Leveraging Sustainable Infrastructure for Resilient Communities

Global mean surface temperatures and global methane emissions have steadily risen over the past 40 years. Residential food waste disposal has increased by as much as 30% since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and landfills are reaching capacity more quickly as up to 40% of food is thrown into the trash. A residential food disposal collection campaign to recycle food waste and carbon emissions could be implemented to grow economically sustainable algae on landfills. NASA Surface Attached BioReactor (SABR) technology optimizes growth performance of algae, reduces the capital expenditure by 69% compared to clear polyvinyl chloride (PVC) photobioreactors, and the landfill infrastructure reduces the operational costs for growing algae by 42%. The novel Eat Prosperity Campaign food waste collection and landfill biodiesel model may outcompete standard drilling methods, yielding revenue greater than $100 million, diverting more than 200,000 t of municipal solid waste, and recycling 13,000 t² of methane from food waste annually, per county landfill. The Eat Prosperity Campaign model for food waste collection provides a significant abatement of global greenhouse gas emissions potential within a communal behavioral change. By allowing residents within communities the opportunity to recycle at the source of disposal and actively participate, business-as-usual estimations of global greenhouse gas emissions could be offset by as much as 47 GtCO₂ in 20 years compared to current 2030 projected estimates.

Resilient and sustainable infrastructure, including buildings, bridges, and lifeline systems, plays a central role in the socio-economic development of our communities. Regardless of size and population number, communities rely on critical infrastructure to serve their basic needs during normal circumstances and in the aftermath of a natural disaster (e.g., earthquake, hurricane, tornado, and flooding). The failure of one of these infrastructure systems might provoke service disruption in other infrastructure, impacting postdisaster management operations and interrupting daily activities in the whole community. This work investigates the interconnection between infrastructure and its relation to community resilience through use of examples. First, case studies of critical interconnected infrastructure, such as natural gas lines and power transmission systems, are discussed. Then, the effects of the failure of a single infrastructure system on the whole infrastructure network and on the community are analyzed. Finally, design recommendations on how to holistically enhance the critical infrastructure are presented.

Disaster preparedness needs regular updates to identify strengths and weaknesses of available resources and increase resilience. This study overviews activities to increase collaboration between infrastructure professionals, emergency personnel, and decision makers. Two virtual Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program tabletop exercises were held. They focused on Southeast Texas (SETx) but are applicable to other disaster-prone areas. The SETx Flood Exercise identified major strengths for disaster resilience of the various parties and recommended some areas for enhancement. The Sabine River Authority Exercise focused on a river gauge website which was found to be very useful but for added ease of use upgrades might include enhanced map symbology and comparative and predictive data. Obtaining familiarity with running virtual tabletop exercises can aid in preparation for, response to, and recovery from disasters that affect our infrastructure especially under multi-disaster conditions and virtual exercises may be more accessible and inclusive for the varied parties involved.

The General Services Administration (GSA) owns and maintains the largest portfolio of facilities in the United States. This infrastructure stock requires significant resources to operate, including ample, reliable access to electricity, natural gas, and water. The Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering at the United States Military Academy has partnered with the GSA to study the opportunity to better integrate building assets with local energy infrastructure. The project is part of the GSA’s Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings (GEB) program and is focused on the Central Islip Federal Courthouse complex. Using a case-study approach, the project explores the capability for the courthouse to improve how energy is produced and consumed with the goals of reducing operating expenses, improving environmental impacts, and integrating more intelligently with the local grid. A technoeconomic model was built and a sensitivity analysis completed to consider the tradeoffs of conceptual design alternatives, including solar photovoltaics and energy storage. The solutions presented are placed in context with the broader literature on GEB to support the future of energy infrastructure. The findings of the project show that a carport style photovoltaic array in an existing parking lot at the courthouse has an estimated payback period of 19 years, while the best ground mounted array has a payback of eight years, albeit a lower generation capacity compared with the larger carport array.

Impacts of climatic events to wastewater infrastructure in recent years have highlighted the importance of planning for resilience. Orange County Sanitation District and Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts have performed assessments to identify climate threats, assess vulnerabilities, and develop resilience measures to adapt existing wastewater facilities to climate change. Coastal and inland facilities were assessed including six wastewater treatment plants, 16 pump stations, and collection systems. Climate threats considered in the assessments included flooding, sea level rise, tsunami, wildfire, extreme heat, extreme winds, and drought. The collection of climate threats, vulnerabilities, and resilience measures have been summarized in climate resilience plans, which provide a systematic approach for adapting existing infrastructure to climate change. Comparison of resilience plans for coastal versus inland facilities identified flooding due to sea level rise as the main climate threat for coastal facilities while wildfire, localized flooding, and extreme heat posed the greatest threat to inland facilities.

There is an increasing interest in sustainable infrastructure, including pavement structures and materials. Replacing high-cost materials used for producing cementitious concrete and asphalt mixtures, with recycled products, provides the greatest return on the investment. For flexible pavement surfaces, this means replacing the new aggregates, virgin bituminous binder, and synthesized polymers. Using a triple bottom line approach, the economic, social, and environmental cost of different asphalt mixes, containing one or more of recycled asphalt, crumb rubber, processed plastic, and crushed glass, were combined and objectively compared. It was concluded that recycled asphalt millings provide the greatest single opportunity for more sustainable airport asphalt surfaces, with a triple bottom line value 30% lower than the standard asphalt mixture. However, the relative cost of the new and recycled materials, as well as the recycled material content, had a great influence on the relative value of sustainable asphalt mixtures for airport pavement surfacing.

While the benefits of walkability are clear, it could be difficult how to determine the best approach to budgeting on sidewalk development decisions in order to maximize the efficiency of the investment. This paper presents a methodology and a tool to evaluate the walkability of different areas in a city with focus on the gap between walk needs of residents and built environment of the neighborhood. To do that, we first characterize walkability and the most contributing socio-demographic variables on it, like trip purpose, number of vehicles in the household, and the age of individuals. Next, through running principal component analysis, we define a unique index for walkability, which is used to find areas with greatest demand of walkability in their neighborhood through hotspot analysis. Finally, using the Pedestrian Environment Index as an indicator for walkability supply of the neighborhood, we identify the most efficient places to develop sidewalk by finding the gap between demand and supply of walkability in each neighborhood. In addition to providing an informative location-based measure for policymakers, the methodology opens avenues to address some equity concerns related to walkability and prioritize neighborhoods for any improvement based on the needs of the residents.

Deployment of green roofs in building structures has gained popularity as a sustainable practice to mitigate climate change consequences partially through reduction of environmental footprints and to enhance the economic and social values of the built infrastructure. Various standards highlight design, construction, maintenance, and operation challenges and opportunities for green roofs. Further, building codes and regulations consider changes in loading, thermal, acoustic, fire demands, and capacities associated with green roofs. These changes are not necessarily aligned with each other. Hence, decision-making procedures for the application of green roofs involve a comprehensive analysis of all structural, social, environmental, and economic parameters. Sustainability rating systems provide an opportunity to simplify comparative evaluations of green roof systems, incorporating a broad range of parameters in an integrated approach. This study maps sustainability credits to green roof standards for an occupied structural roof. The study incorporates the contribution of the green roof to the performance of the building envelope, like thermal performance, with provided guides complementing this mapping to evaluate the effectiveness of the mapping and highlight challenges in the life cycle assessment process. Conclusions facilitate discussions on objective performance measures of green roofs for different structural systems and occupancies.

About 40% of the world’s population lives within 100 km of the coast and is threatened by sea level rise and extreme weather events associated with increasing global temperatures and climate change. These hazards exacerbate the vulnerability of coastal communities to shoreline erosion and damage by waves and flooding. This project focused on the effectiveness of flexible vegetation as a noninvasive, sustainable, and resilient shoreline protection alternative. An idealized physical model was designed and constructed in a wave flume. Water surface elevations were measured seaward and leeward of the vegetation and a baseline case subjected to multiple wave conditions at two different water depths, to assess the effect of vegetation emergence or submergence on wave attenuation. Considering significant wave heights, transmission coefficients ranged from 0.32 to 0.39 and 0.73 to 0.90 for emergent and submerged conditions, respectively. Considering mean wave heights, transmission coefficients ranged from 0.60 to 0.70 and 0.82 to 0.91 for emergent and submerged conditions, respectively. Emergent vegetation resulted in smaller transmission coefficients (greater wave height attenuation) due to interruption of the entire wave profile.

The current concern for climate change and social equity in the US, highlighted by the global COVID-19 pandemic, has increased public attention on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. One of the primary challenges the country faces is the issue of infrastructure, which has a profound impact on environmental and social conditions. Private entities have an opportunity to address ESG factors and improve climate resiliency, environmental justice, and economic opportunity through public–private partnerships (PPPs) that are focused on America’s aging infrastructure. It is also an opportune time to initiate infrastructure projects as they align with the Biden Administration’s aggressive climate change and economic stimulus plans. This study utilized publicly available information, including sustainability reports, news sources, and research papers, to explore examples of PPPs and current ESG trends, with a focus on environmental criteria, and demonstrated how private investment in infrastructure can produce mutually beneficial results for the private entity and society.

This study examines ASCE’s draft sustainable infrastructure standard—ASCE/COS 73 Standard Requirements for Sustainable Infrastructure—to assess its alignment with current construction and design practices. A team of students and faculty from the United States Military Academy applied the draft document to four current and planned infrastructure projects. The scope of the study included an analysis of a university dormitory, a mass-timber residential skyrise, a ferry port expansion, and a multi-purpose mass-transport project. The objective was to assess alignment of the draft standard with current construction and design practices, not to assess or rate the projects themselves. The research team generated questions and gathered information from project owners and key leaders through surveys, interviews, and shared files. Both quantifiable and non-quantifiable measures were used to assess alignment with the sustainable infrastructure outcomes presented in the draft standard. The results indicate the draft standard challenges infrastructure development toward needed sustainability practices, while still being achievable within the current state of design and practice in the construction industry. Additionally, the study identifies recommendations for future studies using ASCE/COS 73.

Colombia within its long-term action plan considers the progressive integration of new generation projects by non-conventional renewable energy sources (NCRES) with the aim of diversifying the energy matrix and contributing to mitigate the effects of climate change. The purpose of this research is to identify the quality status of the existing transport infrastructure of the territories for the development of solar and wind projects awarded in the energy supply contracting auctions carried out in 2019. An accessibility analysis is carried out to identify the coverage of the systems and their limitations. For this study, a spatial analysis is performed estimating the density surfaces that reflects where the investigated variables are concentrated, using geographic information systems (GIS) and the kernel density tool. Given the locations of the newly awarded NCRES projects, it would be possible to prioritize the investments in transport infrastructure to optimize the logistics of the solar and wind parks under development.

The vulnerability of concrete in marine environments causes premature failure and shortened service life, and decreases the resilience of concrete infrastructure in response to secondary hazards like earthquakes and fire. Existing literature confirms the superior performance of structural lightweight concrete using rotary-kiln produced expanded aggregates in these environments, including tidal and spray zones. Further, internal curing using fine lightweight aggregate contributes to the durability enhancement of normal weight concrete by mitigating shrinkage and early-age cracking. These contributions are manifested in the transport properties of concrete mixtures as valuable inputs for service life prediction models. This research utilizes experimental data and service life modeling outcomes to highlight the benefits of internally cured concrete in marine environments. The methodology employs a service life prediction model to perform parametric studies and render trends associated with mixture properties and climate characteristics. Results include sustainability performance measures including energy inputs and greenhouse gas emissions to assess the infrastructure. Conclusions help design and management professionals recognize and evaluate opportunities to reduce the environmental footprints of concrete materials and enhance the sustainability and resilience of marine infrastructure using sustainability rating guidelines.