The Theory and Practice of Sustainable Engineering

The Theory and Practice of Sustainable Engineering is appropriate to use in sustainable engineering classes for both majors and non-majors. This textbook was designed as the basis for a course in itself, but it can be used to provide modules in existing courses, or as a supplementary text in sustainable engineering, green engineering, industrial ecology, sustainability law and policy, and environmental courses. Although this is a book about sustainable engineers, it is meant for a broader audience. This is not just an engineering text for engineering students, but also an engineering text for non-engineers who want to better understand the world, and be able to rationally, ethically, and responsibly respond to its challenges and emergent behaviors.

Sustainable engineering is learning how to engineer responsibly and professionally in the Anthropocene: the Age of the Human. This book sketches out the cultural, social, institutional, and environmental context within which engineering and, more broadly, technology systems are now situated. It provides frameworks to facilitate understanding, communication, and the solving of highly complex problems with significant technological dimensions — all in the name of generating more capable professionals competent in their chosen field, who are able to integrate other disciplines to address complex adaptive systems.

Braden R. Allenby is currently Lincoln Professor of Engineering and Ethics, and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and of Law, at Arizona State University, having moved from his previous position as the Environment, Health and Safety Vice President for AT&T in 2004. He is also a Batten Fellow in Residence at the University of Virginias Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts, Manufactures & Commerce. Dr. Allenby received his BA from Yale University in 1972, his J. D. from the University of Virginia Law School in 1978, his Masters in Economics from the University of Virginia in 1979, his Masters in Environmental Sciences from Rutgers University in the Spring of 1989, and his Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from Rutgers in 1992.