Sustainability in Engineering: Challenges and Paradigm Shifts

This article discusses the challenges and paradigm shifts in sustainability in engineering. It highlights the role of engineers in sustainable development and the need for a new mindset. The article also explores sustainable manufacturing, geotechnical engineering, and the scope of engineering research in sustainable development.

Running head: SUSTAINABILITY IN ENGINEERING
SUSTAINABILITY IN ENGINEERING
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There are increasing requirements of engineers to play the role of the leadership in the
sustainable development, and in overcoming the global challenges like the rapid population
growth, resource depletion, environmental population and damages to the ecosystem. The
engineering achievements are developed from the 20th century without the consideration of the
impacts of economic, social and environmental condition. On considering the present problems
that our planet facing, the engineers need to revisit their mindset by adopting the new mission
statement for building the more stable, equitable and the sustainable conditions of the world
(Barth, and Michelsen, 2013). Engineers also need to adopt the different attitude to the cultural
and the natural systems by reconsidering the interactions between the engineering disciplines,
non-technical fields and the society. This requires the most important paradigm change from the
nature control to the contribution along with the nature, the awareness of the ecosystem,
ecosystem services and the restoration and the preservation of the nature capital. Most of the
engineering attainments of the past were established without considering the social, commercial
and the ecological impacts of the natural systems. The engineers needs to maximize the value of
the activity towards building the sustainable world (Reay, Ramshaw, and Harvey, 2013).
Haapala, K.R., Zhao, F., Camelio, J., Sutherland, J.W., Skerlos, S.J., Dornfeld, D.A., Jawahir, I.S.,
Clarens, A.F. and Rickli, J.L., 2013. A review of engineering research in sustainable
manufacturing. Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, 135(4), p.041013.
Sustainable manufacturing requires the simultaneous consideration of the ecological, economic
and the social inferences associated with the production and the delivery of goods. The
sustainable business depends on the progressive decision-making, descriptive metrics and the
public policy for the application, assessment and the feedback. This study explores the ideas,
methods and tools required for the sustainable business. The engineering research study

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addresses the issues associated to the development study, planning and the enhancement of the
processes. The engineering research has also addressed the contests related to the talent
operation, scheduling, production development and the supply chain designing. The engineering
researches are re-imagining the business as the basis of the improvement for meeting the
society’s future needs for meeting the society’s future essentials by undergoing the strategic
activities focusing on the sustainable developments and systems. This paper highlighted the
manufacturing process, development; implementation, systematic research and the education are
highlighted.
According to Basu, Misra, and Puppala, (2014), Sustainability helps to build such an
environment that serves as the active interface through which the ecology and the society
influence and interacts with each other. For understanding the sustainability, understanding the
independence is the key as it is applied to civil engineering business. There is also a rising
consensus in bringing the sustainable constructed environment that starts with joining the
sustainability opinions during the development and the designing stages of the infrastructure
building project. Geotechnical engineering can create significant effect on the sustainability of
the infrastructure growth because of the initial position in the building process. This paper also
reviews the scope of the geotechnical engineering to the sustainable growth of the civil structure.

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References
Haapala, K.R., Zhao, F., Camelio, J., Sutherland, J.W., Skerlos, S.J., Dornfeld, D.A., Jawahir,
I.S., Clarens, A.F. and Rickli, J.L., 2013. A review of engineering research in sustainable
manufacturing. Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, 135(4), p.041013.
Basu, D., Misra, A. and Puppala, A.J., 2014. Sustainability and geotechnical engineering:
perspectives and review. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 52(1), pp.96-113.
Barth, M. and Michelsen, G., 2013. Learning for change: an educational contribution to
sustainability science. Sustainability science, 8(1), pp.103-119.
Reay, D., Ramshaw, C. and Harvey, A., 2013. Process Intensification: Engineering for
efficiency, sustainability and flexibility. Butterworth-Heinemann.