Doug Sereno on ENVISION 10/20/16
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Why is sustainability a civil engineer’s responsibility?
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Doug Sereno on ENVISION 10/20/16
- 1. ASCE’s Sustainability Initiative: What It Means to the Practitioner & the Envision Rating System Douglas J. Sereno, PE, F.ASCE, ENV SP, D.PE Director of Program Management Chair, ASCE Committee on Sustainability ASCE Orange County Branch October 20, 2016 /ASCE
- 2. Definitions: Stationarity vs. Non-stationarity Stationarity: the statistical properties of engineering design variables will be the same in the future as they have been in the past. Non-stationarity: the statistical properties of engineering design variables will differ significantly in the future in comparison to the past.
- 3. Carrying Capacity vs. Ecological Footprint 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 Number of planets Number of planets Earth available NumberofPlanetsEarth Source: Living Planet Report, 2008 World Wildlife Fund http://assets.panda.org/downloads/living_planet_report_2008.pdf 30% Over
- 4. And the Problem is…
- 5. Call to Action 1. Civil engineers provide essential infrastructure 2. That infrastructure is dangerously deteriorating 3. Availability of resources and future conditions are highly uncertain
- 6. Call to Action 4. Current approaches, standards and methodologies do not address the full range of societal needs. Therefore: 5. Civil engineering practice must be transformed. 6. ASCE is responsible to society to lead this change.
- 7. Goal 1 – Transform how infrastructure is conceived, designed and delivered to enable a sustainable future Goal 2 – Establish ASCE as the trusted leader and preferred resource for sustainable civil engineering practices Proposed Goals
- 8. Goal 3 – Make ISI Envision Infrastructure Rating System the broadly adopted framework for sustainable infrastructure Goal 4 – Expand the capacity of civil engineers to create relationships of trust and respect Proposed Goals
- 9. ASCE Sustainability Summit January 7-9, 2019 Herndon, VA • 100 of the best thought leaders, staff and committee members • Four focus sessions • Create the Urgency • Civil Engineering Leadership • Making the Business Case • Measuring & Communicating Success https://youtu.be/WrOimPnqSoE
- 10. • Reinvent processes – Do the Right Project • Develop new standards and protocols – Do the Project Right • Build/expand the capacity of civil engineers • Advocacy/Communications Key Priorities
- 11. ASCE Vision for Civil Engineering in 2025 Entrusted by society to create a sustainable world and enhance the global quality of life, civil engineers serve competently, collaboratively, and ethically as…” • Master Builders • Stewards of the Environment • Innovators • Managers of Risk • Leaders in Public Policy
- 12. TI Wye Track Realignment Envision Rating
- 13. TI Wye Track Realignment “The project will enable sustainable cargo movement by reducing emissions and congestions; improving efficiencies and safety; and reducing operational impacts to the community and the rail network.”
- 14. Seven Project Goals • Leave the site better than the pre-development condition (environment) • Increase on dock rail utilization (environment, economics) • Reduce emission and congestion (environment) • Reduce impact on community and increase local/small business participation (social) • Improve stormwater management at site (environment) • Improve Port’s economic competitiveness (economics) • Reduce consumption of resources (environment, economics)
- 17. /ASCE Thank you! ASCE Orange County Branch www.facebook.com/PortofLB http://twitter.com/portoflongbeach http://www.youtube.com/portoflongbeach www.polb.com http://www.asce.org/sustainability/
Editor's Notes
- You probably haven’t heard the term non-stationarity before…and probably not stationarity, at least in the context of engineering in the built environment. Here’s what these terms mean: Stationarity: the statistical properties of engineering design variables will be the same in the future as they have been in the past. Non-stationarity: the statistical properties of engineering design variables will be different, and perhaps significantly different, in the future as compared to the past.
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- Briefly explain graph HDI is comprised of three measures Life Expectancy Literacy Standard of Living 1 is best; 0 is worst The challenge faced by developed countries worldwide, is how to reduce our net environmental footprint, i.e., make a meaningful shift towards the sustainability quadrant, without sacrificing our quality of life. Clearly, there are a number of obvious actions to take, e.g., improving energy efficiency, reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase water recycling, reclamation and conservation, to name a few. However, our ability to instigate any comprehensive and well thought out action is severely hampered, not only by limited resources, but by multiple priorities and agendas of those potentially affected by the actions proposed. In addition, this challenge is not small. Taken to its logical conclusion, reaching the sustainable quadrant involves, more or less, a complete overhaul of our nation’s infrastructure, replacing old components with those that are more effective and efficient. Absent huge and unprecedented investments or the emergence of some “silver bullet” technologies, progress will be made incrementally by project owners, designers and constructors delivering infrastructure projects that make significant improvements in performance across multiple dimensions of sustainability. To be efficient and effective, these projects must also integrate well with the infrastructure in the community, both existing and planned. Lastly, the designers must take into account changes in the environment in which the delivered works must operate. The consequences of conventional building practices are substantially altering the practice of engineering. Shortages in resources, such as fresh water and energy, are changing the assumptions regarding their future costs and availability. Resource substitutes or recycled materials have different properties and performance characteristics, all of which need to be factored into the design. The effects of a changing climate are forcing designers to change their assumptions about design parameters in terms of the expected averages, variances and possible extremes. Variables such as increases in mean temperature, the possible cost of fuel, the length and severity of droughts or increases in rainfall intensity are now part of the conversation at the preliminary design stage. In addition, new parameters such as carbon emission rates and embodied energy of materials are emerging and need to be accounted for.
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- Fourth: Given this situation, infrastructure projects designed, constructed and operated to current standards and methodologies may not work as specified. In the best case, all is well but in the worst case, they will not perform as required or may critically fail. Therefore fifth: Our standards and methodologies must be revised quickly to ensure a safe future and, in fact, sustainable performance will need to be improved to eliminate the negative impacts of infrastructure on natural resources and environmental systems or even, as Envision was designed, to restore these systems. Sixth: Of one thing, we are certain…ASCE is uniquely positioned to lead this change. New standards and methodologies are needed for designing and delivering sustainable infrastructure that is more robust, adaptive and resilient. It is also clear that it is very urgent that ASCE address the critical need of fixing our existing infrastructure while designing and delivering new infrastructure to support our economic growth and prosperity.
- COS is proposing four goals from which we will design our desired outcomes. Our revised Action Plan will define strategies and tactics to accomplish those outcomes and the overall purpose. Goal 1 – Transform how infrastructure is conceived, designed and delivered to enable a sustainable future. This is the key to what we are proposing. We believe this need is urgent and requires quick and decisive action. Goal 2 – ASCE is the preferred source for effective tools and techniques to implement sustainable practices in day-to-day work. There are many other parties actively engaged in sustainability but ASCE represents civil engineers and civil engineers, in the end, develop and implement the solutions.
- Goal 3 – The Envision Infrastructure Rating System is a broadly adopted framework for designing and rating infrastructure. To implement solutions, you need tools and Envision is the biggest wrench in the tool box. We are committed to it. Michael Mucha, CoS Past Chair, has been appointed to the ISI Board representing ASCE and I have recently accepted an appointment to ISI Envision Review Board. Goal 4 – This goal, championed again by Michael Mucha, puts the human face on what we are doing…infrastructure serves people. That’s why we are engineers and that is why we do what we do. But we must assume a leadership role in the conversation about sustainable infrastructure. We must teach the ASCE constituency how to lead the required collaboration of diverse stakeholders and diverse disciplines through strong relationships where engineers are viewed with trust and respect.
- What we heard at the summit was that the conditions under which infrastructure is being designed today is inadequate for future conditions. The very basis of civil engineering design has been that conditions of the past can be relied upon as good predictors of future conditions, a property called stationarity. Using those conditions, we have developed and relied on formulas, tables, graphs and standards to do work more efficiently and we have licensed and certified engineers to use those standards to manage risk and liability. However, decades of overuse of resources, reliance on fossil fuel for energy and continuing release of greenhouse gases and other pollutants into the environment contributing to significant climate change has made this principle no longer relevant or reliable for future development. If we continue to do what we have done in the past, the infrastructure we deliver will not be functional, reliable or safe under those future conditions nor will it be protective of public health, safety and welfare as called for in ASCE Canon No. 1. If we accept that stationarity is no longer reliable, then, to ensure that we can fulfill our professional obligations, we must have new standards and processes that can address these issues. We also heard that many in our profession are not aware that this issue is any more than a random occurrence and those who believe in the science are unable to take reasonable action. Engineers need to understand the changing development environment and need to take their place as planners. leaders, risk managers and implementers of sustainable infrastructure, knowing that the design conditions are no longer static and stationary. We heard that transformation was not just a good idea but that it was required to ensure a safe and sustainable future and that engineers were best equipped to lead this transformation. As we heard from Ron Sims, Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development , addressing civil engineers in particular, “We will either succeed because of your skills or we will fail because of your indifference and your lack of them”. We also heard that many other organizations, including the US Department of Transportation, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the City of New York and other professional association, were already addressing this issue of transformation and that ASCE would be left behind if we did not address this issue directly and decisively. To echo what we heard, today is the day of the engineer and ASCE needs to step up to lead. So, the strategic issue that we see for ASCE to address is the transformation of the profession so that the “new” standard, the “new normal”, is that all civil engineering is sustainable. I am not referring to simply a quality of the finished product but that the very process, the methodology, the discipline by which we conceive, produce and operate infrastructure is guided by sustainability as the standard of development. What does this look like? In this “new” actuality, all infrastructure that civil engineers create will be environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable so that it meets the needs of human welfare, that it supports the fulfillment of human potential in an equitable and appropriate form for the specific location and the culture where applied, so that healthy communities can be realized.
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- Let me conclude with this abbreviated statement from The Vision for Civil Engineering in 2025. This sums up our vision of the civil engineer who is fully engaged, understands and embraces the principles of sustainable development.
- Features you can access from the Main form: Create a New Project Record Review Project Records and Print Reports Propose a New Strategy References Administrator Functions (buttons are not enabled for most users) Administration Review Proposed Sustainability Strategies