What is Green Design?

Paulina JaramilloAurora Sharrard

Graduate Students, CEE

What Does a Civil Engineer Do?

Design, analyze, and construct Structures

Dams, buildings, pipelines, and bridges Geotechnical

Soils, foundations, slope stability Transportation

Roads and traffic

What Does an Environmental Engineer Do?

Monitor, model, and improve Water Quality

Wastewater, drinking water, groundwater Air Quality

Outdoor, indoor, atmospheric Waste

Solid, hazardous, recycling

What Does a Green Design Engineer Do?

Prevent pollution, waste Analyze multi-faceted problems

Engineering and science Economics Public policy

Deal with uncertainty Build tools (computer models) to solve

problems and assist decision makers

Green Design Research

Life cycle analysis or assessment Energy and electricity in the economy Green construction Harvesting methane from landfills Tracking metals through the environment Feasibility of cellulose ethanol (fuel from

plants) for transportation “Life style” indicators for CMU

Your Five Days With Us

Our goals for you:

Identify your environmental impacts from typical, every-day decisions.

Develop systematic thinking in terms of life cycles

Realize that decision making is difficult and often doesn’t have one right answer.

Your Five Days With Us

How will we do that…

Today –life cycles: simple (?) products Oct – life cycles: complex products Nov – energy Jan – water Feb – buildings

Activities, Exercises, Discussion

Your Five Days With Us

How you can help

Ask us tough questions

Think broadly, outside the box

Be honest – let us know how we’re doing

Framework for the Program

Population increase:

1.6 billion to 6 billion

Increased demand for material and energy resources

Increased pollution and related health effects

Decreased biodiversity and natural habitat

Change in ecosystems, atmospheric systems

Uncertainty resource availability, climate variability, other environmental impacts

Population x Wealth/Person x Environmental Impact/Wealth = Environmental Impact