PERIOD: NOVEMBER -DECEMBER - JANUARY The course is designed to provide the student with the analysis tools to understand the complex interactions between systems such as industrial production and natural cycles. This analysis is aimed at assessing the interactions between the anthropic actions and the environment to identify the necessary actions for the technological changes. The concept of sustainability will be analyzed considering its three aspects: social, economic and environmental, providing the cognitive elements for understanding the strong interactions between them. Some methodological suggestions will be provided for the use of renewable matter in place of that not renewable. The definition and the improvement of the different strategies to move towards sustainability either in the case of non-renewable resources or in the case of renewable ones. Attention will be devoted to the transition of the current "transportation" system of energy supply to one that focuses on the supply of energy "services" in terms of: "proximity" of sources, "adequacy" of the energy carrier and "vitality" of energy technologies. To evaluate and choose new technological trends, emphasis will be given to the application of the principle of energy sustainability through the definition of sustainability indices different from the usual ones of thermodynamic origin.

Principles of process sustainability: revision of the I and II principles of thermodynamics; energy quality; entropy generation: causes and effects; analysis of energy conversions: from sources to final energy services; the principles of conservation of the matter; renewable and non-renewable resources and materials; kinetic models of material consumption in open and closed systems; ecological footprint of products and processes: principles and assessments. Analysis of complex anthropogenic cycles: global mass balances of anthropogenic activities: production of goods, services and waste. Analysis of biotechnological production processes: carbon cycles (biological, cellulosic and fossil) and carbon sources as raw materials in the new paradigm of biorefineries; the use of biotechnological processes to couple human activities and natural cycles; the transition to a bio economy, environmental biotechnology for chemical energy production and remediation processes. Industrial ecology: historical trend in the use of materials and energy, the decarbonisation processes of energy sources; energy efficiency: energy for production, intrinsic energy and energy for end uses; the use of a system's global efficiency as an alternative design tool. General theory of productive systems: foundations, natural capital, flows; evaluation of hidden and external consumption for a given process; steady-state theory: thermodynamic and economic variables; feedback principles and the evolution of industrial production. Environmental benchmark principles: the development of eco-efficiency indicators as guidelines for the modification of production lines. Energy sustainability: resources and reserves, technologies and services; the new energy paradigm: proximity, adequacy and vitality; forms of energy: direct, indirect, incorporated; energy criteria for the selection of energy-sustainable technologies: ESI (Energy Sustainability Index), EROI (Energy Return On Invested), EPT (Energy Payback Time). Sustainability of the matter: limitations, re-use, recycling; DE (Design for the Environment): design for reuse, design for recycling, design for degradability, design to avoid hazardous materials; ecoefficiency and ecoservice. Systemic approach: environmental sustainability: LCA (Life Cycle Analysis): objectives and purpose, inventory, impact assessment, interpretation; Matrix based LCA; Software based LCA; proxy indicator: incorporated energy, material inputs for product / service units, eco-footprint, eco-indicator.

Course calendar Sustainable Engineering Prof. B. RUGGERI December 2019: 9 time 10-13 am;10 time 15-18 pm;12 time 15-18 pm;18 time 15-18 pm January 2020: 9 time 15-18 pm; 14 time 10-13 am;15 time 15-18 pm; 16 time 15-18 pm; 21 time 10-13 am; 23 time 15-18 pm Classes will be held in the DENINA room of DISAT.

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Gli studenti e le studentesse con disabilità o con Disturbi Specifici di Apprendimento (DSA), oltre alla segnalazione tramite procedura informatizzata, sono invitati a comunicare anche direttamente al/la docente titolare dell'insegnamento, con un preavviso non inferiore ad una settimana dall'avvio della sessione d'esame, gli strumenti compensativi concordati con l'Unità Special Needs, al fine di permettere al/la docente la declinazione più idonea in riferimento alla specifica tipologia di esame.