ENGG1006:

Engineering for
Sustainable Development

ENGG1006: Engineering for Sustainable Development

Course Coordinator

Dr. Scott T. SMITH

(Week 5, 6, 7, 9, 12)

Dr. Kaimin SHIH Professor S.C. WONG Dr. Sam C M Hui

(Week 1, 2, 3, 4) (Week 8) (Week 10, 11)

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 ENGG1006 Week 1-4

Instructor

(Head)
Teaching Assistant Teaching Assistant
Dr. Kaimin Shih
E-mail: kshih@hku.hk

Ms. Yuanyuan Tang Mr. Fei Wang

E-mail: tangyy@hku.hk E-mail: wf1984@hku.hk

ENGG1006 Course (Totally 100 Points)

In-Course
Final Exam Assessment
(50 points) (50 points)
4 points for
Week 1-4: 2 in-course quizzes
Written 10 Points
Final Exam Week 1-4:
6 points for
(Materials of Week1-4
20 Points 2 homeworks
will take 40% in final exam)

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 Instructor: ENGG1006 Week 1-4 Course Activities
Dr. Kaimin Shih

ENGG1006
WEEK 1 Syllabus Environmental Sustainability

WEEK 2 Atmosphere & Air Pollution Quiz 1 HW 1

WEEK 3 Sustainable Water Environment

WEEK 4 Resource and Waste Management Quiz 2 HW 2

ENGG1006 - Engineering for Sustainable Development

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

Dr. Kaimin Shih

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

Office: Rm. 5-26, Haking Wong Building • Phone: 2859-1973 • E-mail: kshih@hku.hk

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PROGRESS & OUTCOMES

(Water supply Hong Kong 1840)

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 What is “Sustainability Development” ?

” Sustainable”
Sustainable is with:
- the capacity to endure
- the potential for long-
long-term maintenance
- the responsible use of resources

”Development
Development” is:
- Biota: increase in numbers
- Person: increase the standard of living
- Nation: Improves the economic, political, and
social well-
well-being of its people

Sustainable Development is: A pattern of

resource use that aims to meet human needs
without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.

Engineering?
Applying mathematics and science to
develop something of value from our
natural resources

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Engineering for Sustainable Development ?
 Engineering is for “Development”

 Development ' Sustainability

L Sustainable goals cannot be achieved without development

Ex. Circumventing environmental restrictions.

L Development goals cannot be maintained without sound

sustainability management.

Ex. Environmental catastrophes undermining economic life.

 Develop it sustainably ?

Respond with that timeless creed “Yes, we can”.

Sustainable Development
Economic Growth

Social Progress
Environmental
Protection

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 Bearable Equitable

Sustainable

Viable

Example: Decision of a Logging Company

Social
Against the public (-)
or providing jobs (+)?

Company
reputation
Fair to obtain
work permission

Environmental
Economic
Eco-disaster (-) or
renewal energy (+)? For furniture (+)
or paper (-)?

Efficient use
of resource

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 The United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development
(The Brundtland Commission)

ˆ Crystallized and popularized sustainable development concept

ˆ ”Development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”
ˆ Two key concepts: the concept of “needs” and the idea of “limitations”
Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland (Chairman)
Norwegian politician, diplomat, and physician

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 An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
[2:30]

An American documentary film about global warming

presented by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. An
Inconvenient Truth focuses on Al Gore and his travels
in support of his efforts to educate the public about
the severity of the climate crisis. The film closely
follows the keynote presentation that he presented
throughout the world.
The documentary won Academy Awards for Best Documentary
Feature and for Best Original Song. An Inconvenient Truth is
the fourth-highest-grossing documentary film to date in the
United States.

Al Gore
(Former U.S. Vice President)

Environmental
Sustainability & Functioning

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Environmental is of ?
 Abiotic environment:

Land = lithosphere Water = hydrosphere Air = atmosphere

 Biotic environment:
Living organisms
or
“Inhabitants”

Interacting on …

“Environmental Sustainability”
Sustainability” is the ability to
maintain the qualities & resources in the environment.
environment.

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 The functioning of environments is
through the exchange of:

Energy
Mass

Energy Source and Flow

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 What is…
¾ Energy?
The capacity for doing work, where work can be
described by the product of force and the displacement
of an object caused by that force.
Units can be “Joules”.
The oldest runner in the
2004 London Marathon, 93-
year-old Fauja Singh. (42

¾ Power?
km in 6 hours 2 minutes)

The rate of doing work. It has the energy

per unit of time.
Units can be “Joules/sec = Watt”

James Prescott Joule (1811-1889), an James Watt (1736-1819), a Scottish

English physicist, studied the nature of
heat, and discovered its relationship to
mechanical work. One joule (J) is the work
done by a force of one newton traveling
through a distance of one meter.
inventor and mechanical engineer whose
improvements to the steam engine were
fundamental to the changes brought by
the Industrial Revolution. The “Watt” is
named after James Watt for his
contributions.

* One calorie (cal.) = 4.184 J = Energy

needed to increase the temperature of 1
g of water by 1oC (starting from chemical
energy concept.).

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How much can you get with your hands?

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„ “Specific Heat” = The amount of energy needed to raise the
temperature of a unit mass of a substance by 1 degree C.
¾ The specific heat of water (at 15oC) is 1 kcal/kgoC
(The energy needed to raise 1oC of 1 kg of water is 1 kcal)

Note the very unusual properties of water responsible for the major role
in keeping moderate temperature variation of ocean.

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„ Heat used for changing phases:
¾ Enthalpy of fusion (latent heat of fusion)
0oC ice → 0oC water needs to adsorb 333 kJ/kg
¾ Enthalpy of vaporization (latent heat of vaporization)
100oC water → 100oC vapor needs to adsorb 2257 kJ/kg
„ ”Sensible heating” refers the substance changes temperature as
heat is added (object raising its temperature).

(for1 g of H2O)

Earth's radiation budget

• About half radiation reflected directly or Solar Constant

indirectly in the atmosphere back into (Insolation)
space.
• Most absorbed energy by surface returns
to space. The energy that we are trying
to harvest is only a very little portion in
the budget.
• Heat from mantle (although small, less
than 1% received from the sun) needs to
be released.

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 Earth's radiation budget

Radiation power reaching the upper limits of our atmosphere:

1340.5 watts/m2

Return back to space without Absorbed by earth surface:

absorbed by earth surface:

704 watts/m2 (53%) 636 watts/m2 (47%)

Latent heat and sensible Used for work powering up

heat back to our living environment:
atmosphere/space:

395 watts/m2 (29%) 636 watts/m2 (18%)

Solar energy reaching the surface

Pantheon (Rome) 16th century engraving

Stirling heat engine & parabolic dish reflector

Solar photovoltaic power plant in Serpa (Portugal)

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Hong Kong - An Intensively Built Environment

; ;

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 Environmentally Friendly
Insulation Building Materials

Conduction, Convection & Radiation

Heat Transfer through A Simple Wall „ Conventionally to combine the

effects of all processes into a
simple characteristic equation:

q = A (T1 - T2) / R

q = heat transfer rate (W)

A = wall area (m2)
T1, T2= temperatures on the walls (oC )
R = overall thermal resistance (m2-oC/W )

Outdoor Air Indoor Air In buying insulation materials, the

Move up and Forced to higher R value the better (but
sink down due move due to
to temperature circulation
may be thicker).
change devices

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 Conductivity of Materials
„ Conduction is through one molecule vibrates the next in the lattice,
and can be calculated through T1 and T2 (temperatures on wall
surfaces) in the previous case.

„ Usually it is higher with solids, especially metals (higher thermal

conductivity).

„ Poor thermal conductors can be thermal insulation materials.

„ Improving the energy efficiency of buildings can save money and

reduce emission of pollutants associated with energy consumption.

„ Energy efficiency projects may even earn gas emission (SO2,

CO2,…) credits through environmental policy systems.

Mass Flow and Balance

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Mass Balance/Metabolism of System

Systems boundary

A C

s ± Δs

Santorio Santorio (1561-1636), an Italian physician and professor

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(Source:http://www.fao.org/statistics/chartroom/cal_total.asp)

(Source: http://www.fao.org/statistics/chartroom/chart.asp?image=img/charts/73.gif)

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 0.4/5 = 0.08
5 - 0.4 = 4.6

3.7/18 = 0.21
18 - 3.7 =14.3

Food-related flows of N and P through agriculture, industrial processing/distribution, and consumption.

Brunner and Rechberger, 2004, p. 218

Mass Flow of Food Chain System

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Mass Flow of DDT (pesticide
(pesticide)) in an Estuary Food Web System

Mass Flow of Hydrological (Water) System

Source: Science 25 August 2006: Vol. 313. no. 5790, pp. 1068 – 1072)

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 Troubled Waters (2006)
[2:23]

Troubled Waters explores

the critical issues of water
shortage from the
prospective of people in
Bolivia, Malawi, the Middle
East, and the United
States who struggle daily
to find access to clean,
safe water.

Engineering for “Quantity” Development…

(Water Resource and Supply)

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Engineering for “Quality” Development…
(Water Quality and Treatment)

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 Historical Events of Air Pollution

„ Coal burning was noticed or banned in

major cities dated back to Middle Ages

„ In 1952, a week of intense fog and smoke

in London resulted over 4000 deaths
directly attributed to this pollution. Great Smog of 1952: A cold fog
descended upon London, and
Londoners began to burn more coals,
resulting air pollutants trapped by the
„ A 4-day period in Donora (PA) in 1948 temperature inversion layer.

(population 14,000 at the time) caused 20

deaths and ~6000 illnesses.

Industrial Smog (or Sulfurous Smog)

Almost entirely by combustion of fossil fuels, Donora Smog of 1948: An air inversion
especially coals, and releasing SO2 . event with sulfur dioxide emissions from
local steel and metal works plants.

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 Inversions and air pollution
(Normal Temperature) (Temperature Inversion)

Cold Hot

Pollutants
Pollutants

Hot Cold

* At night time – “Radiation Inversion”

100% Ozone 100%

UV UV
Depletion

Ozone (O3) Ozone (O3)

O3 + UV → O2 + O O3 + UV → O2 + O

The largest Antarctic ozone

7-1% hole ever recorded
UV (September 2006)

(CF2Cl2)
(CFCl3)

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• Chlorofluorocarbon (CFCs, Freons)
Depletion of ozone and our protection from
UV radiation:

CFCs → Releasing ”Cl”

Cl + O3 → ClO + O2

Example of Energy & Mass

Interaction: Global Warming

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 WHY CO2 May Cause
Global Warming ?

A portion of the electronmagnetic spectrum. The wave lengths of greatest interest for
this text are in the range of about 0.1 μm to 100 μm.

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„ The radiation intensity depends on its temperature and wavelength
described by Planck’s Law:

E (λ,T) = C1 / [λ5 (eC2/λT – 1)]

E = theoretical* radiation intensity (W/m2 - μm)
per surface area and subject to a wavelength
T = absolute temperature (K)
λ = wavelength (μm)
C1 = 3.74 × 108 W-μm4/m2
C2 = 1.44 × 104 μm-K

The spectral radiation

E intensity with various
temperatures.

* Blackbody radiation

„ Solar radiation intensity just outside the atmosphere (extraterrestrial) shows

the characteristics of a theoretical radiation at 5800K (effective surface
temperature of sun, although its core is 15 million K):

* Solar Constant (all energy under the curve) is ~1372 W/m2

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Loss of Surface Radiation Energy Simplified Equation for Planck’s Law

• The CO2, although with a minor E (λ,T) = C1 / [λ5 (eC2/λT – 1)]

concentration, absorbs light strongly
with wavelength between 12 - 16.3
μm.

CO2

„ Wien’s Displacement Rule (to find

wavelength at which maximum power is
radiated):

λmax (in μm) = 2898 / T ( T is in K)

Greenhouse Effect

„ Wien’s Displacement Rule & Greenhouse effect:

¾ For sun radiation (5800K), λmax = 0.48μm
¾ For earth radiation (288K= 15oC), λmax = 10.1μm

Sun
CO2 and other greenhouse gases
input (tends to adsorb more of longer wavelengths)
shorter
wavelength
Earth
energy T↑ radiates
Greenhouse longer
Effect !! wavelength
energy

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 ENGG 1006: Engineering for Sustainable Development

Dr. Shih’s Regular Office Hours

QUESTIONS, learning HELP, or more DISCUSSION ?

(1) In person
September 7, 14, 21, 28 (Mondays) 5-7pm at Haking Wong Building
Room 5-26

(2) Via phone or e-mail

Call 2859-1973 or e-mail for appointment

Kaimin Shih
(PhD, Stanford University)

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

Office: Rm. 5-26, Haking Wong Building • Phone: 2859-1973 • E-mail: kshih@hku.hk

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