SHPE - Winter 2008 - (Page 27) CAREERS & EMPLOYMENT T By Patty Enrado ¡Viva Verde! With Growing Environmental Concerns, Sustainability is Vital to all Engineering Disciplines F orward-thinking major companies have well established green initiatives. In some cases, they are even decades old. Couple that with the growing public awareness of the environmental impact of human consumption such as global warming, and you have a compelling case for green, or sustainable, engi- neering as an emerging discipline. Although green engineering programs at universities such as Virginia Tech have been in existence for more than 10 years, many more have been established in the last couple of years. Despite the proliferation of these programs, Braden Allenby, professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Arizona State University and principal investigator for the Center for Sustainable Engineering, emphasized, “Green engineering is part of good engineering, not a separate field of practice.” The Center for Sustainable Engineering, which was formed by Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Texas at Austin and Arizona State University in 2005, and is supported by the National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency, is shaping engineering for a new world. So are the National Academy of Engineering and professional organizations such as the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. “It does not mean we reject the disciplines upon which engineering is based, or begin turning out ideologists rather than engineers, but rather that we learn to augment the education and experience of engineers so that they can continue to do great engineering in a context that demands far more attention to environmental and social parameters than before,” Allenby said. As companies expand their green initiatives, skilled, innovative engineers will be instrumental in making those products and services smarter and more efficient. Delivering Green Products as Demand Rises Several initiatives of Duke Realty Corporation, one of the largest commercial real estate companies in the country, are driven by green engineering. “Green engineering means sustainable design,” said www.SHPE.org R Winter 2008 A rendering of green energy generated by solar panels. Steve Kennedy, executive vice president of construction. “This has become an expectation of the marketplace in design expertise. We have to have this to serve our clients.” Duke Realty looks at sustainability in three areas: commercial real estate asset management, design/build construction/development and ongoing corporate operations. The U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System is the industry standard for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. In 2007, Duke Realty worked to ensure that it had LEED accredited professionals in each of its offices nationwide by the end of the year. As a “build to suit” developer and design/build contractor, Duke Realty has received more requests in the last three to four years for green buildings, which require competency in designing and building structures that are efficient in how they use energy, water and materials. The company leases 116.9 million square feet of office and industrial properties in 19 cities. Its tenants look to Duke Realty to provide efficiency in operation and maintenance, including implementing Energy Star practices and products. Whether it is new development or existing portfolio of real estate, Kennedy said the company is constantly asking itself and its associates, especially its engineers: “What can we do to make them energy efficient?” Ultimately, Kennedy said, “Sustainability is just another competency that we have to continue to develop in our business.” For GE, its commitment to sustainability is evident in a 2006 contest it sponsored called the Ecomagination Challenge, in which college teams competed for $25,000 27 Courtesy of Constellation Energy http://www.SHPE.org
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