Download Sustainability

Role and Relevance of ASCE
to America’s Energy Choices
Richard N. Wright, Dist.M.ASCE, NAE
ASCE Committee on Sustainability
ASCE Committee on Adaptation to a Changing Climate
Founder Societies Carbon Management Technology Project
ASCE Has Three Strategic Priorities
• Infrastructure: Propose practical solutions to improve
America's neglected infrastructure.
• Raise the Bar: Establish educational and legal standards
necessary to prepare professional engineers to address the
future's most pressing challenges.
• Sustainability: Embrace civil engineers' role as contributors
to a sustainable world.
Sustainability Means
• Sustainability is a set of environmental, economic 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
availability of natural, economic and social resources.
• Triple Bottom Line
– Economic Growth
– Environmental Stewardship
– Social Progress
• Includes Resilience to Natural, Accidental and Willful Hazards
Are We Now Sustainable?
USA
11
Exceeds biosphere's average
capacity per person,
high development
10
9
8
7
6
5
Exceeds biosphere's average capacity
per person, low development
4
3
World average biocapacity available per person, ignoring the needs of wild species
2
Within biosphere's average capacity
per person, low development
Meets minimum criteria for
sustainability
1
0
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1.0
Human Development Index
Africa
Europe EU
Latin America and the Carribbean
North America
Asia-Pacific
Europe Non-EU
Middle East and Central Asia
Country population (coloured by region):
More than
1 billion
100 million1 billion
30 million100 million
10 million30 million
5 million10 million
less than
5 million
Ecological Footprint (2006 global hectares per person)
HDI vs. Ecological Footprint
Country by Country Plot
Threshold for high human development
12
Sustainability is Required by
ASCE’s Code of Ethics
Canon 1
Engineers shall hold paramount the safety,
health and welfare of the public and shall
strive to comply with the principles of
sustainable development in the performance
of their professional duties.
When There is a Problem
Engineers whose professional judgment is
overruled under circumstances where the safety,
health or welfare of the public is endangered, or
the principles of sustainable development
ignored, shall inform their clients or employers
of the possible consequences.
Sustainability in ASCE’s
Policy Statements
• 360: Impact of Climate Change: The American Society of Civil
Engineers (ASCE) supports government policies that
encourage anticipation of and preparation for possible
impacts of climate change on the built environment.
• 389: Mitigating the Impact of Natural and Man-Made
Hazards: ASCE supports sustained efforts to improve
professional practices in planning, design, construction,
operation, maintenance and reuse/decommissioning that
mitigate the effects of natural and man-made hazards.
Sustainability in ASCE’s
Policy Statements
• 418: The Role of the Civil Engineer in Sustainable
Development: The civil engineering profession recognizes the
reality of limited natural resources, the desire for sustainable
practices (including life-cycle analysis and sustainable design
techniques), and the need for social equity in the
consumption of resources.
• 488: Greenhouse Gases: The American Society of Civil
Engineers (ASCE) supports the following public and private
sector strategies and efforts to achieve significant reductions
in greenhouse gas emissions from existing and future
infrastructure systems ----
Activities Addressing
ASCE’s Sustainability Strategic Priority
• Strategic Planning
• Measuring and Rating the Sustainability of Infrastructure
Projects
• ASCE Web-Based Continuing Education
• Formal Education in Sustainability
• Climate Change: Mitigation and Adaptation
• Innovation in Sustainable Civil Engineering Award
• Sustainable Project Profiles
• Sustainable Headquarters and Conferences
• Maintenance and Development of ASCE Policy Statements
• Public and K-12 Education
• Sustainability in Sections, Branches and Student Chapters
• Founder Societies’ Carbon Management Technology Project
Strategic Plan
• Provide a Vision of the Future
• Improve Sustainability Education
• Incorporate Sustainability Thinking in the
Design and Construction of Infrastructure
• Develop Relations of Trust and Respect
• Bring Fractured Parts of our Profession into a
Coherent Way of Thinking
Measuring and Rating the Sustainability of
Infrastructure Projects
• Do the Right Project
• Do the Project Right
Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure
(ISI)
• Alliance of
• American Society of Civil Engineers
• American Public Works Association
• American Council of Engineering Companies
• Envision™ Rating System
• Training and Credentialing
– Assessors qualified in use of Envision: ENV SP
– Verifiers for independent, third party, assessment.
• www.sustainableinfrastructure.org
Envision™ Credit List
ASCE Web-Based Continuing Education
• Courses defined in workshop involving all
ASCE institutes and Technical Activities
Committee
• Courses are/will be developed by the
Committee on Sustainability’s Sustainable
Infrastructure Education Subcommittee.
• Courses delivered by ASCE Continuing
Education
Sustainability Continuing Education
Courses Available
• Fundamentals of Sustainable Engineering (15
hours)
• Sustainable Project Management: Delivering
Projects for a More Sustainable Infrastructure
(12 hours)
• Ecological Systems: Maintaining and
Enhancing Natural Features and Minimizing
Adverse Impacts of Infrastructure Projects (6
hours)
Sustainability Continuing Education
Courses in Preparation
• Access & Mobility: Integrating Transportation
with the Built Environment (6 hours)
• Community Participation: Effective
Stakeholder Involvement Throughout the
Project Life Cycle (6 hours)
• Sustainable Land Use (6 hours)
• Water Resources: Sustaining Quality and
Quantity (6 hours)
Sustainability Continuing Education
Courses Planned
Air Quality Management (4 hours)
Life Cycle Assessment for Sustainability: Triple Bottom Line Accounting (12
hours)
Lighting: Saving Energy, Enhancing Safety, and Preserving the Night Sky (2
hours)
Mitigating Noise and Vibration: Supporting Quiet and Livable Communities (4
hours)
Waste Management: Reusing, Reducing, or Eliminating Waste (4 hours)
Formal Engineering Education
– The Center for Sustainable Engineering has
prepared and made available college/graduate
level course materials (www.csengin.org)
– Formal Engineering Education Subcommittee
• Inputs to ASCE Body of Knowledge
• Inputs to ABET Criteria Committee
• Making ASCE Continuing Education Courses available to
students and faculty.
Climate Change
• Mitigation of climate change is a role of the
Committee on Sustainability
• Adaptation to climate change is the role of the
Committee on Adaptation to a Changing
Climate
• Both Mitigation and Adaptation are covered in
Envision ™
Climate, Weather and Extreme Events
• Climate is average of weather conditions over a
long time period, for example the average high
temperature for September 13 for DCA is 81 F.
• Weather is the current temperature,
precipitation, wind velocity, etc.
• Extreme events are the infrequent conditions for
which we need to design infrastructure: heavy
precipitation, flooding, storm surge, heat waves,
high winds, droughts, wildfires, etc.
Average U.S. Temperature Projections
Some Projected Changes from IPCC
SREX http://www.ipcc-wg2.gov/SREX/
• Very likely increase in length, frequency, and/or
intensity of warm spells or heat waves over most
land areas.
• Likely increase in frequency of heavy precipitation
events or increase in proportion of total rainfall
from heavy falls over many areas of the globe.
• Medium confidence in projected increase in
duration and intensity of droughts in some
regions of the world, including central North
America.
Mitigation of Climate Change
• Role of Infrastructure in Energy Use and GHG
Emissions (proportion of US Source Energy)
– Buildings – 41%
– Industry – 31%
– Transportation- 28%
• Infrastructure affects:
– Embodied energy
– Operating energy
Adaptation to Climate Change
• Climate Science Questions the Bases of
Engineering Codes, Standards and Practices.
The statistics of past extreme events won’t
characterize those of the future.
• Research with climate/weather scientists to
observe extreme events and model scenarios
for future extreme events.
• Updating infrastructure standards and codes.
An “Engineering Approach” to
Sustainability and Climate Change
From Welsh architect Alex Gordon, 1972,
design for:
• Long Life
• Loose Fit
• Low Energy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/1999/jul/29/guardianobituaries3
Sections, Branches and Student
Chapters
• Guidelines for Activities of Sections, Branches
and Student Chapters
• Information Exchanged at:
http://www.asce.org/Sustainability/GetInvolved-in-ASCE-Activities/
Carbon Management Technology
Conference
• October 21-23, 2013 in Alexandria, VA
http://fscarbonmanagement.org/content/cmtc-2013
• Themes
• Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage
• Carbon Management Pathways from Electricity Generation
to End User
• Potentially Game-Changing Technology and Evaluation
• Engineering Challenges and Solutions for Adaptation to
Climate Change
Questions and Discussion