Making Better Choices For Environmental Sustainability

Sean McGinnis

August 6, 2019 at 7:30 P.M. at the Virginia Air and Space Center in downtown Hampton, Virginia

Abstract

The ability of human society to sustain our health, our quality of life and our environment is increasingly at risk due to resource depletion and emissions into the air, water, and land. There are no simple solutions to this complex problem and progress requires efforts by citizens, businesses, and governments at local, regional, national, and global scales.

For citizens, decisions are made every day which can have more or less impact on the environment. Making decisions to improve sustainability are difficult for a variety of technical, behavioral, and economic reasons. To make better environmental decisions, it is critical to be able to assess the quality and relevance of environmental information, to understand common environmental metrics and methods, and to compare options from a full life cycle perspective. Prof. McGinnis will discuss the application of these green engineering concepts through a number of examples that citizens encounter or hear about in the news regularly.

Speaker

Professor Sean McGinnis is an Associate Professor of Practice in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) at Virginia Tech. He also directs the Green Engineering program which teaches undergraduates concepts and skills to quantify and minimize environmental impacts across a wide variety of engineering disciplines. His current research focuses on life cycle assessment (LCA), sustainable manufacturing processes, renewable energy, green building, and engineering education. McGinnis works with local governments, communities, schools, and companies to understand their energy use, carbon footprints, and environmental impacts and to help them develop sustainability plans. McGinnis received a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University. He worked in industry for 10 years before joining the faculty at VT in 2005. He lives in Roanoke, VA, with his wife and 2 daughters.