Glossary · Automation fundamentals, platforms and components
Sustainability
German: Nachhaltigkeit
In industrial engineering, sustainability is the design, operation and end-of-life handling of products and plants so that environmental, social and economic needs are met without compromising those of future generations, for example through energy efficiency, durability, reparability, material recovery and restricted hazardous substances.
- Automation components
In one sentence
Sustainability in engineering means designing and running products and plants for energy efficiency, durability, repair and recovery.
Example
A machine builder adds energy metering and regenerative drives and publishes repair and spare part information to extend service life.
How it applies
- Engineering: Levers include energy-efficient drives and Regenerative operation, compressed air leakage reduction, durable design and modular components that allow Retrofit instead of replacement.
- Regulation: EU rules translate sustainability into concrete requirements, for example RoHS for substances and the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) with its Digital product passport (DPP) for product groups covered by delegated acts.
- Documentation: Sustainability claims must be specific and verifiable: state measured energy consumption, repair information, spare part availability and disposal instructions. Generic claims such as "green" or "eco-friendly" without evidence invite legal and reputational risk. Keep the evidence for each claim traceable to measurements or supplier data.
Sustainability measures do not replace safety requirements; a longer service life also requires the safety of the product over that life.