Jin-Lee Kim, Ph.D., P.E. Civil Engineering & Construction Engineering Management

Jin-Lee Kim, Ph.D., P.E.Civil Engineering & Construction Engineering Management

California State University, Long Beach

Ethics in Sustainability in Green Construction

What is Sustainable Development?

What is Sustainability in Green Construction?

An integrative effort to transform the way built environments are designed, constructed, and operated

Why is sustainability in green construction necessary?

Primary energy use 40% Electricity consumption 72% CO2 emissions 39% Potable water consumption 13.6%

Global CO2 emissions by sector

#1 Buildings

#2 Transportation

#3 Industry

Why is sustainability in green construction necessary?

Green buildings can reduce

Energy use 24~50%

CO2 Emissions 33~39%

Water use 40%

Solid waste 70%

Green occupants are healthier & more productive In the U.S., people spend, on average, 90% or more of

their time indoors Have better indoor air quality & lighting

How to define sustainable construction?

Phase

Resources

Principles

Land Materials Water EnergyEcosystem

s

PlanningDevelopment

DesignConstruction

Use & OperationMaintenance

ModificationDeconstruction

1. Reduce2. Reuse3. Recycle4. Protect nature5. Eliminate toxics6. LCC7. Quality

Triple Bottom Lines for Sustainable Development

To establish metrics and rating systems for measuring buildings

The Structure of Matter & the Material World

“In short, physics has discovered

that there are no solids,

no continuous surfaces,

no straight lines;

only waves,

no things

only energy event complexes,

only behaviors,

only verbs,

only relationships.”

By R. Buckminster Fuller, mathematician and engineer(Ref.: Fuller, Buckminster. 1983. Intuition. 2nd Edition, San Luis Obispo, California: Impact Publishers.)

Basic Concepts and Vocabulary

Industry Ecology

The study of the physical, chemical, and biological interactions and interrelationships both between and among industrial and ecological systems


Construction Ecology A subcategory of industrial ecology for built

environment (1) Has a closed-loop materials system integrated with eco-industrial and natural

systems (2) Depends on renewable energy sources (3) Fosters the preservation of natural system functions

Application of these principles (1) Are readily deconstructable at the end of their useful lives (2) Have components that are decoupled from the building for easy replacement (3) Are composed of products designed for recycling (4) Are built using recyclable, bulk structural materials (5) Have slow “metabolisms” due to their durability and adaptability (6) Promote the health of their human occupants


Biomimicry The direct application of ecological concepts to the

production of industrial objects

Design for the Environment (DfE) = Green design Environmental considerations into product and process

engineering procedures, considering the entire product life cycle

Front-loaded design The investment of greater effort during the design phase to

ensure the recovery, reuse, and/or recycling of the product’s components

E.g. design for disassembly, recycling, reuse, remanufacturing, etc.


Ecological Economics The relationship between human economies and natural

ecosystems

Carrying Capacity The limits of a specific land’s capability to support people

and their activities

Ecological Footprint The land area required to support a certain population or

activity The inverse of carrying capacity The amount of land needed to support a given population


Ecological Rucksack and MIPS To quantify the mass of materials that must be moved in

order to extract a specific resource

Ecological Rucksack of Some Well-Known Materials

Material Ecological Rucksack

Rubber 5

Aluminum 85

Recycled aluminum 4

Steel 21

Recycled steel 5

Platinum 350,000

Gold 540,000

Diamond 53,000,000


Ecological Rucksack and MIPS

Materials Intensity per Unit Service (MIPS) Measures how much service a given product delivers The higher or greater the service, the lower the MIPS value An indicator of resource productivity, or eco-efficiency


The Biophilia Hypothesis An innate love for the natural world, supposed to be felt

universally by humankind Nine values of biophilia offering a broad design template for

sustainable building (1) Utilitarian value (2) Aesthetic value (3) Scientific value (4) Symbolic value (5) Naturalistic value (6) Humanistic value (7) Dominionistic value (8) Moralistic value (9) Negativistic value


1. Reducing the material requirements of goods and services

2. Reducing the energy intensity of goods and services

3. Reducing toxic dispersion

4. Enhancing materials recyclability

5. Maximizing sustainable use of renewable resources

6. Extending product durability

7. Increasing the service intensity of goods and services

Eco-Efficiency Seven elements of eco-efficiency (World Business Council on Sustainable Development)


The Natural Step A framework for considering the effects of

materials selection on human health

Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) A method for determining the environmental and

resource impacts of a material, a product, or even a whole building over its entire life

Life-Cycle Costing (LCC) A building’s financial performance over its life cycle Can be combined with LCA to consider both impacts


Embodied Energy The total energy consumed in the acquisition and

processing of raw materials, including manufacturing, transportation, and final installation

Products with greater embodied energy have higher environmental impact due to the emissions and GHG

A truer indicator of the environmental impact = The embodied energy / the product’s time in use

More durable products will have a lower embodied energy per time in use


Factor 4 and Factor 10 A set of guideline for comparing design options and for

evaluating the performance of buildings and their component systems

Factor 4 Factor Four: Doubling Wealth, Halving Resource Use Suggests reducing resource consumption to one-quarter of

its current levels

Factor 10: a parallel approach to Factor 4 Reducing resource consumption by a factor of 10

Major Environmental & Resource Concerns

Major environmental issues connected to built environment design and construction

Climate change Ozone depletion Soil erosion Desertification Deforestation Eutrophication Acidification Loss of biodiversity Land, water, and air pollution Dispersion of toxic substances Depletion of fisheries


1. Climate Change and Ozone Depletion Climate change

Long-term fluctuations in temperature, precipitation, wind, and all other aspects of the Earth’s climate

Ozone depletion Caused by the interaction of halogens-chloine-

and bromine-containing gases such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) use in refrigeration and form blowing, and halons used for fire suppression


2. Deforestation, Desertification, and Soil Erosion

Deforestation Large-scale forest removal

Desertification The destruction of natural vegetative cover

Soil Erosion A key factor in land degradation


3. Eutrophication and Acidification

Eutrophication The overenrichment of water bodies with nutrients from

agricultural and landscape fertilizer, urban runoff, sewage discharge, and eroded stream banks

Acidification The process whereby air pollution in the form of ammonia,

sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides, mainly released into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels, is converted into acids

The resulting acid rain makes damages to forests and lakes


4. Loss of Biodiversity The variety and variability of living organisms and

the ecosystems in which they occur 5. Toxic Substances and Endocrine Disruptors

Toxic substances A chemical causing death, disease, behavioral abnormalities, cancer,

genetic mutations, physiological or reproductive malfunctions, or physical deformities in any organism or its offspring, or that can become poisonous after concentration in the food chain or in combination with any other substances

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals Interfere with the hormones produced by the endocrine

system (e.g., dioxin, various pesticides, etc.) 6. Depletion of Metal Stocks

Why do we need ethics in sustainable development?

Ethics must be broadened to address relationships between people by providing rules of conduct that are generally agreed to govern the good behavior of contemporaries

In the context of sustainable development and sustainable construction, a more extensive set of ethical principles is required to guide ethical behavior

What ethical challenges do we face in sustainable development?

To make decisions about how to move forward to sustainable development over the generations

(1) An ethical framework that represents society’s general moral attitudes toward life and future generations

(2) An understanding of and willingness to accept risk (3) The economic costs of implementation and resulting

impacts

Ethical principles 1Intergenerational Justice & the Chain of Obligation

The concept that the choices of today’s generations will directly affect the quality and quantity of resource remaining for future inhabitants of Earth and environmental quality

This concept will include parent’s responsibility for enabling their offspring to meet their moral obligations to their children and beyond

Ethical principles 2Distributional Equity (Distributive Justice)

An obligation to ensure fair distribution of resources among present people in order to address the life prospects of all people on Earth

For example, resources include materials, land, energy, water, and high environmental quality

Six sub-principles in this concept: 1) Difference principle

2) Resource-based principles

3) Welfare-based principles

4) Desert-based principles

5) Libertarian principles

6) Feminist principles

Ethical principles 3Precautionary Principle

This principle requires the exercise of caution when making decisions that may adversely affect nature, natural ecosystems, and global biogeochemical cycles

Global climate change is an excellent example of the need to act with caution, which is the hottest topic in sustainability in green construction

The fundamental premise is that those who are responsible for implementing technologies must be prepared to address the consequences of their implementation

Ethical principles 4Reversibility Principle

It is notable that decision made by current generations can be undone by future generations

This principle is related to the precautionary principle in that the criteria must be observed before any adoption of a new technology

Like the precautionary principle, the fundamental premise of this principle is that those who are responsible for implementing technologies must be prepared to address the consequences of their implementation

Ethical principles 5Polluter Pays Principle and Producer Responsibility

Polluter pays principle addresses existing technologies that have not been subject to these other principles, while producer responsibility addresses whole life-cycle environmental problems of the production process from initial minimization of resource usage to recovery and recycling of products from waste

Mitigating damage and consequences on the individuals causing the impacts

Ethical principles 6Protecting the Vulnerable

There are vulnerable due to the destruction of ecosystems under the guise of development, introduction of technology, and general patterns of conduct

Toxic substances, endocrine disruptors, and genetically modified organisms are examples of technology introduction

To name a few, the examples of general patterns of conduct include war, deforestation, soil erosion, eutrophication, desertification, and acid rain

This ethical principle is vital because an enormous responsibility is placed on Earth’s present population

Ethical principles 7Protecting the Rights of the Nonhuman World

The extension of the principle of protecting the vulnerable to plants, animals, bacteria, viruses, mold, and other living organisms

Humans should consider restoring nature in all our activities, righting the wrongs of the past, and restoring the badly needed link between humans and nature

Ethical principles 8Respect for Nature and the Land Ethic

An ethics of respect for nature is based on the fundamental concepts that humans are members of the Earth’s community of life, all species are interconnected in a web of life, each species is a teleological center of life pursuing good in its own way, and human beings are not superior to other species

Nature’s Conscious Representatives

“In the end

We will conserve only what we love,

We love only what we understand,

We will understand only what we are taught.”

By Baba Dioum, Senegalese Ecologist(Ref.: Baba Dioum, Senegalese Ecologist. He is the General Coordinator of the Conference of Ministers of West and Central Africa, and

organization that represents 20 African countries. This quote is taken from a speech made in New Delhi, India, to the general assembly of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.)

Reading Assignments for Technical Report Eisenberg, David and Reed, William. 2003. “Regenerative Design: Toward the Re-Integration of Human Systems with

Nature.” IAEA, 2000. Ethical considerations in protecting the environment from the effects of ionizing radiation, International

Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, VIENNA. Dwivedi, O. P. 2008. “An ethical approach to environmental protection: a code of conduct and guiding principles,”

Canadian Public Administration, 35(3), pp. 363-380. Peterson, Gary. 1999. “Ecology of Construction,” in Construction Ecology: Ecology as the Basis for Green Buildings,

Charles J. Kibert, Jan Sendzimir, and Bradley Guy, eds. London: Spon Press. Wang, Wilfried. 2003. “Sustainability is a Cultural Problem,” Harvard Design Magazine, Spring/Summer 2003, No. 18. Goodin, Robert E. 1983. “Ethical Principles for Environmental Protection,” in Environmental Philosohpy, R. Elliot and

A. Gare, eds. London: Open University Press. Angyal, Thomas J. 2003. “Thomas Berry’s Earth Spirituality and the ‘Great Work,’” The Ecozoic Reader, 3, pp. 35-44. Berry, Thomas. 2002. “Rights of the Earth: Earth Democracy,” Resurgence, 214, pp. 28-29. Leopold, Aldo. 1949. A Sand County Almanac. New York: Oxford University Press. Taylor, Paul W. 1981. “The Ethics of Respect for Nature,” Environmental Ethics, 3, pp. 206-218. Fuller, Buckminster. 1983. Intuition. 2nd Edition, San Luis Obispo, California: Impact Publishers. Our Common Future, Bruntland Report, 1987. UN World Commission on Environment and Development, Oxford,

England: Oxford University Press. Howarth, Richard B. 1992. “International Justice and the Chain of Obligation,” Environmental Values, 1, Isle of Harris,

U.K.: White Horse Press. Center for Community Action and Environmental Justices, accessed from www.ccaej.org Drexler, K. Eric 1987. Engines of Creation. New York: Anchor Books. Rochlin, Gene I. 1978. “Nuclear Waste Disposal: Two Social Criteria,” Science, 195, pp. 23-31.

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Jin-Lee Kim, Ph.D., P.E. Civil Engineering & Construction Engineering Management