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Topics
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What is Sustainability?
What is Green Infrastructure?
What is Resilient Infrastructure?
Sustainable Infrastructure Is Not LEED !
What are Owners/ Agencies Looking for?
Why Does it Matter? What Can I Do To Respond?
Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure
What Does This Mean for Designs? For Me?
 Standards and Best Management Practices
 Marketing, professional development, project delivery
 Professional certification
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What is Sustainability?
 Sustainability is a 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, social and economic resources.
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Sustainability – Reliability, resilience, affordable,
supportable, balanced, efficient, effective, strategic focus….
COMMUNITY
ECONOMICS
ENVIRONMENT
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What is Sustainable Civil Infrastructure?
 Sustainable civil infrastructure provides environmental,
economic and societal well-being, now and for the future
(ASCE)
 Policies, approaches and investments that consistently
provide effective systems over the long term with adequate
operations,maintenance and replacement (USEPA)
What is Green Infrastructure?
 An array of products, technologies and practices that use
natural systems (or engineered systems that mimic natural
processes) to enhance overall environmental quality and
provide utility services (USEPA)
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What is Resilient Infrastructure?
Before
During
After
Prevent,
Protect,
Mitigate
Respond
Recover,
Mitigate
CAPABILITIES
Preparedness
Resist
Absorb
Recover or
Adapt
OUTCOME
Resilience
Reduce Time
to Recovery
PRIORITIZATION
Risk Reduction
Reduce Failure
Probability
Reduce Consequences from Failure
Event Phases
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Repairing, Rebuilding, Expanding
 ASCE Infrastructure Report Card, 2009
 High U.S. unemployment rate and
focus on creating jobs, economic
competitiveness
 Sustainability principles should
increase:
 value proposition,
 effective project delivery,
 political and stakeholder
acceptance,
 resilience and effectiveness
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Infrastructure Condition
 Leaking pipes lose an
estimated 7 billion gallons
of clean drinking water a
day
 An estimated 10 billion
gallons of untreated
wastewater are discharged
each year from aging
systems
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Importance of Our Nation’s
Infrastructure Systems
 All contribute directly and
substantially to our nation’s
productivity and quality of life
 How efficiently and effectively
these systems function is directly
related to…
“Clean drinking
water rated as #1
advancement in
the last
millennium.”
 Design
 Maintenance
 improvements
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Infrastructure Challenges
“Either the country can risk further productivity
decline, transportation congestion and potential
catastrophes from dilapidated systems or it can develop
new networks . . . to accommodate the expected 100
million in population growth over the next generation.”
- Ernst and Young, Infrastructure 2009: A Pivot Point
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Sustainable Development
Problems –
 We’re using up natural
resources and ecological
carrying capacity faster
than it can be replaced,
replenished or restored
 We’re not replacing or
fixing the infrastructure in
a way that conserves or
restores natural resources
and systems
 We’re working with
infrastructure that was
built using old designs and
approaches
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“You cannot solve a problem with the same sort of
thinking that created the problem”
- Albert Einstein
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Which Future Will We Choose?
 Repairing our infrastructure
the same old way
OR
 Building a sustainable
infrastructure for the future
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Sustainability in Buildings
 LEED rating system has
transformed the building
industry
 Application across the
U.S.
 Created a new value
proposition for buildings
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What About Infrastructure?
 No overall sustainable infrastructure rating system
 Many rating systems at the sector-specific level
 Infrastructure presents a different challenge compared to
buildings:
 Building design and construction controlled by a single
organization
 Infrastructure – Public nature of civil and public works
projects affect/ benefit macro ecosystems, communities and
regions;
 Need to consider the description of public support and the
more efficient use of materials, resources, interference or
impact on public expectations – sustainability needs to pay
for itself!
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Guidelines and Criteria for Assessing
Sustainability
 Prompts sustainable thinking
 Stimulates innovation at all project stages
 Identifies strengths and weaknesses
 Assists risk management
 Allows continual monitoring of performance
 Demonstrates contribution to sustainable development
 Encourages best management practice
 Provides transparency of approach
 Flexibility for selected application
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Delivering Sustainability Infrastructure
 The Traditional Triple Bottom Line – “Outcome Principles”
– social, economic and environmental.
 Acknowledges that current state can be insufficient and that
there are opportunities to improve performance of our activities;
 How Do We Achieve TBL - “Process Principles” – ethical,
stakeholder and governance.
 Describes the approach to be adopted in behavior and decision
making and sustainable outcomes are possible when issues are
considered broadly and collaboratively.
 In these six Principles, there are 3 levels of performance.
 Preventing harm
 Preserving current value
 Creation of positive or restorative value
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Triple Bottom Line Outcome Based Performance
Prevent
Sustain
Enhance
Social
Protect health
and safety
Respect values
through
collaboration and
cooperation
Economic
Preserve
capacity to
provide services
to meet current
and future
needs
Find efficiencies that Enhance economic
reduce internal and
value to customers,
external costs
citizens while
managing life cycle
financial viability
Environmental Prevent harm to Conserve the value
the
environment
of the environment
Enhance community
capacity
Enhance the
resilience of the
natural and human
environment
After Water Corporation Business Principles
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Triple Bottom Line Process Based Performance
Prevent
Sustain
Enhance
Ethics
Meet legal and
regulatory
requirements
Be accountable for
business and
responsible for
actions
Be trustworthy and
transparent in
communications
and conduct
Governance
Maintain best
practice business
systems, policies
and procedures
Make decisions with
broad information
and risk
management
considerations
Solicit and
incorporate
stakeholder views
through planning
and decision making
Responsibly educate
community and
others on needs,
direction and
alternatives
Strategically plan
and position for long
term actions,
investments and
pathways
Stakeholders Reliably deliver
core services
After Water Corporation Business Principles
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Sustainability and Rating Systems?
 Sustainability is not achieved by a uniform model or single
approach because of the varying contexts, environments,
community/ stakeholder/ physical needs;
 Technology and performance efficiency are enablers to
achieve desired outcomes but the public interest is met
through behaviors and informed decisions;
 A rating system :
 Creates a framework of objective measures;
 Provides guidance that can influence performance goals and
approaches;
 Promotes project resilience, balance and strategic focus.
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Goals for the Rating System
 Provide national standard for sustainable infrastructure
 Promote transformational approaches to sustainability
 Support transactional efficiencies and project delivery
 Demonstrate balancing of Triple Bottom Line
 Establish return on investment
 Scalable and broadly applicable
 Accommodate sector-specific rating systems
 Promote higher degrees of collaboration with third
parties involved in infrastructure planning and delivery
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Sustainability - Rating System
 ENVISION - the nationally recognized standard for
sustainability performance
 Promotes transformational approaches with increased
project performance for triple bottom line
 ENVISION scalable and broadly applicable
 Accommodate sector-specific rating systems
 Adaptable to varying levels of sustainability applications
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Rating System Implementation
 Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) Formed
 Founding Partners - ASCE, APWA & ACEC
 ISI Board met February 8/9 2011 and will own and
administer the rating system with support from
Founding Partners
 ISI Core Products and Programs
 Rating System
 Communications
 Owner (A/E, agencies, practitioners …) interface
 Education and training for the rating system
 Support of assessors and verifiers
 Project recognition at various levels of performance
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The Development Cycle
 All three founding partners committed to sustainability
and developed a number of tools and resource libraries
 APWA – Center for Sustainability
 ASCE – Committee on Sustainability
 ACEC – Green Scorecard
 ISI Formation
 Leveraging value of a consolidated approach
 Creating a framework that should become the National
standard for Sustainable Infrastructure
 Create a civil infrastructure standard model - USGBC
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Goals for a Rating System
 Should become recognized as a National Standard for
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Sustainable Achievement based on user acceptance and
application; accommodate sector-specific approaches
Should guide practitioners, owners, stakeholders in the
framing of infrastructure solutions and the performance
goals
Sustainability must be affordable
Public nature of infrastructure projects requires support of
policy makers, communities and stakeholders – guide
behavioral improvements in project conceptualizing while
confirming technical competence
Keep it simple, practical, adaptable and usable
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Constructing the Rating System
 Should be relevant, supportive, usable and productive
 E-version, interactive, instructive, outcome-based, processsupportive, outputs
 Should be scalable according to complexity and size
 Stage 1 – checklist and self assessment
 Stage 2 – comprehensive consideration of multiple criteria
and core system
 Stage 3 – focused project assessment (+ operations, existing
facilities)
 Stage 4 – multi-attribute, complex, contested, TBL balancing
 Agencies, owners, consultants, communities (+/-) should
be able to use approach to reach consensus through
informed decision making
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Project Rating for Stages of Application (ISI)
Stage
Description
Benefits
1
Overall Guidance and
Checklists
Provides understanding of sustainability
and triple bottom line accounting and
application to infrastructure projects.
Single Purpose, local projects
2
Assessment and
Recognition
Step by step process for owner or engineer
to perform self-assessment and to
indicate areas where improved benefits
could be achieved. Basis for ISI
verification
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Single Purpose Projects
and Existing Project
Assessment (future)
Larger or more complex projects in
planning stages and where individual
areas of excellence can be highlighted.
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Decision Support (future)
Allows balancing of various elements of a
project to optimize performance and
investment. Facilitates resolution of
differing opinions or approaches with
stakeholders or regulatory needs.
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Sustainability Vectors
“Doing Things Right”
Process/Tools
Technological
Improvements
Performance
Contributions
Sustainable
Design
Collaborative
Delivery
Performance
Improvements
Higher
Performance Goals
Integrated
Solutions
Pathway
Contributions
Transform Program
Delivery
“Doing the Right Things”
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Example of Sustainability Assessment Criteria
CRITERIA CATEGORY
PROPOSED CRITERIA
Life-cycle costs
ECONOMIC
Willingness to pay
Affordability
Financial risk exposure
Resource utilization
ENVIRONMENTAL
Service provision
Environmental impact
Human health risk impact
Acceptability to stakeholders
SOCIAL
Participation and responsibility
Public awareness
Social inclusion
Source: AwwaRF,
2008
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Sustainability Metrics
ECONOMIC
ENVIRONMENTAL
 Funding
 Water quality
source and
financing
 Land value
 Life cycle cost
 Operational and
maintenance cost ratios
 Return on assets (flood
prevention)
 Indirect economic
impacts
 Resource
protection
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Nutrients and other
pollutants
Pollutants’ effects
Erosion prevention
Water source
importance
 Ecology
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Biodiversity-rich
habitats managed
Land use
 Environmental
policy
and expenditure
 Environmental impact
of design
SOCIAL
 Customer perception
of benefit
 Aesthetics/recreation
 Health and safety
 Educational and
cultural opportunities
 Public engagement
 Acceptable risk
Source: AwwaRF,
2008
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Rating System Primary Criteria
Section
Weight (%)
1
Pathway
12.6
2
Project Strategy & Management
10.6
3
Community: Long & Short Term Effects
10.7
4
Land Use & Restoration
8.9
5
Landscapes
7.0
6
Ecology & Biodiversity
8.8
7
Water Resources & Environment
11.5
8
Energy & Carbon
11.7
9
Resource Management Including Waste
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Transportation
8.2
10.0
TOTAL
100%
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Project Use of ENVISION and Verification
 Professionals should seek training and certification in
broad sustainability principles
 Use ENVISION to enhance project performance;
 Owners may apply for recognition of ENVISION
achievements and performance
 Professional standards requirements for assessors, verifiers
and certified practitioners
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Opportunity Space - Conventional
Range of sustainable performance
Affected stakeholders
Partner organizations
Regulatory institutions
Stakeholder Collaboration
Project Life
Cycle
• Stakeholder engagement during
design, construction and
operation
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Opportunity Space - ISI
Range of sustainable performance
Affected stakeholders
Partner organizations
Regulatory institutions
Project Life
Cycle
Stakeholder Collaboration
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Examples of Objectives
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Examples of Levels of Achievement
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Status
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Sustainability is happening.
We can lead or we will be led.
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