SUSTAINABILITY TERM PAPER

The ASCE Vision for Civil Engineering in 2025 states that civil engineers in the future will be "entrusted by society to create a sustainable world and enhance the global quality of life ...". To that end, ASCE has modified its Code of Ethics to include "... improving the environment by adhering to the principles of sustainable development ...".

This semester, we will take a look at what the concrete and asphalt industries are doing to "Go Green". Each of you will write a short term paper (1500 words) on recent innovations to make concrete and asphalt more environmentally friendly. The term "environmentally friendly" has many different connotations and I am deliberately leaving it vague to encourage a wide variety of topics. Here, though, are a few ideas to start your thinking:

— Recycling asphalt and concrete to reduce resource consumption
— Using recycled materials (like ground glass, ground tires, roofing shingles, and printer toner) in asphalt and concrete
— Reducing the carbon footprint of cement kilns and asphalt plants
— Using alternatives to calcium carbonate in the manufacture of cement to reduce carbon emissions
— Curbing the heat island effect through the use of concrete pavements (or not)
— Burning alternative fuels (like spoiled perfume and scrap tires) in cement kilns and asphalt plants
— Using warm mix asphalt (WMA) instead of hot mix asphalt (HMA) to reduce fuel use and emissions
— Reducing urban noise pollution and the need for sound barriers by designing "quiet pavements"

Google terms like "green pavement" or "concrete sustainability" or "asphalt carbon footprint" and you'll get more hits than you can imagine.

The following deadlines apply:

2/27 - Submit your paper topic for approval via e-mail (so I have it in writing and with a time stamp) before class on this date. My goal is to have no duplication in topics; topics are approved on a first-come, first-served basis. For a list of the topics already taken, click here. I will update the list as I receive your topics.

4/16 - Submit your completed term paper. You can submit a paper copy or attach the paper to an e-mail, as long as I get it before the start of class on this day.

4/28 - Graded term papers will be returned.