Engineering Commons^™

Estimating Vehicle Infrastructure: Downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico, Zachery Phillip Baiamonte

Architecture and Planning ETDs

Cities have little knowledge about their parking infrastructure despite clear evidence that abundant parking has environmental, economic, and transportation consequences. The objective of this thesis is to illustrate the need to accurately estimate the area dedicated to vehicle infrastructure (parking lots and streets) within urban areas. I focused on a method that estimated the vehicle infrastructure area within the Downtown Core of Albuquerque, New Mexico, by cross-referencing geospatial cadastral data with minimum parking requirements. Three parking space types were identified: 1) parking in structures; 2) surface parking (parking lots and residential driveways); and 3) on-street parking. To illustrate the need …

Sustainability In Construction Practices As Emphasis On Environmental Investing In Esg Model Grows, Maddie Heal

Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this research is to emphasize the importance of growing investment on environmental initiatives in business ESG models in regard to sustainable practices in construction. The ESG acronym is known as the environmental, social, and governance efforts that businesses strive to incorporate in their models to increase the responsibility of operations.

Investors continue to seek out responsible businesses when choosing which ventures to pursue. The analysis of the current construction crisis, current investments in the right direction of Eco-friendly design regarding construction, and the threats and benefits incentivizing those investments elucidates the need to emphasize socially responsible investment …

Sustainability Within Asphalt And Concrete Paving Systems, Matthew Clapp

Construction Management

The construction industry is continually determining ways to make the building process more streamlined, cost efficient and, more recently, sustainable. As the commercial construction industry becomes more structured, industry leaders are looking for new ways to make installation of materials and cleanup more environmentally friendly. Construction is responsible for a large portion of the overall harm toward the environment. Although the commercial sector has made great strides toward this effort in the last fifty years with programs such as LEED, there is still much to be taken into consideration. The goal of this research is to analyze the current trends …

Fate And Transport Of The Microbiome In Built Environments, Dahae Seong

Theses and Dissertations

Buildings are complex ecosystems evolving continuously. Indoor components such as occupants, ventilation system, and building structures influence the microbiome. To shed light on how the microbial population in a building will respond to such a fluid system, the fundamental interactions between microbes and the indoor ecosystem must be understood. Buildings are being designed as air-tight structures to save energy; however, this could lead to degradation of indoor air quality through indoor sources of contaminants and/or containment of pollutants in the room or introduce outdoor pollutants indoors depending on the ventilation conditions. In addition, transmission of infectious microbes in indoors threaten …

Environmental And Health Implications Of Mine Tailing-Based Construction Materials In Developing Communities: Current Practices And Ways Forward, Jose Raul Velasquez Vasquez

Civil Engineering Theses

For many years, artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) communities around the world have been developing strategies to reduce contaminated mine tailings produced by mineral processing operations. These mine tailings are the by-product of the physical and chemical processes required to extract metals that humans require every day. The strategies developed by these communities cover a wide range of solutions, such as better practices in mineral processing activities as well as alternative technologies that help reduce the environmental impact of mining. Specifically, the recycling of mine tailings to produce construction materials has been of interest to researchers and communities. The use …

Assessing The Impact Of Health Benefits And Carbon Footprint In Student Parking Decisions At A University Campus, Emiliano Ruiz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the student parking location problem, traditionally, the parking permit cost, the last-mile travel time, and the ease of finding an available parking stall are the only decision criteria driving permit purchases. However, a studentâ??s choice of parking location has associated walking health benefits and sustainability impacts. These impacts are related to the walking distance from the parked vehicle to the final destination on campus, in addition to the location effect on the carbon footprint of a vehicle-trip taken to campus. As such, this Thesis examined a multi-criteria decision approach to a university studentâ??s choice of parking location. This approach …

Net-Zero Homes, The Homes Of The Future, Primo Guseppi Facchini

Construction Management

Net-Zero homes are the homes of the future (Holmes, 2018). What makes Net-zero homes unique is they rely on solar power, opposed to all standard housing that relies on the power grid. These homes use solar instead of other forms of energy generating technology because it is more affordable and better for the environment. California has blazed the trail for the rest of the United States and the world to follow with their Net-Zero housing proposition. Starting January 2020 California will require all residential buildings to be net-zero homes. Net-Zero homes are important because it is no secret that our …

Consumption Of Single-Use Plastics By A Commercial Construction Firm: A Case Study, Christian Michael Dumas

Construction Management

Most construction sites utilize single-use plastic bottles because they are easy to distribute and guarantee fresh, clean drinking water. The number of bottles consumed on a site is usually an unknown quantity and is not a waste center that is commonly focused on. This case study outlines a mid-sized construction company’s rate of consumption of single-use plastic bottles. This study details the specifics of the project including size, type, value, and number of workers onsite. The information was gained through working closely with an onsite contact in a management position. The range of focus has been narrowed to only the …

Life Cycle Studies To Evaluate The Physiological And Biochemical Effects Of Copper Oxide And Surface-Coated Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles On Green Onion (Allium Fistulosum) And Carrot (Daucus Carota L.) Plants: Insights Utilizing Two-Photon Microscopy And Spectroscopy, Yi Wang

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

With the recent increase of nanomaterial production, nano copper oxide (nCuO) and surface-modified titanium dioxide nanoparticles (nTiO2) are among the most widely applied nanoparticles in industry and daily lives. Their use has resulted in accumulation in soils as a consequence of their direct or indirect release. Hence, these NPs may raise a potential risk to crops cultivated in soils. Moreover, the physiological effects of nCuO on green onion (Allium fistulosum) and surface-coated nTiO2 on full-grown carrot (Daucus carota L.) are still unknown. Green onion is characterized by its high content of the antioxidant allicin, and carrot is a worldwide economic …

Financial Feasibility Of Leed Certified Buildings For Developers And Investors, Erik P. Henriksen

Construction Management

This is a case study on a small to mid-size private equity firm that deals with real estate development as well as investment to find out the financial feasibility of LEED certified buildings in today’s building climate. Interviews with two investment analysts at this firm who are versed in LEED certification about how it is looked at in their company as well as the broader industry will give insights into the feasibility of developing or investing in environmentally friendly buildings. This impacts the real estate and construction industries due to the fact that developers and investors are often times a …

Elaboración Del Manual De Técnicas Sostenibles En Prácticas De Ecoturismo En Zonas De Postconflicto: Caso De Estudio Cubarral, Meta, Paula Carolina Perez Camargo

Ingeniería Ambiental y Sanitaria

La ruta de los ríos Casanare y Guayabero es un área marginada por el conflicto armado, atrasada en aspectos sociales y económicos, con poca infraestructura de acceso; además de un desconocimiento colectivo de su riqueza natural en términos de biodiversidad y paisaje. Para el óptimo aprovechamiento de todos los recursos que esta región posee es necesaria la elaboración de una estrategia de ecoturismo que vincule los aspectos ambientales y económicos y permita su máximo aprovechamiento, generando ingresos para los habitantes de la zona y una alternativa turística para sus visitantes. Es por lo anterior que se eligió el caso de …

Sustainable Agriculture: Integration Of Aquaponics At Punta Leona Hotel And Club In Costa Rica, Cailin Sierra Dyer, Paris Riley Smith

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Sustainable agriculture is becoming an increasingly important method of food production. As human populations continue to grow, attendant food demand has been increasingly met via agribusiness, including monoculture crop production and factory farming. As is well documented, the rise of agribusiness has led to resource degradation and declining stocks on which “sustainable agriculture” relies. This paper describes a local attempt to re-establish “sustainable agriculture” through the development of an aquaculture system that mimics a naturally occurring cycle that integrates fish and plants. The system was constructed over a three-week period in Punta Leona, Costa Rica. First, the ground was cleared …

Building Entry Flood Barrier, Richard Esker, Shannon Mccall, Andrew Udovich, Brian Foust

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this project is to develop a flood barrier that would resist flood water from entering through the doorways of a building. The goal is to mitigate extensive flooding within a structure. After the disastrous weather events that impacted American citizens late in the year of 2017, the team was inspired to develop a project to help disaster victims. Through extensive preliminary and market research, it was discovered that flooding is a serious issue that affects people all over the world. A product to stop flooding could benefit people in developed countries, but it could also help citizens …

Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical Analysis Of Evaporation From Unsaturated Soils, Seyed Morteza Mousavi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

ABSTRACT

Estimating evaporation from unsaturated soil is important for many applications including agriculture, climate, hydrology, water resources, saturated and unsaturated groundwater flow, slope stability, and soil covers. As an example, the long term performance of soil covers, which are widely used in mining and landfill applications to protect the environment, strongly depends on evaporation from their surfaces.

Evaporation depends on both moisture flow within an unsaturated soil mass, which is generally coupled with heat flow, and void ratio and hydraulic and air conductivities, which are in turn affected by stress and strain and resulting soil settlement. This makes thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) …

A Comparison Of Smart City Indicators For Three Top Ten Us Cities, Rasoul Adnan Abbas

Civil Engineering Theses

The world population has been increasing each year, and the immigration from rural to urban cities has increased as well. The United Nations has estimated that more than 66% of people worldwide live in urban area, and this urbanization trend will continue to increase, thereby generating challenges to the cities as they strive to provide health care, schools, and transportation. The urban population explosion has also caused problems to the environment and overall urban economy as the need for more housing, jobs, and community services require smart solutions. The term, smart city, has many definitions, but all of them agree …

Environmental Fullerene Chemistry: Elucidating Critical Reaction Pathways And Resulting Products In The Aqueous Phase, Jiewei Wu

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

As the production of fullerenes and fullerene-based materials approaches industrial scale, there are increasing interests/concerns regarding their (potential) environmental impact(s) upon release. To date, a number of critical, aqueous-based fullerene transformation pathways under environmentally relevant conditions remain poorly understood. Comprehensive, fundamental, and quantitative understanding of the potential (major) reaction pathways and resulting products of fullerene materials, particularly in aquatic systems, is now crucial for their accurate fate, transport, life cycle, risk assessment(s), and thus ultimate material sustainability.

Herein, this dissertation is focused on identifying and elucidating aqueous transformation pathways of fullerene materials, focused on C60 as a model fullerene, under …

Second Creek Monitoring, Haley Whitaker, Aaron Young, Ryan Wagner, Saajid Haque, Benjamin Parrott, Richard Fagan

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

A Sustainability-Based Project Selection Algorithm: Socio-Technical-Economic Project Selection (Steps) Algorithm, Bharathi Bhattu

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Multi-dimensional aspects play a vital role in the task of project-decision making. Environmental effects are to be considered in addition to other technical and non-technical aspects in order to avoid undue environmental damage. This current work introduces a new decision-making algorithm (Socio-Technical-Economic Project Selection or STEPS) that is demonstrated with the use of RCA (recycled concrete aggregate) as riprap for slope stabilization and erosion control which leaches chemical arsenic when in contact with water. Arsenic has long been recognized for its lethal properties. The main intention of introducing this new algorithm is to use sustainability concepts of social, technical, and …

A Decision Making Approach For Selection Of Sustainable Pavements In Texas By Integrating Life Cycle Cost Analysis (Lcca), Life Cycle Assessment (Lca) Of Environmental And Social Impacts, Sundeep Inti

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A sustainable pavement can be defined as the one that minimally impacts future economic opportunities, social conditions, human health, and the environment and still fulfills the engineering objectives. Although a pavement as outlined above is not yet entirely feasible, continual effort from every stakeholder with a vision of achieving sustainable development is essential for the future of society. In this study, one such effort was initiated by proposing a framework for selection of pavement design based on sustainable development.

The concept of sustainability is widely believed to be founded on three criteria: economic, environmental, and social standards. Since the purpose …