Prof. E. O. E. Pereira Memorial Lecture

Sustainable Civil Engineering: Construction without Destruction

Eng. Prof. Niranjanie Ratnayake

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SUSTAINABLE CIVIL ENGINEERING

CONSTRUCTION WITHOUT DESTRUCTION9/14/2009 2

“Sustainable Development is Development that meets the needs of the present without

compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

- Bruntland Report (1987)

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The Royal Charter awarded to the Institution of Civil Engineers, London defined Civil Engineering as “the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and convenience of man,…”

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• Safety• Comfort• Serviceability• Economy.

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• Safety• Comfort• Serviceability• Economy• Sustainability

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Resources and Energy

• Renewable Resources• Perpetual Resources

• Non-renewable Resources

Renewable Energy

Non – renewable Energy

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Milestones in Sustainable Development

• 1972 - The Stockholm Agreement • 1987 - Bruntland Commission Report ‘Our

Common Future’ • 1992 - The Earth Summit• 1997 - Kyoto protocol • 2002 - Johannesburg World Summit - ’Rio + 10'• 2007 - UN Climate Change Conference, Bali • 2009 - UN Climate Change Conference from 7th to

18th December in Copenhagen9/14/2009 8

Regulatory Tools for Environmental Protection

• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA /IEE)– Assessment, Mitigation, Monitoring

• Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)– Resource Conservation, Protection of

Environmentally Sensitive Areas, Synergies and Cumulative Effects of Development

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Sustainable Development

Ref: Engineering for Sustainable Development: Guiding Principles, The Royal Academy of Engineering, 2005

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Sustainable Development

Ref: Engineering for Sustainable Development: Guiding Principles, The Royal Academy of Engineering, 2005

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Sustainable Development

Ref: Engineering for Sustainable Development: Guiding Principles, The Royal Academy of Engineering, 2005

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Sustainable Development

Ref: Engineering for Sustainable Development: Guiding Principles, The Royal Academy of Engineering, 2005

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The challenge faced by Civil Engineers in Sustainable Development is to make their contribution to society to:

• Reduce the adverse environmental and social aspects of developments

• Improve their environmental performance • Improve their contribution to a high quality of life• Help society to move towards a more sustainable

lifestyle, and• Ensure that products, services and infrastructure

meeting these criteria are competitive in the market place, and ideally the most competitive

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ECOLOGICAL FOOT PRINT, CARBON FOOT PRINT, GREEN BUILDINGS AND LEED CERTIFICATION

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Ecological Foot Print

• Is a measure of human demand on the earth’s ecosystems– To regenerate the resources consumed and– To absorb waste products

• Usually expressed in ‘number of planet earths’

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Carbon Footprint

• Is the total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly and indirectly support human activities

• usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).

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Green Building

• A green building is an outcome of a design philosophy which focuses on increasing the efficiency of resource use — energy, water and materials, while reducing building impacts on human health and the environment during the building's lifecycle, through better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal.

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LEED Certification

• LEED - shortened term for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

• A Green Building Rating System• Developed by the US Green Building Council

(USGBC)

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SOME EXAMPLES OF SUSTAINABLE CIVIL ENGINEERING

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The Manchester Civil Justice CentreOfficially opened by the Queen in March 2008, the north-west England headquarters for the Department of Constitutional Affairs fulfils its demanding brief to provide a sustainable building of civic generosity and European significance.

Sustainability Features: • natural ventilation• ‘environmental veil’ on the east façade to control solar gain and maximize natural daylight,

• groundwater cooling

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Vulcan House, Sheffield – the new base of the Home Office

A building that's well insulated, protected from solar gain and airtight, thus creating an internal environment that's stable and passive and needs reducing the amount of cooling required.

Sustainable design elements:• Heat reclaim and

circulation systems• HFC free cooling and

heating plant• Audited subcontractors

supplying only approved materials

• Prefabrication of plant and minimal packaging (which is then reused or recycled)

• Grey and rain water recycling for toilets

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Cathodic Protection on MotorwaysRethinking how to install cathodic protection on the M4 motorway viaduct has reduced traffic disruption and environmental impacts, and slashed costs.

Instead of drilling multiple holes, a single hole was cored from end to end of the beam, right through its centre, thus completely avoiding working beneath it.

Key sustainability facts• Energy demand cut by 60%

• Cost cut by 20%• Time cut by 90%• No major traffic disruption

• Reduced noise pollution• Reduced work at height

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Chineham Energy Recovery Facility, Hampshire

Chineham Energy Recovery Facility is exceptional because engineers altered a standard building format to fit the small

1.4 hectare site of a former Basingstoke incinerator.The facility operating on waste, produces up to 8MW of power of which 1.25MW is used to operate the plant. The remaining 6.75MW is sufficient to supply 10,000 homes with electricity each year. The building is partly clad in light-reactive coated aluminium that changes colour depending on light levels and weather to appear grey, blue or purple. Semi-opaque polycarbonate cladding allows natural light into the building and reduces electricity use. The ‘tipping hall’ has a ‘living roof’ covered with plants that change colour seasonally and require no maintenance9/14/2009 24

Kingsmead Primary School, CheshireSustainability Features• The school’s location maximizes natural daylight and

ventilation• Exploits passive solar energy • Wood and glued laminated timber-frame construction reduced

the amount of concrete, plaster, metal and PVC required• Low-energy high-efficiency lamps• Daylight sensor controls reduce energy for lighting• Use of recycled and recyclable materials• Rainwater used for toilet flushing• Increased insulation and thermal mass to reduce the energy

needed for heating.• Heating provided by a gas boiler and by burning biomass• Solar thermal power is used to assist water heating.9/14/2009 25

Masdar Initiative, Abu Dhabi, UAE world’s first carbon-neutral, zero waste City

Power Generation Photovotaic Technology Solar thermal

evacuated tube collectors

Concentrated Solar Power

Waste to Energy Geothermal EnergyWater Conservation• Grey water recycling

Transport Designed as a ‘Walkable’

City Personal Rapid Transit

(PRT) – A fleet of 3000 automated electric taxis,

Freight Rapid Transit Light Rail System Multilevel, barrier-free

transport Metro and high speed

rail services 9/14/2009 26

Clothing Factory in Sri Lanka, MAS Fabric Park – ‘Thurulie’, Thulhiriya

Sustainable Design and Construction Features

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Open space left undisturbed or improved with erosion control and new planting

Compact, 2 Storey Building

Site Design

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Lake and wood left as protected areas

Most large trees on the site preserved9/14/2009 29

One building on stilts for natural drainage

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Cement stabilized earth paving

Paving covers only about 10% of site9/14/2009 31

Drip irrigation, and selection of endemic and adapted species9/14/2009 32

Draining all runoff to the retention pond9/14/2009 33

2 storey building to reduce impact on land

East –West Orientation with glass panels to North- South and solid walls to East –west

The Building

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Production floors column free - for flexibility

overhead electrical receptacles and lighting fixtures

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Design for passive cooling

Orientation and massing of building volumes

Green Roof Cool Roof

Controlled fenestration and ventilation

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Design for Lean Production

Efficient Factory Layout Planning

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Employee Wellbeing

Comfort at work - Bare Feet and T-Shirt

Canteen with a beautiful view

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External Walls -Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks

Roofing – Zinc - Aluminium

Construction Materials

Metal Framed Windows

Concrete and Metal Frame with high recycled material content

Bamboo window blinds

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Energy Efficiency

Task Lighting

Vapour Cooling System

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Clean Energy

Photovoltaic Cells on Cool Roof

Solar Water Heater on Green Roof

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The Challenge of Sustainable Civil Engineering

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