Download Environmental Issue?

• Introduction to Environmental Engineering
“Environmental Systems Engineering”
– What does “LCA” stand for? (hint: slide 5)
– Can you provide example on “acid rain” and
“ozone layer depletion”?
• What is environmental load?
(hint: human activity make change in environment)
• What is environmental impact?
(hint: change in environment affect human)
“Environmental Issue?”
• Are these Environmental Issues?
– In Tokyo, acid rain has been damaging the nature and
buildings these years again. Apparently, this is due to the
SOx released from volcano activity in Miyake island.
– Taiwan had an exceptional amount of rainfalls, and flood
attacked downtown area of Major cities like Kaohsiung and
Taichung.
– There is a large habitat of a black spoon bird in Tainan.
The number of the birds are decreased due to the
development of the bird-watching tourism.
– At the huge earthquakes (Hanshin 1995, Tohoku 2011),
the sewage systems was damaged, causing a pollution.
What is an Environmental
Issue?
1)Causes
Caused by
human activities
2) Mechanisms
3)Results
Physical & Ecological
environment lies between
causes and results
Affects
human activities
What is Global Warming?
What is greenhouse effect?
Power supply
via fossil fuel
combustion
Power
demand
CO2
emission into
the air
Air conditioning
Increase in CO2
concentration
in the air
Human health
(life) loss
Malaria
increase
Warmer climate
Land
loss
Sea level rise
Greenhouse
effect
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA):
An Environmental Systems Analysis tool

Calculates environmental impact associated with a
product (i.e. goods and service)
• Life cycle thinking (Life cycle approach)
– Take into account of entire life cycle of products in systems
analysis, design, and decisions
Resource
extraction
Manufacture
Retail
Recycle
Use
Disposal
(purge)