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EWB CHALLENGE RESOURCES
Life Cycle Analysis Tutorial
Overall Challenge Aim: Develop skills in integrating Sustainable Development and
Design Context into the decision making process.
Learning Outcomes: Students understand the full lifecycle costs of a proposal i.e. they
have considered not only the building phase but maintenance, and the ongoing impact
on the community of e.g. usage, upkeep, development.
Judging Criteria:
• Students to consider capital expense, ongoing running costs and potential revenue
streams in determining their final design.
• Students to explain the financial benefits of the project compared to the status quo
(do nothing case)
OUTLINE:
Have the students read through a scenario and discuss around questions posed.
(Note, this could be run in conjunction with the Environmental Impact tutorial)
Engineers Without Borders Australia Ltd  ABN 13 103 896 920  PO Box 79 Elsternwick Vic 3185
Telephone (03) 9696 9040  Fax (03) 9696 9034  [email protected]  www.ewb.org.au
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
Outline of a scenario below for students to read.
ACTIVITY:
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Divide the group into small groups of 4-6 and ask each group to read through the
scenario in the resources section and discuss.
As a whole group ask students to discuss their answers to the questioned posed.
Sum up key messages as below and any other useful ideas that have emerged
from the activity.
KEY MESSAGES:
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Understanding of the key principle that the positive values of a design proposal
must be greater than the costs to the community.
The whole life cycle of the project must be considered in the design. What
impact will the design have at the end of its useful life?
RESOURCES:
EWB volunteers have been asked to work with an Indigenous community to assist with
the clean up of a community property. The property is large, around 100,000 hectares
and remote, 150km from the nearest town and 1,000km from the nearest capital city. It
has been used as a sheep and cattle station for many decades and all agricultural and
household rubbish has been dumped near the old homestead or, on or near the banks
of waterways on the property.
This has resulted in a significant accumulation of waste which is a mixture of metal,
glass, batteries and putrescibles (household waste). Four significant waste sites have
been identified:
1. The first site is within 100m of the current homestead, immediately adjacent to
the creek. During significant flood events the site is flooded resulting in an
unknown quantity of waste products being transported down the creek. The site
comprises of large quantities of scrap metal, including old car and truck bodies,
water tanks, fencing wire, corrugated iron, as well as glass, vehicle batteries,
timber and general waste. Native bush has re-grown throughout the dump sites.
The site is generally flat apart from a number of mounds of fill material which
appear to be covering buried waste.
2. The second waste site was located close to a natural lake. The site comprises a
number of locations where waste has been previously buried. The surface area
includes a relatively small number of scattered objects including glass bottles,
metal cans and scrap metal.
3. The third site visited was the site of an original homestead which had been
destroyed by fire. This is a highly dispersed site, with a number of old vehicle
bodies scattered across a large area, as well as other isolated heaps of material,
predominately metal products.
4. The fourth site is located just off the main road into the nearest town. This site
does not contain an extensive amount of material however it is widely dispersed,
consisting mainly of metal products.
The creek has many sites of special cultural significance such as fish traps, medicine
trees and camp sites, which are essential to protect as it provides a place that the local
indigenous people can identify with and utilise to share their culture.
The property contains regional, national and international conservation values and is
known to support populations of rare animals, locally significant populations of
waterbirds and an abundance of habitat available to other significant species. The
landscape is dominated by mulga country; spinifex, soft mulga, and gidgee plains.
Wetlands are a feature of both properties when it rains which adds further to bird and
fauna diversity.
The indigenous community is wishing to plan and manage the property primarily for
cultural and natural heritage protection. They aim to have somewhere for their people
to come back to in order to reconnect with their land. Some grazing of domestic stock
may occur on parts of the property in the short term.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Why is there a significant amount of waste accumulated on the property?
What can be done to reduce the amount of waste accumulated on the property?
How can you enhance your design by improving waste management throughout the
entire life cycle of the project?