2009-10 apsc150 nesbit_combined_case 1

Case Study 1

Sustainability in

Engineering Design

Prof. Susan Nesbit

Civil Engineering

S.E. Nesbit APSC 150: Sustainability in Engineering 09/10

APSC 150: SUSTAINABLE DESIGN IN ENGINEERING Instructor: S. Nesbit, B.A., P.Eng., Ph.D. Office: CEME 2011 e-mail: [email protected] Guest Lecturers: Engineers-Without-Borders speakers. THIS PRINTED PACKAGE CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS:

Introduction Learning Outcomes Assignments

1. Professionalism in Engineering Practice 2. Project Management Tools 3. Designing a University Building Project 4. Poverty and Engineering 5. Appropriate Technology

Reading Guide THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS AVAILABLE ON LINE: (http://courses.engineering.ubc.ca/apsc150/index.php)

Everything in this Printed Package plus: Backgrounder 1: APEGBC’s Sustainability Guidelines Backgrounder 2: An Integrated Building Design Primer Backgrounder 3: Life-Cycle Assessment Basics

MUST-READ ARTICLE FOR ASSIGNMENT 1 ALL LECTURE NOTES

INTRODUCTION As you embark on your Engineering career, it’s a good idea to know that the Engineering profession is changing. In the past, governments, corporations, individuals, and community groups have depended on Engineers to provide solution alternatives to technical problems that are

scientifically sound, innovative, superbly designed, and cost-effective over the short term.

“…engineering and sustainable development are closely linked, with many aspects of sustainable development depending directly and significantly on appropriate and timely actions by engineers” - Royal Academy of Engineering, UK, 2005

S.E. Nesbit APSC 150: Sustainability in Engineering 09/10

This has not changed. However, these decision-makers are now asking that Engineers also consider the possible in-direct, and long term economic effects of design alternatives as well as all social and environmental impacts of solution alternatives that they provide. So, you can expect that, when you are a Professional Engineer, you will be asked to apply sustainable development concepts in your work. The goal of the Sustainability in Design case is to introduce you to the fundamental ideas of sustainability in Engineering practice and familiarize you with some current applications of these concepts in Engineering design.

LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of this APSC 150 case, you will be able to:

1. Explain the concept of Professionalism in Engineering practice and the relationship of sustainability and professionalism.

2. Describe Project Management in Engineering Design and Apply some Project Management Tools.

3. Demonstrate at least 3 tools used in sustainable engineering design. 4. Describe the connection between poverty, appropriate technology, and engineering

design.

THE QUIZ QUESTIONS ARE DESIGNED TO ASSESS YOUR ABILITY TO DEMONSTRATE THE LEARNING OBJECTIVES OF EACH ASSIGNMENT

APSC 150: THE SUSTAINABLE DESIGN CASE

READING GUIDE FOR THE ASSIGNMENTS The readings are found in:

1. Dunwoody et al, Fundamental Competencies for Engineers 2. The Assignments Package 3. The course website (Vista)

ASSIGNMENT 1 1. Chapter 2 in Dunwoody et. al. Fundamental Competencies for Engineers, Oxford University Press, Don

Mills, 2006. o Have a close look at section 2.2 and read table 2.2 carefully. o Read the first paragraph in section 2.4 and make sure you can identify the basic groups of micro-ethical

issues identified in section 2.4. o Read the first paragraph of section 2.5 and all of section 2.5.1. Don’t worry about memorizing facts, but

do concentrate on understanding why sustainable development is important in engineering practice and how sustainability ideas are being put into engineering practice.

2. Backgrounder 1: APEGBC’s Sustainability and Engineering: Guidelines to Practice provided on the course

website and in your APSC 150 notes package. o Table 1 on page 1 is highly relevant. You will need to memorize the 4 focus areas. o The last paragraph on page 2 and the top of page 3 are worth a close read. o You will be learning more about life-cycle analysis later in this case so read the section on page 4

carefully. o Sustainability is often described as a process of making choices. Read the last paragraph on page 6 to

get a good idea of the fundamental criteria on which decisions made with sustainability in mind are based.

o Partnerships are crucial aspect of sustainable solutions. Read the top paragraph on page 8. o Have a close look at the two examples of engineering decisions where the 4 focus areas have been used

as support. 3. Excerpt from “The Role of the Professional Engineer and Scientist in Sustainable Development” – provided

on the course website: o This excerpt is well worth reading – from beginning to end. For APSC 150, section 2.21 on pages 31-33

are particularly useful – please read these pages carefully. Make sure you understand figure 2.1. o Take a look at section 2.4 – in particular, it is interesting, in section 2.4.3, to read how the UK is

addressing the climate change challenge.

ASSIGNMENT 2 No specific readings are required for this assignment. However, you may find “Backgrounder 3: Life-Cycle Assessment Basics” to be useful. You will need to do some on-line research for this assignment.

ASSIGNMENT 3 1. The website for the AJL Centre for Environmental Studies Building (Oberlin College)

(http://www.oberlin.edu/ajlc/ajlcHome.html).

o As a minimum, have a close look at each page in the Building Systems section. (For those of you who are more interested, it’s worth having a look at the Design Philosophy and Media sections.) Note that the Design Philosophy describes the integrated design process.

2. Backgrounder 2: “The Basics of Sustainable Building Design” material provided on-line and in the APSC

150 notes package for the Sustainable Design case. o The section entitled “The Components of Integrated Design” will help you do question 2. o Skim the section on LEED – i.e., make sure you know what LEED stands for and who developed it. o Rather than reading through all the details in the list of resources, just take note of the quantity of

resources available on the web for practitioners.

ASSIGNMENT 4 Read the article entitled “Ziem Der in Tabe Ere, Ghana” that accompanies the assignment.

ASSIGNMENT 5 Read the article entitled: “Collecting Fog in El Tofo” that accompanies the assignment.

APSC 150: Sustainable Design Case

APSC 150: THE SUSTAINABLE DESIGN CASE

ASSIGNMENTS

1. Professionalism in Engineering Practice 2. Project Management Tools 3. The University Building Project 4. Poverty 5. Appropriate Technology

Getting Started Before doing the exercises in these assignments, please refer to the READING GUIDE for the Sustainability in Engineering Case.


ASSIGNMENT #1: Sustainability in Engineering Practice (4 marks total)

Exercise 1 is due at the beginning of the first tutorial for this case. Exercises 2, 3 and 4 are due as per the instructions from your tutorial instructor. Getting Started In your future Professional practice, exactly how will you respond to society’s requirement that Engineers hold paramount the health, safety, and welfare of the public, and the protection of the environment (not to mention client specifications respecting the triple bottom line!)? The exercises in this assignment will enable you to

build an understanding of the ethical responsibilities of engineering work develop a working definition of sustainable development that is meaningful to you. think about and critique how some of today’s engineers are applying sustainability concepts in their

practice. begin to apply sustainability concepts to building design.

Exercises

1. Please do the following before coming to the tutorial: a. complete exercise 1 on page 24 in Fundamental Competencies for Engineers (2006) Submit

the complete code for each society along with this assignment. (0.5 mark) b. identify at least 4 categories of ethical issues evident in the codes you have found then

classify each item in each of the codes according to the categories you have generated. (0.5 mark) For example, you might want to create a simple table like the following:

Professional Society:

Category 1: Professional relationship with clients

Category 2: … Category 3: … Category 4: … Category 5: …

APEGBC 4, 5, 8, ….

c. Which of these categories would you regard as “micro-ethical” and which would you regard as “macro-ethical”?

d. List the focus areas of the APEGBC Sustainability Guidelines then, beside each focus area,

add a relevant engineering action. Submit a copy of this list to your tutorial leader at the beginning of this tutorial session. (0.5 mark)

2. In your design group (5 or 6 people)*, choose the “best” definition of sustainable development from the list below. Within your group, make sure that you have good reasons for the choice your group makes. (0.5 mark)

a. “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland Commission, 1987)


b. Sustainable development means “improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems” (World Conservation Union, 1991)

c. “Sustainability requires at least a constant stock of natural capital, construed as the set of all environmental assets” (British environmental economist David Pearce, 1988)

d. Sustainable development is “any form of positive change which does not erode the ecological, social, or political systems upon which society is dependent” (Ecological Economist, William Rees, 1988)

e. Sustainability is “the ability of a system to sustain the livelihood of the peoole who depend on that system for an indefinite period.” (Indonesian economist, Otto Soemarwoto, 1991)

3. In your design group*, complete exercise 3 on page 24 in the Dunwoody text. (1 mark) 4. In your design group*, brainstorm on sustainable design ideas that might be included in the

design of a university building. The building will contain research labs, office space, classrooms, and tenant space. (See the University Building Case Study attachment to this assignment.) Assign a note taker to record your ideas. At the end of the brainstorming session, submit your list of ideas to the tutorial leader. (1 mark)

*Note that, during the first tutorial of the Sustainable Design Case, you will be assigned to a design group. This design group will periodically work together during the subsequent 4 tutorials.


ASSIGNMENT # 2 : Project Management Tools (4 marks in total) Getting Started In any design process, it is important to consider the environmental, social and economic implication of your design. In this assignment, you will need to do some critical thinking about the design choice of window frame material for the University Building using Life Cycle Assessment and Stakeholder Analysis tools that you have learned. Think about which material has the most beneficial, or least negative, environmental and social impacts. By the time you have completed this assignment, you should

have an understanding of the Life Cycle Assessment and Stakeholder Analysis processes.

be able to complete the inventory stage of a simple LCA. have an awareness of the wide-reaching impacts of engineering design choices.

Exercises

To do these exercises you will need to gather appropriate information from the internet (and site these sources).

Part 1 – Life Cycle Assessment

a. Describe the stages in a LCA. (0.5 marks)

b. Draw a life cycle of an aluminum window frame, from raw material extraction to disposal/recycle/reuse. (1 mark)

c. In your design group, decide on the best window frame material for the University

Building described in Assignment 3's case study. Explain your answer. (0.5 marks) Part 2 – Stakeholder Analysis

a. In your design groups, make a list of all possible stakeholders based on the life cycle drawn in (b) of Part 1. Beside each stakeholder, write a short bullet point describing how they are impacted (this could be positively or negatively). (1 mark)

*Hint: Consider the impacts of raw material extraction, transportation, service life, disposal etc.

b. Assume now that the bauxite used to produce the aluminum is mined in Guinea (a small country in Western Africa) and the mining of bauxite contributes to around 20% of the country’s income. List 2 or 3 ways in which this would alter the stakeholders and the positive/negative impacts. (1 mark)


ASSIGNMENT #3 The University Building Project (5 marks total)

Exercise 1 is due at the beginning of your tutorial. Exercises 2 can be completed during this tutorial. Getting Started Integrated design involves working with a team of experts in a variety of professions to create “best-practice” - and sometimes unique - solution alternatives that meet or exceed the specified design criteria. Nowhere is the integrated design process more honed than in the field of architecture and building engineering. This assignment is aimed at giving you a taste of the design process. By the time you have completed exercises 1 and 2 you should be:

o comfortable with a brainstorming process that generates design strategies from which specific attribute ideas immerge.

o able to list the elements of Integrated Building Design, o able to list the goals of a sustainable building, and o able to state at least 1 specific strategy for each of the design goals stated in University Building

Project. In Assignment 1, you identified some specific building attributes that support the move toward sustainable living. Before coming to the 3rd tutorial, you will need to think about the strategies from which these attributes were generated. Exercises

1. Identify at least 3 strategies in the design of the Oberlin building (http://www.oberlin.edu/ajlc/ajlcHome.html) that reflect attention to the five fundamental

components of integrated building design. Submit the list of these strategies to your tutor at the beginning of this tutorial. (1 mark)

2. The following pages provide information about the University Building Project. Read these pages

then, in your design group, identify at least 2 strategies for each of the design goals identified in the University Building Project. Identify at least 1 building attribute that would reflect each strategy that you have identified. (4 marks)


Building Performance Targets FOR THE UNIVERSITY BUILDING FOCUS AREAS GOALS STRATEGY BUILDING ATTRIBUTE

Energy 1. The building will be Green House Gas (GHG) Neutral 2. The building will be a net energy generator 3. Mechanized cooling will not be part of the building –

i.e., there will be no net cooling 4. The building design will be a simple and as passive as

possible 5. The total operating energy and embodied energy in

this building will be at least 60% lower than a high performance building such as York University’s Computer Science Building.

6. The building will be 100% daylit

1. a. Capture Solar Energy b. Moderate indoor temperature as

passively as possible c. Maximize natural ventilation d. Maximize daylighting e. Capture heat from waste streams f. Make extensive use of computer

sensors and controls g. … (CONTINUE THIS)

2. …

1.a. o Install photovoltaic arrays o Orient the building to maximize the

southern exposures o Use exterior and interior solar

control strategies specific to each façade in order to minimize solar heat gain in interior spaces and to offset cooling loads.

1.b. … (CONTINUE THIS)

Water 1. There will be no use of potable water for interior and exterior building process loads.

2. All liquid waste will be treated on-site 3. There will be no stormwater runoff from the site

Resource Conservation

1. There will be no solid waste leaving the site 2. The building will be designed to be utilized to its

maximum 3. All building materials will be used efficiently

Health and Well-being

1. Daylight will be used 100% to maximize occupant comfort and productivity

2. The building will oxygenate the indoor and outdoor environments

3. The building will actively address the health of its occupants

Building Operation and

Maintenance

1. The building will seamlessly integrate the design of ongoing operations

Sustainable Community

1. The building programme will include a comprehensive transportation management plan

2. The building will teach British Columbians about sustainable development, building, and green technologies

3. The building will contribute to strengthening the regional economy through the creation of new jobs in spin-off sustainable businesses

4. The building will have positive impacts on society 5. The building will be designed to actively attract and

support a population of fauna


The University Building Project Background Finning Canada, a supplier of tractors, donated land to the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, and the British Columbia Institute of Technology to form the new Great Northern Way Campus in downtown Vancouver. The Great Northern Way Campus is bounded by Great Northern Way to the south, and by a rail yard to the north. Adjacent to the property to the east is a development containing facilities of a biotechnology company. The site on which the University Building Project will be built is 10,683 s.m. (115,000 s.f.) and is located at the North Eash Corner of Great Northern Way and Foley Street. The site is currently not accessible by public transportation, but a new bus route along Great Northern Way will be implemented with 5 years. Also, a Skytrain station, located at Clarke Drive and Great Northern Way, is scheduled for completion in 2005. The Building Concept The design team for the University Building is tasked with the creation of a state-of-the-art sustainable building that allows for continuous evolution of the buildings performance over time, so that it remains current for decades. The building will be a real-world demonstration of the leading edge in sustainable building design, construction, and use. The building will be designed as a “living-lab” where the environmentally advanced building technologies and systems are an integral part of the research programmes within the building. The building is conceived as a comprehensive set of inter-related systems that permit systematic monitoring of energy and water use, daylight harvesting, indoor air quality, temperature, and occupant behaviour. Each of the building features and the building itself serves simultaneously as part of the research agenda and as pilot demonstrations of environmental technologies. Exterior cladding systems, including glazing and insulation assemblies, and mechanical electrical, waste treatment and power generation systems will be selected for the project based on their ability to contribute to the established building performance targets. In order for the building to remain as a state-of-the-art testing facility, it is crucial that the design team develop innovative, flexible design solutions that can be easily modified to adapt to rapid changes in building technology and use. Incorporating the ability to upgrade and alter the base building systems will establish a new attitude towards the construction of buildings. As a prototype, this University Building Project will demonstrate the need for flexible buildings that can adapt to long-term changes in use and technology. In other words, the University Building should be seen as providing a framework for testing and exploring new building and operations solutions.


ASSIGNMENT 4 – Poverty and Engineering Projects (Workshop Format) (4 marks total) Learning Objectives: By the end of this assignment you should…

Build your understanding of the complex, and often overwhelming, challenges facing impoverished communities

Develop some ideas of how engineering can be used to help in impoverished communities

Be able to think critically of ways in which communities could affect an engineering project and vice versa (positively and negatively)

Part I – Understanding Poverty (2 marks) Read the case study in your design groups. As you read through it, identify every cause and effect of poverty in the story and write each on a Post-It Note. Then, on a piece of Flip Chart Paper, lay out your Post It Notes in a causal relationship. For example, issues to the left of “Hunger”, such as “Poor crop yields” could be causes and issues to the right, such as “Malnutrition” could be effects. Below is an example of a causality map.

Note: There are many ways this “map” could be drawn. The learning objective is to analyze livelihoods to understand how complex they are and how many issues, many of which are beyond the average persons control, affect them. Present your map to the rest of the class. Explain why you have chosen to draw your map the way you have done, and describe any major insights your group has had through the exercise.


Part II – Engineering in Impoverished Communities

1. From the challenges that you have identified in your causality map, identify six issues that could have technical (engineering) solutions and describe an engineering project for each one. (1 mark)

2. Describe a non-development based engineering project that does not target causes of poverty but directly affects an impoverished community. (1 mark)

a. List three ways that the projects’ contact with an impoverished community could affect how the project is implemented.

b. List three ways the project could negatively affect the community, and suggest ways that the negative impacts could be avoided.

c. List three ways the project could positively affect the community.

Ziem Der in Tabe Ere, Ghana

Ziem Der lives in Tabe Ere, located near Lawra, Ghana. Tabe Ere has a population of approximately 1162, who make up about 185 households. The houses here are dispersed to allow enough space around every house for farming.

Lawra is in the northern savanna zone. It is Ghana's poorest region, where 70 percent of the rural population falls below the poverty line. Bounded by the Black Volta River and the border with Burkina Faso, it is a low-lying area of grasslands, shrubs, and scattered trees; rain falls sporadically between April and September.

Ziem was born in 1948, the fourth of nine children. Ziem's father did not view formal education as a priority for his children, and consequently only two of the siblings attended school. Ziem describes himself as zung or "blind," a metaphor for illiterate. He explains that because he is unable to read or write, he cannot get a job in town.

Ziem has two wives and eight children of his own. In addition, when his brother died, the brother’s wife and three children joined Ziem’s household, bringing the number in the household to fifteen. Feeding his large family has become extremely difficult for Ziem. His wives search for firewood, which they then can trade for food in town.

Like most of others in the communities in the area, Ziem lives a hand to mouth existence. When the rains fail the family goes hungry. The land is not yielding what it used to, and so it needs to be worked more intensely. His children do not always attend school because they have to work with Ziem in the fields. His children are frequently sick, and one of his wives appears to be going blind.

Clean drinking water is scarce (a community an hour’s walk away has a borehole provided by the Catholic Church), and there is no sanitation or power in the village.

Distant markets and very poor transportation infrastructure further contribute to farmers' poverty – it is four kilometers from Tabe Ere to the nearest

paved road, and the nearest health service is nine kilometers away. The rains, when they fall, are very intense, and have made roads difficult to navigate. Ziem says that the heavy rains and poor yields have been reported to authorities, "but the government is silent.”

Villagers report that the isolation and bad roads also discourage qualified health personnel and teachers from accepting positions in the community. Those who do take these jobs live in Lawra and commute "as they please," often irregularly.

Ziem attributes his poverty to having to take on his brother’s wife and children, and the bad rains, but he adds that one's fortunes – good or bad – depend on God. He observes that it is easier for a rich man to fall into poverty than for a poor man to pull himself up into a state of well-being.

Ziem's community is able to provide scant assistance to help him and his family survive. Like Ziem, many people in Tabe Ere live in extreme poverty. There is a rumour that an NGO from the United States will come and help them, but Ziem remembers that people have been talking about this for years. “We are too far and too small. We are the forgotten. The government doesn’t care. Only God remembers us.”

Handout – Page 1 of 1


ASSIGNMENT 5: Appropriate Technology –A Case Study Collecting Fog on El Tofo (3 marks total)

In this assignment we will study the social aspect of implementing a new technology, and the role the social aspect plays in the success or failure of a new technology. In this assignment you will read a case study and identify:

the impact of community or social involvement in the implementation of a new technology, and the strengths and weakness of an engineers approach to implementing technology.

Read the attached case study and answer the following questions. 1. First consider the role of the community in the project. (0.75 marks)

a) What role did the community of El Tofo play in the fog-collecting project in 1990? What was the community thinking about back in the early '90s?

b) How did the involvement or lack of involvement of community affect the success of the project? c) How did the project change the community of El Tofo and what affect did these changes have

upon the fog-collecting project. 2. Now consider the role of the engineers and organizations involved in the project. (0.75 marks)

a) What was the initial purpose of the project? How did this affect the outcome? b) How many different groups were involved in this project? How did the number of

groups affect the project? c) When the project was initiated did the project managers have a good understanding of

the community they were working for? How did this affect the outcome? 3. As an engineer in charge of this project how would you have approached the project differently? How would you have involved the community in the project? Would you have chosen to involve a multi-disciplinary team? How might this have changed the outcome of the project? (1 mark) 4. Is the social aspect of a technology an important consideration in Canada? Name three technologies that can be found in different social contexts and are changed to reflect the social context. Explain why the changes might have been made. (0.5 marks) [For example: a commercial espresso machine compared to a counter-top, home espresso machine. The commercial variety is much bigger and can be used constantly but uses a lot of energy and water. It requires training to be used safely and effectively. Home varieties take up less space and need to reheat between uses. In addition, it is significantly simpler to use and thus just has a simple instruction manual.]


Collecting Fog on El Tofo Stephen Dale In the early 1990s, the global news media became entranced by a small town in northern Chile that started drinking the fog. Newspaper reporters and television cameras were drawn by the site of the giant mesh collectors that trapped droplets of fog drifting in from the coast. Those droplets — which coalesced as an average of 15,000 litres of water a day — were piped down from the El Tofo Mountain for use in the formerly parched community of Chungungo. The technology worked well and the increased water supply helped to transform the town. In fact, the project served as a prototype and there are now fog catchers or collectors providing water to communities in other areas of the world. But, more than 10 years later, in El Tofo, the nets are in a total state of disrepair. What caused the community of Chungungo to abandon the project that had brought it abundant water and high hopes for the future? And what can be learned from the El Tofo experience? These are questions that people close to the project are now grappling with. Water and a community transformed One reason the media reported so frequently on this project, may be because the impact was so direct and easy to see. In 1992, Canada's Globe and Mail reported: "Residents in this impoverished coastal region, who for the first time have a steady supply of clean water, call it a miracle." A resident told CNN the same year: "Now I can wash every day. Before I had to watch every drop. You really suffer without water." By 1995, the Economist was still marveling at the sight of a vibrant community where "gardens thrive on land that was once barren. Fisherman whistle and joke as they compare potatoes, peppers, cabbages, and maize." Pure and plentiful water, the Economist correspondent wrote, had produced not only vegetable gardens but better health and a new sense of optimism among Chungungo's citizens. There was hope that this "miracle" could be transplanted. "The new technology — which is cheap to build, easy to maintain, and requires no power — could alleviate water shortages in thousands of rural communities in arid and semi-arid communities around the world," suggested The Toronto Star, in a 1993 feature. Ten years later, a good deal of that promise has been realized. The technology that was perfected at El Tofo — where researchers experimented with different materials and designs — has now either been adopted or is under study in 25 different countries. Recently, for instance, new fog collection projects have become operational in Yemen and central Chile, while other projects are at the evaluation stage in Guatemala, Haiti, and Nepal. Ironically, though, the prototype project in Chungungo has fallen into disrepair and disuse. By the summer of 2002, only nine of the 94 mesh collectors that once blanketed the mountaintop at El Tofo were still hanging.

Cables and meshes had been carted off for use elsewhere, and the operator's house on the site had been dismantled. Most of the town's water supply is now hauled in, at much greater expense, by truck. Conflicting visions of community development In a report prepared for the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Chilean consultant Carolina de la Lastra reported that municipal politicians in La Higuera (the larger jurisdiction of which Chungungo is a part) have begun to lobby for a pipeline that would bring water to the community from the Los Choros River, 20 km away. The officials have taken this approach because they "regard water from fog as an unreliable, irregular, and insufficient source for providing drinking water for Chungungo," she writes. It is nonetheless true that fog catchers continue to function well in other parts of Chile, where they bring water to agricultural and reforestation projects. IDRC project officer Chris Smart says the community's new desire for piped water may be an indication of a once-common problem where alternative technologies — like solar and wind power — suffer from a lack of local prestige. Often in developing countries, he explains, "people have certain visions of what it means to be developed, and one of them is that water should be brought to you by the state, and you should never have to think about it." Water that comes from a local source, through a system that has to be maintained by a local committee, may therefore be regarded as second-rate. The call for piped water Ironically, this feeling that the community was ready for piped water arose partly because of the Chungungo fog collectors' earlier, stunning success. Although the community, a former mining town, had been steadily losing inhabitants since the mine closed in 1970s, the arrival of fog water led to a tripling of the population. Summer homes and tourist facilities were built nearby. The collectors' success also seemed to breed a new economic and political momentum: Chungungo's new profile and global renown allowed officials to lobby successfully for electricity and telephone service. Beyond contributing to the community's ambition to move to a higher technological plateau, success also gave rise to practical problems. With 900 inhabitants in the town — rather than 300 — the original number of fog-collectors could not supply as much water to each household as it once had. Even more unsettling, periods without fog meant depleted reservoirs and occasional drought in the community. Fog collectors came to be seen as an unreliable source of water. The road not taken Robert Schemenauer — one of the original designers of the Chungungo project and the current-day president of FogQuest, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that helps bring fog technology to arid regions — says the simplest solution to the supply problem would have been to expand the grid of fog collectors.


"It's no different from any other kind of water supply system. If the community grows, you have to increase the supply," says Schemenauer, who is now working on a proposal to revive the El Tofo site. "The most logical response would have been to simply increase the number of fog collectors, and increase the size of the water reservoir. Then you'd have more water, and a larger buffer capacity to get this larger community through the times when there is no fog. There's essentially no limit to the number of fog collectors you can put up there. You can put ten times, twenty times, fifty times what there is now." Community leaders, however, clearly preferred the idea of a pipe bringing a steady flow of water from Los Choros — even though this project would come with an estimated price tag of one million US dollars. The question of community involvement The fact that there was so little long-term commitment to keeping the fog collectors functional, says University of Guelph rural extension professor Jorge Nef, is an indication that not enough preparatory work was done to determine if the community had the right mindset to sustain this type of technology, and how much they were willing to contribute to keep the fog collectors running. [See related sidebar: Taking a Multidisciplinary Approach] In his report on what went wrong at El Tofo, Nef recounts that "villagers were not involved in any significant way in [the project's] origins and development" and that there was very little study of their underlying attitudes and aspirations. This meant that they were inadequately informed about the economics of water supply and were unprepared to commit to the fog collectors' long-term functioning. But Schemenauer believes that any deficiencies in preparing the social ground for the arrival of this new technology arose because of the project's unusual evolution. The original goals of the project, he explains, were to perfect the technology, construct an array of collectors as a pilot project and then to use the water to feed seedlings for a trial reforestation project on the mountain. The project was not initially designed or funded as a water project for a community. It was only after intensive lobbying by the community that funders reluctantly agreed to provide additional support to have the water diverted down the mountainside to the community. Switching gears midstream "El Tofo is not a typical situation," he says. "We worked on the top of the mountain for five years before there was any push to put a pipeline down the mountain. Normally, we work with local NGOs that have a long history in the community and put a strong emphasis on the social side." He adds that — even though there was little formal research into the social character of the community — community members were involved in planning through public meetings.

In Nef's estimation, changing the purpose of the project in mid-course also helped create a management structure that was unclear and unstable. The project began as a collaboration between IDRC, Chile's National Forestry Corporation (CONAF), and Catholic University. Yet when the project's goal became the provision of drinking water, CONAF (which had no jurisdiction over consumable water) shifted its responsibility to the municipality and to various national and regional bureaucracies. This created something like organizational chaos. With up to eight stakeholders involved at one time, "there was no single authority looking over the whole system," writes Nef. Within an atmosphere of jurisdictional dispute and uncertainty (contributed to, for instance, by events such as the privatization of the state's rural water agency) the local committee charged with running and maintaining the fog collectors was unable to develop the necessary expertise or to function efficiently. The local committee could collect sufficient fees to pay for routine maintenance of the system but not for increased demands made by regional water agencies or for major repairs. Lessons from El Tofo Those who have followed the roller-coaster ride of fog collecting at El Tofo draw some clear lessons from the experience. One is that fog collecting works. Proof of this can be found in the work of a new network of specialists who have taken this technology to arid areas across the globe. The other lesson is that understanding social conditions and securing the involvement and commitment of local people — a factor apparently given short shift here because of special circumstances — is always vital to the long-term viability of a development project. "I think the main message," says Smart, "is that the technology may be absolutely wonderful — and in this case the technology works brilliantly — but there's always a social setting, and that's going to demand as much attention as the technical questions." Stephen Dale is a freelance writer based in Ottawa. SIDEBAR Taking a Multidisciplinary Approach For many researchers, the traditional, monodisciplinary approach to science has outlived its usefulness — particularly with respect to research in the developing world. Increasingly, the approach to research is more fluid: applied, cross-disciplinary, heterogeneous, and non-hierarchical. In practice, this means researchers problem-solve around an issue rather than through a rigid code of practice associated with a specific scientific discipline. It also means they may work in multidisciplinary teams. "Imagine that you're trying to improve production in a village wood lot," says Tim Dottridge, Director of IDRC's Special Initiatives Division. "In addition to foresters, you might have a social anthropologist and — since men and women have different interests in the


wood lot — socio-economic and gender specialists on your team." IDRC's shift in programing For the first 25 years of its existence, IDRC conducted its programs along fairly traditional sectoral lines. In fact, by the early 1990s, it had 55 separate sub-programs delivered by seven program divisions and six regional offices — all with separate budgets. By 1995, however, the shift towards a multidisciplinary approach was complete, and the Centre has never looked back. "A lot of organizations have tried to embrace a cross-cutting approach without changing their internal structures," says Dottridge. "We went further, and truly attempted to transform the organization. Our approach helps ensure that we practice what we preach. We expect Southern researchers to take a multidisciplinary approach, and we're organized in multidisciplinary teams ourselves to assess the proposal properly." While IDRC has been influenced by international trends in research, its unique experience and circumstances have also been a motivating factor in the shift towards multidisciplinary teams. The role of evaluation The first seeds were planted back in 1978 with the creation of an Office of Planning and Evaluation, and the subsequent integration of those functions with the work of the program divisions. By 1986, the accumulated evaluation work, along with analysis of the external context, led to the first policy shift. A strategic review stressed the "connectedness" of the various elements of development, along with the need or greater coherence in programming. The review reflected the Board of Governors' ongoing concern about the open-ended nature of programming. Still, while IDRC tried to draw up divisional objectives in 1986, programs received budget allocations without the requirement of a multi-year plan or any specific objectives. And in the 1990s, while IDRC was describing its programs in terms of sustainable development — especially after the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 — program delivery was essentially unchanged. Meanwhile, evaluations could not conclusively demonstrate that disparate projects added up to more than the sum of their parts. In 1995, the Government of Canada made widespread cuts to its programs, including IDRC's work. In response, the Centre decided to cut staff and concentrate on fewer research areas. It produced a plan for a more focused program that would lead to measurable results — a decision that led to the creation of Program Initiatives (PIs) as the primary vehicles to fund Southern researchers and research institutions. Program initiatives Instead of focusing on single disciplines or sectors such as economics, fisheries, or earth sciences to solve problems, PIs first look at the problem, and then consider what knowledge is necessary to solve it. When Southern researchers and research institutions submit funding

proposals, for example, PI teams review them to see how closely they fit with the PIs' objectives and priorities. Often, the initial proposal is sketchy and the PI team encourages the applicant to take a more integrated approach. The team also strives to expand the networks to include members of civil society, policy makers, and extension agents who can help define the problem and set the research agenda. "The government cuts may have been the final push, but IDRC was already moving in the direction of a true multidisciplinary approach," says Dottridge. "What's remarkable about the transition is that we were effectively undertaking three major changes at once. We were downsizing our operations by cutting staff. We were restructuring our operations. And we were reorienting our thinking. Many organizations have made these changes individually. Few have attempted them at the same time. "It hasn't been an easy transition, and the system is not perfect. There is always room to improve how we assess and manage projects. But we've positioned ourselves to be a model for a way of working. When we insist on a cross-disciplinary approach to research in the field, we're walking the talk.”


Figure 2: Fog Collector Nets in Operation, El Tofo (1994)

Figure 1: Fog Collectors, El Tofo (1990)


Figure 3: Fog Collector Net, El Tofo (2002). In 2002, only 9 of the original 94 fog collector nets were still in use.


LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENTS

A Backgrounder† The life-cycle concept is a "cradle to grave" approach to thinking about products, processes and services. It recognizes that all life-cycle stages (extracting and processing raw materials, manufacturing, transportation and distribution, use/reuse, and recycling and waste management) have environmental and economic impacts.

Public policy makers, industry and private organizations can apply the life-cycle concept to help them make decisions about environmental design and improvement. As well, the life-cycle approach can be used as a scientific tool for gathering quantitative data to inventory and, weigh and rank the environmental burdens of products, processes and services.

Unlike more specific "end of pipe" or "within the plant gate" approaches to environmental management, decision makers can apply the life-cycle approach to all of the upstream and downstream implications of site-specific actions. An example might be changes in emission levels that result from changing a raw material in the production process.

New and emerging life-cycle tools available to decision-makers include life-cycle assessment, design for environment, life-cycle cost accounting, total energy cycle assessment and total fuel cycle assessment.

Industry use of life-cycle assessment (LCA) as a tool to improve environmental performance is increasing. An LCA quantifies energy and resource inputs and outputs at all stages of a life-cycle, then determines and weighs the associated impacts to set the stage for improvements. Most attempts to develop life-cycle assessments have focused on the first two of four phases, namely, initiation and inventory analysis. A complete LCA study adds two further phases: impact assessment and improvement assessment.

The diagram below breaks down a product life-cycle inventory into inputs and outputs for material and energy, as well as environmental releases.

† from The Ecocycle Newsletter, a publication of Environment Canada (http://www.ec.gc.ca/ecocycle/issue1/en/p8.cfm)


In principle, Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) covers all stages in the life-cycle of a product system, from "earth to earth". This includes extracting resources, processing them into materials and fuels, producing usable components, manufacturing a product, using and maintaining the product, and its final disposal.

In practice, though, we are limited by resources and time and must take steps to make a study manageable, practical and economical.

The first need when initiating an LCA is a clear statement of purpose. The study is defined to meet that purpose, within any constraints. Together, scope and boundaries encompass issues of depth and breadth, defining limits placed on the physical life-cycle and on the detail of information to be collected and analysed.

For example, an LCA done to help choose appropriate input materials for a small technical group within a company differs in purpose and scope from a study done to provide environmental information to groups outside the company.

Scope refers to the geographic, historical and technical applicability of a study: where data come from, how up-to-date the study is, how information is handled, and where the results are applicable. Within the scope, it is also necessary to allow for a critical review of the LCA.

The life-cycle system's boundaries are usually depicted in process flowsheets that show the main sequence of production: from resource to product to waste. The system must also include energy and ancillary materials that support the main production, and production of the ancillaries themselves. The whole life-cycle flowsheet resembles a tree with many roots and branches. Some may be interdependent, complicating analysis further.

Decision rules are used to determine which energy and ancillary inputs are significant enough to include, based on how much they affect the total environmental burdens or exhibit particular impacts.

Issues arise in setting precise boundaries.

For example, unlike mineral resources, raw materials derived from biological systems have no distinct upstream boundary. At what point does a living plant enter the industrial production system? When it is harvested from the earth? What about artificial inputs and outputs of water and nutrients? What about human actions involved in planting the crop or preparing the land, perhaps from a previous natural state?

Commonly, some processes in the life-cycle system generate more than one usable output. Secondary products are not of direct interest, but their production contributes to environmental burdens. Allocation is the technique of partitioning burdens between co-products; it is a boundary-setting activity that defines how secondary products in the system are treated when they leave the system.

An example of co-products occurs when crude oil is refined into numerous hydrocarbon fuels and petrochemical feedstocks. It is usual to allocate the burdens of the refining and upstream processes based on calorific values of the different products. An alternative is to allocate burdens for co-products based on their comparative masses. In LCA, as in any model, tension exists between accuracy and practicality. As we add details of breadth and depth, we also add complexity, expense and reduced utility. Ultimately, those who undertake LCA projects must make choices about scope and boundaries.


THE SUSTAINABLE MATERIAL INSTITUTE’S APPROACH TO LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS AND SUSTAINABLE BUILDING DESIGN

We can only design greener buildings if we know how each of the component parts such as concrete blocks, insulation, glass, cladding materials, and roofing systems affect the environment.

Resource Extraction

The life cycle of most building products starts with the extraction of raw resources like timber, iron ore, coal, limestone, aggregates and gypsum. And that’s where we start the development of life cycle inventory data which tracks energy use and emissions to air, water and land per unit of resource.

In addition to the actual harvesting, mining or quarrying of a resource, the extraction phase data includes such activities as building access roads, reforestation and beneficiation. It also includes the transportation of raw resources to the mill or plant gate which defines the boundary between extraction and manufacturing.

One of the great difficulties in assessing the environmental effects of resource extraction is that so many of the environmental effects that concern people — for example the effects on biodiversity, water quality, soil stability and so on — are very site specific and not easily measured. For that reason they are often left out of life cycle inventory studies or given only passing mention. We have tackled the problem by developing an index of what we term the ecological carrying capacity effects of resource extraction. The index was developed from a survey of environmental and resource extraction experts and is used in the computer model to weight the absolute quantities of the main raw resources required to manufacture the products of interest.


Manufacturing

Manufacturing is the stage that typically accounts for the largest proportion of embodied energy and emissions associated with the life cycle of a building product. For the purpose of Athena inventory studies, this stage starts with the delivery of raw resources and other materials at the mill or plant gate and ends with the delivery of building products to selected cities representative of the six Canadian regions encompassed by Athena.

The Institute Research Guidelines provide direction for our researchers on the treatment of secondary components and assemblies, data sources and verification, system boundaries, the level of detail expected in inventory studies, the representativeness of data, and a variety of other standard conventions and assumptions. The guidelines were originally developed in the early 1990’s when work on the project first started, with periodic modifications and additions since then. They are fully consistent with ISO and CSA life cycle assessment standards and, from our perspective, ensure that the playing field is level with all building materials treated in a comparable fashion.

All of our basic product life cycle inventory studies are undertaken under contract by people with expertise in the different industries. We also try, to the extent possible, to involve industry associations and individual companies so that we get access to detailed data as well as the benefits of industry review of our reports at the draft stage.

On-Site Construction

The on-site construction stage is like an additional manufacturing step where individual products, components and sub-assemblies come together in the manufacturing of the entire building, and is the subject of a totally separate database in ATHENAÔ. For our purposes, this stage starts with the transportation of individual products and sub-assemblies from notional distribution centres in each of the six cities which represent different Canadian regions. We use average or typical transportation distances to building sites within each city, for example for the movement of ready mixed concrete trucks.

Although often overlooked in life cycle assessments of buildings, this stage in the life cycle can be important in terms of energy use and other environmental effects. For example, depending on the size of a building and the structural systems used, on-site construction can account for 3 to 15 per cent of total initial embodied energy and, again depending on the materials and systems, it can result in the generation of significant amounts of waste.

In addition to building product transportation and the energy use of on-site machines like cranes and mixers, the on-site construction activity stage includes such items as the transportation of equipment to and from the site, concrete form-work, and temporary heating and ventilation.

Occupancy/Maintenance

During the occupancy stage we have to take account of functions like heating, cooling, lighting and water use, as well as the introduction of new products such as paints, stains, floor coverings and other interior finishes. We also have to take account of the fact a building may be remodeled or reconfigured several times over its life (a form of reuse), with changes to interior partitions and possibly the addition of new products or systems. In the course of maintenance, some parts of a building will be altered (e.g. by painting), but other parts may not be seen or touched until the building is demolished.

We have done exploratory work on this stage of the life cycle to better understand the relative importance of various aspects but it is not yet included in the computer model. However, we are currently developing the life cycle inventory data for maintenance products like paint and will be soon assembling maintenance


and replacement schedules for assemblies or components like windows and exterior finishes. We are also assessing how we can best incorporate operating energy requirements

Demolition

Demolition marks the end of a building’s life cycle although it is not the end for individual component materials or products which face a subsequent recycling/reuse/disposal stage. This is another area where we have done background and have undertaken an exploratory study to better understand the issues. But the demolition stage is not yet encompassed by the computer model.

The exploratory study examined demolition energy use for different structural systems under different climatic conditions assuming 100 percent recycling and 100 percent reuse of the structural components.

Recycling/Reuse/Disposal

This is the final stage in the life cycle of the individual components or products comprising a building. It is an especially difficult area for building life cycle analysis because, for a building being designed now we are dealing with practices and pressures a long way in the future and therefore quite unpredictable. The obvious answer is to simply assume current practices, but we have to be cautious to make sure we don’t inadvertently penalize materials or products with a greater prospect for additional recycling or reuse.

While ATHENA databases certainly take account of recycled materials coming in as raw material for the manufacturing stage for various products (e.g. fly ash in concrete and steel scrap for steel products), the model does not yet cover this final activity stage. Since most of the environmental burdens associated with recycling and reuse, like processing and transportation, are properly a charge to the next use, our concern will be primarily with the environmental implications of disposal, whether through landfilling or incineration.


The Basics of Sustainable Building Design (from APEGBC’s Sustainable Building Primer)

The Components of Integrated Design In general, integrated design of new buildings must address five key elements:

1. Site 2. Water Efficiency 3. Energy Efficiency 4. Materials and Resources 5. Indoor Environmental Quality

Below are some sample design considerations in each of the five key areas:

1. Site Orientation to the sun to maximize natural daylight and heating Choice of brownfield site over greenfield Utilization of previous building footprint Layout to minimize footprint Location of site to utilize existing infrastructure (utilities and transportation) Provision of alternative transportation services such as bicycle storage, alternative fuel refueling stations, showers and changing rooms Minimization of impervious areas on-site to reduce run-off Landscaping to reduce heat island effect

2. Water Efficiency

Use of low flow, water efficient fixtures, waterless urinals, dual flush toilets etc Use of native plants to eliminate/reduce irrigation needs Grey-water reuse, on-site treatment

3. Energy Efficiency

Use of renewable energy Use of energy efficient fixtures Effective use of insulating materials, glazing, etc On-site energy generation Use of energy modeling to optimize heating/cooling systems

4. Materials and Resources

Use of local/regional materials Use of recycled materials Construction waste reduction/reuse/diversion Storage and collection of recyclables Use of durable materials Reuse of existing building shell

“It is much easier and cheaper to maximize the benefits of green planning and design by addressing issues in the initial stages of a project” -Rocky Mountain Institute, 1998


5. Indoor Environmental Quality Use of low-emitting materials (adhesives, sealants, paints, carpets, composite wood products) Maximized percent of daylighted spaces Maximized ventilation performance Management of Indoor Air Quality during construction

Monitoring of CO2

Design for controllability of systems As these examples show, it is difficult to consider these components in isolation. Indeed, improvements in one area typically result in spin-off improvements in another. Some benefits realized by high-performance buildings include:

Lower operating costs Lower lifecycle costs Longer lasting building Reduced impact on the environment Increased occupant comfort, health Increased occupant productivity / satisfaction Higher building value Lower vacancy rate Enhanced corporate image

Tools for Integrated Design Guidelines A number of jurisdictions, municipalities and organizations have created building design guidelines to help industry incorporate sustainable building practices into design, construction and operation. Here are four example guidelines: BC Building Corporation Guide to Green Buildings Resources http://www.greenbuildingsbc.com/new_buildings/resources_guide/index.html An excellent resource that provides links to other websites and information on financial incentives, other building guidelines, energy, water, landscape, materials, waste, construction practices, indoor environmental quality, economic performance resources, life cycle assessment resources, and resources specific to designing schools. Updated regularly. City of Santa Monica Green Building Guidelines http://greenbuildings.santa-monica.org/index.html These Guidelines provide designers, builders and developers with easily accessible guidelines and best practices on green building design. A group of consultants and experts from British Columbia were primary consultants on the development of the guidelines. A unique feature is the “Design Advisor” which allows the user to search for documents, reports and guidelines based on the type of building (school, hospital, library…) and activity type (new building, retrofit, operation & maintenance…).


New York City Department of Design and Construction High Performance Building Guidelines http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/ddc/html/highperf.html The New York City High Performance Building Guidelines are organized into: City Process, Design Process, Site Design & Planning, Building Energy Use, Indoor Environment, Material and Product Selection, Water Management, Construction Administration, Commissioning, and Operations and Maintenance. Retrofitting a City: A Guide for Municipalities to Implement a Building Retrofit Program http://www.cmhcschl. gc.ca/en/imquaf/hehosu/sucopl/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/getfile.cfm&PageID=42236 The Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation published this guide, which includes guidance on: defining the scope and delivery method of your retrofit program, staffing requirements, funding options, regulations, and promotion. Sustainability Matrix The Sustainability Matrix was initiated by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation when they were planning a new Foundation Office. The result was a decision-making tool that would clearly demonstrate the aesthetic, environmental, schedule, and economic impacts implied by a range of sustainability goals for the proposed building. The Matrix is a graphical summary of the findings contained in the Sustainability Report. It compares six different options, from “market” (typical big box design) to “living building” (a net-energy generating building). It details and compares all of the following:

site plan wall section energy consumed and generated to operate building grid reliance pollution from building operation external cost to society schedule construction cost furniture, fixtures, and equipment design and management fees net present value for 30-, 60-, and 100-year models.

The Sustainability Matrix and Report are excellent resources that show very clearly the relationships between all aspects of building design, construction, and decommissioning. They can be viewed and downloaded from http://www.packard.org/index.cgi?page=building. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEEDTM) The LEEDTM Green Building Assessment tool is technically an assessment tool, but many professionals also use it as a design tool. LEEDTM, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is an increasingly popular building assessment and design tool developed by the US Green Building Council (USGBC – http://www.usgbc.org), and the most widely applied within BC and the US.


LEED: Frequently Asked Questions How does LEEDTM work? LEEDTM measures and ranks a building’s environmental performance in terms of 6 general categories:

Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Materials & Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Innovation & Design.

Points are awarded for achieving specific goals clearly outlined in each category. The total number of points possible is 69. A score of 26-32 points achieves basic certification; 33-38 achieves Silver; 39 – 51 Gold; and 52+ achieves Platinum certification. How is a building certified? At the moment, official LEEDTM certification is organized through the USGBC. The USGBC LEEDTM

website (http://www.usgbc.org/LEED/LEED_main.asp) provides a summary of the three steps to certification. The CaGBC will eventually take over certification of Canadian projects, but is still in the early stages of organization. Any certification earned under the USGBC until that point will be honoured by the CaGBC. Is LEEDTM mandatory? NO. LEEDTM is a voluntary building assessment tool. Some jurisdictions like the City of Seattle; however, have adopted a minimum LEEDTM standard for all new public buildings as a matter of policy. The City of Vancouver is currently considering the merits of adopting a minimum LEEDTM

standard for all new public buildings, and, in June, 2004, was awarded LEEDTM Gold for its new Vancouver City Works Yard (http://www.sustainability.ca/Docs/Vancouver%20City%20Works.pdf?CFID=3778824&CFTOKEN=41506381). The City of Calgary is also moving toward requiring a minimum of LEEDTM Silver for all new public buildings. Integrated Building Design Resources Backgrounders http://www.greenerbuildings.com/backgrounders.cfm A series of websites designed to give you basic information about green buildings. Guide to Value Analysis and the Integrated Green Design Process http://www.greenbuildingsbc.com/new_buildings/pdf_files/value_analysis_dp_guide.pdf This guide to integrated design was produced by the BC Building Corporation and presents a four-step process for design teams wishing to approach the design process in an integrated fashion. East Clayton Headwaters Project http://www.sustainablecommunities.agsci.ubc.ca/projects/Headwaters.html The James Taylor Chair in Landscape and Livable Environments at UBC is responsible for

Blair McCarry, PEng, points out the strong influence that engineers have over the design of sustainable buildings. In each of the six LEEDTM

categories, engineers can influence the following portion of the available credits:

Sustainable Sites:5/14 Water Efficiency: 5/5 Energy and Atmosphere: 17/17 Materials and Resources: 8/13 Indoor Environmental Quality: 11/15 Innovation & Design: any of the 5

available


information management and project facilitation of the East Clayton Headwaters Project – a proposed sustainable neighborhood in Surrey. The initial design charette that was used to create the Clayton Neighborhood Concept Plan is a good example of integrated design teamwork. Click on "Summary", on the above web link, and then scroll down the webpage to find an interesting discussion on the design process that was used for East Clayton BC Building Corporation’s Green Buildings Program http://www.greenbuildingsbc.com This website is an excellent source of information on green building design. There are two separate programs: New Buildings Program and the Retrofit Program. The site contains information on BC case studies, green building design guidelines, financial incentive programs, and integrated design process guidelines. BetterBricks http://www.betterbricks.com BetterBricks is a not-for-profit initiative designed to help commercial building professionals achieve sustainable high performance buildings. Includes guidelines, tools and case studies. Better Buildings for Greater Vancouver http://www.betterbuildings.ca A portal hosted by the GVRD, with building-related information on: case studies, environmental facts and information, financial incentives and programs, online discussion forums, and web links. Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) The newly formed Canada Green Building Council will take over LEEDTM administration from the USGBC and address green building issues specific to Canada. Memberships are now being issued. City of Seattle Sustainable Building Program http://www.cityofseattle.net/sustainablebuilding/ The City of Seattle's sustainable building program contains some useful reports and guidelines to help practitioners incorporate sustainable building practices into design. Note that the City of Seattle requires all new city-financed buildings and major remodels to be certified LEEDTM Silver or better. Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Municipal Building Retrofits program http://www.fcm.ca/scep/support/building_retrofit/mbrp_index.htm The FCM will provides guidance through all stages of the building retrofit process from help in developing a business case, overcoming barriers, to finding additional funding. Also available are several case studies. Advanced Buildings Technologies and Practices http://www.advancedbuildings.org Detailed descriptions and supporting case studies for 90 technologies and practices to improve energy and resource efficiency of commercial and multi-unit residential buildings. Specific technologies and techniques are included within the following comprehensive categories: building structure, finishes & furnishings, heating & cooling, plumbing & water heating, lighting & daylighting, load management, electricity production, ventilation & air quality, site services, and motors % equipment.


Aggregate, Recycled Concrete http://www.metrokc.gov/procure/green/concrete.htm A primer on demolition and recycling of concrete for use as aggregate. Prepared by Seattle's King County. Construction Materials Report: Toolkit for Carbon Neutral Developments http://www.bioregional.com Construction materials report for the Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) in London, England. A 13-page summary is available on the website and includes details on the project’s local sourcing policy, material choices and tracking of project resource flows. The full report describes all the materials used in the construction of BedZED and shows how the project team reduced the embodied environmental impact of the development by 20-30% by selecting reclaimed, recycled, local and low impact materials. EcoSmart™ Concrete http://www.ecosmart.ca/ The objective of the EcoSmart™ Project is to minimize the greenhouse gas signature of concrete by maximizing the replacement of Portland cement in the concrete mix with Supplementary Cementing material (SCM) within the parameters of cost, performance, and constructability. Sustainable Development in the World Steel Industry http://www.sustainablesteel.com An initiative of the International Iron and Steel Institute. Contains market news, conference information, papers and other publications. Low Impact Development in Puget Sound http://www.wa.gov/puget_sound/Programs/lid_cd/LID_resources.htm A relatively new idea for land development, low impact development (LID) focuses on developing land such that post-development hydrologic conditions are as close to pre-development conditions as possible. Stormwater Managers Resource Centre http://www.stormwatercenter.net/ The Stormwater Manager's Resource Center is designed specifically for stormwater practitioners, local government officials and others who need technical assistance on stormwater management issues. Very well laid out with guidelines on how to implement low-impact stormwater management designs and techniques. Stormwater Planning: A Guidebook for BC http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/epd/epdpa/mpp/stormwater/stormwater.htm This guidebook is an excellent resource of best practices for stormwater management within BC. Particularly useful for municipal governments, with an emphasis on implementing early actions.


Sustainability and Engineering Guidelines to Practice: The APEGBC Sustainability Guidelines:

An Overview† Moving goalposts There is no agreed upon range of “sustainable engineering solutions”– nor could there ever be. Technologies or techniques that constitute best practice one year may become obsolete the next – the goalposts are constantly shifting as technologies evolve and the things people deem important change. For the foreseeable future at least, sustainability will be the process of reaching acceptable solutions across a balance of interests – not a specified outcome that can be transplanted from one context to another.

Disparate nature of engineering tasks and responsibilities In practical terms, implementing sustainability naturally implies different things for the CEO of a global corporation and for the Engineer-in-Training (EIT) of a small municipality. Attempting to catalogue the specific options open to each, and to all those in between, would be an endless, encyclopedic task. But while the CEO and EIT have different spheres of control, influence and concern, both can apply the Guidelines to work out for themselves how to introduce sustainability considerations to their professional practice.

The benefits of thinking Applying Guidelines obliges us to think about a wide range of complex issues and to develop situation-specific solutions to problems. Thinking things through for ourselves ensures that we can spot opportunities as they arise, and can apply solutions that make sense for the given situation. The seven Guidelines break down into the four main areas shown in the table below. Table 1 Focus of Guidelines Guideline Focus Area

1 Develop and maintain a level of understanding of the goals of, and issues related to, sustainability.

Increasing Awareness of Sustainability

2 Take into account the individual and cumulative social, environmental and economic implications.

3 Take into account the short- and long-term consequences. Fully Investigating the Impacts of Potential Actions

4 Take into account the direct and indirect consequences.

5 Assess reasonable alternative concepts, designs and/or methodologies. Evaluating Alternative Solutions

6 Seek appropriate expertise in areas where the Member's knowledge is inadequate.

7 Cooperate with colleagues, clients, employers, decision-makers and the public in the pursuit of sustainability.

Fostering Consultation and Partnerships

† This document is an edited and abridged version of The APEGBC Primer, Part 2. (http://www.sustainability.ca/index.cfm?body=SourceView.cfm&ID=45 (Aug. 2004))


Increasing Awareness of Sustainability Guideline 1: Develop and maintain a level of understanding of the goals of,

and issues related to, sustainability.

Guideline #1 encourages continual learning or education as an important aspect of sustainability. APEGBC has identified awareness (among all stakeholders) as one of the primary barriers to the implementation of sustainability in the province. Practical Suggestions

There is an abundance of sustainability information available on the internet. Have a look.

Seek out examples of best practice in your specific areas of interest.

As a Professional Engineer, make your staff / peers / managers aware of the Sustainability

Guidelines and how to apply them.

Make your sustainability training needs known to those responsible for training.

Require a demonstrable awareness of sustainability in those you hire or contract

Think of ways to make your clients/colleagues aware of the benefits of more sustainable approaches to projects – for example, by including a section on sustainability considerations in all reports

Fully Investigating the Impacts of Potential Actions Guideline 2: Take into account the individual and cumulative social,

environmental and economic implications. Guideline 3: Take into account the short- and long-term consequences. Guideline 4: Take into account the direct and indirect consequences.

. These three guidelines address the short and long-term, direct and indirect impacts of our designs and activities. They encourage us to think outside of traditional project boundaries and to consider the greater temporal and spatial impacts of our designs and projects.

As we learn more about the way our world works – the way humans and ecosystems interact – we learn more about what it takes to ensure that we do not compromise the well being of current and future generations and ecosystems. “These ideas veer sharply away from thinking in terms of “trade-offs,” human vs. ecosystem wellbeing. There are obviously hundreds of small trade-offs in any practical application: between interests, between components of the ecosystem, across time and across space. However, in a macro sense, the idea of sustainability calls for each of human

“In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation.”

From the Great Law of the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations Iroquois Confederation)


and ecosystem wellbeing to be maintained or improved over the long term. Maintaining or improving one at the expense of the other is not acceptable from a sustainability perspective because either way, the foundation for life is undermined.”1

The following section discusses some of the general approaches available for applying these Guidelines under any circumstances, whether specifying a new pump or designing a major new facility.

Implementation Approaches and Tools

Guideline 2: Take into account the individual and cumulative social, environmental and economic implications.

At one level, this could involve developing an inventory of impacts rather like a formal Environmental or Social Impact Assessment. Depending on the degree of rigour required, it could just involve an estimate of the major ecological, social, and economic implications.

It may be wise to question the value of exhaustively detailing the likely impacts of a proposal in the absence of having a second or third approach to the same problem for comparisons. If there really is only one technical solution then you might consider to list the social, environmental and economic consequences of that solution compared to those associated with doing nothing. Doing nothing is seldom without its own consequences.

Guideline 3: Take into account the short- and long-term consequences. The Sustainability Guidelines encourage us to consider both short-term impacts (which we typically focus on) and long-term impacts (which we typically ignore). Some relevant issues to consider include:

ease of (and impacts associated with) decommissioning and of extracting materials or components for recycling;

the reversibility of an action; for example, are several small run-of-river hydro plants more

readily removed if no longer wanted, compared to a single, large dam?;

option values – are we potentially precluding someone from making use of something? For example, if we destroy rainforest species, will we be squelching opportunities for future generations to develop medicines from them?;

the longevity of equipment and materials, and the substances mobilized or created during

long term degradation;

non-renewable resources consumed;

possible long term societal effects (eg, behavioural or health effects).


Guideline 4: Take into account the direct and indirect consequences. As anyone who has been involved with an environmental assessment can attest, accounting for the likely direct consequences of a planned course of action can be challenging enough. Considering more indirect consequences can be more difficult still – but potentially nonetheless important.

Some ways in which our actions can have indirect consequences for society and the environment include:

impacts associated with the production, transportation, use or disposal of the materials or resources we use;

unforeseen chemical interactions (e.g. CFC / ozone chemistry);

the behaviour or practices of the subcontractors or suppliers that we hire;

others’ use (or misuse) of our products;

community socio-psychological impacts of our actions (e.g. television).

Life Cycle Assessment (or Analysis) This is the analytical technique for quantifying and comparing the direct and indirect energy and material impacts of alternative approaches to meeting a given need. It involves accounting for environmental impacts throughout the life-cycle of a product or service, including the energy and materials consumed or degraded during manufacturing, distribution, use, waste collection and disposal stages. For formal analyses, a number of databases have been developed that contain life-cycle information on the “building blocks” of commonly used materials or activities, such as those associated with one tonne of a particular grade of steel, or with transporting a given mass of material by truck for one kilometre. Formal LCAs allow us to assemble the “emission inventories” associated with alternative products or services. Life Cycle Analysis has seen widespread application throughout the western world.

Impacts of a Product’s Life Cycle (Source: Pearce 1999, The Dimensions of Sustainability: A Primer http://maven.gtri.gatech.edu/sfi/resources/pdf/TR/TR031.PDF )


Total Cost Accounting TCA is in many ways parallel to LCA, but usually focuses on economic and social (as well as environmental) impacts of actions, and not always over the entire life cycle. For example, equipment may have ongoing costs of waste disposal, or may require additional training for staff to operate. If a piece of equipment is likely to result in lost staff time in dealing with public complaints, this represents a hidden cost. In order to adequately evaluate alternatives with lower public impact, these hidden costs associated with the status quo must be identified.

Treatment of risk and uncertainty Uncertainty is one of the most pervasive – and significant – concepts that engineers grapple with every day. Uncertainty plays a key role in multiplying unintended consequences of all kinds, and needs to be dealt with conscientiously. Quantifying and communicating the uncertainty surrounding each element of ‘what we know’ is a central part of our obligation to fully investigate the impacts of potential actions.

The importance of this is best illustrated by a hypothetical example. Suppose we are choosing between two alternative projects, A and B. Project A is projected to give rise to 50,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases, and B is most likely to result in to 30,000 tonnes. All else being equal, everyone would choose Project B. But suppose we additionally knew that the emissions associated with Project A had a 10% chance of being as high as 60,000 tonnes, and for Project B there was a 10% chance of emissions being up to 2,000,000 tonnes. Now which would we choose? By including consideration of uncertainty, the question has fundamentally changed. Some people may crunch the math and choose B, since it is most likely the cleaner. Others, more risk averse (i.e. with a different risk tolerance), would choose A to avoid the possibility of a major release ever happening – perhaps regardless of probabilities. Neither approach is right or wrong; this is a value judgement. The point is, in defining the situation and presenting information about it, our challenge is to ensure that such crucial subtleties are not lost on decision makers or stakeholders.

Practical Suggestions

Investigate the techniques of Environmental Assessment (EA), Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and Total (or Full) Cost Accounting (TCA) (See resources below).

Consider how you might apply the principles of EA, LCA, and/or TCA when thinking about the impacts associated with your new or ongoing activities.

Include some consideration of these approaches when communicating information to clients or managers.

Consider becoming familiar with analytical techniques for handling uncertainty. Report

(whether quantitatively or qualitatively) key areas of uncertainty to clients or managers.

Where uncertainties may play a large role in a particular decision, investigate the use of appropriate sensitivity analyses or scenario analysis.

Resources

A clear introduction to tackling cumulative impacts within the context of an Environmental Impact Assessment is given here: http://www.art.man.ac.uk/EIA/nl14con.htm -- these


principles can be extended for social and environmental impacts

More detailed guidelines on assessing cumulative environmental impacts has been developed by the Government of Canada: http://www.ceaa.gc.ca/0011/0001/0008/guide1_e.htm#Reference%20Guide:

Example of using LCA to assess forest management practices in BC

http://www.ppc.ubc.ca/env-adv-tech.html

ATHENA: A LCA Decision Support Tool For The Building Community http://www.athenasmi.ca

Using Total Cost Assessment to Justify Energy Retrofits in a BC Pulp Mill

http://www.bsdglobal.com/viewcasestudy.asp?id=66

A TCA approach to resource management planning in the Fraser Valley http://www.rem.sfu.ca/FRAP/9407.pdf

Evaluating Mining and its Effects on Sustainability: the case of the Tulsequah Chief Mine

Final Report (Uses TCA) http://emcbc.miningwatch.org/emcbc/publications/tulsequah_sustain.pdf

Ecological Risk Assessment in the Federal Government

http://www.nnic.noaa.gov/CENR/ecorisk.pdf Evaluating Alternatives Guideline 5: Assess reasonable alternative concepts, designs and/or

methodologies. Conventional engineering solutions often rely on historical data and a linear approach to problem solving. Many problems are ‘solved’ by plugging in a standard formula ‘proven’ throughout the ages, irrespective of the uniqueness of that problem’s particular setting, its timeframe, the people and the ecosystems involved. However, the process of even sketching out and evaluating various solutions, with the contribution of other professionals and from all affected communities of interest, can ultimately help save money, increase public acceptance and build relationships and job satisfaction.

At the heart of the assessment of any alternative lies the consideration of whether the design contributes to human and ecosystem wellbeing together. “The ‘positive contribution to sustainability’ criterion is different from though built upon the ‘mitigation of adverse effects’ criterion that is the focus of traditional environmental and social impact assessments. The implications of the shift are two-fold. On the one hand, the positive orientation opens the door to a much fuller recognition of benefits that result from engineering and geoscience activities than has traditionally been the case with impact assessment approaches. On the other, the same positive orientation sets the bar higher- it is harder to demonstrate a contribution than it is to mitigate a negative.” ( Tony Hodge, PEng, PhD, “APEGBC Sustainability Policy”, Draft 2, April 2003)


Implementation Approaches and Tools A key element of successful problem solving involves identifying and defining clear objectives. Once objectives are clear, “brainstorming” or other “creativity techniques” can be used to develop alternative concepts. Then there are two main approaches to assessing how “reasonable” each option might be:

The first informally explores the options to decide upon a preferred approach, develops that approach into a detailed inventory of impacts (costs and benefits) before a decision is made on whether that inventory is, on balance, acceptable (this is often the approach underlying environmental assessments, for example).

The second approach evaluates the impacts associated with a number of different ways of meeting the same objective(s), then decides between each of the discrete options on the basis of their relative performance.

The second approach is used less frequently but can lead to greater public acceptance of projects, and need not necessarily involve greater expenditure of resources if performed well. In such an approach (sometimes referred to as Multiple Account Evaluation or Grid Analysis), the impacts of a particular alternative are often compared in tabular form.


Consider using techniques below to generate novel ways of approaching a given problem. Where appropriate, consider developing Multiple Account Evaluation tables to show

decision makers the impacts associated with various different ways of meeting specified objectives.

Resources

A “how to” manual on multicriteria analysis http://www.dtlr.gov.uk/about/multicriteria/

Introductory resources on tools for enhancing development of alternatives, making decisions and handling complexity http://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_CT.htm http://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_TED.htm http://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_TMC.htm

Example of MAE applied in BC by an engineering consulting firm. http://www.sitemachine.com/Showcase/Reid-Crowther/info_centre/tp_kootenay.htm .

Consultation and Partnerships


Guideline 6: Seek appropriate expertise in areas where the Member's knowledge is inadequate.

Guideline 7: Cooperate with colleagues, clients, employers, decision-makers and the public in the pursuit of sustainability.

Partnerships with fellow professionals on areas we are unfamiliar with comprises only half of our responsibility to consult with others – the second, arguably more important, aspect requires us to actively solicit local community values on what’s important. Experts can often help answer “what could be”, but it’s up to the public to answer, “what should be”.


Build professional partnerships with other organizations or institutions – turn to them for help when dealing with an area outside your area of expertise.

Investigate models of public participation in engineering processes

Resources

Public Participation in Environmental Decisions: An Evaluation Framework Using Social Goals http://www.rff.org/CFDOCS/disc_papers/PDF_files/9906.pdf

Articles on Public Participation and Risk http://www.fplc.edu/RISK/rskarts.htm

BC Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management Water Use Planning Guidelines – A

large scale application of a public consultation process incorporating many of the suggestions developed here http://srmwww.gov.bc.ca/wat/wup/wup_pdf/wuppdf.html

Public Involvement: A Rationale and Conceptual Framework – A generic introduction to public consultation issues and techniques developed by Health Canada http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hpfb-dgpsa/ocapi-bpcp/framework_guidelines/framework_guides_doc3a_e.html


Applying the Guidelines: Two Examples Worked Example 1: Specifying a New Pump Joe is asked to specify a major new pump for a Cheese Whiz plant.

1) Identify Stakeholders

The decision stakes and technical uncertainty involved in this decision are low – it’s a largely technical judgement. Although there’s no need to involve external stakeholders, he recognizes that the task has sustainability implications he should consider.

2) Defining Objectives

Joe defines his objectives by asking basic questions.

Why is a pump needed? What is this stuff we’re moving around, why do we need it, what could we use instead? Could we reduce the amount of stuff moving around? Why does it need to be over there rather than over here? Could we reduce the distance it has to move?

He concludes that his task (within his scope of influence) is to move X tonnes/hr of stuff from one process unit to another while minimizing costs and negative environmental and social impacts.

3) Brainstorming Alternative Approaches to Meeting the Objectives

Joe thinks about ways in which he might achieve his objectives. He researches the best available technologies and concludes that he can either go for a cheap pump or a more expensive, higher efficiency pump. He’s also found that he could rearrange the site so that the two process units are one above the other (dispensing with the need for a pump), but this introduces heavy up-front costs and some extra ongoing costs.

4) Compare the Full Impacts of Meeting the Need.

Joe sketches out a quick summary of his options:


Table 4: Sample Multiple Account Evaluation Cheap Pump Expensive Pump Changing Site

Layout

Will all technical and legal needs be met?

Yes Yes Yes

Up-front cost $5,000 $10,000 $20,000

Overall average annual cost (All major life cycle costs, discounted and averaged over life)

$10,000 $6,000 $6,000

Key Environmental Impacts (short term)

Impacts associated with transporting pump half way around the world.

No major impacts Several vanloads of waste for landfill

Key Environmental Impacts (long term)

50,000 units of greenhouse gases



Key Social / other Impacts (short term)

None Local manufacturer, supports local economy

Provides extra temporary employment

Key Social / other Impacts (long term)

None None

Other features Local manufacturer, excellent service

5) Select Preferred Approach

Joe doesn’t think he can make these alternatives any better, so he thinks about which one he prefers. The cheap pump is attractive because only $5,000 will be taken from his operating budget. Changing the site layout might be preferred because of the low overall costs, emissions, and the fact that much of his money goes to local labour than to a power company. The expensive pump, on the other hand, would save money over the long term compared to the cheap one.

Whichever option Joe chooses, he has fulfilled his obligation to balance the short and long term economic, social and environmental objectives.


Worked Example 2: Developing a Local Energy Project Joe is asked to specify a 600 kW power unit for a new industrial facility close to a local community concerned about noise and air quality.

1) Identify Stakeholders

Joe knows that there are lots of important value judgments involved in developing such a project, and he recognizes that it’s important for the local community to have some input on the development of a technical solution. Joe asks the local mayor to help him assemble a stakeholder consultation committee (SCC), which before long includes the municipal environmental coordinator, a representative of a local environmental group, a taxpayers representative, a local school head teacher and a First Nations band leader. 2) Defining Objectives Joe outlines to the committee that the power unit is needed for a continuous load application that will be part of a project that will boost the local economy. The unit might need to be expanded up to 1 MW in future, depending on the success of the project as a whole. Some members of the SCC want the company to consider a “green power” unit that will not add much more to local noise and air emissions. 3) Brainstorming Alternative Approaches to Meeting the Objectives Joe looks into the available technical options and discovers that there are no clearly “green” power solutions (wind, solar etc) that are viable in a continuous operation mode without hugely costly energy storage costs. Nor are adequate local resources available (e.g. small hydro, biomass) to help bring fuel costs down. However, a number of options are available that have lower environmental impacts than the common choice of a diesel reciprocating engine. These include a natural gas-fired engine, twin 300kW microturbines or a range of three 200kW solid oxide fuel cells. 4) Compare the Full Impacts of Meeting the Need. Joe sketches out a summary of his options in terms of the issues the committee has told him are significant:


Table 5: Sample Multiple Account Evaluation Diesel engine Natural gas

engine Microturbines Fuel cell

Will all technical and legal needs be met?

Yes Yes Yes Yes

Up-front cost $855,000 $900,000 $1.21 million $3.15 million

Estimated levelized cost of electricity

(Overall power cost incorporating up-front costs and discounted running costs over the life of the plant)

7.6 cents / kWh 7.5 cents / kWh 11 cents / kWh 19 cents / kWh

Noise levels (dB @ 10 ft) 67-92 80-100 <60 72

Emissions (g/kWh), except where noted

NOx: 2 – 22

CO: 1 – 8

+ particulate

NOx: 0.7 – 42

CO: 0.8 – 27

NOx: 0.2

CO: 0.6

NOx: 0.007

CO: 0.01

Fuel Diesel Natural gas Natural gas Natural gas

Possibility to use in combined heat and power mode?

Yes Yes Yes Yes

Key Social / other Impacts (long term) None None None Supports green technology development

Other features Familiar technology

Familiar technology

Unfamiliar technology

Unfamiliar technology

5) Select Preferred Approach

The table helps Joe show that while a fuel cell array is possible, the cost premium is high at the current time. The SCC agrees to forego the opportunity of the fuel cell for now, on the promise that the committee re-convene in future if an expansion of the power unit is foreseen – perhaps other technologies may be commercially available at that time. The SCC also asks that the power unit be developed in such a way as not to preclude the potential to use these technologies. With similar upfront and running costs, the main issues that differentiate the diesel and natural gas options are noise and emissions. By agreeing to house the units in a soundproof room, the issue of noise disappears. Although the ranges for emissions are similar for each, the committee is told that diesel-fuelled units typically have considerably poorer air emissions profiles. The SCC considers the costs and benefits of the microturbine sets. While the upfront costs are not too much more than gas engines, and air emissions are lower, the levelized cost is considerably higher, partly because microturbines are less electrically efficient than gas engines. After weighing these different issues, the SCC makes its recommendation to the company – a natural gas engine appears to be the best balance of economic, environmental and social objectives, providing the firm lives up to the commitments noted above. The SCC has opted for the lowest cost option for this application, something that often happens in practice. Note that while the company has no obligation to follow the advice of the SCC, if it has a reasonable basis from which to disagree, and spells out clearly why it disagrees, it should still be in a better position with the community than had it not undertaken the exercise. Trust is generally built if the process is undertaken in a spirit of openness and good faith on all sides.

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