Sustainable Environmental Engineering

3Twelve Design Principles of Sustainable Environmental Engineering

A compass is more important than a map.

OBJECTIVES

• To define the twelve design principles (TDPs) and 36 design rules of sustainable environmental engineering (SEE)
• To identify major design challenges of environmental engineering infrastructure system (EEIS)
• To compare different sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the developed and developing countries and explore strategies to achieve those SDGs of the United Nations
• To design alternatives by integrating EEIS of water, wastewater, stormwater, solid waste, and energy to comply environmental regulations
• To apply system approach in terms of prevention, reduction, reuse, recycle, recovery, treatment, disposal, and remediation
• To evaluate design alternatives according to material and energy footprints, life cycle assessment, and benefit and cost ratio by using LCA tools
• To lay out SEE education roadmap through horizontal and vertical integration in environmental engineering (EE) curriculum

3.1 Sustainability

In the United States, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 1969 requires that “the Federal Government use all practicable means and measures and to create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony, and fulfill the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations.” The concern for future generation is the core foundation of sustainable development, which was introduced at ...