Sustainability Practice Test

The commonly referenced definition of sustainable development put forth by the Brundtland Commission reads as follows:

"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs"

What does "Single-score" or "single proxy" LCA refer to?

A LCA that weights multiple measured environmental impacts into one universal impact factor, often called "millipoints"..

Which of these answers is an example of green marketing?

A brochure of a product with green colors, printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper. OR A label that indicates how many trees will be saved by purchasing this product.

Which of the following could be used to describe the functional unit for laundry detergent in an Environmental Assessment study?

A product that is made using non-phosphate soaps and natural ingredients.

What does it mean if an environmental indicator is listed as having units of "kg CO2 (equivalent)"

A simple sum of emissions of multiple types of greenhouse gases related to CO2.

What does a "level 3" redesign require?

A systemic change

In which domain should we group environmental impacts such as photochemical oxidation (smog) and ozone layer depletion?

Air impacts

What is the "Scope" of an environmental Assessment that is performed using Intuition?

All life cycle stages

What is the name of the sustainable design technique that uses natural inspiration and technologies found in nature?

Biomimicry

The "global warming potential" (GWP) from greenhouse gases emitted throughout a product's lifecycle, such as carbon dioxide and methane, is a measure of the product's tendency to affect:

Climate change

What is the correct order of the options available when choosing the "Metrics" in an Environmental Assessment, in order of increasing accuracy?

Comments, checkmarks, scores, measurements

What is the name of the sustainable design technique characterized by the concept that the waste from one entity equals the food of another?

Cradle-to-cradle

What is the most broadly scoped Life Cycle Assessment?

Cradle-to-grave LCA

What do the following describe about a product? Raw material extraction Material processing Part manufacturing Assembly Transportation Product use End of life

Cradle-to-grave LCA (lifecycle stages)

Which of the following design changes in a "Level 1 (parametric optimization) design"?

Creating a thinner walled plastic bottle that serves the same intended purpose

LCA's including both screening level and full LCA's don not easily measure toxicity indicators because:

Current toxicity models poorly predict real impacts.

What is the name of the sustainable design technique that helps you to make a product more recyclable?

Design for Disassembly

The Study of sustainable development broadly covers these three elements

Environment, Social equity, Economics.

The study of sustainable development broadly covers these three elements:

Environment, social equity, economics

Which of the following is an important consideration for selecting an appropriate material?

Environmental impacts, Form and function, including engineering characteristics, Cost of procurement and processing

What are the three things you need to consider to perform an Environmental Assessment?

Environmental impacts, scope of the assessment, metrics to be used

While a screening level LCA is intended for internal design guidance it can be shared with specific customers.

False

What is the better choice, using sustainability-grown bamboo from far away, or using sustainability-harvested old growth oak hardwood from local forests?

Favor material over transportation and choose the bamboo.

Which one of these goals is a reactive environmental action, rather than part of a company's long term sustainability vision?

Following current environmental regulations.

This answer choice is not part of a long-term, working definition of a "sustainable company" ideal:

Follows all current environmental regulations

In which step of a full LCA would you determine the functional unit, the system boundary and the environmental impacts to be studied?

Goal & Scope

The sustainable design technique that focuses on re-formulating the raw materials we use to design out their toxicity and environmental impacts is known as:

Green chemistry

Using intuition for environmental impact assessment has many drawbacks, but which of the following one possible benefit?

Identifying simple, common solutions, such as making a product lighter or more energy-efficient.

In which step of a full LCA would you perform Classification (grouping each material and energy flow into an impact category) and Characterization (converting these categories into comparable environmental impacts)?

Impact Assessment

In which step of a full LCA would you create a list of all the materials and processes of you product's life cycle that fall within the defined system boundary?

Inventory

LCA stands for?

Life Cycle Assessment, because LCA is an approximate and pragmatic method, like medicine.

Which of the following environmental Assessment tools can be used to make environmental marketing claims for externally published reporting benchmarks or publicly available marking materials?

Lifecycle-Based-Design Assessments and full LCA's

To whom would you emphasize the cost saving or cost benefit tradeoffs, of your sustainable designs decisions, when trying to communicate your sustainability efforts?

Managers

What is the usual choice of "Metrics" for an assessment done using a Lifecycle-Base-Design Assessment?

Measurements using primary data.

A Qualitative LCA can best be pictured as a matrix like spreadsheet, with the following rows and columns.

None of these.

The choice of "impacts" for an environmental Assessment performed using Conceptual Life Cycle Thinking is?

One select impact from each of the five environmental impact domains.

What might the instructions be for assigning "Metrics " for an assessment performed using a Product Scorecard?

Please indicate "+" or "-" relative to the baseline comparison next to each impact.

What is the name of the sustainable design technique that promotes voluntary partnerships across companies to help manage and reduce impacts over a products entire life cycle, especially end of live considerations?

Product stewardship/Extended Producer Responsibility

Which stage of a product life cycle is not affected by a change in material?

Raw Material stage

What does weighting which can be used to combine multiple environmental impact factors together, rely on?

Societal or cultural values about the relative importance of impact to individual users.

What is an example of a tool that performs a Lifecycle-Based-Design Assessment that is not specific to any one industry?

SolidWorks Sustainability

The results from a product environmental Assessment can be compared to:

Standards

Environmental Product Declarations, or EPD's are an increasingly used method for communicating sustainability results with:

Suppliers and Customers

Environmental Product Declarations, or EPDs, are an increasingly used method for communicating sustainability results with:

Suppliers and customers

"The intelligent application of the principles of sustainability to the realm of engineering and design" is a working definition for the following concept:

Sustainable design

The intelligent application of the principles of sustainability to the realm of engineering and design is a working definition for the following concept:

Sustainable design

In which domain should we group environmental impacts such as water eutrophication and terrestrial ecotoxicity?

Terrestrial & aquatic impacts

An LCA or any other Environmental Assessment provides:

The best available scientific estimate of a products environmental impact.

You decide to manufacture a product locally rather than manufacturing it in a distant region and shipping it here, but you find that this change actually makes the impacts go up. What is one possible reason for this increase?

The electric grid mix and transportation fuel in the local region is dirtier than in the distant region.

The greenest material to use for a part design, if all else is equal is?

There is no such thing as a "greenest" material.

What is the definition of a green product?

There is no such thing as a green product (the only green product is the one that's never made).

Which of the following is (or are)drawbacks of "single-scores" or "single-proxy" LCA's?

They can be less transparent that multiple-factor LCA's.

Which of the following might be a good reason to use a Product Scorecard?

To guide early designers engaging in concept development on a wide variety of products.

The numerical results of a screening level LCA such as SolidWorks Sustainability can legitimately be use in marketing collateral to the general public.

True

What is the ultimate goal of environmental Assessment and Sustainable Design?

Understanding and managing trade-offs.

You have created a new design alternative that represents a 55% reduction in the key environmental indicator, compared to you original design. How confident are you that you have found a "greener" alternative?

You are fully confident

You have found a greener design alternative using a lifecycle-based-design assessment such as SolidWorks Sustainability. How can you verify these environmental results with enough certainty for marketing purposes?

You should verify the results with a full LCA to supplement your screening-level LCA

To whom would you emphasize decreasing material waste and increasing energy efficiency of your manufacturing processed, when trying communicate your sustainability efforts?

Your Engineering Manager

Which of the following language to describe an environmentally considered product is acceptable.

as a "green product" or sustainable "product.