The Tenth 2005 SEF Virtual
Meeting
Topic:
Subject:
Special Topic on Freshwater
Date: December 20, 2005 (Tuesday)
Start Time: 1:30 P.M. Eastern
Standard Time
End Time: 3:00 P.M. Eastern
Standard Time
Dial: 1 (513) 569-7897
Code: 2960#
Important Notes:
1. Roll call – Dr. Beaver will call names of those registered. Quickly state your affiliation, any other participants with you and any additional agenda items you'd like added, time permitting. Dr. Beaver will review the discussion topics marked by an asterisk (*) in a summary constructed from the notes. Items without an asterisk will get in depth discussion.
2. Etiquette – no cell phones unless absolutely necessary; if you use a speaker phone, please mute the microphone until you are ready to talk. Announce your name when you speak during the call. Send Dr. Beaver an E-mail on Erbeav@aol.com if you cannot get a word in. Dr. Beaver will monitor that Screen Name and Inst4Sust@sbcglobal.net during the call.
3. Notetakers are needed. We have one notetaker; Please volunteer.
4. Students are encouraged to participate. Anyone not registered should notify Dr. Beaver by E-mail in order to be recognized in the roll call and receive additional materials.
5. The attachments are to be used only for this discussion. Some material is the property of other originators and further dissemination is not authorized.
Agenda:
Introduction & Statement of Topic - Beaver
Quick Statement of Previous Freshwater Issues with Little or No Discussion – Beaver
·
Animal Agriculture and Processing: Managing
Environmental Impacts
·
Nitrogen and Phosphorus Removal
·
Wastewater Residuals
·
Disinfection by Chlorination/Dechlorination, UV, Ozone
·
Industrial Wastes Treatment (Chemical/Physical and
Biological Treatment, Innovative Treatment Technologies, Membrane Technologies,
Industrial Residuals)
·
Small Systems (Package Plants, Lagoons, Natural
Systems)
·
Utility Management (Privatization, Benchmarking,
Management Information Systems, Chemical Use, Energy Efficiency, Contract
Operations, Public Relations)
·
Homeland Security
·
Constructed Wetlands [Note: a PowerPoint Presentation
will be sent upon request]
·
Desalination
·
Use of Graywater
·
Rainwater Collection and Use
·
Effects of disasters on freshwater quality and quantity
Background - What constitutes a disaster [man-made or natural]?
How do people react and set priorities?
What are the Consequences to Freshwater?
What other considerations compete?
How can decision-making be improved?
What Sustainability Tools can be brought to bear on these situations?
Further Actions.
The Eighth 2005 SEF Virtual
Meeting
Topic:
"US Climate Change Technology Program"
Date: December 2nd (Friday)
Start Time: 10:00 A.M. Eastern Standard Time
End Time: 11:30 A.M. Eastern Standard Time
The call-in number: 1 (513) 569-7897
Code: 2959#
Welcome new participants and repeat registrants.
Important Notes:
3. Notetakers are needed. Please volunteer.
4. Students are encouraged to participate.
Anyone not registered should notify Dr. Beaver by E-mail in order to be recognized in the roll call and
receive additional materials.
Groups at one site may join together on one line from a conference
phone.
Topic Details:
The US Department of
Energy released for public review the administrations' plan "for
accelerating the development and reducing the cost of new technologies that
avoid, reduce, or capture and store greenhouse gas emissions." The technologies, if successful,"
will be used and deployed among the
The US Climate Change
Technology Program's (CCTP) draft Strategic Plan, if adopted, would provide
about $3 billion in federal spending for climate change-related technology
research, development, demonstration, and deployment. The draft plan sets six complementary goals: (1) reducing
emissions from energy use and infrastructure; (2) reducing emissions from
energy supply; (3) capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide; (4) reducing
emissions of other greenhouse gases; (5) measuring and monitoring emissions;
and (6) bolstering the contributions of basic science to climate change.
To view or download
the CCTP draft Strategic Plan, visit http://www.climatetechnology.gov/. CCTP will discuss the plan with
stakeholders at a series of workshops during the coming months.
The Eighth 2005 SEF Virtual
Meeting (a Sequel on Freshwater)
Topic:
Date:
Start Time:
End Time:
The call-in number: 1 (513) 569-7897
Code: 1993 #.
Welcome new participants and those that participated
in the August 18 meeting. The
attachments will be sent to those who register to attend. New participants will receive all the
attachments; repeat participants from August 18 will receive two or more new
attachments. One new agenda item
has been added.
Important
Notes:
1. Roll call
–Dr. Beaver will call names of
those registered. Quickly state your affiliation, any other participants with
you and any additional agenda items you'd like added, time permitting. Dr. Beaver will review the discussion topics marked by an asterisk (*)
in a summary constructed from the notes.
Items without an asterisk will get in depth discussion.
2. Etiquette –
no cell phones unless absolutely necessary; if you use a speaker phone, please
mute the microphone until you are ready to talk.
3. Notetakers are needed. We have one notetaker; Please volunteer.
4. Students are encouraged to participate.
Anyone not registered should notify Dr. Beaver by E-mail in order to be recognized in the roll call and
receive additional materials.
5. The attachments are to be used only for this discussion. Some material is the property of other originators and further
dissemination is not authorized.
Agenda:
Introduction & Statement of Topic - Beaver
List of Other Issues; first we will walk through
those listed below to gather comments and then add other issues from
participants – All
·
Animal Agriculture and Processing: Managing
Environmental Impacts*
·
Nitrogen and Phosphorus Removal*
·
Wastewater Residuals*
·
Disinfection by Chlorination/Dechlorination, UV,
Ozone*
·
Industrial Wastes Treatment (Chemical/Physical and
Biological Treatment, Innovative Treatment Technologies, Membrane Technologies,
Industrial Residuals)*
·
Small Systems (Package Plants, Lagoons, Natural
Systems)*
·
Utility Management (Privatization, Benchmarking,
Management Information Systems, Chemical Use, Energy Efficiency, Contract
Operations, Public Relations)
·
Homeland Security
·
Constructed Wetlands [Note: a PowerPoint
Presentation will be sent upon request]
·
Desalination
·
Use of Graywater
·
Rainwater Collection and Use
·
Effects of disasters on freshwater quality and
quantity
Issues Ranking Discussion by Magnitude &
Urgency; exercise with voice voting (output to be used for identifying possible webchats and/or small group
call on specific topics)- All
This posted Excel sheet may be helpful. After we have recapped the
discussions of August 18 and covered the remaining items, we will quickly read
down the items on the spreadsheet.
This will provide guidance and input for SEF and IfS. Please open the spreadsheet at that
point (or have it printed-out) and enter single character responses in each
column for each row.
We want to know:
·
Is that item worthy of more discussion? Rank from '1' for 'Low' to '10' for
'High.'
·
If it is worthy, what format should we use? Mark
'W' for a Webchat; 'C' for a smaller group call; 'V' for a full-fledged Virtual
Meeting.
·
Should the Institute for Sustainability (IfS)
consider building a small project team to prepare a proposal? Rank from '1' for
'Low' to '10' for 'High.'
·
How important is it to develop more knowledge on
the subject and/or develop databases or tools in that area for decision-making
by industry, government, educators, NGOs? Rank from '1' for 'Low' to '10' for
'High.'
You can E-mail your responses to Dr. Beaver
on Erbeav@aol.com and Dr. Beaver will collate and
report the outcome.
You will probably see additional short information pieces from Dr. Beaver on the
agenda items as time permits.
Discussion
of Solutions:
1.
What technologies will be needed to minimize the odds of problems and
minimize consequences if problems occur?
2.
What other solutions do we have and need? - All
3.
What sustainability tools are needed? - All
The Seventh 2005 SEF Virtual Meeting
Topic: Sustainability Education modules in
schools and short courses for professionals
Date:
Start
Time:
End Time:
The
call-in number: 1 (513) 569-7897
Code:
1993#.
Welcome
new participants and repeat registrants.
Important
Notes:
1. Roll call –Dr. Beaver will call names of those registered. Quickly state your affiliation, any
other participants with you and any additional agenda items you'd like added,
time permitting.
2. Etiquette – no cell phones unless absolutely
necessary; if you use a speaker phone, please mute the microphone until you are
ready to talk. Announce your name
when you speak during the call.
Send Dr. Beaver an E-mail
on Erbeav@aol.com if you cannot get a word
in. Dr. Beaver will monitor that Screen Name and Inst4Sust@sbcglobal.net
during the call.
3. Notetakers are
needed. We have one notetaker; Please
volunteer.
4. Students are encouraged to participate.
Anyone not registered should notify me by E-mail in order to be recognized
in the roll call and receive additional materials.
5. The following
attachments are to be used only for this discussion. Some
material is the property of other originators and further dissemination is not
authorized.
1.
Integrating
Green Engineering Throughout the Curriculum to Teach Sustainable Development
(PDF file)
2.
The Atlanta Session Program
3.
A
Distance Learning Course (Harvard University): “The Path to Sustainable
Development” (PDF file)
Two additional
attachments are provided as background for this Virtual Meeting. One for the presentation on Youth Education in Sustainability
(contingent upon participation by Timo Marquez in
Agenda:
·
Introduction
& Statement of Topic – Earl R. Beaver
·
Industrial
needs from a CSTP member company perspective - Charlene Wall
·
Brief
Discussion of Industrial Needs - All
·
Current
efforts in curricula [excerpt from Spring AIChE Session] - Robert Hesketh
·
Brief
Discussion of Current Efforts - All
·
Distance
learning in sustainability - Robert Pojasek
·
Brief
Discussion of Distance Learning - All
·
Sustainability
workshops at professional meetings - Earl Beaver
·
Facilitated
discussion - All
SEF Virtual Meeting #1-2 for 2005
Topic:
Sustainability issues related to the 'Hydrogen Economy'
Date:
March 18, 2005 - Friday
Start
Time: 10:00 A.M. Eastern Standard
Time
End Time:
11:30 A.M. Eastern Standard Time
The
call-in number: 1 (513) 569-7897
Code:
9113#.
Welcome
new participants and repeat registrants.
If you register, attachments will be provided for your review and use
during our discussion. The first
two are presentations prepared from a number of sources (including one from Ken
Schultz of General Atomics); the third is an editorial from Oil & Gas
Journal. For further reading, Dr. Beaver recommended the series of eight
articles in the Special Issue of Science, .Vol 305, pp. 957 to 976. The introduction to that series will
also be included.
Important
Notes:
1. If
you took notes during the first Virtual Meeting, send them to Bob Peters as
soon as possible. Please e-mail or
FAX your notes to Bob so he can compile an overall summary of what was
discussed during the meeting.
Here's Bob's contact information:
Robert W. Peters, Ph.D., P.E.
Professor of Environmental Engineering
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
University of Alabama at
phone:
(205)-934-8434
FAX: (205)-934-9855
e-mail: rwpeters@uab.edu
2. If
you intend to participate in the "Sequel" and need attachments, tell
me and indicate if you received the first set. The combined file is extremely large and problematic for
firewalls.
AGENDA
Roll call –Dr. Beaver will call names of those registered. Quickly state your affiliation, any
other participants with you and any additional points you'd like added, time
permitting. Ken Schultz and Bob
Peters are invited to lead appropriate parts of the meeting.
Etiquette – no cell phones unless absolutely necessary; if you use a
speaker phone, please mute the microphone until you are ready to talk. Announce your name when you speak
during the call. Send me an E-mail
on Erbeav@aol.com
if you cannot get a word in. I
will monitor that Screen Name and Inst4Sust@sbcglobal.net (for Outlook
users) during the call.
Agenda:
Introduction & Statement of Topic - Earl Beaver
Walk through presentation material - Earl Beaver
Discussion
points:
What is the driving force for the Hydrogen
Economy?
What technologies will be needed to make the
switch?
What are the unique issues of “Hydrogen” and
how do they differ by region?
How will a hydrogen economy affect national
and global infrastructure?
Does the switch make sense?
How can we tell if the switch is the right
thing to do?
What tools are needed?
SEF Virtual Meeting #1 for
2005
Topic:
Sustainability issues related to the 'Hydrogen Economy’
Date:
February 10, 2005 – Thursday
Start
Time: 1:00 P.M. Eastern Standard
Time
End Time:
2:30 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
The
call-in number: 1 (513) 569-7897 513-569-7897.
Code:
0313#.
Notify me
at Erbeav@aol.com
as soon as possible if you intend to participate. Discussion materials for the Virtual Meeting will be
provided next week to all registrants.
Call-in instructions, agenda and discussion materials will sent to
registrants.
AGENDA
Roll call –Dr. Beaver will call names of those registered.
Quickly state your affiliation, any other participants with you and any
additional points you'd like added, time permitting.
Etiquette – no cell phones unless absolutely necessary; if you use a
speaker phone, please mute the microphone until you are ready to talk. Announce your name when you speak
during the call. Send me an E-mail
on Erbeav@aol.com
if you cannot get a word in. I will
monitor that Screen Name and Inst4Sust@sbcglobal.net (for Outlook
users) during the call.
Agenda:
Introduction & Statement of Topic - Earl Beaver
Walk through presentation material - Earl Beaver
Discussion
points:
What is the driving force for the Hydrogen
Economy?
What technologies will be needed to make the
switch?
What are the unique issues of “Hydrogen” and
how do they differ by region?
How will a hydrogen economy affect national
and global infrastructure?
Does the switch make sense?
How can we tell if the switch is the right
thing to do?
What tools are needed?
Three attachments are provided for your review and use during our
discussion of Thursday, February 10.
1. A PowerPoint presentation from a number of sources.
2.
An editorial from Oil & Gas Journal.
3. For further reading, the series of eight articles are recommended in
the Special Issue of Science, .Vol 305, pp. 957 to 976. The introduction to that series is also attached.
Note:
*. The
Managing Board of the Institute for Sustainability will meet by teleconference
on February 22. The results will
be condensed and sent to SEF members.
*. The Institute for Sustainability will
cosponsor a One-Day Sustainability Workshop at the Green Chemistry &
Engineering Conference in Washington, DC.
For details on the conference, visit http://chemistry.org/meetings/greenchem2005.html.
=================================================================================
Agenda and Discussion
Points for the Fifth SEF Virtual Meeting
Topic: Sustainability issues related to using biomass in
place of fossil sources for raw materials and energy
Date:
11/03/04 – Wednesday
Start Time:
1:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
End Time:
2:30 P.M. Eastern Standard Time (we will end sooner if possible)
The call
in number is 513-569-7897
The
Conferee Code: 1340#
Three
attachments are provided for your review and use during our discussion of
Wednesday, November 03.
1.
A
Strong Energy Portfolio for a Strong America
2.
Integrated Biomass Supply Analysis & Logistics IBSAL
3.
Sustainability Considerations of Infrastructural Changes to
Material Flows from Bio-Sourcing
AGENDA
Roll call
– Dr. Beaver will call names of those registered. Quickly state your
affiliation, any other participants with you and any additional points you'd
like added, time permitting.
Etiquette
– no cell phones unless absolutely necessary; if you use a speaker phone,
please mute the microphone until you are ready to talk. Announce your name when you speak
during the call. Send Dr. Beaver
an E-mail on Erbeav@aol.com if you cannot get a word
in. Dr. Beaver will monitor that
Screen Name and mailto:Inst4Sust@sbcglobal.net
(for Outlook users) during the call.
Detailed agenda:
Introduction
& Statement of Topic - Earl Beaver
Walk
through points from first call on this subject - Earl Beaver
Concentrate
on final three points with new discussion - All
Discussion points:
What is
the driving force for switching from fossil to biomass?
What
technologies will be needed to make the switch?
What are
the unique issues of “Biogas”?
Does the
switch make more sense for fuel or for products?
How can we
tell if the switch is the right thing to do?
What tools
are needed?
Added
points.
Agenda and Discussion
Points for the Fourth SEF Virtual Meeting
Topic: Making the connection between actual life cycle
inventory and real business decision-making
Date:
08/24/04 - Tuesday
Start
Time: 1:00 P.M. Eastern Daylight
Time
End Time:
2:30 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
The call
in number is 513-569-7897.
The code
is 3638#.
Two Excel
attachments are provided for your review and use during our discussion of
Tuesday, August 24. The first is a limited LCI developed by
Franklin Associates on certain aspects of mining, production and delivery of
bituminous coal; it does not cover combustion of the coal. The second
attachment is from a project conducted by BRIDGES to Sustainability on costs of
health impacts of air pollutants.
Prior to the call, please review the documents from the perspective of a
coal company.
AGENDA
Roll call
-- Dr. Beaver will call names of those registered. Quickly state your name, your affiliation and one outcome
you seek from this virtual meeting.
Etiquette --
no cell phones please; if you use a speaker phone, please mute the microphone
until you are ready to talk.
Send Dr.
Beaver an E-mail on Erbeav@aol.com if you cannot get a word
in.
Suggested discussion points:
Where
should the coal provider draw the line (boundary) for their decisions from a
sustainability perspective?
Is the
coal provider obligated (from a sustainability perspective) to consider impacts
of coal use?
To what
extent does one use public data for decision-making?
Should
management of the coal provider consider such impacts in decisions?
Will there
be SIC issues raised by doing such an analysis, e.g., requirements to create a
reserve or a report to stockholders?
What
lessons are there for other industries?
We will
have two note-takers; comments from others are highly desired and should be
sent to me within one week of the call.
Agenda and Discussion
Points for the Third SEF Virtual Meeting
Topic:
How do we extend Sustainability into all phases of decision-making in
industry?
Date:
Start
Time: 1:00 P.M. Eastern Daylight
Time
End Time:
2:30 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Number of
Lines: 30
Call-in
Number: 513-569-7897
CONFEREE
CODE: 5647 plus # Sign
AGENDA
Roll call
¨-- quickly state your name, your affiliation and one outcome you seek from
this virtual meeting.
Etiquette
¨-- no cell phones please; if you use a speaker phone, please mute the
microphone until you are ready to talk.
Send me an E-mail on Erbeav@aol.com
if you cannot get a word in.
Discussion points:
What is
the extent to which sustainability is considered in industrial decision-making?
- research & development
- commercialization (new product introduction, new market entry)
- market exit
- selection of processes
- selection of raw materials
- capital equipment approval
What tools
are used?
- total cost assessment (are benefits also considered?)
- metrics
- lifecycle analysis
- eco-efficiency analysis
- a proprietary tool (what?)
> Do
companies use a stage-gate or phase-gate process? If so,
- what tools are available to make decisions at each gate?
- which of those are appropriate for each stage in the decision
-making process?
- how is it ensured that those tools are applied?
Is the
incorporation of sustainability conscious and obvious? Or, is it implicit?
Do you
differentiate between sustainability and eco-efficiency? Industrial ecology?
From a
sustainability perspective, how does decision-making differ in industry versus
government?
Do new
graduates or new hires have the preparation necessary to incorporate
sustainability into their decisions either individually or as a group?
What
actions could be taken to more thoroughly incorporate sustainability in
decision-making?
Conclude
with critique
Many
thanks to Charlene Wall for contributing detail for the discussion points and
to USEPA for hosting the call.
Minutes of May 27, 2004 Sustainable
Engineering Forum Virtual Meeting
Earl Beaver, Moderator.
Participants (some part-time; some provided
correspondence):
Rich Helling, Dow
Beth Beloff, BRIDGES
to Sustainability
Jane Bare, USEPA
Charlene Wall, BASF
Corporation
Dicksen Tanzil, BRIDGES
to Sustainability
Ryan O’Conner, Cargill
Dow
Chad Nelson, U
Mass - Amherst
Earl Beaver, Practical
Sustainability
Paul Wermer,
Tapas Das, Washington
State Dept of Ecology
Ellyn Beary, NIST
Gautham Parthasarathy, Solutia
Stuart Fischbeck, Frontier
Refining
Subash Sikdar, USEPA
Darlene Schuster, AIChE
Herb Cabezas, USEPA
Emmanuel Dada, FMC
Corporation
Ralph Pike, LSU
David Constable, GlaxoSmithKline
Bill Russell, SKN
Worldwide
Becky Pehler, HSE
Management Consultant
Earl recapped
the notes and results from the 22 April 2004 meeting (for a copy of first SEF
Virtual Meeting minutes, contact mailto:Erbeav@aol.com).
Charlene Wall sent mail for distribution to the First Meeting attendees providing
link to BASF Web site; the BASF paper on social metrics will be published this
fall, and posted on the website shortly afterwards.
Three
topics were discussed to complete the general subject area begun during the
first Virtual Meeting “Sustainability
Tools - What are the needs going forward?”
Should we establish standardized methods,
reporting criteria and practices?
Or do we want to limit ourselves to recommended tools? Or do we want to
start with recommended tools, maturing to standards over time?
The group
focused on many aspects of this issue – what are the real gaps, and what is the
right role for AIChE/IfS/SEF.
There was support for the idea of giving input and advice on the
methodology for technical metrics for future inclusion in or reference by
standards, by building on our relationship with ANSI, who in turn can impact
ISO.
ISO
methods (1404x series) for LCAs exist but still lack standardized metrics or
ability to compare across organizations. Bridges to Sustainability proposed standardized
metrics (http://www.bridgestos.org/GINmetrics.pdf
and other references at the Bridges web site), as did CWRT. However, there is no standardized
method for data gathering and reporting.
The question of how to report metrics is still open: are methods
explained or not? How should standards set/established?
There may
be learnings from the accurate accounting processes that have been developed
for CO2 (Pew Center, World Resources Institute are sources for additional
information).
Some
concern exists that customers may attempt to use standard metrics and results
as negotiation points to reduce prices with manufacturers, so there may be reluctance
to provide information to customers and others.
Dow-Cargill
has made a business case internally for use of sustainability metrics in
decision making, looking at items such as net CO2, land, water, farming inputs,
fossil fuel consumption.
The
primary benefit of Sustainability Metrics is still perceived as primarily to
affect internal decision-making and behavior.
Should we integrate intangibles such as:
Externalized costs (e.g., CO2 emissions, extractive industry impacts)? Risks
that are not quantifiable but credible, e.g., bioaccumulation? Benefits?
There was
spirited discussion of this subject, especially the merits and challenges of
monetizing externalities. There
was strong interest in using the IfS/SEF web page as a place to compile links
and descriptions of prior work on externalities, rather than embarking on a new
analysis of the issues.
SEF or IfS
should provide evolutionary pressure that helps improve these tools over
time. SEF should consider
publishing and reviewing Best Practices to evolve and mature methods, tools and
standards over time. SEF, via
AIChE, should consider initiating low-level engagement with ANSI and ASTM on
sustainability metrics – ensure communication, and to avoid inadvertently
working at cross-purposes.
Do we understand how to address the
criticisms of LCA listed in the attachment? Can we combine various criteria in order to compare
different processes with different strengths and weaknesses? What are the best
practices to do this? What are
standard measurement techniques and comparison points?
Time
limited the discussion of this point.
There was general agreement that if one has the data, one could use
commercial tools to get LCI results fairly quickly & at low cost. This is another subject where the
IfS/SEF web page could be a very handy place to compile links and descriptions.
Major
issues are cost and complexity of Life Cycle Analyses.
Suggestion: these are reduced by carefully defining
boundaries, and sticking within predefined boundaries.
While the
group did not have adequate time to discuss explicitly the remaining questions
on the list (How do we establish a common
reference document with ratified metrics and methods? How do we involve others
in the future? What are the next steps?), although these subjects did come
up during the discussion of the other points.
We must
include intangibles, but lack consensus on how to do so. There are both costs and benefits
to capture in this area. Debate
over monetizing intangibles continues.
The issue is that if they are assigned zero cost, then they are not
considered as part of any business decision process. On the other hand, in many
cases it is unclear how to monetize them.
Two
options were proposed for how to proceed:
a)
Establish a database of cost ranges for externalities for general reference
b) Rank
risks as High/Medium/Low, assess value of impact from risk, and use that to
establish costs.
Major
challenge: how does on get accurate data to populated the LCA model?
The group felt
that posting Case Studies on the SEF web site would be of value.
Additional topics were suggested for future
meetings:
Impact of
Nanotech
Biobased
Materials and Fuels
Global
Warming consequences of slow combustion of biobased materials
ACTION
ITEMS:
Earl reported that the IfS/SEF web page is ready to be rolled out. There are many good ideas of what to do
with it! He has scheduled the next
meeting (July 13 at 12 noon EDT).
All: send Earl any comments of the meeting format and mechanics.
Ryan to send Earl links or how to
access LCA reports for poly lactic acid, for Earl to share or post
David to send Earl links or
references to GlaxoSmithKline’s quick screen method for development of
sustainable processes, for Earl to
post or share
Earl asked ALL of us to please
submit a 1-2 paragraph synopsis of relevant symposia, conferences, and meetings
we attend, so these can be shared with the community via the web page. There are several such events coming up
(some concurrently!)
The First SEF Virtual
Meeting
Summary of the First Meeting
The first SEF Virtual Meeting took place on April 22. The agenda was ambitious and the
twenty-six participants were very active, but unable to complete all of the
items listed. We had two excellent
note-takers who have provided detailed material for proceedings. That will be sent to first meeting
participants; subsequently, it will be posted on the SEF website. Contributors to the meeting were:
Bill Byers CH2M
Hill and AIChE
David Constable GlaxoSmithKline
Tapas Das Washington
State Department of Ecology
Stuart Fischbeck Frontier
Refining (Wyoming)
Steven Grocott Worsley
Alumina
Rich Helling Dow
Chemical
Yinlun Huang
Gautham Parthasarathy Solutia
Ralph Pike LSU
Bill Russell SKN
Worldwide
Darlene Schuster AIChE
Kathryn Seareset University
of Texas - Austin
Subhas Sikdar USEPA
Dicksen Tanzil BRIDGES
to sustainability
Charlene Wall BASF
Paul Wermer
Jane Bare USEPA
Ray Smith USEPA
John Carberry Dupont
Bill Choate BCS
(Maryland)
Marsha Gorden Sustainable
Resources (Massachusetts)
Mahmoud El-Halwagi
A summary of the discussion of three of the
questions follows:
Do we have a sufficiently common definition of
Sustainability so that we can speak from the same starting point?
Summary: Yes – the Brundtland definition works
fine as an overall definition, although there may be better definitions for
particular situations. Earl Beaver
and John Carberry will share their adaptations. (Earl offers this as a possible choice for further
discussion: “Meeting society’s needs for products and services with
progressively less net negative impact on the Earth.”)
Should sustainability tools enable
comparisons across an industry, or across products? Should a purchaser of materials be able to compare my
suppliers – while a manufacturer strives to not reveal too much?
Summary: No consensus on this, but much spirited
and interesting discussion. There
is likely no “one size fits all” set of metrics – numerators or
denominators. One needs to
consider who the user will be (R&D chemists, business management,
consumers, etc.), and what action they will take (chemical process, products
made, purchases, etc.).
Availability of data is also a potential constraint.
Sustainability metrics and tools are still
relatively immature. What are the
short and long term objectives that will help establish priorities for tool
development?
Summary: No consensus on this either, but more
lively discussion. A key point
again is that there are different “right” answers to the question, depending on
the customer and the need. Metrics
can be good as benchmarks, but also need to make sure that use of metrics leads
to changes and improvements – since our ultimate goal is to improve life rather
than our metric score. Charlene
Wall reported some interesting work supported by BASF on social metrics, which
she will share.
Action Items
John
Carberry to send Earl Beaver his chemical industry adaptation of Brundtland
statement.
Charlene
Wall to send Earl Beaver public information on the development of social
metrics by BASF.
Earl
Beaver to send those, plus the proposed IfS sustainability statement and
information on the value of life extension (Quality of Life-Years) to the
participants.