Sustainable Production and Use

DETR (Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions) (1999) Sustainable production and use of chemicals, a strategic approach. The Government s chemicals strategy , Stationery Office, London... 

In order to address these concerns without creating difficulties for the developing nations to continue their economic and social progress, to promote the sustainable production and use of palm oil and to meet the challenges from NGOs and corresponding demands from consumers the Roundtable on... 

The rapid pace of development of our world over the last century has heen largely based on easy access to fossil fuels. These resources are, however, limited, while their demand is growing rapidly. It is also becoming clear that the scale of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions following the use of fossil fuels is threatening the climate of the Earth. This makes the development of sustainable production and energy solutions in industry, transportation, and households the most important scientific and technical challenge of our time. 

A useful example of sustainable design comes from BASF, and their development of the eco-efficiency tool. This tool seeks to integrate the combined aspects of each of the three pillars in an attempt to quantify the most sustainable products and illustrates some of the concerns associated with evaluating sustainable products. For example, the economic analysis includes a total cost of ownership that goes beyond the purchase price of a product to incorporate the cost of operation, the cost of environmental health and safety, and the cost of labour. Thus, even though a product may have a lower purchase price, it may be more expensive to use and thus costlier over the total life cycle of the product. 

Hydrogen, however, can be produced using sustainable technologies that are nowadays still not applied at large scale the most promising ones are water splitting by electrolysis using sustainably produced electricity (e.g., wind, hydro, and sun) and processes based on sustainable production and utilization of biomass.3... 

The incorporation of take-back policies should be an initiative shared among a diversity of entities including the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), government, recovery companies, distributors, and even customers. Beyond the policy framework, new paradigms must be established in order to promote sustainable products and closed material loops at product end-of-use. In this sense, concepts such as Product Service Systems (PSS) and Producer RespraisibU-ity Organization (PRO) could support this purpose. 

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