Today’s water infrastructures are the outcome of an industrial revolution-based design that are now at odds with the current sustainability paradigm.The goal of this study was to develop a vision for engineering sust...Today’s water infrastructures are the outcome of an industrial revolution-based design that are now at odds with the current sustainability paradigm.The goal of this study was to develop a vision for engineering sustainable water infrastructures.A list of 99 ecological design principles was compiled from eleven authors and grouped into three themes:(1)human dimension,(2)learning from nature(biomimicry),and(3)integrating nature.The biomimicry concept was further divided into six sub-themes;(1)complex system properties,(2)energy source,(3)scale,(4)mass and energy flows,(5)structure,and function,and(6)diversity and cooperation.The implications of these concepts on water infrastructure design suggested that water infrastructure should be conceptualized in a more holistic way by not only considering water supply,treatment,and storm water management services,but also integrating into the design problem other provisioning,regulating,cultural,and supporting ecosystem services.A decentralized approach for this integration and innovation in adaptive design are necessary to develop resilient and energy efficient water infrastructures.展开更多
Products used during construction and operation of a building can contribute to Indoor Air Quality(IAQ)problems that affect occupants’well-being.However,IAQ is conventionally not addressed in the life cycle assessmen...Products used during construction and operation of a building can contribute to Indoor Air Quality(IAQ)problems that affect occupants’well-being.However,IAQ is conventionally not addressed in the life cycle assessments(LCAs)of buildings and building related products even though IAQ leads to one of the areas of protection under LCA-human health impacts.In this study,we proposed an overall framework for integrating IAQ into LCA using the standard steps of LCA.The framework focused on IAQ and LCA modeling from two categories of building related products:i)passive products that realize their function through initial installation and have long-term decayed emissions,and ii)active equipment that realize their function and cause emissions through daily operation.Dynamic and static life cycle inventory modeling approaches were proposed for passive products and active equipment,respectively.An indoor intake fraction equation and USEtox model effect factors were incorporated into the life cycle impact assessment.Three hypothetical examples were presented to illustrate the calculation procedure of the framework.We concluded that it was feasible to integrate IAQ into building related LCA studies.Development of IAQ related impact assessment methodologies can improve upon the limitations of this study.Further studies need to be carried out to compare the health impacts from IAQ related sources to other life cycle stages of building related products.展开更多
文摘Today’s water infrastructures are the outcome of an industrial revolution-based design that are now at odds with the current sustainability paradigm.The goal of this study was to develop a vision for engineering sustainable water infrastructures.A list of 99 ecological design principles was compiled from eleven authors and grouped into three themes:(1)human dimension,(2)learning from nature(biomimicry),and(3)integrating nature.The biomimicry concept was further divided into six sub-themes;(1)complex system properties,(2)energy source,(3)scale,(4)mass and energy flows,(5)structure,and function,and(6)diversity and cooperation.The implications of these concepts on water infrastructure design suggested that water infrastructure should be conceptualized in a more holistic way by not only considering water supply,treatment,and storm water management services,but also integrating into the design problem other provisioning,regulating,cultural,and supporting ecosystem services.A decentralized approach for this integration and innovation in adaptive design are necessary to develop resilient and energy efficient water infrastructures.
文摘Products used during construction and operation of a building can contribute to Indoor Air Quality(IAQ)problems that affect occupants’well-being.However,IAQ is conventionally not addressed in the life cycle assessments(LCAs)of buildings and building related products even though IAQ leads to one of the areas of protection under LCA-human health impacts.In this study,we proposed an overall framework for integrating IAQ into LCA using the standard steps of LCA.The framework focused on IAQ and LCA modeling from two categories of building related products:i)passive products that realize their function through initial installation and have long-term decayed emissions,and ii)active equipment that realize their function and cause emissions through daily operation.Dynamic and static life cycle inventory modeling approaches were proposed for passive products and active equipment,respectively.An indoor intake fraction equation and USEtox model effect factors were incorporated into the life cycle impact assessment.Three hypothetical examples were presented to illustrate the calculation procedure of the framework.We concluded that it was feasible to integrate IAQ into building related LCA studies.Development of IAQ related impact assessment methodologies can improve upon the limitations of this study.Further studies need to be carried out to compare the health impacts from IAQ related sources to other life cycle stages of building related products.
