environmental awareness in civil engineering designs

8/3/2019 Environmental Awareness in Civil Engineering Designs

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Environmental Awareness

in Civil Engineering Designs

Dr. Amirhossein Malakahmad

Civil Engineering Department

Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS


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When I went out to dinner with five different engineers

from three different companies recently, I never anticipated

that one of the common concerns this diverse group(design, manufacturing, applications, and research) had was

an ever-increasing involvement in environmental affairs. In

discussions which included packaging, ergonomics,

materials specification, disposal, component selection, andemployee and user safety, we came to the undeniable

conclusion that those who build into the next century

without regard for environmental issues will get in serious

havoc.

Dr. Steve O'Neil


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Why Environmental awareness?

Promoting green design, construction,reconstruction and operation of buildings hasnever been more critical than now due to theever increasing greenhouse gas emissions that

are fuelling climate change more quickly.

One of the greatest opportunity for achieving

significant reductions in climate changeemissions lies in how we create a sustainableapproach to construction and development toprotect and enhance the natural environment.


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Health care centers

Establishment of comprehensive clinical wastecollection, transportation and disposal system byMalaysian Government.

Clinical waste generation rate in Malaysia forvaries from 0.3 to 0.8 kg per occupied bed perday.

Internal transport routes (from wards/departments to central storage area) shall bedesigned to minimize the passage of wastethrough patient care areas and other clean areas.


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Environmental Design for Hospitals

Environmental aspects of effective hospitaldesign include sights, sounds, smells, taste and

tactile experiences.

In one hospital study, patients recovering from

abdominal surgery with a bedside window view

of nature (specifically trees) recovered faster,

reported better emotional well-being and

required less pain medication then if their

window view was a brick wall.


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Offshore facilities design

Domestic sewage, with or without the presenceof industrial wastewater, represents

contaminants of offshore to the receiving waters.

Massive quantities discharge causes ecological

problems such as eutrophication and direct

physical impacts to marine life such as poisoning,

smothering, and the disruption of growth,

respiration, reproduction, and the immune

system.


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Offshore facilities design

Sewage poses aesthetic and health risks tohuman populations and also acts as a vector

of other contaminants. The issue is more

critical with the discharges contain:

Oxygen demanding compounds

Persistent organic materials

Heavy metals


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Palm oil processing

In Malaysia, palm oil is very productive industrywhere palm oil mills are operated at least 300days per year. An estimated 30 million tons ofpalm oil mill effluent (POME) are produced

annually from more than 300 palm oil mills inMalaysia.

Although the palm oil industry is one of the majorrevenue earners for Malaysia, it has beenidentified among the largest sources of waterpollution due to the palm oil mill effluent (POME)characteristic.


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POME is a highly polluting wastewater that

can therefore cause severe pollution of

waterways due to oxygen reduction.

Parameters Average concentrations

pH 4.7

COD (mg/L) 78,000

BOD (mg/L) 46,800

TKN (mg/L) 757

TSS (mg/L) 24500


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Office building projects

Driven by environmental needs, Green BuildingIndex (GBI) was founded to drive initiative to leadthe property industry towards becoming moreenvironment-friendly.

Environment-friendly based buildings have 6defining criteria:

Energy Efficiency

Indoor Environmental Quality Sustainable Site Planning and Management

Materials and Resources

Water Efficiency

Innovation


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Mixed development

An environmentally-friendly mixeddevelopment is a sustainable mixed

development is a community of residents,

neighbors, workers, and visitors who strivetogether to balance ecological, economic, and

social needs to ensure a clean, healthy and

safe environment for all members of society

and for generations to come.


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Mixed development

To ensure a viable future, the developmentmust take a leadership role and address the

impacts placed on the environment by

urbanization and a growing population. Theseimpacts include:

Air pollution

Water pollution

Solid waste management

Climate change

Habitat loss


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References

Green Building Index, GBI Malaysia Environmental Design for Hospitals

Green City - Planning - City of Pasadena,

California Dr. Amirhossein Malakahmads lecture notes:

Marine Pollution and Control

Solid and Hazardous Waste Management

environmental awareness in civil engineering designs

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