Balancing Resources and Wastes

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Green communities refer to places in which residents conserve resources and energy while minimizing waste. Environmental engineers must understand the needs of people as well as ecosystems in order to develop these types of communities. The broadest definition of environmental engineering therefore involves the design of structures that accomplish two objectives: use natural resources in a way that conserves them and manage waste so that it cannot harm the environment. To meet these objectives, engineers design sustainable loops within structures so that resources are reused and wastes recycled. These loops work in homes, office buildings, factories, or towns.

Sustainable loops make maximum use of energy in a building. The sustainable loop shown here circulates solar
energy as heat to do work. Water is used to carry heat into the building’s interior, and then cooled water returns to the solar panels to be reheated.

The terms sustainability and green have been used, and perhaps overused, to a point where they can lose their meaning. Nicholas Low, Brendan Gleason, Ray Green, and Darko Radović explained in their 2005 book The Green City, “Sustainability does mean something both important and new. It speaks of the greatest change in human thought and behavior for 3,000 years. It is fundamentally about the global environment. It is also about cities.” Specifically, sustainability has two major objectives that must both be met in order for it to be considered successful. First, sustainability must use the best methods at local and national levels for conserving all natural resources. These resources are water, soil, forest products, minerals, oil, clean air, and biodiversity, which is the variety of plants and animals
found in a specific place. Conserving natural resources enables industries to reduce the raw materials harvested from forests or oceans or any other source, and this in turn preserves species habitat, which is the best means of conserving biodiversity. Second, sustainability must conserve natural resources in a manner that allows people to have a comfortable lifestyle, that is, adequate shelter, food, clean water, and health. Environmental engineers
plan their projects so that they can meet both of these objectives.