University of Toledo
Department of Civil Engineering
CIVE 6900/8900 Sustainable Engineering and Science
3 Credits, Fall 2008
Professor:
Dr. Defne Apul, NI3030, Defne.Apul@utoledo.edu, (419) 530 8132
Meetings:
M 5:30pm-8:00pm, Nitchke 3004 (civil engineering conference room)
Office Hours: You can stop by any time my door is open or you can make an
appointment.
Resources:
Handouts from me, the internet, Google-Alert, Google-Scholar, Web of Science
or other engineering online databases.
Course Audience: Graduate level college of engineering or department of environmental science
students interested in sustainability. Students from other departments are also
welcome to take this class. Please contact Dr. Apul.
Course format:
The bulk of this course will be reading assignments and in-class discussions. Among other things,
students will learn how to critically read peer reviewed journal articles. Some discussions and
student participation may take place online using Wiki technology. The course also includes a
semester long project where students in groups will analyze an existing building and propose
more sustainable and integrated water management approaches to be considered during the
renovation of the building. The course topics will be discussed in the context of the project
whenever applicable. Ph.D. students will be required to present an additional topic to class upon
mutual agreement with the instructor.
Web address: Go to http://www.dl.utoledo.edu . Login using your UTAD account. Wiki
technology will also be used in this class. More information on Wiki site will be distributed on
the first day of the class.
Course Objectives
At the end of the course students:
- should be able to discuss issues with the current engineered design of our
infrastructure and associated human activities and explain why it is not sustainable
for various reasons
- should be able to discuss the role of engineers and scientists in progress towards a
more sustainable society and the urgency of such a progress
- should be able to analyze an existing building and propose more sustainable
solutions for its renovation
- should be able to communicate their findings related to sustainable
construction in a typed report and by oral presentations
-
-
should be able to explain to a high school student the words, concepts and tools of
LEED, biomimicry, ecological footprint, water footprint, low impact design, life
cycle assessment, and sustainable design
should be able to perform simple life cycle assessment studies for a given process
using EIOLCA software
should be able to critically review peer reviewed articles related to sustainability
science and engineering.
Policies and Procedures
 Reflections on reading assignments will be posted online by each student. You will
get no credit for these assignments if you do not post them on time.
 Assignments that do not require online posting must be turned in at the beginning of
the class on the due date. Late assignments will not be accepted. Exceptions are
possible if you let the instructor know of your situation ahead of time.
 You are encouraged to work together on homework so you can discuss the problems
and learn more than you would if you worked on your own. While working with
others, don’t forget about academic dishonesty. The idea is to learn together not copy
from someone or let someone else do the thinking for you. Please read UT’s policy on
academic dishonesty available at: http://www.utoledo.edu/dl/students/dishonesty.html
Discussion Topics and Resources:
Please note that this is a very ‘tentative’ outline. Exact dates, topics, and resources are subject to
change depending on students’ interests.
1. Are we sustainable?
Brown, L. (2008) Plan B 3.0 Mobilizing to save civilization, Third Edition, 384 pages, W.W.
Norton Publisher. Chapter 5: Natural systems under stress and Chapter 6: Early signs of Decline
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/
Food supply
Population growth
2. What is sustainability science and engineering? (September 8)
Mihelcic et al., 2003 Sustainability science and engineering: the emergence of a new
metadiscipline, Environmental Science and Technology, 37(23), 5314-5324
Garcia-Serna et al., 2007 New trends for design towards sustainability
in chemical engineering: Green engineering, Chemical Engineering Journal, 133, 7-30
Davidson et al., 2008, Adding sustainability to the engineer’s toolbox: A challenge for
engineering educators
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag/41/i14/html/071507viewpoint_davidson.html
3. Global Climate Change (September 15)
Guest lecture by Dr. Ashok Kumar
Global warming, future energy research and energy calculators
Confronting climate change in the Great Lakes region. A report by the Union of Concerned
Scientists and the Ecological Society of America. Available from: www.ucsusa.org/greatlakes
IPCC, 2007 Climate change 2007: Impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability, Working Group II
contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change
4. Overview Ecological Design Principles (September 22)
Edwards, A.R. 2005, The Sustainability Revolution: portrait of a paradigm shift. We will read
chapter 5 on Sustainability and Ecological Design
Browse through various websites on sustainability indicators and ecological design companies
5. Sustainable Construction
5.1 Overall framework (September 29)
LEED for schools guidance book http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1586
Green building breakthrough: Engineering a sustainable world
http://www.interfaceengineering.com/portfolio/green_building/book/book.html
5.2 Materials
Horvath, A. 2004, Construction materials and the environment, Annual reviews of environment
and resources, 29, 181-204
5.3 Energy
Guest lecture by Dr. Terry Bigioni (October 6)
Thermodynamics, peak oil and resource limits, global demands, alternative sources of energy
(PV, wind, geothermal, nuclear, coal, methane, etc.).
5.4 Water (October 13)
http://www.epa.gov/greenbuilding/pubs/components.htm#water
Kilbert, C.J. 2005, Sustainable construction green building design and delivery: Chapter 8: The
building hydrologic system
Getter et al., 2007, Quantifying the effect of slope on extensive green roof stormwater retention,
Ecological Engineering, 31, 225-231.
Low Impact Development
http://www.pierce.wsu.edu/Water_Quality/LID/LID_manual2005.pdf
Dunnet, N., and Clayden, A. (2007) Rain Gardens: Managing Water Sustainably in the Garden
and Designed Landscape, Timber Press, Inc., 188 pages.
Girlin, C., and Kellet, R. (2005) Skinny Streets and Green Neighborhoods: Design for
Environment and Community, Island Press, 193 pages.
6. Water sustainability; moving beyond building scale analysis (October 27)
UNDP, 2006, Human development report, Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water
crisis
Troubled waters: An analysis of 2005 Clean Water Act Compliance a report by Environment
Ohio and Research Policy Center, www.environmentohio.org
www.Waterfootprint.org
USGS 2008, Fact sheet 2008-3032 on consumptive water use in the Great Lakes basin
7 Life cycle assessment including impact assessment (November 3, 10)
ISO 14040:2006, Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Principles and
framework, provides a clear overview of the practice, applications and limitations of LCA to a
broad range of potential users and stakeholders, including those with a limited knowledge of life
cycle assessment.
ISO 14044:2006, Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Requirements and
guidelines, is designed for the preparation of, conduct of, and critical review of, life cycle
inventory analysis. It also provides guidance on the impact assessment phase of LCA and on the
interpretation of LCA results, as well as the nature and quality of the data collected
Junilla, S.I., 2006, Empirical comparison of process and economic input-output life cycle
assessment in service industries, Environmental science and technology, 40, 7070-7076
USEPA’s LCA 101, retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/ORD/NRMRL/lcaccess/lca101.htm
Treolar et al., 2004 Hybrid life cycle inventory for road construction and use, Jourrnal of
construction engineering and management, 130(1), 43-49
Pennington et al, 2004, Life cycle assessment part 2: Current impact assessment practice,
Environment international, 30, 721-739
www.eiolca.net
8. PhD Student Presentations
Topic 1:The Natural Step ?
Topic 2: Biomimicry (November 24)
Topic 3: Living machines/wetlands (November 17)
9. Review, wrap up (December 1)
10. Student Project Presentations (December 8)
Other books that may be of interest to students:
On Water
Kinkade-Levario, H. (2007) Design for Water: Rainwater Harvesting, Stormwater Catchment,
and Alternate Water Reuse, New Society Publishers, 240 pages
Gleick, P., Cooley, H., Katz, D., Lee, E., (2006) The World's Water 2006-2007: The Biennial
Report on Freshwater Resources (World's Water), Island Press, 296 pages.
Annin, P., 2006, Great Lakes Water Wars, Island Press
On Engineering and Design
Beloff, B., Lines, M., and Tanzil, D. (2005) Transforming sustainability strategy into action: The
chemical industry, Wiley, 541 pages.
McDonough and Braungart (2002) Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the way we make things, North
Point Press
Global Sustainability
UNEP (2007) United Nations Environment Programme Global Environment Outlook: GEO4:
environment for development
UNEP (2008) United Nations Environment Programme Year Book: An overview of our changing
environment
On Economy and Business
Hawken, P., Lovins, A. and Lovins, L.H. (2000) Natural capitalism: Creating the next industrial
revolution, Back Bay Books
In Class-Assignment
Get into groups of three. Discuss the following topics:
1. What is your name? What is your email address?.
2. Why you are in this class? What do you want to get out of this class?
3. Why are you in an engineering field? Why are you in an environmental field?
4. What aspect of ‘sustainability’ interests you?
5. What is your current or intended research area?
6. Why did you pick environmental engineering or environmental science?
7. What do you plan to do when you graduate?
8. What do you plan to do in the decades following your graduation?
After you discuss these questions in your group, write your OWN answers on a piece of paper. I
want to get an idea of who is in the class and what they want to get out of it. Everyone will get a
chance to introduce themselves after you finish writing down your answers to the questions.
Assignment 0: Get into the Epsilen system and become a member of our course.
We will be using Epsilen in this course because it has a neat Wiki setup that works better than
some other ones I have used in the past. Feel free to explore the Epsilen website and its
functions. It is fairly easy to use and I can help you if you have any questions.
1. Go to: http://www.epsilen.com/Epsilen/Public/Home.aspx
2. Sign in and register for a new account
3. Click on “ Search Epsilen” on the left margin.
4. Search Epsilen courses for the word ‘sustainable’
5. Our course will be the only one that comes up with this search. Click on ‘join this course’ and
follow the steps. I will add you once I receive your request.
Assignment 00:
The goal of this assignment is to introduce you to a Google tool that I personally find very useful
in keeping track of things related to sustainability. I want you to explore this tool throughout the
course to enrich your knowledge and perspectives on sustainability.
1. Go to http://www.google.com/alerts
2. Sign up for a Google alert using keywords of your choice that relate to this class. Personally, I
have setup searches using ‘sustainable engineering’, ‘sustainable and wastewater’, ‘sustainability
engineering’. You may prefer to use more specific keywords.
Assignment 1: Our Common Future
I picked this non-technical and very old report for you to read because it is the first report
to define sustainability. It is very highly cited and is often referred to as the Brundtland
report.
Question 1: What is the specific wording that was used in this report to define sustainable
development?
Question 2: This article mentions many points. Which of these caught your attention and
were of interest to you?
Assignment 2: Mihelcic et al. 2003
Question 1: The style and headings of this paper do not follow the regular intro-methodsresults-discussion-conclusion format that we typically use in engineering papers. What
are your thoughts on the style of the papers and its effectiveness in conveying the
message? Do you think the paper is well written?
Question 2: What is the most important message that you got out of this paper?
Question 3: What is the difference between interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary fields?
Where does sustainability engineering fit in?
Question 4: Authors refer to EIO-LCA in the paper. What is this approach? Look it up on
the web and write down a few sentences on your understanding of what it is.
Question 5: Our library is a member of the OhioLink system. OhioLink has subscription
to several databases that track peer reviewed publications. The database that I like is ISI
Web of Knowledge.
You can access this database by going to:
http://www.ohiolink.edu/resources.cgi?by=subject  Click on Engineering  When list
of databases come up, click on ISI Web of Knowledge
Use this database to locate the Mihelcic et al (2003) article. How many times has
this article been cited? Look at the 9th article listed which is by Gacria-Serna et al.
Download this article. We’ll be reading this article the next time we meet.
Think about the following question (but you don’t need to type a reply):
Are any of the articles that cited Mihelcic et al (2003) of interest to you?
What kind of keyword searches do you think you might use to locate an article of interest
to you?
Assignment 3: Davidson et al (2008)
Read the article available at:
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag/41/i14/html/071507viewpoint_davidson.html
Question 1: This is not a peer reviewed article but it makes some important points. What is the
most important message of this article? What are the implications of this message on your own
career and personal life?