Sustainable Engineering – Using Specifications to Make it Happen

Making engineering daily practice as sustainable as possible should be a matter of habit and a matter of course. How can practitioners take the lead and make sustainable engineering become a reality? Engineers have a tremendous power: they write the specifications for the materials and practices that govern every construction project. If engineers do their homework and are convinced to be correct in their judgments, they can promote the cause of sustainability without flinching. There are a number of barriers practictioners encounter when they attempt to change the old ways and introduce newer sustainable practices, but generally they can be grouped within one of the three following categories – technical, policy and economic. A specific example, a typical concrete specification, will illustrate how these constraints can be overcome.