How Green Engineering Works

Depending on whom you ask, engineers and scientists follow anywhere between half a dozen and a dozen principles of green engineering. These guidelines let makers of products come to decisions more easily during the development process.

While the specifics may vary from one industry to the next, there are a few generally accepted principles of green engineering. Chief among them is the idea that it makes more sense to start designing for sustainability right from the start -- as opposed to trying to make a product or process greener after it's been built or put into place. Another principle: make things as simple as possible, in terms of the number of materials and steps needed to complete them. That's because more complex something is, the more stuff and energy have to be consumed during its life cycle -- the time from its creation to after its being discarded.

To find out what the principles look like when they're put into practice, go to the next page, where we'll talk about green engineering technologies.

So what does green engineering look like, exactly, when it's applied to stuff in the real world? Chances are you're surrounded by green-engineered technologies, since sustainability has become such an important consideration in our lives. Here we'll take a quick look at the three major areas you'll most likely encounter green technologies.

Chemistry

Chemistry brings us so many amenities of modern life that it boggles the mind: plastics, computer chips, fuel for our vehicles, paints and pigments, adhesives, batteries, and so much more. The problem is that making these products often creates nasty byproducts that are toxic to people and the environment. To combat this, the technologies of green chemistry use "the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances" [source: Great Lakes Green Chemistry Network].

Here are two examples:

Building Construction

The construction industry used to be notorious for how much waste it generated. Odd lengths of two-by-four, scrap drywall and anything else left over after a building was complete would head to the landfill by the Dumpster-load. What's more, the architecture and material for buildings was often made optimal for aesthetics and/or low initial cost, but not optimal for efficiency.

Today, on the other hand, a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification on a building is considered a badge of sophistication, environmental stewardship and smart business. Some green engineering technologies for buildings you're probably already familiar with include compact fluorescent light bulbs, energy-efficient windows and high-efficiency heating and cooling systems. But there are others that have yet to catch on and be so widely adopted:

Automotive

Cars, trucks and other vehicles are rightfully a major focus of companies' green engineering efforts. Not only do they contribute heavily to greenhouse gases that artificially heat up the planet, but vast resources are consumed in making them and maintaining them. Six Sigma and Lean methodologies and the ISO 14001 management system aim to make manufacturing more standardized, less wasteful and overall greener.

Hybrid and full-electric technology aim to make vehicles less polluting by minimizing their use of fossil fuels. Even the materials that cars are made out of are getting the green engineering treatment. Less and less steel is going into vehicle construction as manufacturers look to cut weight with lighter materials such as aluminum, plastics, and even carbon fiber. They have ample incentive -- consumers are demanding more efficient vehicles as fuel prices pummel their pocketbooks with increasing regularity.

For lots more information on green engineering, follow the links on the next page.