Sustainable Land Development Today - September 2007 - (Page 21)

Melby said the structure really is not high-tech. “The really cool thing is that there is not a lot of sophisticated technology. It’s what people did a hundred years ago when they didn’t have mechanical air conditioning,” he said. “According to Energy Star, it is in the top 10 percent of the most energy-efficient buildings.” Set in that educational environment, students study courses like “Design of Sustainable Communities,” which goes beyond structures and gets into “life support systems” related to food, water, shelter, energy, waste and landscape management. They use a book Melby wrote with a colleague, Tom Cathcart, a Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, called “Regenerative Design Techniques: Practical Applications in Landscape Design.” The course work gets into building concepts, which have returned some interesting results. “They knocked the energy use down 70 to90 percent and then made up 10 to 30percent of the energy they needed with photovoltaics,” he said. As the Director of the Environmental Studies Minor Program, Yanarella relays that “within the College of Design, landscape architecture programs are going great guns related to sustainability. Architecture has developed four separate degrees, including an advanced degree in historic preservation,” he said. “In civil engineering, there’s a growing core of those who are looking toward some notion of environmental engineering.” They are investigating concepts related to the “ecological footprint” of a community, which is a way of estimating how much land is necessary to satisfy the human needs for such things as energy and food production on a yearly basis. “The idea behind this is to recognize a large city probably requires many times the land mass of the city itself,” he said. “How do you reduce the ecological foot print of a large city or small town so that it does not take away from the opportunities for communities elsewhere to utilize natural resources?” Interest there by students in the last few years has literally doubled among under graduates, he said. “I have a senior seminar on environmental studies and it’s now becoming increasingly difficult to teach it as a seminar because of the enrollment numbers.” Issues related to global warming and the impact on their generation has produced a vested interest by the younger generation, according to Yanarella. “There’s no question about that. It seems despite the long term indifference at the federal level toward global warming, students on campus have been keenly involved in discussions and debates about this,” he said. “Students want the university to strive toward carbon neutrality. The other manifestation is student interest in electric cars and hybrids.” Market Demand The job market is ripe with opportunity for those with a diploma in some of these areas, where demand is outpacing supply. Circle 161 • or www.LandDevelopmentToday.com/adinfo www.LandDevelopmentToday.com 21 http://www.concretewashout.com http://www.concretewashout.com http://www.LandDevelopmentToday.com/adinfo http://www.LandDevelopmentToday.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Sustainable Land Development Today - September 2007

Sustainable Land Development Today - September 2007 Contents Our Voice: Teaching and Learning Your Voice: Reader Response Editorial Board A 52-Mile Taking Fiber to the Front Doors of America Educators Incorporating Sustainability Land Planning: The Truth about Sprawl Irrigation: Communication Key Wastewater: Many Challenges Determine Sewer Options Regulation: Changing by State, Region, and Municipality Risk Management: Construction Defect Claims Recommended Reading Products/Services Showcase Advertiser Index Calendar Classifieds The Last Word

Sustainable Land Development Today - September 2007

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