Introduction Limits and Promises of Sustainability

1
IntroductionLimits and Promisesof Sustainability

• Lecture 1
• BCN6585

2
AGENDA

• Course Overview Requirements
• Promises Limits of Sustainability
• National Programs

3
Course Overview

• Meet 1x per week, 1 course modules per week
• Textbooks
• Reshaping the Built Environment, C. Kibert, ed.
  Washington, DC, Island Press, 1999
• Construction Ecology Nature as the Basis for
  Green Building, C. Kibert, J. Sendzimir, and G.B.
  Guy, Eds., London Spon Press, 2002
• Course Resources on CD
• Environmental Building News latest versions
  (Bookstore)
• BCN6585 Course CD
• All lectures, several books, key papers
• Not all documents are in one format
• Readings from syllabus and assigned in class for
  following class
• Field Trips

4

• Sustainability
• Sustainable Development
• Substitutability
• Deep Ecology
• Factor 4 and Factor 10
• Carrying Capacity
• Ecological Footprint
• Ecological Rucksack
• Adaptive Management
• Ecological Economics
• Environmental Ethics
• Clean Production
• Industrial and Construction Ecology
• Industrial Metabolism
• Eco-efficiency
• MIPS

Some New Vocabulary
5

• LCA
• LCC
• Ecological Design
• Sustainable Construction
• Green Construction
• Green Building Materials
• TND
• NU
• USGBC
• LEED
• Emergy, Exergy, Entropy, Enthalpy
• Rainwater Harvesting
• Greywater, Reclaimed Water, Black water

6

• Course requirements
• Attend class (lose ½ letter grade otherwise)
• Three requirements
• One 2000 word paper 100 points
• One 5000 word paper 200 points
• One course project 100 points
• Presentation of course project 50 points
• Total 450 points quizz points
• Quiz 50 points each
• Quizzes Based on readings, could be one per
  session

7
The Theme

• Natural capital and resources are being rapidly
  destroyed and depleted
• Three lessons
• Factors that increase by a fixed /year have
  fixed doubling times
• The earth is essentially a closed system
• Exponentially increasing mass of humanity can
  cause planetary-scale disruptions
• The human race cannot sustain its growth and
  behavior
• Result Changed patterns or destruction

8
Main Points

• Our current resource consumption and destruction
  of natural systems is unsustainable.
• Humankind can live sustainably if and only if it
  controls its population, lives within natures
  resources, and extensively protects natural
  systems.
• There is no inherent conflict between protecting
  the environment and a strong human economy
  because the environment is the support system for
  all human activity. Anthony Cortese, Earth Day
  1995

9
(No Transcript)
10
Services Provided by Natural Systems

• Air quality enhancement
• Soils for food, wood, paper production
• Ambient temperature enhancement
• Dampening flood peaks
• Filtering/recharging groundwater
• Erosion control
• Renewable energy
• Pollination
• Evaportranspiration

• Food and water for wildlife
• Pest control
• Recreation and tourism
• Grazing for domesticated animals
• Noise barriers and separation
• Natural fires
• Carbon, energy, water storage
• Hazard reduction

11
Human Impacts on Natural Systems

• Depletion
• Soil, non-renewable resources
• Destruction
• Biodiversity, renewable resources, waste
  assimilative capacity, ozone layer
• Appropriation
• Net Primary Production (NPP), fresh water
• Modification
• Agriculture, extractive industries, built
  environment
• Pollution and Toxification
• Water, air, land

12
Population Growth Rate
13
Critical Environmental Problems

• Loss of Biodiversity
• Polluted Air and Water
• Destruction of Productive Ecosystems
• Loss of Productive Soil
• Greenhouse Warming
• Ozone Depletion

Summary Loss of Critical Natural Capital
14
Worth of Ecosystem

• Costanza et al 1997, The value of the worlds
  ecosytem goods and services, Nature,
  387253-260.
• Pollination, Raw Materials Production, Water
  Supply, Waste Recycling Pollution Control,
  Recreation Education, Climate and Atmosphere
  Regulation, Soil Formation and Erosion Control,
  Control of Pests Diseases
• Value of services US16 to US54 trillion
• World GNP US18 trillion
• Ecosystem-to-GNP ratio 1.8

15
Exhaustion of Natural Resources

• Rainforest loss 1 acre per second
• Annual temperate forest loss 4 million hectares
  (Siberia), 1 million hectares (Canada)
• Forests 40 (1,000 years ago) 30 (1900) 20
  (today)
• Loss of 20 of all species by 2030
• Grain production 465 MT (1987) 229 MT (1996)
• Fisheries 22 MT (1950) 100 MT (1987) 90 MT
  (1995)
• Movement of more material than natural forces
• Loss of 24 billion tons of topsoil annually

16
Correlation CO2 and Temperature
17
CO2 Concentration vs. Time
18
Contributions to Global Warming
Gas Percent Contribution Carbon
Dioxide 50 Methane 19 CFCs 17 Tropos
pheric Ozone 8 Nitrous Oxide 4
19
Oil Crisis 1974
20
Resource Consumption Patterns
21
Hubberts Pimple - Oil Consumption
22
Consumption Worldwide
23
Carrying Capacity Ecological Footprint

• Carrying Capacity
• ...the maximum population that can be sustained
  in a habitat without the degradation of the
  life-support system.
• sustained, instantaneous, maximum, optimum,
  human, physical, hydrologic, global, biophysical,
  real, and natural carrying capacity, carrying
  capacity per resource, KL
• UN forecast of between 7.7 and 12 billion people
  in the year 2050. In 1995 the worlds population
  was 5.7 billion with an annual growth rate of
  1.6, creating a doubling time of 43 years. Wide
  variety of estimates as to how many people the
  world can support.

24
Ecological Footprint

• Ecological Footprint (EF) is the quantity of land
  needed to support a person, population, activity,
  or and economy.
• Londons impacts on ecosystems when analysis
  indicates that its EF is 120 times its physical
  footprint
• The Dutch have an EF 15 times greater than their
  actual land area
• The available land per person to produce the
  required goods and services and assimilate their
  waste is about 1.5 hectares. Americans are using
  3x their Earth Share.

25
(No Transcript)
26
(No Transcript)
27
Availability of Common Metals
28
Energy Requirements Virgin vs. Recycled
29
But...

• Recycling is subject to physics and
  thermodynamics
• Each cycle produce less materials and often at
  lower quality
• Materials tend to disperse until concentration is
  at the background in nature
• Downcycling is more prevalent than recycling

30
(No Transcript)
31
Materials Efficiency

• MIPS Materials Intensity per Service Unit
  (Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek)
• Ecological Rucksack Micrograms v. Megatons
• 10 grams gold 350 tons of earth
• MIPS1350,000
• 1 CD 3,000 pages
• Data Transmission via fiberoptics

32
(No Transcript)
33
Some Remedies

• Precycling Design for the Environment (DFE)
• For the built environment
• Design for deconstruction
• Design products for disassembly
• Use recyclable materials
• Shift the economics in favor of cyclic systems
• Increase costs of disposal
• Increase taxes for pollution
• Increase penalties for damage to natural systems
• A question of national will and policy

34
Resource Consumption
1. Live better 2. Pollute and deplete less 3.
Make money 4. Harness markets enlist
business 5. Multiply the use of scarce capital 6.
Increase security 7. Be equitable have more
employment
35
GM Ultralite Hypercar
36
Ford Synergy 2010
37
Daimler-Benz Fuel Cell Car
38
PV Roof
39
Wind Energy
40
Low Head Hydro
41
What is Sustainable Development?

• Sustainable development is development that meets
  the needs of the present without compromising the
  ability of future generations to meet their own
  needs World Commission on Environment and
  Development, 1987 Our Common Future (Brundtland
  Report)
• SD calls for the careful balancing of three
  systems natural, social, and economic. The
  primary focus is on protecting natural systems,
  the source of life and its sustenance.

42
The Systems
43
True Character
N
S
E
44
Points of Clarification

• Sustainability is about the three systems and
  their relationship
• Greening is about minimizing or eliminating the
  envrionmental impacts of activities
• Greening
• Green Building, Green Architecture
• Design for the Environment (DFE)
• Green Manufacturing
• Green Agriculture

45
General Sustainability Principles

• Minimize resource consumption, use of
  non-renewables, pollution, toxics, waste
• Maximize efficiency, reuse, recycling,
  renewable resource use,
• Foster conservation, understanding of natural
  systems functions, economic justice, stewardship

46
Industry Response Sustainable Construction

• Construction that meets the needs of the present
  without compromising the ability of future
  generations to meet their own needs derived from
  the definition of sustainable development, 1987
• The creation and maintenance of a healthy built
  environment based on resource efficient and
  ecological principles defined in the 1st
  Conference on Sustainable Construction, 1994
• has (at least) the following dimensions
  economic, social ecological

47
The Road Map
The Problem
The Result
Environmental degradation, lesser quality of life
Better environment, higher quality of life
The Solution
The Outcome
Sustainable Development
Sustainable cities and buildings
Industry Response
The Process
Principles Resources Phases
Sustainable Construction
48
The Process

49
Principles of Sustainable Construction

• 1. Minimize resource consumption (Conserve)
• 2. Maximize resource reuse (Reuse)
• 3. Use renewable or recyclable resources
  (Renew/Recycle)
• 4. Protect the natural environment (Protect
  nature)
• 5. Create a healthy, non-toxic human environment
  
• (Non-Toxics)
• 6. Apply Life Cycle Cost Analysis (Economics)
• 7. Pursue Quality in creating the built
  environment (Quality)

50
Greening Movement in Construction

• ASTM is producing Green Building Standards
• The U.S. Green Building Council is the major US
  force in greening the built environment
• New Urbanism and Sustainable Architecture are
  rapidly increasing in influence
• Green Materials more prevalent
• Energy efficiency increasing
• Healthy interior environments are critical
• LEED U.S. Green Building Rating System

51
(No Transcript)
52
Thomas Fisher, Architectural Design,
Charlottesville, VA
53
(No Transcript)
54
(No Transcript)
55
US Green Home Builder Programs
56
(No Transcript)
57
(No Transcript)
58
(No Transcript)
59
(No Transcript)
60
(No Transcript)
61
(No Transcript)
62
(No Transcript)
63
Todays Built Environment

• U.S. Buildings
• 30 of energy 40 of materials
• Lighting
• 20 of U.S. electrical energy
• Appliances
• 30-50 of building electrical energy
• Sick Building Syndrome
• 40 of all illnesses
• Construction Waste
• 6 lbs/sq/ft.

64
Eco-Buildings (1)

• Energy
• Passive Design energy, lighting, envelope (skin,
  windows, door)
• Renewable energy solar HW, PV
• High efficiency lighting, HVAC, transformers,
  appliances
• Water
• Low flow fixtures, greywater, rainwater
  harvesting, reclaimed water
• Indoor Environmental Quality
• Zero emission finishes, properly sized HVAC,
  attention to details (moisture control)

65
Eco-Buildings (2)

• Materials
• Zero emissions
• Deconstructable, DFE
• Recyclable, Recycled Content, Reused
• Landscaping
• Native and adapted species, low water use
• Construction Process
• Low waste, protection of natural environment
• Contracting Process
• Based on performance

66
Rock Mountain Institute Building
67
Darmstadt Passivhaus
68
Montefort University
69
ING Bank, Amsterdam
70
(No Transcript)
71
Raw Materials for an Earthship
72
Earthship under Construction
73
Shopping Center
74
Strip Mall
75
Green Materials
Hebel Block ACC
Truss Joist McMillan Engineered Lumber
76
Renovation Waste
77
Industrial Ecology

• Industry mimics nature
• Waste from one organism is food for another
• Everything is connected
• Cyclic processes
• Living off natures interest
• Shift in thinking
• Past Remediation
• Present Treatment, storage, and disposal
• Future Industrial metabolism
• The industrial ecosystem

78
Conventional Waste Managment in Fiji
Brewery waste dumped into oceans to destroy coral
reefs
Brewery
Muck dumped on fields
Waste piles up
Methane vented
Muck cleaned out
79
Industrial Ecology in Fiji
Brewery waste fertilizes mushrooms
Brewery
Mushroom residue feeds chickens
Chicken waste is composted
Solids become fish food
Nutrients used in gardens
80
Industrial Ecosystem Kalundborg
Heat
Water
Gas
Heat
Steam
Water
Water
Gypsum
Steam
Water
Heat
Sludge
Fly Ash
81
Concluding Thoughts

• Sustainability is difficult to achieve but
  ultimately a necessity.
• Present trends make sustainability an
  impossibility
• Huge increases in resource efficiency are
  required.
• Construction industry must participate for
  sustainability to succeed.
• The movement to Sustainable Construction is
  underway.