Central States Water Environment Association 85th Annual Meeting - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Central States Water Environment Association

85th Annual Meeting

Sustainable Infrastructure Design

May 15, 2012

Presented By Steve Gress – Donohue & Associates, Inc.

Presentation Outline

• What is Sustainable Design
• Why Sustainability is a Big Deal
• Rating Systems

– LEED – ISI Envision™

• Indiana SRF Green Project Reserve

(GPR) Incentive

• Client Sustainable Design Initiatives

What is Sustainable Design?

• In Theory: “…meets the needs of the

present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

(Brundtland Commission Report, 1987)

• In Practice:

– Decision-making criteria (triple bottom line)

• Social
• Environmental
• Economic

– Other criteria

• Functionality
• Risk

Environmental Stewardship

Sustainable Bearable Equitable Viable

ASCE Definitions

• Sustainable Development: Process of applying

natural, human and economic resources to enhance the safety, welfare and quality of life for all

• f society while maintaining the availability of the

remaining natural resources.

• Sustainability: Set of environmental, economic

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 natural resources and ecosystems.

The “Yellow Brick Road” Syndrome

• Applying solutions without

understanding the scope and extent of problems

• Creating the illusion that

achieving conditions of sustainability is just a matter of adding “green” features onto projects

What Sustainability is Not…

Why Sustainability is a Big Deal

• Impacts all engineers and engineering firms

–

Creates new markets

–

Changes client needs in existing markets

–

Changes engineering design paradigm

–

Transforms operations and infrastructure

–

Creates new engineering challenges

• Not just about helping organizations become “green”
• It is about helping organizations address issues and

consequences of non-sustainability

• It is about helping organizations understand and take

advantage of this fast-changing technical and business environment

• It is about strategy

Potential to Deliver Project Sustainability

• Sustainability is about

deliberately designing our preferred future with assets that

–

Meet immediate needs, and are ‘fit for the future’

–

Make sense in the wider infrastructure puzzle

–

Are affordable, reliable and safe through their whole

• perating life

–

Have an efficient resource footprint

Concept Feasibility Detailed Design Procurement Construction Operations Decommissioning

Potential to deliver sustainability What is the right project? Doing the project right Cost of impact mitigation

Takeaway Suggestions

• Consider what new markets or business
• pportunities are emerging

– More of our clients require that we utilize

sustainable design practices

• Identify new knowledge, skills or resources

we need to explore in order to pursue sustainable opportunities

– LEED accreditation – ISI membership

• Identify organizational adaptations to meet

changing needs

Sustainable Rating Systems

• Over 894 rating systems in the world
• Lead rating system in U.S. for buildings is

Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED)

– 4 levels of project certification – 5 credit categories – Two progressive levels of accreditation

§ Green Associate § Accredited Professional (AP) – 5 paths

LEED Point Distribution

• Five credit categories & weighting

– Energy and Atmosphere (27%) – Indoor Environmental Quality (23%) – Sustainable Sites (22%) – Materials & Resources (20%) – Water Efficiency (8%)

• Not suitable for covering all aspects of

infrastructure

• LEED is used to increase building value

Challenges for Civil Infrastructure

• Build/renovate buildings and infrastructure to

achieve conditions of sustainability

• Address priority issues, urgencies

–

Reduce use of energy, water and

• ther critical materials

–

Increase use of renewable materials and energy

–

Restore productivity of natural systems

–

Improve productivity in built environment

–

Maintain and build financial, social and human capital

–

Minimize adverse impacts

• And stay in business!

–

Deliver cost-effective projects while maintaining quality

Filling the Gap in Sustainability Rating Systems

• Current rating systems are sector specific

– LEED generally covers habitable buildings – Others focused on different single sectors such as

roads, airports, hydropower, etc.

• No infrastructure-wide rating system for

engineering and public works projects

• Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI)

formed in early 2011

– Integrates all infrastructure elements

Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI)

• Developed by

– ASCE – ACEC – APWA

• ISI Envision™ rating

system to fill gap in infrastructure rating systems

• Free for municipalities

Envision™ Sustainable Infrastructure Rating Categories

• 80 objectives organized into 10 sections

1.

Project pathway

2.

Project strategy and management

3.

Communities: long and short term effects

4.

Land use and restoration

5.

Landscapes

• 6.

Ecology & biodiversity

7.

Water resources & environment

8.

Energy & carbon

9.

Resource management including waste

10.

Access & mobility

• Web-based tool being released in 4 stages

– Stage 1: Exploration and testing – Stage 2: Assessment and recognition – Stage 3: Focused innovation (2012) – Stage 4: Decision support tools (2012)

Envision™ Key Features

1.

Expands breadth of project contribution to sustainability

2.

Avoids infrastructure traps and vulnerabilities

3.

Expands opportunities and targets for performance improvement in 3 dimensions

4.

Makes “restorative” an explicit level of performance achievement (5 performance degrees)

5.

Rewards “focused innovation”

6.

Encourages shift to new engineering design paradigm

7.

Advances sustainability knowledge and education

• 1. Expands the Breadth of Project

Contribution to Sustainability

• Breaks project sustainability contribution into

two parts

– Performance contribution (doing the project right)

• Sought all reasonable opportunities to improve

sustainable performance

• Raised the bar in one or more dimensions of

sustainable performance

• Achieved what was reasonable

– Pathway contribution (doing the right project)

• Considers how project aligns with overall community

goals

• Enhances quality of life

• 2. Avoids Infrastructure Traps and

Vulnerabilities

• Resources traps

– Increasing community dependence on resources

that could become very scarce and expensive

• Configuration traps

– Creating configurations highly vulnerable to

extreme weather events, natural disasters, economic conditions and/or actions by others

• Standards traps

– Using design standards and methodologies that

are not in alignment with new conditions or concerns

• 3. Expands Opportunities and Targets

for Performance Improvement

Expansion in Three Dimensions

• Project life cycle

–

More durability and flexibility

–

End of life disassembly, up-cycling

• Stakeholder collaboration

–

Project team collaboration

–

Stakeholder issues and concerns

–

By-product synergy

–

Regulatory relief

• Range of sustainable performance

–

Beyond sustainable equilibrium

–

Restoration of natural systems

Project lifecycle

D e c

• m

m i s s i

• n

/ R e c y c l e / D i s p

• s

a l Design Construction Operation & Maintenance Reuse / Reconfigure Planning

Range of Sustainable Performance

Restorative C

• n

s e r v i n g Conventional Imp rove d

Stakeholder Collaboration

Project team Owner

Affected stakeholders Regulatory institutions Partner organizations

Areas of control Areas of impact

Performance Improvements Three Dimensions

S u p e r i

• r

Enhanced

Five Degrees of Sustainable Performance

• 5. Recognizes and Rewards

“Focused Innovation” (Stage 3)

• Recognize and reward sustainable performance

achievements in priority areas

–

National or regional importance, e.g., energy conservation, water savings, use of recycled materials

• Requirements

–

Do reasonably well in all areas

–

Do exceptionally well in priority areas

• Benefits

–

Incentives for making progress in key areas while not diminishing overall progress

–

May attract more participants than Stage 2

• Special awards for truly outstanding “focused

innovation” performance

• 6. Encourages Shift to New

Engineering Design Paradigm

• Recognition of fundamental changes in
• perating environment

– Resource shortages such as energy and water – Changes in natural systems carrying capacity

such as climate equilibrium

– Changes in social attitudes

• Development of materials, technologies and

techniques

• Changes approach to engineering design

Development of Materials Technologies and Techniques

• Better materials, renewable materials

– Energy and resource efficient equipment – New and better performing materials – Ability to use recycled materials

• Better technologies and techniques

– Integrated project design – Life-cycle assessment – Low impact development (LID) – Building information modeling (BIM) – Improved sensors, simulation models

Changes Approach to Engineering Design

• Reassess design assumptions: averages,

variances, plausible extremes

– Changes in traditional design variables – Emergence of new variables – New interactions among variables

• Reassess design information collection:

scope, resolution, frequency, accuracy

• Ask “What if…”
• Employ new materials, technologies
• Consider and cope with possible unknowns

• 7. Advances Sustainability

Knowledge and Education

• Captures, retains and disseminates knowledge

– Process and performance objectives designed to

guide sustainable project delivery

– More than specifications, e.g., “% waste sent to

landfill”

• Creates a new type of sustainability

engineer/practitioner

– Knowledge of what it takes to design a project that

truly contributes to sustainability

– Ability to work in the new engineering design

paradigm

Envision™ Rating System Status

• Rating system design and guidance development

began in 2010

• Final draft of rating system and guidance completed in

April 2011

• Envision™ 1.0 released for public comment in July

2011

• Version 2.0 released in April 2012

Indiana SRF Green Project Reserve (GPR) Sustainability Incentive

• SRF loan incentive program for “green”

project or components

– Sustainable green infrastructure – Water efficiency – Energy efficiency – Environmentally innovative

• Projects or components are categorical

eligible or need to be supported by a business case

• Incentive can be improved ranking or SRF

loan interest rate reduction up to 0.5 %

Client Sustainable Design Initiatives

• Goshen, IN

– Recycling and water reuse

• Backwash water decanted & recycled for Water SCADA
• Gray water used to flush CS Detention Tanks

– Energy efficient retrofits, upgrades, or new pump

systems (use of VFDs on all projects)

– Projected 20% energy consumption reduction for

WWTP

– Automated and remote control systems – Recycled existing building for CS Detention Facility – Digester gas capture and storage for reuse – Cleanup and reuse of brown field site

Client Sustainable Design Initiatives (Cont.)

• Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater

Chicago (MWRDGC)

–

Premium efficiency electric motors

–

Life-cycle project analysis

–

VFD motor speed control

–

Digester gas utilization

–

Distributed control system

–

Permeable pavement side-by-side test

–

Low energy lighting

–

Native prairie landscaping

–

Sustainable Facilities Guidelines

• Patterned after LEED Version 2.2
• Applied at industrial type buildings where LEED is not applicable

MWRDGC Triple Bottom Line Evaluation Criteria & Weightings

• Economic Criteria Weight = 50%

– Total NPV with 60-year life cycle length

• Environmental Criteria Weight = 30%

– GHCs (8%) – Flexibility (10%) – Process reliability (10%) – Environmental effects (2%)

• Social Criteria Weight = 20%

– Impact on staff (10%) – Impact on neighbors (10%)

Client Sustainable Design Initiatives (Cont.)

• Oconomowoc WWTF

– Three rain gardens designed

• Treat majority of the new impervious area runoff and

some existing impervious area runoff

• Designed to remove over 80% of generated TSS
• Two of rain gardens have no runoff for 100-year event
• Variety of plant species selected for blooms throughout

growing season

• Drainage swale to route runoff to rain gardens

– New Building

• Lighting is LED and fluorescent
• Skylights provided to reduce lighting
• Heated with hot water from anaerobic digester boiler

Client Sustainable Design Initiatives (Cont.)

• Milwaukee MSD

– Has Developed a 2035 Vision Statement &

Strategic Objectives

• Guiding Principles

–

Sustainable bottom line

–

Water Quality Leadership and Collaboration

• Integrated Watershed Management Objective

–

Strive toward zero basement backups

–

To extent feasible, zero SSOs and zero CSOs

–

Use green infrastructure to capture the first ½” of rainfall

• Climate Change Mitigation/Adaptation Objective

–

Meet 80% of energy needs with internal, renewable sources

–

30% sequestration of carbon footprint

–

Reduce carbon footprint by 90% from 2005 baseline

Client Sustainable Design Initiatives (Cont.)

• Fort Wayne, IN

– Developed “Catching Rain Fort Wayne”:

A Green Infrastructure Initiative (rain garden how-to manual for homeowners)

– Recent RFQ response requirements

• Provide summary of potential project opportunities for

incorporating or utilizing green/sustainable solutions in projects

• Present qualifications and experience in performing

sustainable infrastructure design (10% of evaluation)

– Carbon footprint analysis performed for water

treatment plant disinfection system selection

Questions

?

Steve Gress – (317) 500-4221 sgress@donohue-associates.com