Penn, M. R., & Fields, K. M. (2017, June), A New Framework for Teaching the Triple Bottom Line:  The Sustainability Triangle and the Sustainability Index  Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--27491

\bibitem{asee_peer_27491}
  Penn, M. R., \& Fields, K. M. (2017, June), \emph{A New Framework for Teaching the Triple Bottom Line:  The Sustainability Triangle and the Sustainability Index}
  Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Columbus, Ohio.
  10.18260/1-2--27491

Michael R. Penn and Kristina M. Fields.  "A New Framework for Teaching the Triple Bottom Line:  The Sustainability Triangle and the Sustainability Index".  2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio, 2017, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2017.  https://peer.asee.org/27491 Internet.  30 Dec, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_27491}
  Michael R. Penn and Kristina M. Fields.
  "A New Framework for Teaching the Triple Bottom Line:  The Sustainability Triangle and the Sustainability Index".
  \emph{2017 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Columbus, Ohio, 2017, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2017.
  https://peer.asee.org/27491 Internet.  30 Dec, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_27491
author = "Michael R. Penn and Kristina M. Fields"
title = "A New Framework for Teaching the Triple Bottom Line:  The Sustainability Triangle and the Sustainability Index"
booktitle = "2017 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2017"
month = "June"
address = "Columbus, Ohio"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/27491}
number = {10.18260/1-2--27491}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Integrating the concept of sustainability into civil and environmental engineering curricula is important and challenging.  For decades engineering students have been taught to design systems and recommend solutions based on cost.  The triple bottom line approach suggests that cost alone is not the deciding factor-- social and environmental impacts should also be considered.  The triple bottom line is commonly referred to as “the three P’s:  People, Planet and Profit.”  Unfortunately, social and environmental impacts are often secondary, qualitative considerations.
In an attempt to raise student awareness of the need to balance the three P’s, a new framework was developed.  The Sustainability Triangle is a simple and effective method to visualize the balance of the three P’s for a design.  Students must make semi-quantitative evaluations, on a zero to 100 scale, for each of the three P’s which in turn are used for form a triangle.  The scores for each P are then used to calculate a Sustainability Index (SI) which is defined as:
SI = [ (the sum of the scores of each of the three P’s) – (the difference between the maximum and minimum scores of the three P’s) ].
The SI value is influenced by the imbalance between individual P scores.  For example, a design alternative is given scores of 90, 80 and 70 for people, planet and profit respectively.  The SI would equal [(90+80+70) - (90-70)], or 220 out of a 300 possible points as opposed to the simple sum of the three P’s which would be 240.   This evaluation can be completed for multiple design alternatives, and the most sustainable (or least unsustainable) alternative would be that with the highest SI value.
This paper will demonstrate how these tools are introduced to students, and how an in-class example provides an opportunity for students to utilize the tool for decision-making.

AU  - Michael R. Penn
AU  - Kristina M. Fields
CY  - Columbus, Ohio
DA  - 2017/06/24
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - A New Framework for Teaching the Triple Bottom Line:  The Sustainability Triangle and the Sustainability Index
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/27491
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--27491
ER  -