Environmental issues sustainable development impact

Thermodynamic principles can be used to assess, design and improve energy and other systems, and to better understand environmental impact and sustainability issues. For the broadest understanding, all thermodynamic principles must be used, not just those pertaining to energy. Thus, many researchers feel that an understanding and appreciation of exergy is essential to discussions of sustainable development. 

Talvivaara has continued to develop its operations in line with its sustainable development policy which emphasizes continuous improvement and operational excellence. With respect to safety issues Talvivaara s goal is a safe and healthy working environment. The company has continued to develop its safety culture based on zero accident philosophy. The company is also committed to continuous improvement in environmental efficiency, operational risk management and reduction of environmental impact. 

This chapter introduces and highlights environmental issues on both a global and a local scale as they impinge on health and safety. It shows how environmental concerns and controls are increasingly merging with health and safety issues and that this will increase as current proposals become reality. Sustainable development and corporate social responsibility are issues that are of concern to larger companies now but probably are of less concern to small and medium enterprises. In the longer term these issues are likely to impact on businesses of all sizes. 

The development of products from RRM can be a significant contribution to sustainable development in view of the less energy involved in their production and the wider range of disposal option at lower environmental impact. Legislative attention able to properly address this issue could become a further incentive to the development of products from RRM and maximise the environmental, social and industrial benefits. 

The ECO method was developed to aid environmental impact and cost optimisation of chemical synthesis pathways or processes suitable for the research and development (R D) stage. In order to represent terms of ecological as well as economic sustainability, three objective functions which incorporate (i) energy demand (EF), (ii) risks concerning human health and the environment (EHF) and (iii) costs (CE), were defined. Their calculation follows the life cycle approach and is based on the data available already in R D. Because the application of a comprehensive LCA is both, too complex and based on data which are partially not available at the R D stage, the determination of the three objective functions is based on the SLCA approach extended by economic issues. The key objectives are introduced below. 

---