Sustainable and Green Ports: Application of Sustainability Principles to Port Development and Operation

In 1992, a UN conference on Environmental Development held in Rio de Janeiro reintroduced the concept of "sustainability"(advanced by the United Nations Commission on Environment and Development [UNCED] in 1987) and defined it as: "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." A year later the U.S. Green Building Council was established to formalize this concept by developing a green rating system — "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design" (LEED), applicable to new and renovated buildings. The system utilizes 69 certification points dealing with sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, air quality and innovation. Recently, several investigators, including this author, extended the applicability of sustainability to environmental science and engineering studies. This paper deals with sustainable port development and operation. During the last two decades, several ports introduced "Green Ports" programs to promote environmental stewardship. The paper depicts several examples and shows how these and more advanced programs can be made to fit a sustainability framework. Eight specific port operational topics (dredging, ballast water, habitat restoration, air quality, water conservation, energy conservation, material conservation and waste handling) are discussed using a sustainability perspective. It is believed that employment of a holistic approach and adaptive management built around a sustainability framework can promote innovative thinking, collaboration, consensus building and streamline regulatory mandates. While incorporation of some sustainability elements can increase initial costs, they can yield substantial life cycle savings resulting from lower energy and water consumption and wastewater and emissions production, lower O&M costs and savings from increased productivity and health. The paper cites port initiatives advanced by the Port of New York and New Jersey to show how this approach can be propagated to create a clean and green system that is self-pollinating and rewards heavily. Sustainability is an ideal stewardship-driven alternative to the reactive and piecemeal regulatory-driven modes of yesteryear.