{"id":77,"date":"2014-12-12T13:00:03","date_gmt":"2014-12-12T13:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ibuild\/?p=77"},"modified":"2014-12-12T13:00:03","modified_gmt":"2014-12-12T13:00:03","slug":"report-on-the-international-conference-on-sustainable-infrastructure-ibuild-ceser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ibuild\/2014\/12\/12\/report-on-the-international-conference-on-sustainable-infrastructure-ibuild-ceser\/","title":{"rendered":"Report on the International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure #ibuild #ceser"},"content":{"rendered":"

Report on the International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

6-9th<\/sup> November 2014<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Long Beach, California, USA<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

By Josey Wardle (PhD student, TORG, Newcastle University)<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Summary<\/b><\/p>\n

The attended the first International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure (ICSI) 2014[1<\/a>] organised by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), where I presented my paper entitled \u201cThe provision of public recharging infrastructure for Electric Vehicles in North East England \u2013 is there life after subsidies?\u201d[2<\/a>].\u00a0 My presentation was both well attended and well received, and led to subsequent discussions about how the region has made these achievements to date and how we might allocate value to the social and environmental benefits of this provision in the future.<\/p>\n

This was the first international conference on sustainability to be organised by the ASCR. The 3 day conference provided a platform for project owners, practitioners, researchers and decision makers from the US, Canada, Europe and China to learn about and discuss a diverse range of sustainable infrastructure projects from around the world.\u00a0 It was attended by over 200 people across a mixture of plenary sessions, workshops, posters and presentation sessions. Topics included climate change, water resources, transportation, eco-cities, solar power, adaptation, extreme hazards, education, ethics, developing world issues and infrastructure resiliency.\u00a0 The conference also included an interesting tour of the Port of Long Beach, the second busiest port in the USA, which through its \u201cGreen Port Policy\u201d created in 2005 has become a landmark for the practical adoption of sustainable infrastructure projects. The conference focussed heavily on the search for and development of appropriate tools, standards and methodologies needed for future success in sustainable infrastructure deployment.\u00a0 Applications of the Envision\u2122[3<\/a>] rating system were presented in many different infrastructure contexts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Conference Content<\/b><\/p>\n

The importance of infrastructure to the global economy was stressed by the opening day session speakers from the World Bank, US state officials, Chinese and Canadian bodies. \u00a0James Close of The World Bank stated that \u201cinvesting in sustainable infrastructure is key to sustainable growth\u201d, and explained the role of the World Bank\u2019s new Global Infrastructure Facility[4<\/a>] to encourage financing for low and middle income countries. \u00a0He stressed that the infrastructure developments made in the next 10-20 years are likely to determine whether our children and grandchildren can lead a good quality of life. The role of carbon pricing policies was discussed as part of wider economic, fiscal and financial measures, through which high carbon pollutants may be made uncompetitive. \u00a0James believes that scenario approaches will be required to value sustainable infrastructure developments for the future.\u00a0 He called on the public sector to actively engage in sustainable infrastructure development projects, and to operate a genuine risk sharing approach in the demonstration of green technologies which will drive the way forward and lead to greater private sector engagement in the future.\u00a0 Governments must take the policy level risks and leave the constructors to manage the practical risks of delivery.<\/p>\n

The needs of the massive and fast growing urban population in China were also highlighted, leading to unprecedented infrastructure requirements and their associated environmental challenges which will have global implications if sustainable principles are not adhered to.<\/p>\n

Joanne Mahoney of Onondaga County, New York, spoke passionately about their \u201cSave the Rain\u201d[5<\/a>] green infrastructure strategy, a comprehensive storm-water management plan reducing pollution to Onondaga Lake and its tributaries.<\/p>\n

Reg Andres of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers spoke about Canada\u2019s challenges to balance environmental, economic and social sustainability in a country whose GDP is heavily dependent on the oil and gas industry.\u00a0 This has led to the development of the Canadian Infrastructure Report Card which is now driving the development of a Sustainability Rating System, similar to the US EnvisionTM <\/sup>system (see below for a description of this system). Reg stressed that \u201cRespect, Recognition and Responsibility\u201d are three critical aspects of Sustainability and that our civil engineers must therefore recognise and respect Social Value in all of its diverse forms in order to deliver the best solutions.\u00a0 This was explained by reference to practical examples of infrastructure projects delivered for the indigenous populations in Canada.\u00a0 Reg also stressed the role of civil engineers in promoting the importance of social value to future generations through education and the need to empower them to act accordingly.<\/p>\n

The Port of Long Beach launched its Green Port Policy in 2005[6<\/a>]. Fundamental aspects of this include; California\u2019s first cable-stayed vehicular bridge, the Gerald Desmond Bridge Replacement project, and the US\u2019s first electrified and fully automated \u00a0container yard, the Middle Harbor Redevelopment Project, currently under construction. \u00a0As part of its green truck action plan all trucking companies working within the port must achieve the highest standards for clean emissions, and platooning techniques are also in active use.\u00a0 The port has also engaged with the local community awarding over $18 million in grants for community projects over the last 5 years, and is developing the employees of the future with internships and educational programmes. In total $4 billion improvement programmes are being delivered which aim to double the productivity and halve the emissions of this busy port area.<\/p>\n

The importance of considering the interdependencies between different types of infrastructure ran throughout the presentations, as did the continuing uncertainties of climate science and the difficulties this presents to engineers in creating models to predict future activity and inform actions.\u00a0 The need to consult with the local population was stressed throughout as a key element of the analysis and decision making process.<\/p>\n

The role of the civil engineer was discussed throughout the conference, concluding that we serve both the population and the planet and that we therefore need to provide leadership to support society for the future.\u00a0 It was generally agreed that the civil engineer is responsible for doing things which make people\u2019s lives better, and that this should therefore include not just the traditional concerns of health and safety but also within the category of welfare we must provide solutions which will sustain quality of life going forward.<\/p>\n

The final day included a detailed session on the role of education in embedding sustainability into future generations.\u00a0 There was a call for a change in traditional engineering education to include a broader range of skills that encompass all the aspects and interdependencies of sustainability, incorporating flexibility for the management of increasing complexity and the ability to continuously adapt to emerging changes in the total value chain pipeline. Appropriate communicate was highlighted as key to successful infrastructure development, understanding how best to engage with relevant and wide ranging stakeholder groups is critical to successful deployment. Therefore an understanding of elements such as sociology, ecology and economics is also required by future engineers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The EnvisionTM <\/sup>tool<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

Many of the workshop presentations and posters on display during the conference described the use of the Envision\u2122[3<\/a>] system in the delivery of their projects.<\/p>\n

EnvisionTM<\/sup> was developed in joint collaboration between the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) [7<\/a>] and the Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure[8<\/a>] at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. The ISI is a not-for-profit education and research organization, dedicated to developing and maintaining a civil infrastructure rating system.\u00a0 ISI was founded by the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), the American Public Works Association (APWA), and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). \u00a0\u00a0Each of ISI\u2019s founding organizations was developing a sustainable infrastructure program and saw the need for a standardized framework for classification of sustainability practices.\u00a0 The organizations decided to work together to form ISI to produce and administer a sustainable infrastructure rating system. \u00a0\u00a0ISI membership is complementary to full time academics and students.<\/p>\n

Envision\u2122 provides a holistic framework for evaluating and rating the community, environmental and economic benefits of all types and sizes of infrastructure projects. It evaluates, grades, and gives recognition to infrastructure projects that use transformational, collaborative approaches to assess the sustainability indicators over the course of the project\u2019s life cycle.<\/p>\n

The Envision\u2122 rating system is a project assessment and guidance tool for sustainable infrastructure design. It is an objective framework of criteria and performance achievements that helps users identify ways in which sustainable approaches can be used to plan, design, construct, and operate infrastructure projects.\u00a0 \u00a0The goal is to improve the sustainable performance of infrastructure projects in terms of the technical performance and also from social, environmental, and economic perspectives.<\/p>\n

Envision\u2122 has 60 sustainability criteria, called credits, divided into five sections: Quality of Life, Leadership, Resource Allocation, Natural World, and Climate and Risk.\u00a0 Each credit is described in a 2-page write-up that includes the intent, metric, levels of achievement, description, an explanation of how to advance to a higher achievement level, evaluation criteria and documentation, sources, and related credits.<\/p>\n

There are two main Envision\u2122 tools;<\/p>\n