Sustainable engineering
'Sustainability': that word is rising up the engineering agenda even faster than 'environmental' did before it. The latest development was last month's release of the Engineering Council's new guidelines on sustainability. Others, however, have included revised thinking on the use of renewables in all sorts of applications and new efficiency initiatives around several plant types – all suddenly in the name of 'sustainability'. It may be good and worthy stuff, but perversely, an issue for us, as practicing engineers, is to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Taking the air
Energy sustainability is one of the hottest topics on the political agenda - closely linked to environmental concerns. Combine these with soaring energy costs and it's no surprise that reducing consumption on plant is right up there for industrial operations. However, in many plants, energy in the form of compressed air is simply being allowed to leak away.
Making sustainability pay
Following last year's launch of sustainability guidelines by the Engineering Council, Steed Webzell takes a look at today's key issues and responsibilities