Passive House Institute US

Is it possible to heat a house with a hair dryer? If so, it would probably be a Passive House.  The Passive House concept is currently the highest energy standard that residential homes can pursue. Over the past 10 years, more than 15,000 buildings in Europe have been designed to the Passive House standard. Learn more by following the link.

http://www.passivehouse.us/passiveHouse/PHIUSHome.html

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Disaster Resilience

A sustainably-built environment is not obtained just by using greener building materials or improving energy efficiency.  It also requires facilities to remain useful through disasters, environmental attack, and changes in the occupants and uses of a structure.  The goals of the Disaster Resilience Working Group are to:

1. Promote awareness of the importance to sustainability of disaster resilience.
2. Provide guidance that structural engineers can use to design disaster resilient structures.
3. Actively coordinate with and support efforts of other groups working in similar areas.

The Disaster Resilience Working Group is working on a short white paper that highlights the connections between disaster resilience and sustainability, and that provides broad recommendations.  The white paper is expected to be completed in May, 2013.

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Thermal Bridging Solutions in MSC

The Thermal Steel Bridging Working Group has teamed with the American Insititute of Steel Construction (AISC) Thermal Steel Bridging Task Committee to publish an informative inset in Modern Steel Construction titled "Thermal Bridging Solutions: Minimizing Structural Steel's Impact on Building Envelope Energy Transfer." Download a free copy here: http://msc.aisc.org/globalassets/modern-steel/archives/2012/03/2012v03_thermal_bridging.pdf 

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Structural Engineers Association of Northern California

The engineers of Northern California have long been leaders in sustainable design. Many of the SEI Sustainability Committee's founding members hailed from this region. The SEAONC Sustainability Committee continues to meet and discuss advances in sustainable structures. See their latest news by following the link.
http://www.seaonc.org/member/committees/sustain.asp

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What can structural engineers contribute to sustainable design?

There is so much more a structural engineer can do! The first step is to become educated on the issues and different roles within a project that structural engineers can play. The report “Sustainability Guidelines for Structural Engineers” is a good starting point. It covers topics from what can be done with each of the common Structural Materials, to Reuse, Design for Deconstruction and Adaptability, Integration with other building systems, Infrastructure, Life Cycle Assessment, and Green Codes. In the meantime, we will be populating the Resources page of this site with useful links. Please check back frequently.

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What does structural engineering have to do with sustainability?

Structural engineers affect the sustainability of our built environment in several ways. It is often said that sustainability stands on three legs of environmental, societal and economic sustainability. In terms of the environment, structures in the form of buildings and infrastructure take up an enormous amount of material resources and energy in their manufacture, transport and construction, and end of life. Structures are also the first item to be constructed on a project and can inhibit or enhance the subsequently installed systems that greatly affect operational energy performance. Thoughtful material selection and specification can drive responsible sourcing to reflect both environmental and societal stewardship. As engineers making material choices for infrastructure as well as buildings, we "spend" an enormous amount of carbon on behalf of the public. Long term energy performance of buildings is crucial to reducing are carbon emissions over time, but the carbon we embed in our structures through the materials we use is carbon we need to avoid spending now. Lastly, structural engineers are an indispensable player in the team of designers that connect the purse strings of the developer to the activities of the builder who procures and constructs the final product. Our communications and design decisions with these two parties largely determine whether the three pillars of sustainability can truly be upheld in balance.

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What does the SEI Sustainability Committee do?

Please see our Mission & Goals. The primary task of committee members since inception of the committee in 2005 has been towards publication of the ASCE Report “Sustainability Guidelines for Structural Engineers.”  Committee members are now pursuing specific objectives within various Working Groups. Working group meetings and the monthly conference calls for all members are posted on the Calendar.  Our monthly meeting minutes are available here.

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