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Sustainability Committee

As the stewards of society's physical infrastructure, civil engineers must lead the next shift in sustainable planning, design and construction. ASCE defines sustainability as "a set of environmental, economic and social conditions in which all of society has the capacity and opportunity to maintain and improve its quality of live indefinitely without degrading the quality, quantity or availability of natural, economic, and social resources."   -ASCE NATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY PAGE (http://www.asce.org/sustainability/)  

ENVISION  

Envision provides a holistic framework for evaluating and rating the community, environmental, and economic benefits of all types and sizes of infrastructure projects. It evaluates, grades, and gives recognition to infrastructure projects that use transformational, collaborative approaches to assess the sustainability indicators over the course of the project's life cycle.

This rating system is a collaboration between the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) and the Zofnass program for Sustainable Infrastructure at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. ISI is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization founded by the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), the American Public Works Association (APWA), and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

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ORANGE COUNTY PROJECT PROFILES

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HISTORY OF THE SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE
On January 16, 2008, the National ASCE Technical Advisory Committee on Sustainability published Sustainability Guidelines for ASCE Sections, Branches and Student Chapters. Many ASCE Sections, including Los Angeles, started the formation of Sustainability Committees and our Branch has also demonstrated leadership in advancing sustainability by creating a committee.
 
MEMBERSHIP
Active ASCE-OC Branch members with genuine interest and experience in sustainability can apply to become a member of the Sustainability Committee. If you would like to be a member of this committee, please send an email to one of the Chairs with a paragraph describing your interest and qualifications (see contact info above on the right). The Committee meets every other month from 7-8am in Irvine.
 
Members of the Committee include (pictured from left to right):
    David Eames, PE, LEED AP, ENV SP | [email protected]
    Eric Regueiro, PE, ENV SP | [email protected]
    Sherry Weinmeier, PE, LEED AP, ENV SP | [email protected]
    Jessica Cassman, PE, ENV SP, LEED AP | [email protected]
    Nathan Forrest, PE | [email protected]
    Janet Fordunski, PE | [email protected]
    Nathan Chase, PE, LEED AP ND, ENV SP (Co-Chair) | [email protected]
    Sam Ali, PE, LEED AP, ENV SP (Co-Chair) | [email protected]
    Gary Gilbert, PE, GE, ENV SP (not pictured) | [email protected]
    Michael Dole, PE, ENV SP (not pictured) | [email protected]
    Salem Afeworki, ENV SP, LEED GA (not pictured) | [email protected]
 
 
 
THE ROLE OF THE CIVIL ENGINEER IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Sustainable development is the challenge of meeting human needs while conserving and protecting the natural resource base essential for future development.
 
As the bridge between science and society, engineers must strengthen and broaden their education and find innovative ways to achieve needed development while conserving and preserving natural resources.
 
To achieve these objectives, ASCE promotes the following implementation strategies:
  • Promote broad understanding of economic, environmental, political, social, and technical issues and processes as related to sustainable development;
  • Advance the skills, knowledge and information necessary for a sustainable future; including habitats, natural systems, system flows, and the effects of all phases of the life cycle of projects on the ecosystem;
  • Advocate economic approaches that recognize natural resources and our environment as capital assets;
  • Promote multidisciplinary, whole system, integrated and multi-objective goals in all phases of project planning, design, construction, operations, and decommissioning;
  • Promote reduction of vulnerability to natural, accidental, and willful hazards to be part of sustainable development; and
  • Promote performance based standards and guidelines as bases for voluntary actions and for regulations in sustainable development for new and existing infrastructure.
THE GOALS OF THE ASCE OC BRANCH SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE

With a focus on Orange County based members, the Sustainability Committee strives to educate and further the state of the practice of sustainability in three broad areas:

Partnership
  • Provide networking and information exchange opportunities to our members by partnering with sustainable organizations such as USGBC, Green Global, Audubon Society, etc.
  • Engage student members by developing guest lecture topics and course modules on current sustainable practices.
  • Coordinate with the ASCE LA Branch Sustainability Committee and the National ASCE/TAC Committee on Sustainability.

Rating Systems

  • Advocate and provide resources to support the use of infrastructure rating systems.
  • Recognize sustainability with a Branch award for Sustainable Project of the Year.
  • Provide information and resources to encourage public agencies/owners to incorporate and adopt sustainability standards.

Education

  • Educate our members and the community at large about sustainable practices.
  • Organize field trips to certified sustainable projects.
  • Contribute to the body of knowledge of sustainable practices.
  • Provide resources to ASCE members to obtain sustainability credentials: LEED-AP, ENV-SP, STP, etc.
LINKS, LINKS, LINKS
ASCE
Sustainability Rating Systems
Materials and Processes
  • Coming Soon
Partners
State of California

Contacts

Sam Ali, PE, LEED AP, ENV SP
Sustainability Committee Co-Chair
Orange County Public Works
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Phone: 714-245-4585

Janet Fordunski, PE
Sustainability Committee Co-Chair
RMC, a Woodard & Curran Company
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Phone: 949-420-5300

Committee Files

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