Climate Change, Construction Safety and Green Buildings

Global warming is a majorly discussed topic in this era. Whenever a heat wave or flood occurs in any region, people cannot stop themselves from bringing up the global warming subject because it is an issue that concerns everyone, whether we agree on it or not.

Global warming is defined as a gradual increase in the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans’ average temperatures, resulting in a permanent change of the Earth’s climate. The planet is warming based on data and facts climate scientists are looking into, resulting in dangerous rapid changes.

(Live Science, 2018)

The Earth’s average temperature has increased around 2 to 3 degrees Fahrenheit over the last century. This may sound minimal, but it has an enormous impact on environmental changes.

While temperatures will continue to rise, the Arctic Ocean is predicted to melt and become ice-free during the summer, which will result in a rise in sea water level as well as frequently occurring floods. Hurricanes are expected to become stronger along with intense arrivals of heat waves and droughts in some regions. (NASA, 2018)

In the 20th century, studies have shown that the carbon dioxide level in the air has increased enormously at an unprecedented rate due to the industrial revolution. For centuries, the atmospheric carbon dioxide level had never exceeded 300 ppm until recently, where the current level is observed to be 400 ppm, which raises a red flag. (NASA, 2018)

This climate change will not only affect nature and the ecosystem but will also endanger our infrastructure. The role of civil engineers is essential in the mitigation and adaptation to these new unpredictable behavioral climate changes.

New degrees and areas of study have been added to university programs, which will help future engineers come up with new solutions for infrastructure investments that maximize their performance. For example, Carnegie Mellon University has a master’s concentration on ‘Climate Change Adaptation for Infrastructure,’ where graduate students focus more on climate change projections for engineering design, human-infrastructure interaction under climate change, risk analysis, and so on.

The American Society of Civil Engineers has also realized the severity of the global warming impact and formed the Committee on Adaptation to a Changing Climate in 2011. This committee evaluates the technical requirements and challenges that civil engineering has to face for adaptation to climate change and focuses on research and development related to the effects of these environmental variations on the safety of the public at the infrastructural level. (ASCE, 2011)

According to Dr. Ayyub, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Maryland, the new design philosophy emerging is the adaptive design, which allows engineers to change or add parts of the infrastructure design without having to redo the entire design when it comes to existing structures. Risk assessment is fundamental for new constructions, but because of climate change, past data is not reliable anymore, which is why civil engineers have to base themselves on climate data for the projection and interaction among the different variables. (Dr. Ayyub, 2018)

References:

Global Climate Change: Effects. NASA, NASA, 16 July 2018, climate.nasa.gov/effects/.

Global Warming: News, Facts, Causes & Effects. LiveScience, Purch, www.livescience.com/topics/global-warming.

Climate Change Adaptation for Infrastructure – Civil and Environmental Engineering – Carnegie Mellon University. Formative vs Summative Assessment – Eberly Center – Carnegie Mellon University, www.cmu.edu/cee/prospective/graduate-degree/masters/ms-concentrations/climate-change-adaptation-for-infrastructure.html.

Committee on Adaptation to a Changing Climate. American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), www.asce.org/climate-change/committee-on-adaptation-to-a-changing-climate/.

Construction Safety

Construction is a very hazardous domain. Building houses, skyscrapers, roads, tunnels, and dams require numerous dangerous activities that workers have to complete. The fatality rate for the construction industry is the highest compared to other industries. Workers face various hazardous tasks every day that can result in injuries and deaths. The most common potential hazards are falls from heights such as roofs, ladders, and scaffolding, trench collapses, electric shock, burns from fire, misuse of materials, heavy material handling, and exposure to air contaminants. (OSHA, 2005)

Construction sites are naturally dangerous workplaces, but many of the risks taken there are the result of employers’ and employees’ negligence and recklessness. A lot of accidents can be avoided, and risks can be minimized if companies follow state and federal safety regulations. (Powers and Santola, 2014)

The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) was created by the Congress in 1970 to provide a safe working environment for employees. By setting standards and assuring education and adequate training for workers, OSHA makes it clear that the right to a safer workplace is one of the basic human rights. Their mission is not finished yet as they continuously seek new ways to establish more efficient technical rules and standards while emphasizing the importance of workers’ participation in training and their understanding of the dangerous nature of the construction industry.

The American Society of Civil Engineers has a strong opinion regarding the improvement of safety in the field. They believe that this matter requires the attention, cooperation, and commitment from all the parties involved in a construction project. The responsibilities are to be divided between the owners, engineers, contractors, and formworkers.

Owners should assign a specific organization for the overall safety of the project. This organization will have to develop a safety plan and monitor the performance of the crew during construction. Owners should include prior safety performance as a criterion for contractor selection. Design engineers, on the other hand, should hold paramount the safety and constructability of their design when making construction plans and specifications. Contractors must control, coordinate, and implement a specific safety plan based on the project they’re working on, as specified in the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Employees should make sure they follow the guidelines on how to use their equipment safely, ensuring that they are always wearing their helmets, gloves, glasses, and so on. (ASCE, 2012)

Educators also have a role when it comes to advocating an engineer’s duty in providing a safe and healthy environment for all the people involved in site activities through proper planning and design. Employees in the workplace should be guided and trained on specific hazards they might encounter and how to deal with them safely with the least risk of getting injured.

Reference:

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3252/3252.htm

Do Construction Workers Have the Most Dangerous Jobs? Powers & Santola, LLP, 13 Apr. 2018. www.powers-santola.com/blog/construction-workers-dangerous-jobs-2/.

Policy Statement 350 – Construction Site Safety. American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). www.asce.org/issues-and-advocacy/public-policy/policy-statement-350—construction-site-safety/.

Recycled materials

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines recycling as “the separation and collection of materials that would otherwise be considered waste, the processing and remanufacturing of these items into new products, and the use of the recycled products to complete the cycle.” In other words, recycling is a process that turns waste into reusable new products, reducing the amount of waste deposited in landfills. It not only reduces energy usage and pollution but also decreases greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

Most of the plastic bottles we use end up in landfills. They take up large spaces and contaminate the water, creating a highly harmful liquid called leachate. Leachate can reach groundwater, consequently poisoning the ecosystem and harming wildlife. Instead of waiting for these bottles to decompose over 1000 years while harming the environment, they can be taken to a plant where they are squeezed, compressed, then shredded into small fragments. These fragments are then washed and melted to be reused. This recycling cycle applies to paper, steel cans, aluminum, and glass containers as well. (TED-Ed, 2015)

In sustainable civil engineering practice, various types of recyclable materials are used in infrastructure. The use of these recycled materials benefits those projects with high demand for large quantities of materials. Tire shreds, ground tire rubber, fly ash, slag, cement kiln dust, silica fume, and crushed glass are waste products used as cheaper alternatives to conventional materials. The increasing cost of disposing of industrial waste has brought renewed attention to the application of recycled products in the construction industry.

Laboratory tests have shown that adding rubber tire to soil, concrete, and pavement increases the strength of the mixture. Much research is being conducted at California State University to assess the benefits of adding these waste materials to concrete and soil mixes. The research focuses on evaluating the potential use of construction waste in civil engineering applications, such as the backfill of retaining walls, sidewalks and walkway pavements, as well as ground improvement to increase the load-bearing capacity of weak foundation soils. Several states, including California, have long-term plans to recycle non-biodegradable scrap tires in construction. (Monica, 2011)

References:

Top 10 Most Important Items to Recycle. Care2 Causes, www.care2.com/causes/top-10-most-important-items-to-recycle.html.

What is Recycling? | City of Little Rock, www.littlerock.gov/for-residents/solid-waste-services/what-is-recycling.

TEDEducation. What Really Happens to the Plastic You Throw Away – Emma Bryce.? YouTube, YouTube, 21 Apr. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6xlNyWPpB8.

Monica, et al. “Use of Recyclable Materials in Sustainable Civil Engineering Applications.” Advances in Decision Sciences, Hindawi, 26 Feb. 2012, www.hindawi.com/journals/ace/2011/896016/.

Green Buildings

The U.S. EPA believes that Green building is the practice of creating structures and using processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building’s life-cycle — from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and deconstruction. This practice expands and complements the classical building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, and comfort. Green building is also known as a sustainable or high-performance building. (EPA, 2016)

Kukreja defines the ideal green building to be a project that preserves the natural environment around the project site, while still being able to produce a building that is going to serve a purpose. Building green not only has environmental benefits such as reducing wastage of water, improving air and water quality, and conserving natural resources and biodiversity, but also has economic and social benefits. For example, building green creates a market for green products and services, improves quality of life, boosts occupants’ health and productivity, and reduces operating costs. By efficiently using water, energy, and other resources, and reducing trash and pollution, the green movement will help in preserving the environment. Sustainability is becoming a major concern in modern projects because green buildings are seen as investments that will save money and preserve the earth in the long term. (Kukreja, 2016)

The role of civil engineers in green building is imperative. Although architects are often responsible for proposing the design work related to the aesthetics and functionality of a building, and LEED is the organization that gives accreditation to green buildings, a civil engineer’s role remains irreplaceable. The LEED organization only awards accreditation based on materials used in construction, resources used by the building regularly, overall pollution emission, and the amount of reused energy and resources the building utilizes. Consequently, it is the civil engineer’s job to realize those preconceived designs by analyzing the thermal properties of the appropriate eco-friendly materials and trying to match the requirements set by the LEED organization for their accreditation. A competent engineer keeps himself up to date with the latest construction techniques that can save both initial costs and operations and maintenance, making a significant economical and environmentally friendly contribution to the project. Integrating sustainability goals in every step of design constitutes the responsibility of civil engineers. From site layout and materials selection to stormwater management and erosion control, it is up to the engineers to opt for green building to preserve the environment and reduce long term costs. (Civil + Structural Engineer magazine, 2018)

Reference:

(n.d.). Retrieved from https://archive.epa.gov/greenbuilding/web/html/about.html

Kukreja, R. (2016, December 25). What is a Green Building and Benefits of Green Building? Retrieved from https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/green-building.php/

Civil + Structural Engineer magazine. (2018). Civil engineering design for green building – Civil + Structural Engineer magazine. [online] Available at: https://csengineermag.com/article/civil-engineering-design-for-green-building/ [Accessed 16 Sep. 2018].

Wastewater treatment and reuse

Treating and reusing water is a very important and delicate process that helps preserve this vital resource. Wastewater treatment plants not only treat water but also produce biosolids, which are a valuable resource used by farmers as a rich soil amendment. Power is also generated from the biogas used to run turbines. Water is clarified, treated, and reused in golf courses and sometimes for drinking purposes.

Wastewater treatment undergoes many processes before it is discharged into the river again. The first stage is called the pretreatment stage, where the wastewater goes through settling, filtration, and biological activity. The wastewater passes through bar screens across the influent channel, used as initial filters to remove large objects that could block pipes or damage equipment. The wastewater is then moved to the primary clarifiers where the heavier solid materials can settle to the bottom. Grease and oil that float to the surface of the water are removed afterward. Then, the wastewater flows through the clarifier and is pumped to the secondary treatment. (Davis & Masten, 2013)

A biological treatment called activated sludge mimics the processes used by nature for purifying lakes and streams. The wastewater is mixed with activated sludge in large aeration basins. This aeration method provides the bacteria and other microorganisms with enough oxygen to multiply, grow, and biologically clean the water from its organic matter. The clarified wastewater moves on to the effluent filtration phase. A portion of the activated sludge is recycled or sent back to the aeration basin with the incoming primary sludge. After effluent filtration, the wastewater enters the chlorine contact basins for disinfection. However, chlorine and its byproducts are toxic to aquatic life. Therefore, sulfur dioxide is added after chlorination to remove the chlorine residuals. After chlorination and de-chlorination, the treated wastewater is discharged into the rivers. (Water Creek Reclamation Facts, n.d.)

Wastewater civil engineers are the chief developers of this innovative and complex infrastructure. They must undergo extensive training to receive the licensing requirements needed to manage such facilities. Civil engineers’ main responsibilities include investigating health and safety violations at a treatment plant. They must investigate air quality complaints originating within the facility, conduct research to discover why a plant is not meeting regulatory compliance standards, and find the source of water contamination if it occurs. Another role would be designing the water treatment plant and city sewage system. Here, the engineers must create layouts for the entire system to transport and treat wastewater, in addition to reconstructing old sewage systems. (Norwich University, 2017)

Reference:

Principles of Environmental Engineering and Science, 3rd Edition, Mackenzie Davis & Susan Masten, McGraw-Hill, 2013.

Village Creek Water Reclamation Facts. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://fortworthtexas.gov/water/village-creek/facts/

The Civil Engineer’s Role in the Wastewater Treatment Process. (2017). Retrieved from https://online.norwich.edu/academic-programs/masters/civil-engineering/resources/articles/the-civil-engineers-role-in-the-wastewater-treatment-proces

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