ASCE’s and CEE’s

Sustainability Initiatives

Panos D. Prevedouros, PhD

Professor of Transportation

Chairman, CEE Department

pdp@hawaii.edu

… on Sustainability

Earth-made changes

Man-made changes

ASCE initiatives

CEE initiatives

3

1999 Tokyo Subway Inundation

South Carolina - October 2015

25 inches of rain in 5 days

1000 year storm

11 deaths, 9 dams breached

Louisiana - August 2016

Over 2 feet of rain in 72 hours 10 dead, 20,000 rescued

Ellicott City, MA – July 2016

6 inches of rain in a 2 hour period

2 dead

Worst flooding in 57 years

Kihei, Maui 36 hours ago (March 8, 2017)

… on Sustainability

Earth-made changes

Man-made changes

ASCE initiatives

CEE initiatives

Shortages of Critical Resources

Autonomous Vehicles, Ride sharing

services, the Internet of things … AI

Shifts in Global Urbanization

Copyright © United Nations , New York, USA, 2016

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

World Urbanization Prospects - The 2014 Revision

Society’s Changing Expectations of Engineers

Hig

h

Lo

w

Low High

“I Trust You”

“Tell Me”

“Show Me”

“Involve ME”

Tru

st

Transparency

Ecological Footprint

Global Footprint Network, 2008

… on Sustainability

Earth-made changes

Man-made changes

ASCE initiatives

CEE initiatives

Why Sustainability?

15

Unsustainability is an unintended

consequence of our modern beliefs

and practices

Sustainability is the possibility that

human and other forms of life will

flourish on the Earth forever

Reducing unsustainability (greening)

does not create sustainability

John Erhenfeld, 2010

Engineering for Sustainability

16

Reducing Unsustainability

• Dealing with the past

• Retain cultural structure

• Deterministic world

• Needy, disengaged actors

• Maintain transparency

• Quantitative, analytic

• Displaced learning

• Disconnected design

• Technocratic

• Solve, resolve problems

Creating Sustainability

• Creating the future

• Changing cultural structure

• Complex world

• Caring, engaged actors

• Interrupt transparency

• Qualitative

• Local learning

• Participatory design

• Pragmatic

• Dissolve problems

John Erhenfeld, 2010

Code of Ethics Canon 1

Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and

welfare of the public and shall strive to comply with the

principles of sustainable development in the

performance of their professional duties.

ASCE Policy on Sustainability

Policy 517 UN Sustainable Development Goals

…supports implementation of the United Nations'

Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) as they apply

to improving the quality of people's lives around the

world through science and engineering.

ASCE Policy on Sustainability

Policy Statement 418

…a set of economic, environmental and social

conditions in which all of society has the capacity and

opportunity to maintain and improve its quality of life

indefinitely without degrading the quantity, quality or

the availability of economic, environmental and social

resources. Sustainable development is the

application of these resources to enhance the safety,

welfare, and quality of life for all of society.

Call to Action

1. Civil engineers provide essential infrastructure

2. That infrastructure is dangerously deteriorating

3. Availability of resources and future conditions are

highly uncertain

4. Current approaches, standards and methodologies do

not address the full range of societal needs

5. Therefore, civil engineering practice must be

transformed

6. ASCE is responsible to society to lead this change

ASCE Sustainability Goals

Goal 1 – Transform how infrastructure is conceived,

designed and delivered to enable a

sustainable future

Goal 2 – Establish ASCE as the trusted leader and

preferred resource for sustainable civil

engineering practices

Goal 3 – Make ISI Envision Infrastructure Rating System

the broadly adopted framework for

sustainable infrastructure

Goal 4 – Expand the capacity of civil engineers to create

relationships of trust and respect

Entrusted by society to create a sustainable world

and enhance the global quality of life, civil engineers

serve competently, collaboratively, and ethically as…

• Master Builders

• Stewards of the Environment

• Guardians of Human Welfare

• Innovators

• Managers of Risk

• Leaders in Public Policy

The Vision for Civil Engineering in 2025

… on Sustainability

Earth-made changes

Man-made changes

ASCE initiatives

CEE initiatives

UHM CEE Sustainability Courses

CEE 440 Vulnerability & Adaptation on Coastal Infrastructure

(3) Assessing vulnerability of coastal communities to climate change

stressors and providing technical engineering solutions for adaptation

CEE 441 Principles of Sustainability Analysis (3) Introduction to the

principles of sustainability analysis through execution of Life Cycle Analysis

applied to products, processes, or systems

CEE 442 (3) (in preparation) Principles, Options and Technologies of

LEED Buildings

CEE 444 Infrastructure: Project Impacts, Policy and Sustainability (3)

Evaluation of infrastructure impacts, regulation and mitigation. Effects of

environmental and other policies on infrastructure. Infrastructure relations to

sustainability. Energy consumption, transportation efficiency and recycling

ATMO 449/CEE 449: Climate Modeling, Data Analysis, and Applications

UHM CEE Research

Flyash recycling into PCC and Sustainable Concrete (state DOT and FHWA)

Self-sustainable autonomous monitoring systems for bridges (state DOT)

Traffic safety and transportation needs of rural communities (US DOT)

Water quality and beach water quality (EPA, NSF and NFWF)

Water resource quantification and valuation (NSF EPSCoR)

Pavement management systems (state DOT and FHWA)

Resilience to tsunami threats (NSF, NOAA)

Shoreline and harbor protection through engineered reefs (state DOT)

Coastal sustainability and disaster resilience seminars (US Navy)

Intelligent irrigation for agriculture (USDA)

Slope instrumentation and landslide warning system (state DOT and FHWA)

Oceanographic and meteorological data for the design of arctic offshore oil

and gas structures (U. of Alaska)

Thanks!

Panos D. Prevedouros, PhD

Professor of Transportation

Chairman, CEE Department

pdp@hawaii.edu