Transcript Sustainable Development

Research Chalenges for Sustainable Development
19.03-23.03.2012, Timisoara, Romania
Concepte de dezvoltare durabilă
în ingineria mileniului III
Prof. Dr. Ing. Daniel Grecea,
Conf. Dr. Ing.Adrian Ciutina,
Conf. Dr. Ing. Viorel Ungureanu
Terms & Definitions
• The term of "sustainable" originally
indicates "within the limits, in which
natural resources (e.g. fish and woods)
can preserve their regeneration ability".
• This scientific term of "sustainable"
was applied to the economic term of
"development".
“Sustainability” - Sustainable
development
• Sustainable development has several definitions, such as:
• “Development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising that ability of future generations to meet their own
needs.” (the BRUNDTLAND Report WCED, 1987);
• “Improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying
capacity of supporting ecosystems” (Caring for the Earth,
IUCN/UNEP 1991);
• '‘Development that delivers basic environmental, social and
economic services to all residences of a community without
threatening the viability of natural, built and social systems upon
which the delivery of those systems depends“ (International Council
for Local Environmental Initiatives, ICLEI 1996).
• Key words: Life cycle process of buildings, requirements
management, sustainable design, sustainable construction
• The word sustainable (suggesting the idea
of constant, permanent or continuous) is
translated to some languages (e.g. Dutch,
Finnish, Romanian or French) as durable.
The concept of "durable construction" may
change the vision on the intended
objectives, laying stress on resistance in
time.
Sustainable construction
• Sustainable construction is seen as a way for
the building industry to respond to achieve
sustainable development.
• the Kibert definition for sustainable
construction: "the creation and responsible
management of a healthy built environment
based on resource efficient and ecological
principles"
• "a way of building which aims at reducing (negative)
health and environmental impacts caused by the
construction process or by buildings or by the built
environment“ (1990 NEPP+).
• adopted principles :
integral life cycle management (closed cycle of raw
material use, retention in the cycle through life-time
extension, prevention of waste, prevention of
emissions); reduction in energy use; - quality
improvement (materials, buildings, built
environment).
Sustainable construction
• it must be seen as a special case of
sustainable development aiming at a specific
target group (i.e., the construction industry).
• The construction industry is defined as all
parties that develop, plan, design, build,
alter, or maintain the environment and
includes building material manufacturers and
suppliers.
Sustainable buildings
• Sustainable buildings can be defined as
those buildings that have minimum adverse
impacts on the built and natural
environment, in terms of the buildings
themselves, their immediate surroundings
and the broader regional and global setting.
Sustainable building - green building
The terms ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ are
often used interchangeably but there
are fundamental differences between
them.
Sustainable building - green building
• In its most general sense, ‘green building’ is a label
for the process of design and construction which
aims to produce buildings that are less damaging to
the environment—and the people that use them—
than most buildings currently built today.
• These buildings must be measurably less damaging
in significant ways of course, and unfortunately
there are many examples of ‘green’ buildings that
purport to be less damaging without supporting
measurements, or that otherwise claim to be have
integrated environmental concerns without
addressing the most significant issues.
Sustainable building - green building
• ‘Sustainable building’, however, refers more
precisely to the goal of designing and constructing
buildings that have no net impact on the
environment, such that a total built environment
composed of similar buildings could co-exist with
the world’s ecological balance indefinitely.
• Green building, then, focuses on incremental steps
to solve known and measurable problems with our
current practice, whereas sustainable building seeks
models for an unidentified future state of society.
Sustainable building
Sustainable building
• Proposed essential elements (Code for Sustainable Homes)
• Energy efficiency (conservation of fuel and power)
• Water efficiency (use of potable water)
• Surface water management
• Site waste management (during construction)
• Household waste management (during occupation and use)
• Use of materials
• Proposed optional elements
• Lifetime Homes
• Security
• Soundproofing
• Private external space
• Day lighting
• Home User guide
Stockholm 1972
• The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment
(also known as the Stockholm Conference) was an international
conference convened under United Nations auspices held in
Stockholm, Sweden from June 5-16, 1972.
• It was the UN's first major conference on international
environmental issues, and marked a turning point in the
development of international environmental politics.
• Attended by the representatives of 113 countries, 19 intergovernmental agencies, and more than 400 inter-governmental
and non-governmental organizations, it is widely recognized as
the beginning of modern political and public awareness of
global environmental problems.
• The meeting agreed upon a Declaration containing 26
principles concerning the environment and development; an
Action Plan with 109 recommendations, and a Resolution.
Rio 1992 (1)
• The United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio Summit, Rio
Conference, Earth Summit was a major United Nations
conference held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 June to 14 June 1992.
• 172 governments participated, with 108 sending their heads of
state or government. Some 2,400 representatives of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) attended, with 17,000
people at the parallel NGO "Global Forum", who had
Consultative Status.
• The issues addressed included:
– systematic scrutiny of patterns of production — particularly the
production of toxic components, such as lead in gasoline, or
poisonous waste including radioactive chemicals
– alternative sources of energy to replace the use of fossil fuels
which are linked to global climate change
– new reliance on public transportation systems in order to reduce
vehicle emissions, congestion in cities and the health problems
caused by polluted air and smog
– the growing scarcity of water
Rio 1992 (2)
•
•
•
An important achievement was an agreement on the Climate Change
Convention which in turn led to the Kyoto Protocol. Another
agreement was to "not carry out any activities on the lands of
indigenous peoples that would cause environmental degradation or
that would be culturally inappropriate".
The Convention on Biological Diversity was opened for signature at
the Earth Summit, and made a start towards redefinition of money
supply measures that did not inherently encourage destruction of
natural ecoregions and so-called uneconomic growth.
The Earth Summit resulted in the following documents:
–
–
–
–
–
•
•
Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
Agenda 21
Convention on Biological Diversity
Forest Principles
Framework Convention on Climate ChangeThe Earth Summit resulted
Critics, however, point out that many of the agreements made in Rio
have not been realized regarding such fundamental issues as fighting
poverty and cleaning up the environment.
The Green Cross International was founded to build upon the work of
the Summit.
Rio 1992 (3) – Agenda 21 (1)
• There are 40 chapters in the Agenda 21, divided into four main
sections.
• Section I: Social and Economic Dimensions
Includes combating poverty, changing consumption patterns,
population and demographic dynamics, promoting health,
promoting sustainable settlement patterns and integrating
environment and development into decision-making.
– 2. International cooperation to accelerate sustainable development in
developing countries and related domestic policies
– 3. Combating poverty
– 4. Changing consumption patterns
– 5. Demographic dynamics and sustainability
– 6. Protecting and promoting human health conditions
– 7. Promoting sustainable human settlement development
– 8. Integrating environment and development in decision-making
Rio 1992 (3) – Agenda 21 (2)
•
Section II: Conservation and Management of Resources for Development
Includes , combating deforestation, protecting fragile environments,
conservation of biological diversity (biodiversity), and control of
pollution.
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
9. Protection of the atmosphere
10. Integrated approach to the planning and management of land resources
11. Combating deforestation
12. Managing fragile ecosystems: combating desertification and drought
13. Managing fragile ecosystems: sustainable mountain development
14. Promoting sustainable agriculture and rural development
15. Conservation of biological diversity
16. Environmentally sound management of biotechnology
17. Protection of the oceans, all kinds of seas, including enclosed and semienclosed seas, and coastal areas and the protection, rational use and development
of their living resources
18. Protection of the quality and supply of freshwater resources: application of
integrated approaches to the development, management and use of water
resources
19. Environmentally sound management of toxic chemicals, including prevention of
illegal international traffic in toxic and dangerous products
20. Environmentally Sound Management of Hazardous Wastes, Including
Prevention of Illegal International Traffic in Hazardous Wastes
21. Environmentally sound management of solid wastes and sewage-related issues
22. Safe and environmentally sound management of radioactive wastes
Rio 1992 (3) – Agenda 21 (3)
• Section III: Strengthening the Role of Major Groups
Includes the roles of children and youth, women, NGOs, local
authorities, business and workers.
– 23. Preamble
– 24. Global action for women towards sustainable and equitable
development
– 25. Children and youth in sustainable development
– 26. Recognizing and strengthening the role of indigenous people and
their communities
– 27. Strengthening the role of non-governmental organizations: partners
for sustainable development
– 28. Local authorities' initiatives in support of Agenda 21
– 29. Strengthening the role of workers and their trade unions
– 30. Strengthening the role of business and industry
– 31. Scientific and technological community
– 32. Strengthening the role of farmers
Rio 1992 (3) – Agenda 21 (4)
• Section IV: Means of Implementation
Implementation includes science, technology transfer,
education, international institutions and mechanisms and
financial mechanisms.
– 33. Financial resources and mechanisms
– 34. Transfer of environmentally sound technology, cooperation and
capacity-building
– 35. Science for sustainable development
– 36. Promoting education, public awareness and training
– 37. National mechanisms and international cooperation for capacitybuilding in developing countries
– 38. International institutional arrangements
– 39. International legal instruments and mechanisms
– 40. Information for decision-making
Earth Summit 2002
• The World Summit on Sustainable Development, WSSD or Earth
Summit 2002 took place in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 26
August to 4 September 2002.
• It was convened to discuss sustainable development by the United
Nations. WSSD gathered a number of leaders from business and
non-governmental organizations, 10 years after the first Earth
Summit in Rio de Janeiro. (It was therefore also informally
nicknamed "Rio+10".)
• The Johannesburg Declaration was the main outcome of the
Summit; however, there were several other international
agreements.
– In terms of the political commitment of parties, the Declaration is a more general
statement than the Rio Declaration. It is an agreement to focus particularly on
"the worldwide conditions that pose severe threats to the sustainable
development of our people, which include: chronic hunger; malnutrition; foreign
occupation; armed conflict; illicit drug problems; organized crime; corruption;
natural disasters; illicit arms trafficking; trafficking in persons; terrorism;
intolerance and incitement to racial, ethnic, religious and other hatreds;
xenophobia; and endemic, communicable and chronic diseases, in particular
HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis."
• It laid out the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation as an action
plan.
2009 UN Climate Change Conference
•
•
•
•
The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known
as the Copenhagen Summit, was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, between
7 December and 18 December. The conference included the 15th
Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change and the 5th Meeting of the Parties
(COP/MOP 5) to the Kyoto Protocol.
The Copenhagen Accord was drafted by the US, China, India, Brazil and
South Africa on December 18, and judged a "meaningful agreement" by the
United States government. It was "taken note of", but not "adopted", in a
debate of all the participating countries the next day, and it was not passed
unanimously.
The document recognised that climate change is one of the greatest
challenges of the present day and that actions should be taken to keep any
temperature increases to below 2°C. The document is not legally binding
and does not contain any legally binding commitments for reducing CO2
emissions.
Many countries and non-governmental organisations were opposed to this
agreement, but, as of January 4, 2010, 138 countries have signed the
agreement.
Kyoto Protocol
•
The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC), aimed at fighting
global warming. The UNFCCC is an international environmental treaty with
the goal of achieving "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the
atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic
interference with the climate system.“
•
The Protocol was initially adopted on 11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan
and entered into force on 16 February 2005. As of November 2009, 187
states have signed and ratified the protocol.
•
Under the Protocol, 37 industrialized countries (called "Annex I countries")
commit themselves to a reduction of four greenhouse gases (GHG) (carbon
dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride) and two groups of
gases (hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons) produced by them, and all
member countries give general commitments.
•
Annex I countries agreed to reduce their collective greenhouse gas
emissions by 5.2% from the 1990 level. Emission limits do not include
emissions by international aviation and shipping, but are in addition to the
industrial gases, chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, which are dealt with under
the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
WHERE ARE WE NOW ?
•
•
•
•
Humanity shares a common fate on a crowded planet
6.6 billion people
An interconnected global economy
Human beings fill every ecological niche on the planet
from the ice tundra to the tropical rainforests to the
deserts.
• In some locations, societies have outstripped the
carrying capacity of the land, resulting in chronic
hunger, environmental degradation and large-scale
exodus of desperate populations.
• We are, in short, in one another’s faces as never
before, crowded into an interconnected society of
global trade, migration, ideas and yes, risk of
pandemic diseases, terrorism, refugee movements and
conflict.
1954
2010
Changes are accelerating !
Changes are global !
Three pillars of sustainability:
planet, people, profit
• The fundamental goal of sustainable development is
to preserve the ecological systems that globally are
the basis for human life and biodiversity of the
nature.
• However, the quality of life is recognized as the nonphysical and non-ecosystem counterpart in any
usable model of sustainable development
• Sustainable development has three bottom lines:
- environmental (“planet”)
- social - including cultural (“people”)
- economic (“profit”)
Framework for sustainability
Sustainable Development; the view
from the Rio conference, 1992
Priorities in SD
Four bold but achievable goals
• Sustainable systems of energy, land and resource
use that avert the most dangerous trends of Climate
Change, species extinction and destruction of
ecosystems.
• Stabilization of the world population at 8 billion or
below by 2050, through a voluntary reduction of fertility
rates.
• The end of extreme poverty by 2025, and improved
economic security within the rich countries as well
• A new approach to global problem-solving base on
cooperation among nations and the dynamism and
creativity of the non-governmental sector.
Resource Flows and Sustainability
What should we measure as model outputs?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Air emissions (NOx, SOx, Particulates)
Imports / Exports
Demand for land (External / Internal)
Job creation
Financial / economic viability
Reduction, reuse, recycling
Water / fossil & non-fossil CO2 emissions
Waste consumption
Energy consumption generation (by components)
Amount of space required to transport the same
number of passengers by car, bus or bicycle
Source: poster in City of Muenster planning office, 2001
EUROPEAN INITIATIVES
• EU Sustainable Development Strategy EU SDS
• The need for research is highlighted in the following
leading EU policy documents:
- An integrated maritime policy for the EU (The Blue
Book)
- Energy Policy for Europe
- Strategic energy technology (SET) plan
- Green Paper "adaptation to climate change in
Europe – options for EU action"
• European Sustainable Development Network ESDN
EUROPEAN SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT NETWORK
• Members of the ESDN are
government officials
responsible for SD policy
formulation and
implementation that
indicate their interest in
joining the network.
• 124 members from 32
countries
• Annual conferences since
2002
• National strategies for SD
Agenda 2001: Strategies for raising the level
of “sustainable construction” in Europe
1. Contribute to the European long-term framework policies for SD
2. Facilitate a change in lifestyles and in patterns of consumption
and production.
3. Reduce environmental impacts and resource depletion caused
by the construction, operation and demolition of built facilities
4. Raise environmental awareness
5. Promote quality in construction (aesthetic and fitness for purpose).
6. Measure life cycle costs in terms of competitiveness factors in a
way that they may be converted into performance indicators.
7. Promote renovation, re-use and re-habilitation of existing buildings.
8. Promote environmental expertise and technology so that they
become increasingly competitive factors.
9. Establish mechanisms for regular review of progress achieved.
GREEN PRODUCTS
Improving Environmental Performance by
purchasing 'green' products. Consequences
of EU’s Public Procurement Directive and
more intensifying environmental policy
We all need to reduce environmental damage
and improve the quality of life for all !!...
 Promote environmental sustainability;
 Conserve and enhance natural
resources;
 Prevent environmental pollution
Construction industry is one of the most important
economic sectors, continuing, however, to rely
excessively on conventional building systems and the
use of not qualified labour which are characterized by
inefficient use of natural resources and non-renewable
energy and the excessive production of waste:
• Depletion of natural resources
(water, materials, …)
• Excessive energy consuption
• Destruction of the ozone
The environmental impact of construction activity has
gained increasing importance in the last few years
and become a Key subject for the education of every
professionals in this area.
For many years, the single most important indicator in
the practice of public purchasing was the Economic
factor;
Sustainable Development (SD)
Environmental and Social factors
Green Public Procurement (GPP)
• The involvement of the key stakeholders on the European and
national level, such as engineers, architects, building owners
and buyers, governments, user groups, etc. is essential in the
development of a Europe-wide sustainable development;
• The Government is the single largest public sector purchaser
with annual spending of millions on products and services.
Government procurement practices have an impact on the
national economy and the goods and services made available
in the market place;
• Federal employees can help reduce the impact of government
operations by promoting and following green procurement
practices;
• The procurement of environmentally responsible products will
only work if the communication between the user, the
purchaser and the supplier is effective.
• A building project can be regarded as
“sustainable” only when all the various
dimensions of sustainability are balanced:
environmental, economic, social and cultural.
However:
• The political, technological and cultural differences
between countries;
• The dependence of a subjective valuation involved in
each general methods developed so far.
• Several and different approaches for the
sustainability assessment;
• Different indicators have been developed by
administrations, organizations and industries at
local, national and global levels.
• Sustainable Certification Systems
– LEED (US)
– CASBEE (Japan)
– BREEAM (UK)
– HQE (France)
– German Sustainable Building Certification (Germany)
– SBTool (iiSBE) – SBTool VERDE (iiSBE Spain); Protocollo
ITACA (iiSBE Itália); SBTool CZ (iiSBE Czech Republic);
SBTool PT/MARS (iiSBE Portugal)
LEED - US
CASBEE (Japan)
BREEAM (UK)
SBTool
Voluntary Tools for Sustainability
Assesment
SBTool / MARS iiSBE Portugal
• Structure of the methodology MARS-H
• Selection of indicators and parameters
• Quantification of parameters
– Environmental
Using databases with the environmental impacts and embodied
primary energy for each construction solutions (walls, floors,
windows, doors, finishing’s, etc.)
– Societal
Using one of the different analytical methods or through
experimental monitoring
– Economic
Using costs databases or through the use of external Life-cycle
costing (LCC)
• Graded scale for performance assessment
The normalized values of the parameters and aggregated parameters
are converted in a graded scale using the following conversion:
• Representation and global assessment of a project
The assessment output are presented at two levels:
Level 1: Categories
Level 2: Sustainable dimensions and sustainable score
The assessment output is similar to the approach adopted by existing schemes
such as EU Energy labelling scheme for white goods and European
DisplayTM Campaign posters.
Some conclusions?
• Sustainable design, construction and use of buildings
are based on the evaluation of the environmental
pressure, functional, societal and economic aspects;
• The sustainable evaluation involves subjective rating
and depends above all on the type of solution, as well
as on socio-economic and cultural heritage of the
evaluators;
• Public purchasers are the leading actors of Sustainable
Development;
Some conclusions (2)
• Departments and organizations can and must reduce the
environmental impacts from their operations by planning
meetings and conferences that are as environmental
responsible as possible;
• Green alternatives can be more energy efficient. Initial
expenditure may be marginally higher but the average
payback periods for such initiatives are measured in months,
not years.
• Many waste minimization measures cost nothing, but yield
big results;
• The conservation of natural resources is becoming very
much important. If finite resources are not preserved now
there will be major scarcity issues in years to come.