Catalog Description: Methods and tools for economic and environmental analysis of civil systems. Life-cycle planning, design, costing, financing, and environmental assessment. Industrial ecology, design for environment, pollution prevention, external costs. Models and software tools for life-cycle economic and environmental inventory, impact, and improvement analysis of engineered systems. Focus on manufacturing, construction, transportation, operation and maintenance, and end-of-life.

Objectives:

• To develop an understanding of the economic and environmental implications of engineered systems. Examples focus on products, processes and services, with particular emphasis on infrastructure, transportation, manufacturing, and the service industries.
• To teach practical methods and tools needed to reduce the environmental footprint of engineered systems, thus contributing to sustainable development.
• To encourage research on the interactions of engineered systems and the environment.
• To educate "tomorrow's civil systems engineers and master integrators" about the concepts, methods, and tools of environmentally-conscious construction, transportation, and infrastructure.
• To gain hands-on experience with the latest environmental analysis software from around the world.

Text and Readings: The class Reader is available from Copy Central (on Hearst at Euclid).
 
You are responsible for the reading assignments for each class, in addition to the homework assignments. If you do not understand something in the text, please come and ask questions. Course lectures will not cover all the material for which you are responsible.
 
In addition to the Reader, the following references may prove to be useful (books marked with an * are on reserve in the Engineering Library):

• Graedel, T. E. and Allenby, B. R. (2003), "Industrial Ecology." 2nd ed., Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, ISBN 0-13-046713-8.
• Curran, M. (1996), "Environmental Life-Cycle Assessment." McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0-07-015063-X.
• Carpenter, T. G., Ed. (2001), "Environment, Construction and Sustainable Development - Volume 2 Sustainable Civil Engineering." John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., ISBN 0-471-81311-7.
• Haimes, Y. Y. (1998), "Risk Modeling, Assessment, and Management." John Wiley & Sons, Inc., ISBN 0-471-24005-2.
• Moavenzadeh, F (1994), "Global Construction and the Environment." John Wiley & Sons, Inc., ISBN 0-471-01289-0.
• Ossenbruggen, P. J. (1994), "Fundamental Principles of Systems Analysis and Decision-Making." John Wiley & Sons, Inc., ISBN 0-471-52156-6.
• ReVelle, C. and McGarity, A. E. (1997), "Design and Operation of Civil and Environmental Engineering Systems." John Wiley & Sons, Inc., ISBN 0-471-12816-3.

Assignments, Examinations and Grading:
 
Contributions to the course grade are:

• 4 homeworks @ 7% (28%)
• 1 field trip (5%)
• Midterm project report (12%)
• Final project presentation (5%) and final project report (35%)
• Final exam (15%)

Field Trips: Three field trips will be organized outside of class hours (on Fridays). Participation in one of these is mandatory. Naturally, space permitting, you are welcome on all field trips!

Course Project: The course will provide an opportunity and forum for the development of an original paper that analyzes current issues, and presents alternative solutions. The goal is to make an original contribution to the environmental systems analysis or policy literature and discussions.
 
A course project should be completed on a topic of your choosing, mutually agreed upon with the instructor. The instructor will review the abstract of the project, and approve it or suggest changes if appropriate. The project should be written up in a midterm and a final report of professional quality, addressing the relevant issues and actual or possible solutions, with references to the literature. A final presentation of the course project will be scheduled in the last two weeks of the semester.

Accommodation of Special Circumstances: Please see the instructor for accommodation of religious beliefs, disabilities, and other special circumstances.