3.3 Engineering Economics
Economic factors always play important roles in engineering design decision making. If you
design a product that is too expensive to manufacture, then it can not be sold at a price that con-
sumers can afford and still be profitable to your company. The fact is that companies design
products and provide services not only to make our lives better but also to make money! In
Chapter 20, we will discuss the basics of engineering economics. The information provided in
Chapter 20 not only applies to engineering projects but can also be applied to financing a car
or a house or borrowing from or investing money in banks.3.4 Material Selection
As design engineers, whether you are designing a machine part, a toy, or a frame for a car or a
structure, the selection of material is an important design decision. There are a number of fac-
tors that engineers consider when selecting a material for a specific application. For example,major part of your engineering education and any engineering design. Let us now define the
key sustainability concepts, methods, and tools. These terms are self explanatory, think about
them for a while and then using your own words explain what they mean to you.Key sustainability concepts— understanding Earth’s finite resources and environmental issues;
socioeconomic issues related to sustainability; ethical aspects of sustainability; sustainable
development.
Key sustainability methods— life-cycle based analysis; resource and waste management ( material,
energy); environmental impact analysis.
Key sustainability tools— life-cycle assessment; environmental assessment; use of sustainable-
development indicators; U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Leadership in Energy
and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system.As stated on their website, “LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification
system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built
using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy
savings, water efficiency, CO 2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and
stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. Developed by the U.S. Green Building
Council (USGBC), LEED provides building owners and operators a concise framework for iden-
tifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations
and maintenance solutions.” You can learn more about LEED, by visiting http://www.usgbc.org / LEED.
As you take additional courses in engineering and design, gradually, you will learn in more
detail about these concepts, methods, and tools, and will apply them to the solutions of engi-
neering problems and design.56 Chapter 3 Introduction to Engineering Design
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