Solutions Manual (version 2) for:
Environmental Engineering: Fundamentals, Sustainability, Design
1.1 Write an official 1-page office memo to your instructor that provides definitions for: (a)
Sustainable Development (by the Bruntland Commission), (b) Sustainability (according to the
American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (AAEES) Body of Knowledge),
(c) Sustainability (according to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Body of
Knowledge), and, (d) Sustainable Development (according to the National Society of
Professional Engineers (NSPE) Code of Ethics).
Solution:
Student responses will vary. See the next page for a full example memo.
Date: February 10, 2010
To: James R. Mihelcic, Civil & Environmental Engineering
Subject: Definitions of Sustainable Development
1.2 Write your own definition of sustainable development as it applies to your engineering
profession. Explain its appropriateness and applicability in 2-3 sentences.
Solution:
Student responses will vary.
1.3 Identify three definitions of sustainability from three sources (for example, local, state or
federal government; industry; environmental organization; international organization; financial
or investment organization). Compare and contrast those definitions with the Brundtland
Commission definition. How do the definitions reflect their sources?
Solution:
Student responses will vary.
1.4 Relate the “Tragedy of the Commons” to a local environmental issue. Be specific on what
you mean in terms of the “commons” for this particular example, and carefully explain how
these “commons” are being damaged for current and future generations.
Solution:
Student responses will vary.
1.5 Research the progress that two countries of your choice (or your instructor’s choice) have
made in meeting each of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Summarize the
results in a table. Among other sources, you might consult the UN’s MDG Web site,
www.un.org/millenniumgoals/.
Solution:
Mali
Ghana
Target
Indicator
First Year
Latest Year
Progress
First Year
Latest Year
Progress
Value
Year
Value
Year
Value
Year
Value
Year
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Reduce mortality
of under–five–
year–old by two
thirds
Under–five mortality
rate (deaths of children
per 1,000 births)
257
1990
175.6
2011
Off track
121
1990
77.6
2011
Below
target
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Reduce maternal
morality by three
quarters
Maternal mortality ratio
(maternal deaths per
100,000 live births)
1100
1990
540
2010
Off track
580
1990
350
2010
Off track
Access to
universal
reproductive
health
Contraceptive
prevalence rate
(percentage of women
aged 15–49, married or
in union, using
contraception)
6.7
1996
8.2
2006
Off track
17.2
1992
23.5
2008
Off track
Unmet need for family
planning (percentage of
women aged 15–49,
married or in union,
with unmet need for
family planning)
27.5
1996
27.6
2006
Off track
36.9
1993
35.7
2008
Off track
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Halt and begin to
reverse the
spread of
HIV/AIDs
HIV incidence rate
(number of new HIV
infections per year per
100 people aged 15–49)
0.09
2001
0.06
2009
Below
target
0.18
2001
0.15
2009
Off track
Halt and begin to
reverse spread of
tuberculosis
Incidence rate and death
rate associated with
tuberculosis
163
/41
1990
68/9.7
2010
On track
155/
36
1990
86/8.7
2010
On track
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
Mali
Ghana
Target
Indicator
First Year
Latest Year
Progress
First Year
Latest Year
Progress
Value
Year
Value
Year
Value
Year
Value
Year
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
1.6 Go to the U.S Department of Energy’s website (www.doe.gov), and research energy
consumption in the household, commercial, industrial, and transportation sectors. Develop a
table on how this specific energy consumption relates to the percent of U.S. and global CO2
emissions. Identify a sustainable solution for each sector that would reduce energy use and CO2
emissions.
Solution:
Students will need to do some research on the web for this item. Energy consumption values can
be found on the Annual Energy Review website
(http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/index.cfm) . Greenhouse gas emissions by sector
can be found on the EPA (http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/global.html ) or
IPPC web pages.
Sector
Total U.S. Energy
Consumption in
2012 (trillion Btu)
Percent of U.S.
Emissions
(2012)
Percent
Global
Emissions
(2004)
Sustainable
Solution
(Students
answers may
vary)
Household
20,195
21.3%
8% (includes
household &
commercial
Solar panels
Commercial
17,507
18.4%
(see above)
LED light fixtures
Industrial
30,562
32.2%
19%
Carbon tax
Transportation
26,712
28.1%
13%
Public
transportation
infrastructure
Total
94,977
100%
See figure
below for
more details
1.7 As a consumer interested in reducing your carbon emissions, (a) which should you do: (1)
install more efficient lighting for your home or (2) buy a car that gets higher miles per gallon?
To answer this, consider that a 100W light bulb that is run 3 hours a day every day will use
around 100 kWh a year. A high efficiency light uses about 25% of a conventional light bulb.
Replacing it with a 25W Compact Fluorescent Bulb would save 75 kWh a year. This would
equal 150 lbs of carbon dioxide or the same amount of carbon dioxide emissions associated with
burning 7.5 gallons of gasoline. (b) Given that the average US household uses 10,000 kWh a
year of which 8.8% is lighting, how many gallons of gas and lbs of CO2 could be saved by
switching all of the bulbs in a home? (c) For comparison, if you drove 12,000 miles a year and
upgraded from a car that gets the national average of 20 mpg to one that got 30 mpg, how much
would you reduce your gas consumption and CO2 emissions on an annual basis? (d) What if
you upgraded from a car that gets 30 mpg to 37 mpg? (combustion of 100 gallons of gasoline
releases 2,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide).
Solution:
a. You would choose an answer depending on your house, your lighting habits, your type of car
b.
c.
d. Switching from a 30 mpg vehicle to 37 mpg vehicle results in a 10 mpg savings.
1.8 Visit EPA’s Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award website at
www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/pubs/pgcc/past.html. Select a past award–winning project. Based
on the description of this project, what are the environmental, economic and social benefits of
this green chemistry advance?
Solution:
Student responses will vary. An example of an award-winning project of the Green Chemistry
1.9 Discuss whether shoe A (leather) or shoe B (synthetic) is better for the environment based on
the data in Table 1.8. Is it possible to weight one aspect (air, water, land pollution or solid
waste) as being more important than another? How? Why? Who makes these decisions for our
society?
Table/1.8 Hypothetical Life Cycle Environmental Impacts of Shoes on a basis of per
100 pairs of shoes produced
Product
Energy
use
(BTU)
Raw material
consumption
Water use
(gallons)
Air
polluti
on
(lbs.)
Water
pollution
Hazardous and
solid waste
Shoe A
(leather)
1
Limited supply;
some renewable
2
4
2 lb. organic
chemicals
2 lb. hazardous
sludge
Shoe B
(synthetic)
2
Large supply;
not renewable
4
1
8 lb. inert
inorganic
chemicals
1 lb. hazardous
sludge; 3 lb.
nonhazardous
sludge
Solution:
Student responses will vary.