Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T05:13:06.615Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Introduction to Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2013

Randall D. Watkins  and
Barry Granoff
Get access

Extract

Pollution prevention and the preservation of environmental quality are issues that can no longer be ignored. For years, environmental organizations have struggled, somewhat unsuccessfully, with U.S. industry and congressional legislators, focusing on local, national, and worldwide issues relating to environmental quality. Meanwhile, global pollutants such as acid rain (from sulfur oxide emissions), carbon dioxide, volatile organics (such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and benzene), metals (such as chromium, cadmium, mercury, and lead), dioxins, and pesticides continue to be introduced into the environment. Many consider global environmental effects potentially serious due to “partitioning,” a phenomenon where pollutants migrate to the media where they are most stable. The result is contamination in the air, water, and soil, creating a high potential for exposure to pollutants. Consider, for example, the depletion of the earth's stratospheric ozone layer, promoted by the annual emission of various CFCs equivalent to the emission of over 100 million pounds of equivalent CFC-11 worldwide (CFC-11 has an ozone depleting potential of 1.0 with other CFCs having ozone depleting potentials between zero and one). Consider also the heavily debated global warming/greenhouse effect, caused to a large degree by CO2 emissions from spent fossil fuels, one-fourth of which are consumed in the U.S. Many examples can be cited regarding the presence of toxic substances in remote lakes and streams throughout the world. Now, as the ill effects of our past and present actions are becoming visible and finally better understood, the pressure on U.S. manufacturers is increasing to take responsibility for products and processes contributing to the world's environmental degradation. This pressure will continue to rise until real solutions to these problems are developed and implemented.

Type
Materials and the Environment
Information
MRS Bulletin , Volume 17 , Issue 3 , March 1992 , pp. 34 - 38
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Cooper, C.D. and Alley, F.C., Air Pollution Control (Waveland Press, Prospect Heights, IL, 1990).Google Scholar
2.Travis, C.C. and Hester, S.T., Environ. Sci. Technol. 25 (1991) p. 814.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Partee, L., Summary of Solid Waste Legislation, 102nd Congress (U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Washington, DC, 1991).Google Scholar
4.Piasecki, B. and Asmus, P., In Search of Environmental Excellence: Moving Beyond Blame (Simon and Schuster/Touchstone, New York, 1990).Google Scholar
5.Hindle, P. and Payne, A.G., Chem. Engin., (March 28, 1991) p. 31.Google Scholar
6.Gaining New Ground (U.S. Council on Competitiveness, Washington, DC, 1991).Google Scholar
7.Serious Reduction of Hazardous Waste (Office of Technology Assessment, Washington DC, 1986).Google Scholar
8.Goldner, H.J., R&D Magazine (September, 1991) p. 48.Google Scholar
9.Schut, J.H., Plastics Technol. (March, 1991) p. 29.Google Scholar
10.Black, K., Spirit (June 1991) p. 48.Google Scholar
11.O'Geary, D.R. and O'Geary, T.K., in Proc. 1st Annual Congress on Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing (University of New Mexico Press, 1991) in press.Google Scholar
12.Sink, C.H. and Berg, T.A., Ceram. Bulletin 70 (6) (1991) p. 1031.Google Scholar
13.Oborny, M.C., Lopez, E.P., Peebles, D.E., and Sorenson, N.R., in Proc. 1st Annual International Workshop on Solvent Subst., Phoenix, AZ, December 1990, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Technology Development, p. 143.Google Scholar
14.Hoier, S.N., ECM Newsletter 2 (2) (Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, 1991) p. 3.Google Scholar
15.Peebles, H.C., Creager, N.A., and Peebles, D.E., in Proc. 1st Annual International Workshop on Solvent Subst., Phoenix, AZ, December 1990, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Technology Development, p. 127.Google Scholar
16.Hosking, F.M., in Proc. 1st Annual International Workshop on Solvent Subst., Phoenix, AZ, December 1990, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Technology Development, p. 31.Google Scholar
17.Peebles, H.C., Keicher, D.M., Hosking, F.M., Hlava, P.F., and Creager, N.A., Proc. 1991 International Congress on Appl. of Lasers and Electro-Optics, San Jose, CA, November, 1991.Google Scholar
18.Rand, P.B. and Montoya, O.J., ECM Newsletter 2 (2) (Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, 1991) p. 1.Google Scholar
19.Wischmann, K.B., Myers, R.L., Rand, P.B., Estes, T., and Arnold, C., Office of Technology Development Technical Task Plan, Rev. 2 (U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Technology Development, Germantown, MD, 1991).Google Scholar
20.Weissman, S.H. and Sekutowski, J.C., AT&T Technical Journal 70 (1991) in press.Google Scholar
21.Woreby, W. and Rieger, D., Energy and Environment, Sandia Technology Bulletin, July 1991, p. 3.Google Scholar