Sustainable Environmental Engineering

Preface

Sustainable Environmental Engineering (SEE) is to research, develop, design, build, operate, and maintain environmental engineering infrastructure systems (EEIS) that are economically feasible to reduce human health risk and minimize environmental damages so that man and the nature can coexist in harmony. EEIS include engineering systems of water distribution, sewer collection, water treatment plant (WTP) and wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), stormwater management gray infrastructure, and green infrastructure (GI). Twelve design principles (TDPs) have been developed to guide a designer to minimize footprint (FP) of human social and economic activities on the natural environments such as air, water, soil, and biosphere. FP on materials, energy, and water is typically quantified by life cycle assessment (LCA). In designing EEIS, a designer should apply the following TDPs: (i) integrated and interconnected alternatives, (ii) reliability on spatial scale, (iii) resiliency on temporal scales, (iv) economy of renewable materials, (v) efficiency of renewable energy, (vi) prevention strategies, (vii) recovery of materials and energy, (viii) early separation, (ix) effective treatment, (x) green retrofitting and remediation, (xi) optimization through modeling and simulation, and (xii) minimal life cycle costs and maximal benefits. The TDPs equip SEE designers with the knowledge and tools by quantifying uncertainty and sensitivity of the FP of EEIS alternatives. They provide ...