Quantitative Sustainable Use Goals

Sustainability and sustainable development are catchwords that dominate today's engineering discourse. One of the things that is missing most from the debate and discussion are numerical goals and targets that help to quantify what we mean by sustainability. Without quantitative assessments and serious goal setting - - sustainability will remain a mere concept rather than a program capable of implementation.

The definition of numerical goals, desirable rates of improvement, and plans to achieve those ultimate goals and rates must ultimately be the work of government and society at all levels. Consider the case of the metal zinc. Is our current production, utilization, and recovery rates of zinc a sustainable process? What methodology could we utilize to help quantify and establish goals in the context of sustainability? In the case of zinc, or any resource, the following four step process might be a consideration:

1. Establish the available supply of the chosen resources.
2. Allocate the annual permissible supply according to a reasonable formula or market process.
3. Establish the "recaptureable" resource base.
4. Derive the sustainable limiting rate of use and compare to the current rate of use.

During posts this week, I will go through this process with the element Indium.