Thoughts from the National Sustainable Design Expo

A few days ago, I braved the blustery April weather to check out the U.S. EPA’s National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It was exciting to see so many different groups pulling together for sustainable, innovative solutions to a wide array of problems—some of which can have serious impacts for mitigation and adaptation efforts for a changing climate.

One of the projects that caught my eye while I strolled around the Mall was a project by the University of Connecticut’s Engineers Without Borders chapter, which today wound up being declared one of this year’s winners. This group of students and their faculty supporters has been investigating ways to use local industrial byproducts such as steal slag and lime kilm dust to control erosion and to stabilize roads in Nicaragua.

According to the abstract the team submitted,

“The project will rely on the involvement of the local community with a design that can be implemented by them at very low cost compared to traditional erosion control practices. The construction of the road will significantly impact the local people, who rely on it for access to education, jobs and other infrastructure, but cannot afford to pave it.”

[Update: The team's faculty advisor, Dr. Maria Chrysochoou, passed alone a link to more info on the project, along with the above video. Our thanks to her for the information!]

It’s a reminder of how interconnected the various functional areas impacted by a changing climate are—something we fully recognize at LMI and discuss in the book. Think about it: this isn’t just about roads (infrastructure), or erosion (land use). There are implications that impact your supply chain and your ability to manage a fleet of vehicles—two critical elements of economic activity. There are public health considerations of paved areas as well. These structures can contribute to an urban heat island effect that must be addressed.

But the other lesson is in embracing and discovering advances that can be cost-effective and innovative while helping achieve an end in a fiscally responsible manner. You need your partners and suppliers to seek innovation, and be on board with your organizational philosophy as well.

In the book, we discuss how organizations can incentivize their suppliers to mitigate (and along the same lines, adapt) through their procurement guidelines. Greening your procurement guidelines means looking at the life-cycle of the infrastructure in question, considering its programming, design, build, and operation.

The paving of roads and highways is largely a state and local issue—fortunately there are partners out there preparing for such developments, like the Asphalt Pavement Alliance.

The bottom line is that if you’re the client, the people working for you will take their lead from where the business is coming from. That puts significant clout in the hands of those who seek out suppliers to do business with.

So congratulations to the UConn team, and all of this year’s winners, and to the EPA for a successful event!