If we look around, just about everything that is man-made has been designed by an engineer. Engineering emphasis in the development of these items is focused on balancing quality, cost and delivery. The end result of the trade-offs among these three manifests itself as the “design”. But design involves not only the outcome, what we see and buy, but also the process of achieving that outcome.
The design process needs to comprehend not only how products are born, delivered and used, but also how they are laid to rest. A full life cycle perspective is an ethical and moral requirement of an engineer’s job in designing products introduced into the world today. The environmental impacts associated with the massive flows of energy and materials in meeting the demands of the developed and developing world are now past the “tipping point”. Getting these environmental requirements comprehended in the design process is taking a sustainable systems perspective.
