India is celebrating the
50th Engineers’ Day today, September 15, 2017 to commemorate the
birthday of the legendary engineer Bharat Ratna Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. Considering
the theme “Role of Engineers in a developing India” to mark the occasion, Engineers
of the future need to think differently, in their approach of planning,
designing and executing the projects in the development of the nation. As Sir M
Visvesvaraya rightly said "Plan or Perish" is very relevant today. However, an
extension to that will be Plan, Design, Execute and sustain based on the
principles of sustainable development. To move towards conditions of
sustainability, engineers must design and deliver projects that address
sustainability holistically (from concept to demolition or reuse).
Traditional
Engineering Design Criteria (TEDC) incorporate Function, Cost, and Safety, wherein Sustainable Engineering Design
Criteria (SEDC), emphasis about Impact on people (society) and Impact on the planet (environment) in addition to TEDC. Such a design approach to reduce the overall human health and environmental impact of a product, process or service, where impacts are
considered across its life cycle is known as Design for the Environment (DfE).
Engineers
need to understand the relationships between population, the quantity and
availability of resources and the quality of the environment, and interrelated
impacts, of Population on resources and
Population on the environment. The intensity of consumption of energy,
water, land and material and the emission of pollutants and waste. The
diverse categories of environmental impacts needing consideration include resource use, human health, and ecological consequences.
Hence,
the Sustainable Engineering involves steps such as plan and manage effectively,
give sustainability the benefit of the doubt, if polluters are polluting, they
must pay, adopt a cradle to grave approach, do things right, having decided the
right thing to do. Beware of cost cutting that masquerades as value
engineering, practice what you preach.
Sustainable
engineering approach derive the benefits like increased material efficiency:
reducing raw material inputs and waste outputs, removing hazardous materials
for a more acceptable alternative, designing service systems to minimize
environmental impacts.
We always keep in mind the American Society of Civil
Engineers (ASCE) Two Principles of
Sustainable Development, listed as follows:
Principle 1- Do the Right Project. A proposed project's economic,
environmental and social effects on each of the communities served and affected
must be assessed and understood by all stakeholders before there is a decision
to proceed with a project. Consider non-structural as well as structural
(built) solutions to the needs being addressed and
Principle 2 - Do the Project Right. The
engineer shall actively engage stakeholders and secure public understanding and
acceptance of a projects economic, environmental and social costs and benefits.