Sustainable Design for Interior Environments, Edition...•The horrors of polluted water were very evident when hurricane Katrina ravished the Gulf Coast in 2005 •Balancing aquatic

Sustainable Design

for

Interior Environments,

2nd Edition

Susan M. Winchip,

PhD, LEED AP, MIES

Copyright ©2012 Fairchild

Books

All rights reserved. No part of

this presentation covered by

the copyright hereon may be

reproduced or used in any

form or by any means–

graphic, electronic, or

mechanical, including

photocopying, recording,

taping, or information storage

and retrieval systems–without

written permission of the

publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-60901-085-0

GST R 133004424

Part I

Exploring Sustainable Design

and Development

Chapter 3

Environmental Issues

Objectives

Winchip Chapter 3 ©2012 Fairchild Books, A Division of Condé Nast 4

Introduction


• Energy conservation is one of the most

pressing challenges facing the world

today

• To specify sustainable products and

processes requires knowledge of the

interactions among people, energy,

natural resources, and pollutants

• Review ways to conserve and preserve

natural resources by creating sustainable

built environments

Natural

Resources and

Human

Populations

• Problems associated with natural

resources are linked to the dramatic

increases in the world’s population

• Demographers and sociologists

research factors that affect

population size:

• Capacity of the earth

• Standards of living

• Resource consumption

• Technological innovations

• Waste generation

• Natural disasters

• Manmade disasters


Global

Demographics

• Projections provided by the U.S. Census

Bureau, International Data Base (IDB) are

that the world’s population will exceed 9.2

billion in 2050

• Sustainability must be analyzed by

examining the conditions of developed

and less developed countries


U.S. and

Canadian

Demographics

• The U.S. Census Bureau, International Data

Base (IDB) includes demographic data for

the United States and Canada

• 2010 population:

• United States: 310,232,863

• Canada: 33,759,742

• Growth rate percentages have been

decreasing since 1950

• Increase in life expectancy

• The U.S. represents less than 5 percent of

the world’s population but emits about 25

percent of the global emissions of carbon

dioxide


Natural

Resources:

Nonrenewable

Sources and

Energy

• Many sustainability problems are

connected to demands for energy that

are derived from nonrenewable sources

• To meet the current and future needs of

people, sustainable energy policies, that

include net-zero buildings, must be

enacted today

• In the U.S, buildings consume

approximately 39 percent of the energy

produced annually and 74 percent of

the electricity (USGBC, 2009)


Sources of

Energy

• Primary sources of energy are fossil fuels -

oil, natural gas, and coal

• Every process that uses fossil fuels as an

energy source impacts the environment

• Extraction

• Transport

• Burning (GHGs)

• Aftereffects


Sources of

Energy

• Alternative energy sources

• Nuclear energy

• Hydropower (hydroelectricity)

• Wind energy

• Solar energy (solar photovoltaic and solar

thermal)

• Geothermal energy

• Biomass

• Ocean energy

• Rapidly increasing global demand

• The Energy Information Administration (EIA)

estimates that between 2006 and 2030 there

will be a 44% increase in the consumption of

energy worldwide


Electricity

Consumption

and Challenges

• To analyze energy consumption patterns,

the EIA provides projections by “end use”

• Residential, commercial, industrial, and

transportation sectors

• Amount of energy consumed for

electricity in buildings is a serious concern

• Depletions of fossil fuels

• Increases in GHGs that are emitted when

electricity is produced


Fastest Growing

Energy Source

• The fastest growing energy source for

generating electricity is renewable

energy

• Sustainable strategies to manage the

world’s current and predicted energy

crisis focus on

• Energy conservation

• Improving efficiency

• Developing new energy sources


Natural

Resources: Air

• In urban areas, numerous

abandoned sites and

buildings as well as

brownfields pose

significant problems for people and the entire

ecosystem

• Interior designers must help

to reduce pollutants,

including the problems

related to the quality of indoor air


Air Pollutants

• Come from either a point or nonpoint source pollutant

• Outdoor and indoor air pollution comes from a variety of natural and human sources• Volcanic eruptions

• Forest fires

• Gasoline fumes

• Radon

• Asbestos

• The major categories of air pollution produced by people • Air toxics

• Carbon oxides

• Hydrocarbons

• Nitrogen oxides

• Ozone

• Particulate matter

• Sulfur oxides


Sources of

Outdoor Air

Pollution

• Industrial smog and photochemical

smog

• Acid rain or known as acid deposition


Ozone Depletion

and Global

Warming

• Air pollution due to human, or

anthropogenic, causes is creating holes

in the earth’s ozone and contributing to

climate changes

• Scientists in the 1970s found that

chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were

destructive to ozone


Climate Change • Documented by recording mean annual

global temperatures and the rise in sea

levels due to receding glaciers


Sea Ice Minimum 1979 Sea Ice Minimum 2005

Our Carbon

Footprint and the

Greenhouse

Effect


• Every time fossil fuels are burned, CO2

is emitted to the atmosphere

• The greenhouse effect occurs when solar radiation is absorbed and reflected by the earth

• Rapid climate changes due to global warming subsequently affect • Sea levels

• Water resources

• Food supplies

• Ecosystems

• Human health

• Societal economics

Reducing

Carbon

Footprints

• Changes in water resources as well as

climate and weather affect

• Agricultural production

• Ecosystems, habitats, and biodiversity

• Reducing carbon footprints is essential to

• Manage global warming

• Protect the planet’s ecosystems

• Ensure the health of people


Natural

Resources: Water

• Essential to the lives of people,

ecosystems, and habitats

• LEED’s water efficiency (WE) category is

formulated to help protect and conserve

water


Water Pollution

• The horrors of polluted water

were very evident when

hurricane Katrina ravished the

Gulf Coast in 2005

• Balancing aquatic ecosystems

• Pollutants include toxic chemicals,

heavy metals, and various other

contaminants

• Sewage dumped into waterways

• Federal laws protecting water

quality include the Safe Drinking

Water Act (SDWA) and the Clean

Water Act (CWA)

• Thermal pollution


Water

Management

• The world has serious issues with

managing water

• Flooding

• Desertification

• Water-related diseases

• Water shortages


Natural

Resources: Soil

and Land Area

• Soil composition can vary greatly

depending on

• Age of the soil

• Type of minerals

• Weather conditions

• Organisms

• Decomposition rates

• Topography

• Quality and quantities of water and air

• Sustainable soil practices are essential

• Protecting and conserving soil as well as

reducing land consumption are emphasized in LEED credit categories


Soil Pollution • Degradation can be caused by

irresponsible agricultural practices and

deforestation

• Sustainable soil practices must include

preventing pollution


Land

Management

Strategies

• Urban redevelopment

• Infilling

• Remediation

• Impact of the building’s footprint

• Green roofs

• Thriving communities

and transportation

• Location that helps reduce the impact to the environment caused by cars


Land

Management

Strategies

• Sustainable footprints and interior spaces

• Site selection should focus on smaller

lots and reducing the square footage of

buildings

• Spatial strategies


Conserving

Natural

Resources:

Sustainable

Strategies for

Managing Waste

• Municipal solid waste is debris from

residential and commercial buildings

• Solid waste can be managed by source

reduction, reuse, recovery, and recycling


Sustainable

Strategies:

Reduction,

Reuse, and

Recovery

• Buy fewer products and services

• Source reduction helps to reduce

pollution and conserve natural resources

• Adaptive reuse buildings illustrate this

concept

• Recovery is a strategy related to

renovation work


Sustainable

Strategies:

Recycling

• Basic recycling

process:

1. Collecting recyclable materials from

consumer

2. Sorting by the material composition

3. Cleaning and reprocessing the materials into a new form

4. Using the product made from recycled materials


Waste

Management

Strategies:

Landfilling

• Disposal in landfills is the most common

method for waste management

• Many foods and plant materials are

biodegradable, thus are excellent

materials for composting

• A product can remain in the landfill for

one day or thousands of years


Waste

Management

Strategies: Solid

Waste

Regulations

• In the United States, the laws that

regulate the management of hazardous

waste are

• The Resource Conservation and Recovery

Act (RCRA)

• The Comprehensive Environmental

Response, Compensation & Liability Act

(CERCLA)

• The Superfund Program was enacted to

regulate cleanup procedures for sites

that already have hazardous waste


Key Terms

• acid deposition

• anthropogenic

• asbestos

• biomass

• building’s footprint

• carbon footprint

• chlorofluorocarbons

(CFCs)

• composting

• demography

• desertification

• geothermal energy

• glassphalt

• green roof


• greenhouse effect

• hydrocarbons

• hydroelectricity

(hydropower)

• hydropower

(hydroelectricity)

• industrial smog

• infilling

• nitrogen oxide

• nonpoint source

pollutant

• nuclear energy

• ocean energy

• particulate matter

• photochemical smog

• point source pollutant

• polychlorinated

biphenyls (PCBs)

• remediation

• solar energy

• solar photovoltaic

• solar thermal

• spatial strategies

• stratosphere

• thermal pollution

• troposphere

• wind energy

Documents

Sustainable Design for Interior Environments, Edition...•The horrors of polluted water were very evident when hurricane Katrina ravished the Gulf Coast in 2005 •Balancing aquatic