November 24, 2011

Column | Korky Koroluk

Sustainability and infrastructure

The construction industrys drive for sustainability seems to be gaining momentum week by week.

New materials, new equipment, and new attitudes are driven by environmental concerns and a need to become more competitive in tight markets.

Nowhere is this more pronounced than in the infrastructure sector where — for all the spending in the last two or three years—he over-all problem remains: The state of our infrastructure is getting worse while demand for something new and better butts up against the reality of scarce funding.

With the global economy in precarious condition, a warming climate bringing more severe weather, with food security and resource depletion, people are taking a view that encompasses more than just their own town or city.

As the world’s population heads toward nine billion souls or more by 2050, the demand for infrastructure can’t help but increase. There is a compelling need to meet that demand in a sustainable way.

It’s interesting, therefore, to read about the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI), an organization that’s not yet a year old.

It’s based in Washington, D.C., but is aimed at the infrastructure industry across North America, and its aim is to institute a sustainability rating system across the continental market. Think of LEED, but for infrastructure, not buildings.

At the heart of the organization is Envision, a rating system which is a collaborative effort involving the American Council of Engineering Companies, the American Public Works Association and the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Last February, the groups announced the formation of the ISA and launched a website.

Envision will be voluntary but it is likely to be a hard sell in many areas because governments, whether local or provincial/state bodies, are often quick to see infringements upon their authority.

What the ISI is attempting with Envision is to produce a set of objective-based goals to guide the engineer, owner, constructor, regulator and policymaker as they strive for more effective levels of reliability, efficiency, and over-all project performance. The group claims its system is unusual because it can be applied to all civil infrastructure other than buildings and can be used to assess the sustainability of a project at any point in its life cycle—from inception on.

They’re billing it as a multidisciplinary tool that “provides measures by which a community can assess not only whether a project is done right, but whether it is the right project.”

The institute is looking upon Envision as an engineering tool, of course, but also a public administration tool that will “help firms and communities discuss infrastructure and sustainability in ways that citizens and public officials can understand and relate to community values.”

To this end, the Envision system includes a series of 10 primary criteria and 74 sub-criteria, along with a graduated performance achievement assessment to guide users through the various stages of planning and project delivery.

It takes the “triple bottom line” approach, which is often talked about but rarely achieved. It means that projects certified through the program, must enhance and restore environmental values, create societal benefits, and deliver positive return on investment for both public and private owners.

The ISI website has a lot more information about Envision and a place to post comments. The public comment period ends in five weeks. For more on Envision goto www.sustainableinfrastructure.org.

Korky Koroluk is an Ottawa-based freelance writer. Send comments to editor@dailycommercialnews.com

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