Exercises: Ecosocial critical assessment

Explain the three dimensions of sustainability (environmental, social, and economic) and give an example of a technology that clearly fails in each one, even if it succeeds in the other two.

The figure shows the diagram of the triple bottom line assessment of a technology, with the central area covered. Explain what each circle represents, what the region where all three overlap means, and why a purely 'green' technology that creates precarious working conditions would not be in that region.

Define what an appropriate technology (or context-appropriate technology) is and explain why a simple solar refrigerator can be more appropriate than a state-of-the-art one in a rural community without a stable electricity grid.

List the levels of the waste management hierarchy (prevention, reuse, recycling, energy recovery, landfill) and give an example of glass packaging treated at each level. Why is landfill the last option even if it is the cheapest in the short term?

Explain what ecodesign is and cite three specific strategies it applies (reducing materials, facilitating disassembly and repair, choosing recyclable materials, extending lifespan). Give an example of a product that successfully applies at least two of them.

A treadle water pump can bring a well into service where there is no mains electricity, whereas a diesel pump there becomes a problem. Using this example, explain what makes a technology 'appropriate' (locally maintainable, repairable with available parts, affordable, suited to the cultural and energy context).

Explain what collaborative consumption is (car-sharing, tool-sharing, home-sharing) and what impact it has on resources (fewer manufactured products per person). What conditions ensure that it genuinely works and is not just marketing (truly intensive use of the shared good)?

In addition to emissions, a technology is evaluated using social indicators. State four (jobs created and their quality, occupational health and safety, service accessibility, effect on the local community) and explain how each one would be measured in the case of a new recycling plant.

Apply a full ecosocial assessment to the "latest model" of mobile phone that is updated every year: environmental criteria (critical materials, repairability), social criteria (extraction conditions, digital divide) and economic criteria (true cost of ownership). Conclude with a reasoned recommendation.

Compare two urban mobility systems for journeys of $5\ \text{km}$ using ecosocial criteria: private electric car versus public bike-sharing network. Analyse the resources consumed per person and kilometre, urban space occupied, public health, accessibility and cost to the local council, and clarify for which users the car remains necessary.

Explain what "greenwashing" or green image washing is, identify three common techniques (vague language, data from a single life cycle phase, self-awarded labels) and write three questions that a critical consumer should ask when faced with a product advertised as "eco-friendly".

Compare reading an e-reader versus paper books using ecosocial criteria: the impact of manufacturing the device (minerals, energy) versus paper and inks, the threshold of books read to make it worthwhile, working conditions in both supply chains, and the final disposal (electronic waste versus recyclable paper). For which reader profile does each option win out?

An agricultural cooperative is deciding between sprinkler irrigation, drip irrigation, and smart irrigation with moisture sensors. Construct an evaluation matrix with four criteria (water consumption, installation and maintenance cost, energy, required training), assign justified weightings, and score each option from $1$ to $5$. Does the winner change if the price of water increases?

Before installing a wind farm next to a village, identify the stakeholders (residents, developer, farmers owning the land, local birdlife, energy consumers, local council) and analyse what each stands to gain and lose. Propose two measures to improve the distribution of benefits and reduce conflict (resident participation in ownership, compensation).

A city presents its "smart city" project (sensors everywhere, centralised traffic and service management) as inherently sustainable. Analyse critically: the energy and material cost of the digital infrastructure, sensor obsolescence, surveillance risks, supplier lock-in, and under what specific conditions the project would indeed be an ecosocial improvement.

France mandates the display of a repairability index on mobile phones and household appliances. Explain which criteria it scores (availability and price of spare parts, ease of disassembly, documentation), how it changes consumer purchasing decisions and manufacturer design choices, and what limitation such an index has if spare parts remain extremely expensive.

A retail chain claims in its advertising campaign: “We are replacing polyethylene with cornstarch bioplastic (PLA) in all produce bags. Being biodegradable and plant-based, the environmental impact is reduced to zero, as they degrade naturally in any environment without leaving waste”. Technically refute this claim:

1. a) Justify why PLA does not degrade spontaneously in the marine environment nor in a conventional landfill, detailing the thermohygrometric conditions required by technical standard UNE-EN 13432 for industrial composting.
2. b) Assess the life-cycle assessment (LCA) by comparing the water and land-use footprints of intensive corn farming versus the extraction of fossil polymers.
3. c) Design a technical and organizational alternative for the produce section that prioritizes the first two tiers of the European waste hierarchy (prevention and reduction) over the mere substitution of disposable materials.

Design an ecosocial evaluation matrix to compare three heating technologies in a secondary school (gas boiler, heat pump, local forest biomass): choose five criteria with justified weightings (emissions, annual cost, local employment, external dependency, technology maturity), score each option from $1$ to $5$ with reasoning, and discuss how the result changes if the weight of emissions is doubled.

A municipality replaces its 250 W sodium-vapor luminaires with 70 W LED lamps aiming to cut energy consumption by 72,0 %. However, as the operating cost per light point dropped, the city council installed 40,0 % more streetlights and extended the nightly ornamental lighting by 2,5 hours per day, going from 3.000 to 3.900 annual hours.

1. a) Calculate the real percentage change in the total annual electricity consumption of municipal lighting and interpret the result by applying the concept of Jevons' paradox (direct rebound effect).
2. b) Justify why isolated improvements in the technological efficiency of components do not by themselves guarantee a reduction in the aggregate biophysical impact if they are not accompanied by sufficiency limits.
3. c) Design two technical and energy governance requirements that the municipal tender specifications should have established to ensure net real savings in the electricity supply.

An ecological transition report for an industrialized country projects sustaining an annual economic growth of 2,5 % until 2040 based on “green growth” (massive electrification and digitalization). Nevertheless, the report's technical data reveal that, while energy intensity per unit of GDP decreases by 1,8 % annually, the total consumption of critical materials (copper, lithium, rare earths) increases by 4,2 % annually.

1. a) Interpret these data to justify the technical difference between relative decoupling and absolute decoupling, determining whether the plan achieves a real dematerialization of the economy.
2. b) Re-evaluate the scenario from the perspective of physical limits and the laws of thermodynamics: why do factors such as the energy return on investment (EROI) and the limits on recycling rates prevent indefinite absolute decoupling?
3. c) Design a proposal for the technological restructuring of transport and industry for said country that adopts principles of sufficiency and reduction of material throughput (“planned degrowth”), defining two quantitative physical indicators to monitor the process.

Design an ecosocial evaluation matrix to decide whether a secondary school should accept a drone supply delivery service: criteria (energy per parcel compared to a delivery van, noise, airspace safety, delivery driver employment, real usefulness for the school), justified weighting, and a score from $1$ to $5$ in each cell with reasoning. What additional information would you request from the company before scoring?

A public transport company tenders the purchase of 40 urban electric buses and must choose between two battery technologies to store 450 kWh per vehicle:

• Option A: NMC (nickel-manganese-cobalt) cells, with an energy density of 240 Wh/kg and a lifespan of 1.800 full charge cycles.

• Option B: LFP (lithium iron phosphate) cells, with an energy density of 150 Wh/kg and a lifespan of 4.200 cycles.

1. a) Calculate the battery mass that each bus must carry in both options and predict the impact that the extra weight of the LFP option will have on energy consumption per kilometer and on tire and road wear.
2. b) Critically evaluate the upstream socio-environmental impacts of raw material extraction for both chemistries, justifying which one presents lower ethical risks and water stress according to its mineralogical composition.
3. c) Knowing that the vehicles complete 300 cycles per year and have an expected lifespan of 14 years, calculate how many battery replacements each fleet will require and provide a technical verdict on the optimal choice considering recyclability and the material footprint throughout the entire life cycle.

An international consortium proposes a solar geoengineering (SRM) project consisting of continuously injecting sulfate aerosol precursors into the stratosphere to reduce radiative forcing by 1,5 W/m² and offset global warming without altering fossil fuel production.

1. a) Predict the collateral thermodynamic and hydrological alterations that this artificial cooling would cause in global precipitation patterns (such as monsoons) and in the chemistry of the ozone layer.
2. b) Explain the catastrophic risk known as “termination shock”: predict what would happen to the rate of global temperature change and the adaptability of ecosystems if the aerosol supply were abruptly interrupted after 25 years of application with rising atmospheric $CO_2$ concentrations.
3. c) Evaluate the ethical and technological governance dilemma: why does this solution constitute a “moral hazard” against decarbonization policies, and what mechanisms of sovereignty and climate justice are violated when a single country or corporation unilaterally decides the planet's thermostat?

Design an outline for a technological transition plan for a town of $5\,000$ inhabitants that aims to reduce its footprint in ten years: initial diagnosis (what to measure first), three structural actions (community energy, mobility, local circular economy), annual monitoring indicators, and mechanisms for resident participation. Justify why the order of actions matters (first reducing demand, then covering it cleanly).

Unit challenge. Ecosocial audit of domestic electricity demand.

Is the energy transition neutral and accessible to all households? Evaluate the ecosocial impact of everyday electrification following these phases:

1. Data collection: Go to the public platform of Red Eléctrica de España (REE, real-time demand section). Note down the renewable percentage and associated emissions at two times of the day: peak hours ($20:00$ to $22:00$) and off-peak hours ($02:00$ to $05:00$).

2. Modelling in LibreOffice Calc: Identify the power rating of three household appliances in your home (for example, a washing machine of $1,8\text{ kWh}$ per cycle, a $2,0\text{ kW}$ oven, and an electric water heater). Generate a table and a comparative chart quantifying the kilograms of $\text{CO}_2$ emitted when using them during off-peak periods versus peak periods.

3. Ecosocial assessment: Prepare a short report (one page) evaluating the ecological viability of shifting hourly loads and reflecting critically on the social dimension: can all families shift their consumption, or do time-of-use tariffs exacerbate vulnerability and energy poverty?

Evaluation criteria:

• Rigour in obtaining data from REE and technical accuracy of spreadsheet calculations.

• Quality of the graphical analysis and comparative quantification of $\text{CO}_2$ emissions.

• Critical maturity when integrating environmental impact with social justice and equity.