Building a Sustainable Business Environment Using the FIDIC Guidelines

1
Building a Sustainable Business EnvironmentUsing
the FIDIC Guidelines

• FIDIC Annual Meeting
• Montreux, Switzerland
• 4 Sept 2001

2
Summary

• What changes to the business environment will be
  necessary to create an engineering practice which
  incorporates sustainable development principles?
• Build intellectual capacity through
• Professional Education
• Communication

3
Professional Education

• Sustainability problems are multidisciplinary
• Requires a multidisciplinary education
• Integrate technology with the three dimensions of
  sustainability
• Economic
• Environmental
• Social

4
Barriers

• Sustainability is usually not a part of
  engineering curriculums
• Most follow the traditional disciplines civil,
  chemical, electrical, mechanical
• Too much to learn already!
• Need to add new topics
• Natural systems engineering
• Holistic approaches (e.g., life cycle analysis)

5
ABET Engineering Criteria 2000

• Criterion 4 Professional Component
•  
• Students must be prepared for professional
  practice through a curriculum that includes
  ...most of the following considerations
  economic environmental sustainability
  manufacturability ethical health and safety
  social and political

6
Earth Systems Engineering Department of Civil,
Environmental, and Architectural Engineering at
the University of Colorado at Boulder
7
NATURAL SYSTEMS
NON-NATURAL SYSTEMS
VS.
non-Cartesian

• Cartesian
• Somewhat predictable
• Designed as closed systems

non-linear
diverse
open
coupled
dissipative
chaotic
Ref Prof. Bernard Amadei, Univ. of Colorado,
Earth Systems Engineering
8
PARADIGM SHIFT IN ENGINEERING PRACTICE

• From control of nature to participation with
  nature
• Multi-disciplinary focus interaction between
  technical and non-technical disciplines
• Understand how engineered structures adapt and
  adjust to natural systems
• Understand the role of appropriate technologies

Ref Prof. Bernard Amadei, Univ. of Colorado,
Earth Systems Engineering
9
TOPICS IN EARTH SYSTEMS ENGINEERING
SUSTAINABILITY
NATURAL HAZARDS
MEGACITIES
GREEN CONSTRUCTION
INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY
RENEWABLE RESOURCES
AGRICULTURE
RESTORATION
ENERGY AND GLOBAL CHANGES
10
Some Guiding Principles for Professional Education

• At least 1 course in sustainable development
• Methods to increase participatory approaches,
  public involvement
• Disseminate tools for sustainable engineering
  practice

11
Communication

• Good communication is a prerequisite for the
  successful implementation of sustainable
  solutions
• Communication needs to be two-way
• To the full set of stakeholders
• Demonstrate the benefits to stakeholders
• Not just the moral imperative

12
Some Guiding Principles for Communication

• Transparency
• Knowledge management
• Collect, disseminate case studies, best practices
• Benchmark other companies, other industries
• Technology transfer to World 2, World 3 countries