Whole System Design: An Integrated Approach to Sustainable Engineering

Published with The Natural Edge Project and the World Federation of Engineering Organizations

Whole system approaches to sustainable design can help to achieve 75 percent (Factor 4) or greater eco-efficiency savings in new designs. This is because "by the time the design for most human artefacts is completed but before they have actually been built, about 80-90 percent of their life-cycle economic and ecological costs have already been made inevitable." Newly designed buildings and technologies often have long design lives hence it is critical that all designers ensure that new designs are as sustainable as possible.

This book provides introductory, technical design material to demonstrate how advances in energy, materials and water efficiency can be achieved through applying a whole system approach to sustainable design. Chapters 1-5 outline in detail how to implement a whole system approach to sustainable design. These chapters show how the operational elements of a whole system approach to sustainable design can enhance a traditional approach. Chapters 6-10 focus on demonstrating through worked examples, the application of a whole system design approach to: 1) industrial pumping systems, 2) passenger vehicles, 3) electronics and computer systems, 4) temperature control of buildings, and 5) domestic water systems.

This book includes Forewords by: Professor Benjamin S. Blanchard, Barry J. Grear, Dr. Tony Marjoram and Professor Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker.