Toward Sustainability through Techno-Ecological Synergy: Including Ecosystems in Engineering Design and Analysis
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| Language: | English |
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The Ohio State University / OhioLINK
2012
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| Online Access: | http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1354589871 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu1354589871 |
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oai_dc |
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NDLTD |
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English |
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Alternative Energy Chemical Engineering Ecology Sustainability Systems Science process systems engineering sustainability chemical engineering ecological modeling optimization life cycle assessment |
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Alternative Energy Chemical Engineering Ecology Sustainability Systems Science process systems engineering sustainability chemical engineering ecological modeling optimization life cycle assessment Urban, Robert Anthony Toward Sustainability through Techno-Ecological Synergy: Including Ecosystems in Engineering Design and Analysis |
| author |
Urban, Robert Anthony |
| author_facet |
Urban, Robert Anthony |
| author_sort |
Urban, Robert Anthony |
| title |
Toward Sustainability through Techno-Ecological Synergy: Including Ecosystems in Engineering Design and Analysis |
| title_short |
Toward Sustainability through Techno-Ecological Synergy: Including Ecosystems in Engineering Design and Analysis |
| title_full |
Toward Sustainability through Techno-Ecological Synergy: Including Ecosystems in Engineering Design and Analysis |
| title_fullStr |
Toward Sustainability through Techno-Ecological Synergy: Including Ecosystems in Engineering Design and Analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Toward Sustainability through Techno-Ecological Synergy: Including Ecosystems in Engineering Design and Analysis |
| title_sort |
toward sustainability through techno-ecological synergy: including ecosystems in engineering design and analysis |
| publisher |
The Ohio State University / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2012 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1354589871 |
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AT urbanrobertanthony towardsustainabilitythroughtechnoecologicalsynergyincludingecosystemsinengineeringdesignandanalysis |
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1719431108349657088 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu13545898712021-08-03T06:06:46Z Toward Sustainability through Techno-Ecological Synergy: Including Ecosystems in Engineering Design and Analysis Urban, Robert Anthony Alternative Energy Chemical Engineering Ecology Sustainability Systems Science process systems engineering sustainability chemical engineering ecological modeling optimization life cycle assessment <p>For any human-designed system to be sustainable, ecosystem services that support it must be readily available. This work explicitly accounts for this dependence by designing synergies between technological and ecological systems. The resulting techno-ecological synergy mimics nature at the systems level, can stay within ecological constraints, and can identify novel designs that are economically and environmentally attractive and may not be found by the traditional design focus on technological options. This approach is outlined from a general engineering perspective using several qualitative examples as well as through presenting general heuristics and potential applications, and then showcased by designing synergies for a typical American suburban home. Systems included in the design optimization include typical ecosystems in suburban yards: lawn, trees, water reservoirs, and a vegetable garden; technological systems: heating, air conditioning, faucets, solar panels, etc.; and behavioral variables: heating and cooling set points. The ecological and behavioral design variables are found to have a significant effect on the three objectives, in some cases rivaling and exceeding the effect of traditional technological options. These results indicate the importance and benefits of explicitly including ecosystems in the design of sustainable systems, something that is rarely done in existing methods. In addition to process design, the concept of techno-ecological synergy is applied to supply chain design, which is illustrated through two case studies: the optimization of the US transportation fuel portfolio, and a land use decision problem. Both cases studies illustrate how including ecosystem services can be done in supply chain management. These problems can be extended to more complex systems through the use of the presented input-output methodology.</p><p>The second part of this work deals with the analysis of integrated techno-ecological systems. First, the ecologically-based life cycle assessment (Eco-LCA) method is applied to compare the production of 1,3-propanediol (PDO) from fossil and biomass feedstocks. In addition to giving a general overview of the Eco-LCA method, this study indicates that bio-based PDO is superior to fossil-based PDO in terms of emissions, energy, and non-renewable resource consumption, but has a much higher reliance on ecological systems and stresses water emissions such as nitrogen and phosphorous more. Next, the systems ecology method of emergy analysis is applied to the production of LIHD ethanol and the results are compared to other fuels. Based on the emergy metrics calculated, LIHD ethanol is superior to many other fuels in terms of sustainability, but has a low return on investment relative to fossil fuels. Finally, a novel method for including spatial ecological data models in life cycle assessment is presented, and the resulting spatially hybrid LCA is applied to a case study that compares biofuels produced from corn and cellulosic biomass. The results show that accounting for locally specific ecological systems gives insight into both the spatial and indirect life cycle effects of a process. Based on the ecosystem services considered (carbon sequestration, nutrient retention, and soil erosion), ethanol produced from low input, high diversity grass (LIHD) is inferior to that produced from corn on a per-liter of ethanol basis.</p> 2012-12-19 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1354589871 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1354589871 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |