Jones Faculty Lecture by Professor Lindsay Soh

"Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Re-design: Engineering for Sustainability"

Over the past several decades, advances in and the implementation of technology has led to incredible progress with regards to  human welfare; however, these developments have negative implications with regards to the untenable pace of waste production/emission and resource consumption.  Sustainably maintaining a high standard of living requires the intentional adoption of practices such as the 4R’s: REDUCE consumption, REUSE or upcycle as much as possible, RECYCLE materials that cannot be directly reused, and, when new materials are needed, seek to RE-DESIGN them in a sustainable way.  As consumers we practice the first 3R’s; as engineers, we try to use technology to innovate better solutions.

The principles of green engineering are helpful guidelines that can be useful for improving the sustainability of processes.  The major themes of these principles can be distilled to minimizing hazard, reducing resource use, and utilizing life cycle thinking.  In this talk, we will explore key examples of the use of green engineering in design.  In addition, specific research projects will be introduced, including re-designing of biodiesel production processes and greening solvent systems.  These examples illustrate how intentional application of these principles should be incorporated into design thinking in order to establish a sustainable future.