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2. Sustainability of technological processes

Lead Papers


Dr. Grigori Abramia, Khalid Aziz and Otto N. Miller, Dr. ir. J.Dewulf and J. Mulder and H.J. van der Kooi and J. de Swaan Arons, Dott. Giuseppe Di Vita, Germain Dufour, Xiaohui Hao, Dr. A.Jagadeesh, Dr. Gennady N. Karopa, Gauri Mittal, Vincent Otto,Irina Proshkina, Yiming Wu, Evgeny Zagorsky


J. Dewulf, J. Mulder, H. Van Langenhove, H.J. van der Kooi and J. de
Swaan Arons 
described the development of a parameter which enables to quantify the sustainability of technological processes. Technology is one of the key processes in society: it delivers goods to people starting from resources out of the ecosphere; however simultaneously it emits waste products into the environment. The parameter quantifying the sustainability of technology proposed in this work is based on thermodynamics; energy carriers and materials (products, waste, …) are expressed in the same unit: exergy. The developed parameter includes three aspects. It contains a factor reflecting to which extent renewable resources are used. Next, the technological efficiency affects the sustainability coefficient. Finally, it takes into account the generation of waste products and the energy required for converting the waste into products harmless for or assimilable in the ecosphere. The developed parameter was applied for two types of processes. In a first application, ethanol production was studied. Two typical production routes were investigated, i.e. starting from fossil oil and from agricultural products. Additionally, a route based on the synthesis from CO2 and H2 was examined, in which H2 was generated by hydrolysis powered by photovoltaic solar energy conversion. Next to ethanol production, electricity generation by natural gas and by photovoltaics were compared. The developed parameter and its applications show several challenges to enhance the level of sustainability of technologies. The first challenge is that technology should be more solar driven: it is the only 100% renewable resource. Next, each process innovation enhancing the exergetic efficiency and decreasing the amount of 'lost work' or irreversibility of the production process, contributes to sustainability. In this view, the chain of subsequent process stages starting from the raw material must be limited as much as possible. So development of technologies with high efficient operations and with a minimal number of operations is a second challenge. As a third challenge, attention has to be paid to the generation of non-products or waste. In this sense disciplines such as e.g. clean production strategies or green chemistry contribute to a more sustainable technosphere. Finally, waste treatment technologies will remain an important technological issue. Abatement technology must be able to reduce the emissions so that the impact of the pollutants does not affect the ecosystem. In conclusion, the exergy based sustainability index provides a quantitative tool to assess technologies on their sustainability, including the three main steps of technology: resource extraction from the ecosphere, generation of products for the society and delivery of outputs to the ecosphere.

 Dott. Giuseppe Di Vita  presented a model of endogenous growth with an exhaustible resource, in which waste recycling increases the growth rate of total input. We show that technological change plays a central role in increasing the quantity of secondary materials produced. In our model a double endogenous effect emerges: (i) a direct one through technological progress; (ii) an indirect one, by means of the discovery of the new techniques of waste recycling. One of the main findings is that the policy maker can increase the growth rate of the economy by promoting research activity.

 Dr. A. Jagadeesh described the Wind Energy Development in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, India. The study has also looked into the financial, technical, transaction and institutional barriers which inhibit the diffusion of wind energy in the states. Creation of Wind Fund, establishment of co-operative windfarms, setting up of wind estates, linking generation to incentives for optimum production, promotion of reliable water pumping windmills and wind battery chargers for small scale applications suggested in the paper for rapid growth of wind energy in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The results of the case study may be used to improve public policy intervention in disseminating wind energy in the country. It may also be relevant to multilateral and bilateral aid agencies in their projects and / or programmes to promote cost-effective wind energy technology dissemination in developing countries.

New technologies and technological processes are creating new possibilities that challenge the moral judgements of different cultures in ways that The Global Community has the responsibility to examine. For instance in medicine technological advances have prolonged life. Society realizes that the quality of life of the prolonged life cannot now be ignored. 

Limited resources force difficult choices upon The Global Community in setting policies and priorities in all aspects of science and technology. There is a need to rethink what is right and what is wrong, and findings what are good practices. 

An indicator measures the number of environmental services, products and technologies exported or transferred to other jurisdictions from a region by corporations, government, entrepreneurs, as well as academic and research institutes

 





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