A Planet in Crisis?

Challenges Challenges Challenges

The planet is boiling
Sweltering record heat in 2014-15

How will we feed 9 (11) billion in 2050 (2100)

Their standards and expectations are going up
Crop Yields are not
The vanishing species and forests – we are eating them

The Global Water Crisis

The Global Financial Crisis
The Growing Inequity in Income
…………

The world according to Hans Rosling (4 mins) population documentary (1 hour)

Framing the Challenges
Carrying Capacity of the Planet (Region) =
x individuals * y units of resource use per capita ≤ Total Available Resource
Which resource is the limiting factor?
How far does globalization get us in reducing regional bounds?
Interdependence across resources – water, energy, food?
Is the environment a resource?

Do we reduce the population

or the per capita use (footprint, efficiency)
or improve utilization and re-use (manage material cycles)

The Roots of Sustainability: how many fish can we catch/trees harvest/….

Humans and the Planet – Jeff Sachs
Human use of the earth’s resources
• 1790 Americans estimated average
daily energy consumption =11,000
kcal.
• 1980, increased almost twenty-fold to
210,000 kcal/day (Catton 1986)

• Humans now consume >40% of

photosynthesis products on land and
30% of all coastal ocean production

Different assumptions,
different projections
Growth rates: 1965-70 = 2%
Between 1995 and 2000 the world
population grew at 1.33 per cent
per year, adding an average of 78
1990-95 =1.46%
million persons each year.

Projected 2045-50: High=0.87%, Medium=0.34%, Low=-0.23%

1995: 80 per cent in the

less developed regions
and 20 per cent in the
developed regions.
In the mid 21st century world population will
be in the range of 7.3 to 10.7 billion,
depending on the assumed future fertility
trends.

http://esa.un.org/wpp/Excel-Data/population.htm
Global fertility map (CIA, 2013)
Children born/woman
 Urbanization
Age and other Demographic Changes
Challenges
• The changing climate
• Feeding people
• Water for food and energy
• Ecosystems and Biodiversity
Surface temperatures have warmed over the past
century
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND
THE CRADLE TO CRADLE®
APPROACH
A literature study of the opportunities to apply the Cradle to Cradle®
approach in the built environment
BAS VAN DE WESTERLO

• Source=Jeff Sachs
 Elements of sustainability
Environment

Economy Society

- World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987

the sustainable development
triangle
 Elements of sustainability
Environment

Economy Society

- World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987

Elements of sustainability
Environment
•biodiversity
•materials
•energy
•biophysical interactions

- World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987

 Elements of sustainability

•money and capital

•employment
•technological growth
•investment
•market forces
Economy

- World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987

 Elements of sustainability

•human diversity (cultural, linguistic, ethnic)

•equity (dependence / independence)
•quality of life
•institutional structures and organization
•political structures
Society

- World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987

 The ‘3 Es’ Model
Ecology

Economy Equity
The Healthy Community Model

SOCIETY ECONOMY
HEALTH

ENVIRONMENT
 Sustainability: PROBLEMS
Depletion of finite resources
– fuels, soil, minerals, species
Over-use of renewable resources
– forests, fish & wildlife, fertility, public funds
Pollution
– air, water, soil
Inequity
– economic, political, social, gender
Species loss
– endangered species and spaces
- WCED, 1987
 Sustainability: SOLUTIONS
 Cyclical material use
– emulate natural cycles; 3 R’s
 Safe reliable energy
– conservation, renewable energy,
substitution, interim measures
 Life-based interests
– health, creativity, communication,
coordination, appreciation, learning,
intellectual and spiritual development
The Process of Sustainable Engineering Design
Policy Statement 418 - The Role of the Civil Engineer in
Sustainable Development
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) defines
sustainability as a set of economic, environmental and
social conditions in which all of society has the capacity
and opportunity to maintain and improve its quality of
life indefinitely without degrading the quantity, quality
or the availability of economic, environmental and
social resources.

Principle 1- Do the Right Project. A proposed project's

economic, environmental and social effects on each of the
communities served and affected must be assessed and
understood by all stakeholders before there is a decision
to proceed with a project. Consider non-structural as
well as structural (built) solutions to the needs being
addressed:
 Policy Statement 418 - The Role of the Civil Engineer in
Sustainable Development
• Perform Life Cycle Assessment from Planning to
Reuse. Project participants should use rigorous life
Principle 2 - Do the Project Right. The civil
cycle methodologies that quantify the economic,
engineer shall actively engage stakeholders and
environmental and social effects of the project;
secure public understanding and acceptance of a
• Use Resources Wisely - Minimize Use of Non
projects economic, environmental and social costs
Renewable Resources. Sustainable development shall
and benefits. To move toward conditions of
include progressive reductions in resource use for a
sustainability, engineers must design and
given level of service and resiliency. The feasibility of
deliver projects that address sustainability
restoration, or return of depleted resources, shall be
holistically (from concept to demolition or
evaluated by the civil engineer;
reuse) rather than adding a variety of "green"
• Plan for Resiliency - Sustainability requires planning
features onto a conventional project. ASCE
for the impact natural and man-made disasters and
supports the following steps to achieve a
changing conditions can have on economic,
sustainable project:
environmental and social resources; and
• Validate Application of Principles - Civil engineers
must guide project development and validate the
application of these principles by using metrics and
rating tools such as the EnvisionTM Rating System for
sustainable infrastructure.
http://www.asce.org/issues-and-advocacy/public-policy/policy-statement-418---the-role-of-the-civil-
engineer-in-sustainable-development/
Ohio River Bridge Project Earns Envision Platinum
Award The project team reviewed regional climate change
assessment and adaptation plans to identify climate
change risks and possible responses. Frequency and
intensity of heat waves and flooding were among the
most significant climate-change-related risks identified.
Consequently, the project team established many
measures to guard against these risks, including a
minimum vertical alignment for the corridor to account
for a 100-year flood event for the retaining walls and
highway bridges, and a 500-year flood event for the
tunnel, roadway, and cable-stayed bridge.

The ISI
Envision rating
system
measures
sustainable
infrastructure
projects in five
categories:
quality of life,
leadership,
natural world,
resource
allocation, and
Creating a new paradigm for design in civil engineering

• Traditional site engineering design concentrated solely

on building infrastructure.
• Today, engineers are an integral part of complex design
teams.

Gensler design model

AIA design model

The sustainable design team: an engineer’s perspective

Figure 1-3 The design team through

the life of a sustainable planning
project in northeast Brazil. For this
project, Sherwood Design Engineers
acted as both sustainability consultant
and site engineer. © Sherwood Design
Engineers.
 Design Drivers for sustainable infrastructure systems

The process includes the following elements:

• Identifying and understanding the project drivers

• Setting goals
• Establishing desired outcomes and metrics for success
• Creating frameworks and action plans that organize the
approach
• Identifying concrete, measurable design strategies to
achieve the above items

Project drivers define the fundamental

requirements of a project (such as budget or
timeline) that in turn help to establish the
design criteria. Conventional project
drivers continue to be supplemented or
replaced by additional, more integrated
drivers, often defined by environmental and
infrastructure constraints, increased
regulatory controls, or the desire to conform
to a green rating system.
Setting goals for the project
Community
• Improve site aesthetics.
• Increase pedestrian connectivity.
• Expand multiuse functionality.
Environment
• Improve energy efficiency.
• Reduce carbon emissions.
• Increase water efficiency.
• Reduce stormwater runoff.
• Improve stormwater quality.
• Expand local material use.
Economics
• Increase marketability.
• Stay within budget limits.
• Optimize maintenance requirements.
• Increase systems durability.
Defining Desired outcomes and matrices
Water: Compare the site’s expected water demands with a
baseline case and strive for a water balance that focuses
on low-use and renewable sources.
Energy: Compare the project’s final energy requirements
with a baseline case and strive for net zero energy use.
Carbon: Compare the project’s carbon footprint through
the design, construction, and occupancy phases with a
baseline case and strive to be carbon negative.
Materials: Complete a life-cycle analysis for the project
and specify materials with long life cycles. Local resources
should also be evaluated.
Implementing the process

Vertical bars in this

process diagram indicate where the
sustainability drivers are introduced
during a specific project. In this case,
most critical is the introduction and
calibration of metrics. © Sherwood
Design Engineers.
 Ecology
• Annual aquifer recharge of 55 acre-feet
• Water quality treatment of all runoff
• 25 acres of habitat restoration
Water
• 75 percent water reuse for irrigation
• 95 percent recycled water for fountains
• 35 percent water reuse for restrooms

Energy
• Carbon neutrality for park operations
• 75 percent on-site renewable power generation
• 50 percent energy reduction from baseline for parking
This concept sketch from a garage
charrette for a sustainable technology
park captures a combination of design
strategies and shows their integration
through graphic expression.
IIT Gandhinagar
Outline of some of the steps of the
engineering process:

1. Project planning
• Perform initial research to identify climate conditions;
energy source and costs; water source and costs; and
environmental constraints and opportunities.
• Identify key components of sustainable opportunities
specific to site and region.
• Provide case studies relevant to the site.
 Outline of some of the steps of the
engineering process:
2. Concept design
• Establish a framework.

• Conduct a design/client team sustainable systems workshop, including all

designers and client representatives, to present opportunities, understand site-
specific limitations and opportunities, and gain consensus on project goals and
design criteria.

• Provide and quantify comprehensive strategies for achieving established goals.

• Develop metrics and benchmarks to determine whether goals are being met.
 Outline of some of the steps of the
engineering process:
3. Design development

• Integrateand track goals with the master plan program; as the plan changes,
identify when goals are being compromised and recommend alternatives to
preserve them.

• Revise design to meet priorities through collaborative iteration with other

stakeholders.

• Recalibrate metrics, if necessary, to accommodate any design changes as the

project develops.

• Create sustainability guidelines that fully integrate with the project design
guidelines, moving from design to operations.
Outline of some of the steps of the
engineering process:

4. Construction documentation
• Recalibrate metrics, if necessary, to accommodate design
changes associated with value engineering.

• Collaborate with the project team on the detailing of unique

elements critical to project goals and/or integrated systems.
Outline of some of the steps of the
engineering process:
5. Construction and commissioning
• Develop a sustainable systems construction manual.
• Use project specifications as a means to require sustainable
construction practices.
• Develop a materials use plan to minimize construction waste.
• Commission site infrastructure, including drainage systems.
Outline of some of the steps of the
engineering process:

6. Operations
• Develop an operations and maintenance manual
for new or innovative design solutions.
• Develop a plan for ongoing carbon management
and greening project operations.