Paper Authors

Abstract

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Sustainable Construction: Active Learning of Sustainability through Design and Evaluation of Green Buildings

Abstract

A sustainable future is not possible without innovative engineering solutions. New technologies must be developed and implemented to address emerging challenges in energy and natural resources. In parallel, engineering education must equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary for designing sustainable engineering systems, i.e. with optimum economical, environmental, and societal impact. This paper describes the experience of developing and teaching a senior-level civil engineering course titled “Sustainable Construction”. A result of collaboration between two faculty members at University of Hawaii and Villanova University, the course provides students with an opportunity to apply sustainability principles in analyzing and evaluating the life-cycle performance of green buildings. This course was designed to emphasize active learning through hands-on, problem-based and project-based methods. Students worked in diverse teams and examined campus buildings according to LEED standards, to offer strategies for improving building’s energy efficiency and environmental footprint. Through interactive classroom discussions and hands-on computer simulations, students gained a broad knowledge of sustainability, recycled and green materials, energy and water efficiency, and life-cycle assessment, and applied this knowledge towards real-life examples. This paper presents different components of this course with examples of students work and their progress throughout the semester.

1.0 Introduction

Education is an essential component of sustainability. As engineers are greatly responsible for development of infrastructure and technologies necessary for a sustainable world, engineering curricula must address sustainability and prepare students for designing engineering systems with long term social, economical, and environmental benefits. The need for the 21st century engineers to incorporate sustainability in their design process has been emphasized by recent reports by the National Academy of Engineering1 and the Carnegie Foundation for Advancement of Teaching2. The Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge document3 identifies sustainability as one of the main technical outcomes of CE programs and emphasizes that graduating students must demonstrate an ability to analyze and design sustainable engineered systems.

Traditionally, civil engineers have been trained to develop structural systems primarily based on safety and economical considerations. For example, buildings are designed to ensure the safety of occupants while minimizing the initial cost of construction. These buildings are often built using cheap and readily available materials that are extracted from nature and processed in a wasteful and polluting manner4. Additionally, the design phase rarely considers the building’s life-cycle costs (i.e., cost of utilities, maintenance, and repair), nor does it consider the building’s durability and ability to be disassembled and recycled at the end of its service life4. Similar problems can be seen in various forms of engineering design, including infrastructure, transportation systems, and manufacturing. An implicit design assumption has been that energy

• Citation

• Format
  • APA
  • APA - LaTeX bibitem
  • MLA
  • MLA - LaTeX bibitem
  • Bibtex
  • EndNote - RIS

Rajabipour, F., & Radlinska, A. (2009, June), Sustainable Construction: Active Learning Of Sustainability Through Design And Evaluation Of Green Buildings Paper presented at 2009 Annual Conference & Exposition, Austin, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--5465