Vanegas Jorge A
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 790 Atlantic Drive, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
Environ Sci Technol. 2003 Dec 1;37(23):5363-72. doi: 10.1021/es030523h.
The built environment, defined by the facilities and civil infrastructure systems that people use, is the fundamental foundation upon which a society exists, develops, and survives. As the main provider and the life cycle custodian of the built environment, the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry plays a critical role in determining the quality, integrity, and longevity of this foundation. In the execution of these two roles, provider and custodian, the AEC industry has had a major direct and indirect impact on the natural environment, contributing both directly and indirectly to natural resource depletion and degradation, waste generation and accumulation, and environmental impact and degradation. These impacts are not unique to the AEC industry. Other industries face similar challenges, and for many years, a wide range of constituencies within them have been attempting the implementation of the concept of sustainability within what these industries do, how they do it, and with what as a possible mechanism to slow, reduce, eliminate these impacts, and even restore conditions to a better state. In the pursuit of sustainability, the AEC industry faces challenges posed by the unique attributes and characteristics nature of facilities and civil infrastructure systems, the complexities of the current processes for their delivery and use, and the diverse set of resources required for both their delivery and their use. This paper offers a road map and an initial set of principles to implement built environment sustainability as a starting point for an ongoing, industry-wide dialogue and debate.
建筑环境由人们使用的设施和民用基础设施系统所定义，是社会赖以生存、发展和延续的根本基础。作为建筑环境的主要提供者和全生命周期管理者，建筑、工程和施工（AEC）行业在决定这一基础的质量、完整性和耐久性方面发挥着关键作用。在履行提供者和管理者这两个角色的过程中，AEC行业对自然环境产生了重大的直接和间接影响，在自然资源的消耗与退化、废物的产生与积累以及环境影响与退化等方面都有着直接和间接的贡献。这些影响并非AEC行业所独有。其他行业也面临类似挑战，多年来，这些行业中的众多群体一直在尝试将可持续发展理念应用于他们的业务内容、业务方式以及采用何种可能的机制来减缓、减少、消除这些影响，甚至将环境恢复到更好的状态。在追求可持续发展的过程中，AEC行业面临着由设施和民用基础设施系统的独特属性和特征、其交付和使用的当前流程的复杂性以及交付和使用所需的各种资源所带来的挑战。本文提供了一个路线图和一套初步原则，以实施建筑环境可持续发展，作为在全行业持续进行对话和辩论的起点。
