Ethical issues in engineering design - 3TU.Centre for Ethics and ...

DutchEVO, safe or sustainable?
members it was important to make the technological part of sustainability
measurable. The team wanted to express technological sustainability in one
measurable quantity, because this makes comparison between alternative
options possible. Therefore they used the idea of an energy balance as a unit of
measurement. To obtain an energy balance for a product all energy used during
production, use and discarding of a product is added. Other balances like the
ecological balance require that things like emissions and noise hindrance are
also included. Weight factors need to be decided on and the diverse effects need
to be added to get one measure for sustainability. Dave regarded such things as
subjective and preferred not to have to decide on questions such as: What is
worse, emissions or noise hindrance? Besides he claimed that emissions are
related to energy use. So minimising energy use incorporates minimising
emissions in his view. Therefore technological sustainability was expressed in
terms of energy consumption.
In the summer and fall of 2000 more emphasis was placed on the mass of
the car. Mass of a car and energy consumption are strongly correlated because
the mass of a car has a large influence on energy consumption in the use phase.
It is however not the only factor that influences energy consumption during use.
Aerodynamic shape, engine technology and rolling resistance also play a part in
energy consumption. The design team sometimes neglected these other factors.
Charlie: ‘Sustainability of the car is especially in the mass, the use of
fuel.’
Later on in the design project the emphasis shifted somewhat, back from only
mass of the car to energy consumption. Factors influencing energy use like
aerodynamics and the possibility of recycling parts were also sometimes taken in
account. Recycling had, however, a low priority: the team was primarily aiming
for a light car. European laws have been prepared that will make car
manufacturers build recyclable cars. In the future 95% of the materials used in
cars will need to be recyclable [2000/53/EC]. 8 The DutchEVO team did not aim to
comply with this percentage; they chose for a very light “throw-away after use car”
rather than a heavy iron car that could be recycled. They hoped that their research
would show that such a light but hard to recycle car is much better for the
environment. Of course there was some attention for recycling as Ann and Susan
——————————————————————————————————
8 That is, 95% of the total mass of the car. A very heavy steel car will easily comply with this
legislation. When the interior, electrical wiring, battery and dangerous chemicals are removed,
the steel structure and bodywork can be melted and reused. To comply with this legislation
when designing a very light car is much harder because the hard to recycle interior, electrical
wiring, battery etc will make up much more than 5% of the mass of the car. The relative mass of
the easy-to-recycle body panels and cage construction is much lower than in the heavy car [De
Kanter and Van Gorp, 2002].
67