Course ID: CIVE 240 (University of Waterloo), Offered in: Spring 2016, Enrollments: 110, Class hours: 3hr/wk
Major Topics
Introduction to Sustainability
- Quantifying sustainability, Sustainability Index, The IPAT Equation, Ecological Footprint, Carbon Footprint, Water Footprint
- MDGs and SDGs, Earth carrying capacity and population growth; J-shaped (Logistic curve) and S-shaped growth concepts
- Sustainable design; People-centered design and IDEO’s human-centered design, Triple bottom line
Concepts of Life Cycle Analysis
- Life Cycle Thinking, Definition of Product, Functional Unit, Reference Flow
- Importance of life cycle thinking
- Life cycle assessment framework
- LCA Phases: Definition of goal and scope; inventory analysis of data, impact analysis
- Materials flow analysis techniques
- Embodied water; Embodied energy
Transportation Sustainability
- A big picture of transportation engineering; historical development of technologies in transportation
- Emerging technologies for transportation sustainability
- Transportation infrastructure and sustainability
- Transportation theories and models – an overview
- Utility theory and transportation mode choice
- Urban transportation systems and the impact on environments
Sustainable Built Environment
- Definition of built environment, Importance of sustainable built environment
- Concept: Land-use and land cover change, Development, Urban sprawl, Mix-use development
- Zoning, regulations and importance in sustainable development, Building envelope, Setback, FAR
- New urbanism, Smart growth, Environmentally sensitive design, Green infrastructure
- Low impact development, Conservation design, Green building, LEED rating and certificate system
- Strategies for building energy conservation
Climate Change
- Climate and weather, Impacts of climate change, Causes of climate change – Greenhouse gas and effects
- Understanding the science of climate change, Albedo, Estimating average temperature of earth
- Climate forcings, Global warming potential (GWP), Control climate change
Sustainable Air Quality
- Importance of Sustainable Air Quality; Impacts of Poor Air Quality; Highlights and Outcomes of North American Regulations on Clean Air; NAAQS, CAAQS; Determine AQI and Interpreting AQI for Health Effects
- Fundamentals of Air, Air Pollutants and Emissions; Detail about Six Criteria Pollutants – Sources, Impacts and Mitigation Techniques; Estimate Emissions; Estimate Dispersion of Air Pollutants
- Type of air pollutants; Sources, environmental and health effects and mitigation techniques of air pollutants: CO, NOx, N2O, VOCs, O3, PM, SO2, Pb and NH3
- Methods of Estimating Emissions and Models, Dispersion Models
Sustainable Energy
- Fundamental of energy, Different energy sources and characteristics, Role of energy on the economy
- Analysis of local, national and global trends in energy consumption, Technical function of fossil fuel, solar, wind, hydraulic, nuclear, geothermal power systems
- Mathematical model on sustainable energy
Sustainable Water Quality
- Background on water quality, Water pollution, Water quality parameters
- Biochemical oxygen demand, Nutrients in water, Modeling water pollution, Modeling dissolved oxygen in a stream
- Biogeochemical cycle, Residence time, Hydrologic cycle, Pathways of water flow; evaporation, transpiration, infiltration, precipitation, runoff
- Watershed, Water use: withdrawal, nonwithdrwal, consumptive water use, per capita water use, water price, Water budget