Debate Proposition 3

1
Debate Proposition 3
Since design is their responsibility, Architects
and Engineers are the ones to blame for the
perception that sustainable or green design is
a fringe movement that at best is an indulgence
and at worst an expensive and often ineffective
exercise that ultimately has reduced market
appeal.
Affirmative Patrick Pecunia Bob Faulhaber Tiffany
Grant
Negative Judd Ledet Gonzalo Stabile Chalit
Sunthudkarn
2
Debate Outline

• Lack of support for Sustainability in the design
  community
• Negative perceptions that exist and possible
  explanations for those perceptions

3
The professional community

• Only 2 of the top 10 design firms mention
  sustainability in their websites
• Only Bechtel and CH2MHILL have highly visible
  programs

4
The Educational Community

• Only 1 course related to sustainability in the
  engineering curriculum (and its optional)
• Very few courses regarding sustainability
  nationwide

5
The Government

• The federal government is working to put
  regulations in place to enforce sustainable
  development
• Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development
• State governments are also doing their part
• New York Tax incentives for Green Buildings

6
The Owners

• Owners are slow to embrace new ideas and new
  technologies
• Owners hire designers for their expertise
• It is the designers responsibility to explain
  the benefits of sustainability

7
Traditional Design

• Traditionally, engineers have found cheaper ways
  to extract more resources
• Have not focused on ways to recycle or use less

8
Why Not??

• The design community is not embracing sustainable
  design why not?
• There are numerous reasons that the design
  community looks at sustainability in a negative
  light.

9
The Issue

• Its not that engineers want pollution but when
  called on to implement a sustainable program,
  they have to take a realistic look at what is
  being asked of them.

10
No Definition of Sustainability

• Thousands of definitions with no central
  organization or authority
• Without organization can it be taken seriously?
• Sustainability just the recycling of buzz words
  with everyone just repeating themselves

11
Is it Realistic?

• The goals set by supporters of sustainability are
  unreasonable

• People want to drive their cars by themselves
• But dont want to drill for more oil to run them
• Supporters want to save clean water
• But they complain about a lack of waterpressure
  in the shower and the functionality of toilets

• People want huge SUVs
• But dont want them to burn gas
• Californians dont want more power plants that
  cause pollution
• But they complain about rolling blackouts and
  expect the federal government to bail them out

12
Is it Realistic?

• With such mixed messages and impossible requests,
  the engineers who are responsible for coming up
  with solutions to societys problems should be
  frustrated

13
Is it Possible?

• The Natural Step was organized by a doctor what
  does he know about implementing sustainability
• Its easy to make a website and complain but it
  is the engineers who must deal with reality
• How many sustainability websites were done by
  engineers

14
Is it Possible?

• You cannot build a facility on buzzwords alone
• Few of the websites offer any solutions
• Only a forum to complain

15
What is the role of the engineer?

• Engineers do work to make the world a better
  place but they do not to it under the banner of
  sustainability

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Responsibility of Engineers

• The buck stops with engineers
• They must deal with the physics, mechanics,
  economics and functionality of systems they do
  not have the luxry of simply making a website to
  complain
• They are not responsible for saving the world

17
What would the engineer do?

• Cars that run on nothing
• Cities powered by sunshine
• Chemical plants that take nothing from the earth
  and generate no wastes
• Water that is recycled from the toilet to the sink

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The Other Side

• Are the engineers who support it really engineers
  or just CONSULTING engineers who do nothing but
  generate paper at 100/hr?

19
Negative

• Architects and Engineers have done their best to
  provide effective green design solutions,while
  others have given green design bad publicity by
  means of their skewed perceptions of sustainable
  design.

20
In Fact

• Buildings in 2000 are on average 40 more energy
  efficient than those built before 1978. (DOE
  1996)
• In the last 25 years, energy efficiency of new
  homes has doubled. The residential building
  industry has greatly improved the energy
  efficiency of its products and systems since the
  energy crisis of the mid 1970s. (NAHB Energy
  Subcommittee Chairman Eric Borsting)
• Today s multifamily residences have taken a
  quantum leap for ward in terms of energy
  efficiency. We are all doing a better job of
  insulating, and our heating systems have changed,
  especially in the Mid Atlantic area. Maryland
  home builder Tom Bozzuto. )

21
Quotation from WWW board

• I don't think so...! We have been designing with
  sustainabilty for more then thirty years in
  Europe. But Architects are not in the control of
  politics! - Jacques Pochoy
• ." What happens to the environment is determined
  by those who have authority, which means money.
  Clients prescribe what will be built and, to a
  large extent, how it will be designed. Architects
  serve clients. - Paul Malo
• I dont agree.Most people want to expand human
  rights. Human Rights entail congestion, pollution
  and cacauphony. - d

www.designcommunity.com
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Well then who is responsible?

• Government
• User
• Client
• Public

23
Government

• Not enough proper federal regulations
• Not enough participation on the state and local
  scale
• Not enough standardization practices or
  utilization of indicators
• Little RD

24
User

• Buildings are not used properly
• Buildings are not maintained either
• Result
• Does not meet designed levels of
  sustainability thus propagating this negative
  perspective.

25
Questionnaire Respondents' Ranking of Barriers to
More Widespread Sustainable Building Practice
Done by Miriam LandmanM.A., Urban and
Environmental Policy, Tufts University Summer
1999
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Supporting Opinion

• The major obstacle to change (implement
  sustainable design) is perceived to be a lack of
  client demand - London Borough of Hillingdon
• Early experience with sustainable design shows
  that there is need for client buy-in. If the
  client does not want it, sustainable aspects will
  not be included in the design Harvard Green
  Campus Initiative Program

27
Client

• Defines construction project not the architects
  and engineers.
• Does not dedicate time and effort into becoming
  aware.
• Not open to new ideas or design.
• Not aware of benefits.

28
Public
 Note Ecological design is clearly an ethic, it
is not, at present, fully conceived as an
aesthetic and people concern architecture most in
aesthetic.

• Aesthetics, not sustainability

Which one you like?
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Public

• Consumerism, not sustainable
• Consumerism Belief in benefit of consumption
• Reactive, not Proactive