same service. The invention of an astral plane which is now successful has contributed so much in opening ways for further invention in the same fields of getting most machines to be powered by solar to reduce the cost incurred in fuel. The depletion of most fuel well then this implies that the next important area to venture in is the greatest near future.

Constraints in Green Engineering

The solar energy the gift of nature which can be manipulation for our good. The essence of using it is because costs will be cutting in the long run, the sun provides a tremendous resource of generating clean and electricity which is sustainable. The electricity and other products produced after that are environmentally friendly. Also in the land use, the solar panels are land economic that is it is easy to be in place, this majorly depends on the scale of the business one opts to start. It brings into consideration that the solar panels can be in place in a land which has low quality like lowland brownfields. It will ensure that it does not interfere with other agricultural fields. 

In the aspect of water conservation, photovoltaic cells do not need water to produce electricity. Thus, this will be a likely factor that water will be conservation for other purposes, unlike hydroelectric power. Concentrating power plants use water to cool the machines which are rather dependent on the size of the facility. If this is to take a research tool and instead of using water sodium and other good conductors of heat can be utilization instead.

Many sources of fuels probably the fossil fuel, it can be a realization that most of them produce harmful gasses and materials. When designing a house more sophisticated, then the only way to beat the use of power it would be designing the house to the green engineering way, where it will be designed to use natural sunlight to power the house. 

Conclusion

In all the green materials solar energy is found to be an essential part to counter the uprising risks associated with the cost of living. Thus with an improvement to the current technology, the cost of living will depreciate due to the known sources of energy to ruin the atmosphere causing global warming. In a different perspective, the advantages associated with the introduction biodegradable materials to make products will at a tremendous value reduce the amount of waste accumulating in the environment. The nanotechnology in place should be improved to lessen the amount of carbon in the atmosphere to enhance a wholesome reduction of carbon monoxide in the air. It is all done to make living better.    

References

Adschiri, T., Lee, Y. W., Goto, M., & Takami, S. (2011). Green materials synthesis with supercritical water. Green Chemistry, 3(6), 1380-1390.

Ayala, R., Zhang, C., Yang, D., Hwang, Y., Aung, A., Shroff, S. S., ... & Varghese, S. (2011). Engineering the cell–material interface for controlling stem cell adhesion, migration, and differentiation.Biomaterials, 32(15), 3700-3711.

Butscher, A., Bohner, M., Hofmann, S., Gauckler, L., & Müller, R. (2011). Structural and material approaches to bone tissue engineering in powder-based three-dimensional printing. Acta Biomaterialia, 7(3), 907-920.

Broek, D. (2012). Elementary engineering fracture mechanics. Springer Science & Business Media.

Chawla, K. K. (2012). Composite materials: science and engineering. Springer Science & Business Media.

Irimia-Vladu, M. (2014). “Green” electronics: biodegradable and biocompatible materials and devices for sustainable future. Chemical Society Reviews, 43(2), 588-610.

Green, A. A., & Hersam, M. C. (2011). Nearly Singleâ€ÂChirality Singleâ€ÂWalled Carbon Nanotubes Produced via Orthogonal Iterative Density Gradient Ultracentrifugation. Advanced Materials, 23(19), 2185-2190.

Green, P., & MacDonald, L. (Eds.). (2011). Colour engineering: achieving device independent colour (Vol. 30). John Wiley & Sons.

Graetzel, M., Janssen, R. A., Mitzi, D. B., & Sargent, E. H. (2012). Materials interface engineering for solution-processed photovoltaics. Nature,488(7411), 304-312.

Green, M. A., Emery, K., Hishikawa, Y., Warta, W., & Dunlop, E. D. (2015). Solar cell efficiency tables (Version 45). Progress in photovoltaics: research and applications, 23(1), 1-9.

Jiménez-González, C., Poechlauer, P., Broxterman, Q. B., Yang, B. S., am Ende, D., Baird, J., ... & Yee, S. (2011). Key green engineering research areas for sustainable manufacturing: A perspective from pharmaceutical and fine chemicals manufacturers. Organic Process Research & Development, 15(4), 900-911.

Jimenez-Gonzalez, C., Ponder, C. S., Broxterman, Q. B., & Manley, J. B. (2011). Using the right green yardstick: why process mass intensity is used in the pharmaceutical industry to drive more sustainable processes.Organic Process Research & Development, 15(4), 912-917.

Jeon, N. J., Noh, J. H., Yang, W. S., Kim, Y. C., Ryu, S., Seo, J., & Seok, S. I. (2015). Compositional engineering of perovskite materials for high-performance solar cells. Nature, 517(7535), 476-480.

Khalil, H. A., Bhat, A. H., & Yusra, A. I. (2012). Green composites from sustainable cellulose nanofibrils: a review. Carbohydrate Polymers, 87(2), 963-979.

Koronis, G., Silva, A., & Fontul, M. (2013). Green composites: a review of adequate materials for automotive applications. Composites Part B: Engineering, 44(1), 120-127.

Lanza, R., Langer, R., & Vacanti, J. P. (Eds.). (2011). Principles of tissue engineering. Academic press.

Newman, S. G., & Jensen, K. F. (2013). The role of flow in green chemistry and engineering. Green Chemistry, 15(6), 1456-1472.

O'brien, F. J. (2011). Biomaterials & scaffolds for tissue engineering.Materials Today, 14(3), 88-95.

Wool, R., & Sun, X. S. (2011). Bio-based polymers and composites. Academic Press.

Sheldon, R. A. (2012). Fundamentals of green chemistry: efficiency in reaction design. Chemical Society Reviews, 41(4), 1437-1451.

Würthner, F., Kaiser, T. E., & Sahaâ€ÂMöller, C. R. (2011). Jâ€ÂAggregates: From Serendipitous Discovery to Supramolecular Engineering of Functional Dye Materials. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 50(15), 3376-3410.

Salvendy, G. (2012). Handbook of human factors and ergonomics. John Wiley & Sons.

Potter, A. C., & Lee, P. A. (2011). Engineering a p+ ip superconductor: Comparison of topological insulator and Rashba spin-orbit-coupled materials. Physical Review B, 83(18), 184520.

Wang, B., Chen, J. S., Wang, Z., Madhavi, S., & Lou, X. W. D. (2012). Green synthesis of NiO nanobelts with exceptional pseudoâ€Âcapacitive properties. Advanced Energy Materials, 2(10), 1188-1192.

Zhang, J. P., Zhang, Y. B., Lin, J. B., & Chen, X. M. (2011). Metal azolate frameworks: from crystal engineering to functional materials. Chemical reviews, 112(2), 1001-1033.

Zini, E., & Scandola, M. (2011). Green composites: an overview. Polymer composites, 32(12), 1905-1915.