Pragmatic and reliable methods for assessing sustainability remain difficult for many organizations. Further, understanding the three elements of sustainability over the full life cycle of products and processes is essential. In some cases, understanding environmental issues is the easiest area. However, economic and social issues are less well understood. Life Cycle Sustainability Analysis is a framework for reviewing all three areas and enabling not only full coverage but understanding balancing and interactions between the elements. This paper reviews the three elements of sustainability, life cycle assessment, and analysis and evaluation of the three elements over a life cycle. These frameworks will be described so as to facilitate development of ways to help decision makers present proposals and illustrate results. Means are presented to enable illustration of findings to both expert and non-expert audiences. Specifically, uses of the life cycle sustainability triangle and the life cycle sustainability dashboard will presented. Examples will be presented for a comparison of solar PV panels. Other examples include alternative energy sources in Mexico to 2050, contrasting alternative vehicles, and electricity scenarios in the UK to 2070. The paper is intended to help practitioners better understand linkages between the three elements of sustainability and ways to analyze them.

Scenario planning was first used effectively by Royal Dutch Shell approximately 40 years ago. The company recognized that efforts to predict exactly the future are unlikely to be very successful. The premise of scenario planning is that organizations look at possible future trends and project several possible futures (or scenarios). The intent is to project enough such scenarios, even unlikely ones, that they “bracket” possible futures. This enables one to assess the ability of their policy, process, or design to perform positively within any of the scenarios and thus represent a truly robust choice. This paper briefly describes some examples of use of scenario planning within the energy sector, as well as some unusual factors that may influence the outcomes.

The combination of global warming and urbanization is expected to exacerbate the well-established urban heat island effect. Unfortunately, little is known about nighttime urban heat retention and its possible health effects on residents. Here we use infrared satellite imagery to evaluate the distribution of nighttime heat and its decadal changes in a large desert metroplex.

This chapter contains sections titled: Classification of Heated Water Distributions and Models Proposed Models Further Work

to design efficient and reliable filtration units for hot, compressed gases. The basic mechanisms for solids collection from gas streams are: gravity settling, direct interception, inertial impaction, Brownian diffusion, and thermal separation. The guiding principles of these mechanisms and the characteristic parameters which control the collection of particles are summarized. Calculation procedures are enumerated for estimating total or overall collection efficiency of a single filter unit (cylinder or sphere) and that of a filter consisting of an assembly of individual filter units. Most investigations were at room temperature and 1-atm pressure, and the probable effect of these two variables (temperature and pressure) on the solids collection efficiency has been analyzed theoretically. The use of fluidized beds in series and containing bed material which can be electrically charged appears to be promising for flue-gas cleaning. It is possible to develop an efficient filter that will match a specific requirement for a given system. Much theoretical and experimental research and development work will be needed for successful understanding and operation of efficient filter systems.

The length of warm water density wedges measured in streams receiving power plant discharges is adequately predicted by equations based on two-layer flow theory when proper evaluation of the variables involved is made. The formation of density wedges in the vicinity of power plant discharges is an important consideration in both the design of cooling water intakes and the possible thermal pollution of the receiving water body. Equations have been developed by other authors which may be solved for the length of a density wedge given the density of the wedge, the initial depth of the wedge, and the magnitude of the frictional forces involved. Wedge length data obtained from four power plant sites are compared to the prediction of the equations. The predicted wedge length is found to be least sensitive to the initial wedge depth chosen, more sensitive to the magnitude of the frictional forces chosen, and most sensitive to the density chosen. Densities based on plant discharge temperature are found to always be less than that actually measured in the wedge.

A system of equations is developed which, when solved numerically, predicts the jet trajectory, width, velocity, and temperature decrease for the case of a two-dimensional surface jet. The results of field and laboratory equipment indicate that entrainment is reduced as the discharge angle is reduced from 90° to 60° and 45°; thus, the drag coefficient decreases as the velocity ratio is increased. The results of five surveys indicate that the entrainment coefficient was reasonably constant for three surveys at one field site even when the velocity ratio was changed. The results also indicate that entrainment is a function of the ratio of the ambient width to the discharge width, which was different at each of the field sites studied. The observed field values of the drag coefficient appear to be a function of the velocity ratio and agreed well with the values observed in the laboratory.