The world is changing, advancing and growing in all aspects. Populations constantly increase in size; this leads to the adaptation of the environment. The expansion and the development of new communities must satisfy the need for social equity, economic efficiency, and environmental sustainability. “Sustainable Development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs”. (Singh, 2016).
Day by day, our planet earth is depleted from its resources; the use of the planet’s fossil fuels and the deforestation and the emission of greenhouse gases have weakened the entirety of our planet endangering the possibility of the equal resources for the future and the wellbeing of tomorrow’s generations. Within the last two decades the global degradation is evident. Due to industrialization, ecosystems have suffered a rapid deterioration, largely to meet the escalating demands for human well-being and socio-economic advancement. Most things are taken for granted; the earths’ potential to provide food, energy and resources for industry, the ability for the planet to regulate climate, decompose waste and cycle nutrients, the purification of water, pollination and pest control, the preservation of genetic biodiversity and future options (Fikse1, 2009).
Sustainable Development is social, economic and environmental development and advancement that is done without risking the depletion of natural resources and the excessive consumption of Earths entirety. As of now, the whole planet faces ecosystem degradation and the loss of biodiversity, along with climate change, global warming and pollution.
Increasing our knowledge of new alternatives, technologies and implementing new policies that motivate and stress the need for all new development to be eco-friendly; development must adapt to avoid any more negative changes to the integrity and health of the ecosystem. “The definition contains two major concepts: firstly, the concept of ‘needs’, in particular, the essential needs of the world’s poor, to whom overriding priority should be given; and secondly the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment’s ability to meet present and future needs”… “implementing the principles of equity and living within ecological limits can only be accomplished if social, political, and economic systems have the flexibility to be redirected toward sustainability as well as integrated with each other and the environment” (Singh, 2016).
Sustainable development is cross-linked where many disciplines cooperate to find the option that suits best and satisfies all elements of development. For example, many businesses and corporations have begun adopting sustainable practices like the control of greenhouse gas emissions. These initiatives have grown immensely because it is an essential factor for competitiveness as it shows the company’s integrity and professionalism. Civil Engineers have the responsibility of designing and operating infrastructure that beneficiates the environment and the functionality of natural systems. This should encompass the rehabilitation of the existing structures.
Reducing the depletion of nonrenewable resources and switching to the use of sustainable practices to manage renewable resources is beneficial. The planet has been able to adapt and provide food, water, fuel and supplies but the overproduction, the overuse and the abusive use of these resources has diminished the available supply and diminished the quality of such. For example, world suffers from a shortage of potable water. After countless trial and errors, there is now various alternatives for the recycling of water. The City and County of El Paso has many treatment plants where water is reclaimed and purified through process to allow the reuse of this valuable resource. An example of these plants is the Fred Harvey Water Reclamation Plant that reclaims waste water and produces potable water that gets distributed for reuse to many companies in the city. This water treatment plants also re-injects the reclaimed water into the Hueco Bolson into a filtration basin for aquifer replenishment (Walker, 2016).
Researchers, engineers and innovators have conducted countless amounts of research to find the most effective and affordable methods to attain sustainable structures. Some of the most widely used methods is the implementation of solar panels into constructions to create solar energy and the placement of wind turbines at their most efficient locations to create the maximum amount of wind energy. How do we implement these new technologies to benefit the most from the renewable resources?
We can take for example the Pearl River Tower in Guangzhou, China. This is a high-performance office building that was designed to its full potential and is one of the most sustainable structures to this day.
The building does not adhere to the city’s orthogonal grid; it has been rotated to maximize its utilization of prevailing wind, to strategically capture the sun’s energy through photovoltaic technologies, and to avoid solar radiation.
The Pearl River Tower was carefully shaped to minimize load effects from wind and to reduce the cost construction materials. The shape was optimized to allow 4 openings in the structure where wind turbines where installed to generate the power for the whole building. Its optimized shape also provides superior thermal performance, controls solar loads, and better transmittance of daylight into interior spaces. The interior spaces of the building also have High Efficiency lightning and Radiant Cooling Coupled with Under-Floor Ventilation.
The 71-story, Pearl River Tower redefines what is possible in sustainable design. The combination of the energy efficient factors go hand on hand with the structural soundness of this building. To meet the demands of the sustainability initiatives, the architectural complexities of the building, and the Chinese Code Wind and Seismic requirements, the overall structural concept utilizes a series of systems: reinforced concrete core walls, composite mega columns with Mega X-bracing, structural steel outrigger and belt trusses, structural steel columns, and composite floor framing. (ASCE, 2014)
Sustainable structural engineering is possible if we incorporate the technologies and the time to test the best possible alternative, location and design for each situation individually.
Another method to facilitate the road towards sustainable structure is the use of eco-friendly materials for the construction. The repurposing of the existing conditions into the new designs would be ideal, as you would also eliminate the waste production. An alternative can be recycled crushed concrete for roads or pavement instead of new stone. The use of local abundant materials and resources aid the design to be more sustainable and more cost efficient.
For instance, a group of students in UNITEC Mexico have come up with a prototype for “Eco-Bricks” composed of a type of volcanic soil that has a high content of clay and ecologic concrete cement. This clay like material called “Tepetate” has thermic and isolative properties and is abundant throughout Mexico. This mixture is then cast into a mold similar to LEGOS™, with interlocking faces. The curing process also deviates from the standard curing ovens, in this case, the “Eco-Bricks” are cured with rain water and solar power, in order to diminish the contamination and disappear the carbon dioxide emissions.
These “Eco-Bricks” are easy to manipulate, they speed up the construction process and reduce the costs of materials. The bricks also share the same strength and durability than Portland concrete cement. These students have estimated that for every 1 ton of this new mixture, you avoid the emission of up to 1 ton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere; making it the better option for the environment (Vasquez, 2016).
Sustainable development is a dynamic process and a procedure that should be constantly reoriented and adjusted to new situations to maintain sustainability in future generations. On the road to ecofriendly development we need to reconsider the misuse of the limited resources and we need to apply all technologic advancement, invest in new alternatives and create regulations to guarantee an increase in sustainability and responsible development and rehabilitation of our planet. By incorporating a sustainable design or material into new developments and infrastructures, we can minimize the use of nonrenewable resources and at the same time maximize the quality of life day-to-day.
