2013 Structures Congress Pre-Conferrence Sustainability Sessions

In addition to the sustainability seminars in the main Congress proceedings (see previous post), there is a special pre-conference session of seminars being presented by members of the Structural Engineering Institute's Sustainability Committee. This interactive seminar will give attendees a hands-on experience and overview of the New Essentials that every engineer should have in their Sustainability Tool Kit.

The lineup includes:

• Life Cycle Assessment - How to Decipher and Use LCA on a Project
Speaker: Frances Yang, P.E., LEED AP, Arup
• Disaster Resilience - How to Avoid Unsustainable Rebuilding, Before and After Failures Due to Natural Disasters
Speakers: Matthew Comber, P.E., LEED AP BD+C, Degenkolb Engineers; Lionel Lemay, P.E., S.E., LEED AP, National Ready Mixed Concrete Association
• Thermal Bridging - How to Recognize and Design Around Thermal Bridges
Speakers: Jim D'Aloisio, P.E., SECB, LEED AP BD+D, Klepper, Hahn & Hyatt; Russ Miller-Johnson, P.E., Engineering Ventures
• Infrastructure - What Green Infrastructure Means, and Understanding the Resources Available to Lower the Environmental impact of Infrastructure Projects
Speaker: Marty Chorkey, P.E., ENV PV, St. Louis Mayor's Office

In each session participants will take part in interactive exercises to support the information shared in presentations. Participants will leave the seminar with a functional understanding of the tools and strategies presented and prepared to apply this knowledge on their next project.

A special ticket is required. Early Bird registration was $99 (deadline now past), advance registration $175, and onsite $250. To be added to this seminar, you must check this item's box when registering.

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2013 Structures Congress Sustainability Program

Next year's Structural Engineering Institute convention, a.k.a. the Structures Congress, will take place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, May 2-4, 2013. SEI Sustainability Committee member, Adam Slivers, summarized the sustainability sessions for the Structural Engineers Association of Washington blog. The full account is reprinted below.

Two tracks of seminars will feature sustainability, and currently both are scheduled for Saturday morning. Sustainable Building Systems has two series with the following presentations:

 

Green Giants: Tall and Sustainable 

•    Informed Tall Building Design: Considering Embodied Environmental Impacts

•    Achieving Enhanced Seismic Design Using Viscous Damping Device Technologies

•    Innovation in Sustainable Engineering: 350 Mission

•    Sustainability Impact of Tall Buildings  

Aesthetics of Sustainable Structures 

•    Sustainable Structures through Morphogenetic Design
Comparing Adaptability - A Case Study of Three Historic Buildings

•    Structure as Aesthetic in Sustainable Design Case Study

•    In the Looking Glass of Sustainable Architecture

•    Structure as Aesthetic in Sustainable Design 

At the same time, Sustainability in Structures has two series with the following presentations:

Sustainable Systems and Materials

•    Specifying Sustainable Concrete: The Role of Performance Based Specifications

•    Long-term Service-Level Deflection Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Beams with Recycled Concrete Aggregates
Sorting Out the LCA Rhetoric: A Comparison of Life-Cycle Assessment Studies of Structural Systems and Materials

•    Challenges and Solutions in Design of Sustainable Building Structural Systems

•    Disaster Resilience and Sustainable Design: Quantifying the Benefits of a Holistic Design Approach   

Taking Measure of Structural Thermal Breaks

•    A study of the thermal performance of structural details using THERM

•    Use of Infrared Imaging to Identify Thermal Energy Losses Due To Structural Thermal Bridging

•    Design and Performance of Constructed Thermal Break Connections

•    Experimental investigation of insulated concrete sandwich panels reinforced with GFRP shear connector 

Click the series titles above to see the presentation authors and abstracts. The full technical program is here.

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ASCE Task Committee on Sustainability

The ASCE Task Committee on Sustainable Design was established in 2009 with the charge to:

·      Define the role of ASCE in advancing sustainability

·      Review work by the USGBC

·      Develop an action plan for ASCE to advance the principles of sustainable development

·      Determine if certification of civil engineers would advance sustainable design

The primary outcome of their efforts to date was the publication of a Sustainability Action Plan for ASCE. Learn more by following the link.

http://www.asce.org/Sustainability/ASCE-and-Sustainability/Committee-on-Sustainability/

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