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President's Message - April 2012

At our March Branch meeting, Julie Smith, of the Office of Environmental Stewardship at the City of McKinney, gave a very interesting presentation titled “City of McKinney Sustainability Plan - The Future of Infrastructure.”  Following the luncheon, Jennifer A.K. Rivers, the Sustainable Infrastructure Systems Development Manager at ASCE, provided an overview of the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure and the ISI Envision Sustainable Infrastructure Rating System.

I must admit that the concept and definition of “sustainability” has eluded me, particularly in terms of many of the things that civil engineers design.    Isn’t it all sustainable?  And, how does the Envision system work?  So I did a little digging after the meeting.

Here's how ASCE defines sustainability: 

A set of environmental, economic and social conditions in which all of society has the capacity and opportunity to maintain and improve its quality of life indefinitely without degrading the quantity, quality or availability of natural, economic, and social resources.

Also, what is the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure?

To further a portion of ASCE’s mission to advance sustainable practices, ASCE joined forces with the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) and the American Public Works Association (APWA) to develop an infrastructure rating system that can be used to verify civil engineering projects as sustainable. The rating system is based on the approach known as the "Triple Bottom Line" including the consideration of economic, environmental, and social impacts. The rating system provides a uniform means of assessing sustainability benefits. The Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) was formed by ASCE, ACEC, and AWPA to administer the infrastructure rating system.

In her overview Jennifer Rivers discussed the ISI’s sustainable infrastructure rating system called Envision™. The system evaluates, grades, and gives recognition to infrastructure projects that provide progress for and contributions to a sustainable future. Additional information is available at www.sustainableinfrastructure.org and www.asce.org/Sustainability/ISI-Rating-System/.

Another valuable resource is our own, James Davis, who is our Branch Sustainability Technical Group Chair. James can be reached at 214.623.5878 or [email protected]. Good luck and keep James up to date with projects that you have that use the Envision rating system. We would love the feedback!

See you at our next meeting on Monday, April 9, 2012.