SUSTAINABLITY

KEDIR MOHAMMED
B-Arch, MSc-Urban Design, MEng. CEng (CoTM)

ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENT KOMBOLCHA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

 INTRODUCTION

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 LOW COST HOUSING

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Understand the definition of sustainability

• Know how we got to where we are
• The concept of waste
• Understand the business case for sustainability
• Recognize the shift from “shareholder value” to “shared
value”

ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENT KOMBOLCHA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

 WHAT IS SUSTAINABLITY

• Development that meets the needs of the present

without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.
• Persisting over generations, far-seeing enough,
flexible enough and wise enough not to undermine
either the physical or the social systems of
support.

ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENT KOMBOLCHA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

 A SIMPLER DEFINITION

• “Sustainability is nothing more than the rigorous

use of common sense”
Alejandro Aravena
Chilean Architect

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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The Three-Legged Stool & Triple Bottom Line

Economic

Environment
Social

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 The Triple Bottom Line

•Economic prosperity,
•Environmental quality and
•Quality of life and social justice

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 The Triple Bottom Line
Economic
Manage Costs
while Encouraging Growth &
Product Innovation

Sustainable
Operation
Environment Social
Manage Natural Resources Improve Quality of Life &
& Minimize Waste Social Justice

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 HOW DID WE GET TO WHERE WE ARE ?
WHY THE FOCUS ON SUSTAINABILITY ?

• We are gradually destroying our planet

• We are depleting natural resources
• Deterioration of the quality of life

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Condition of Many Rivers in the US
in the 60’s

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Cuyahoga River Fire in Cleveland, Ohio
June 22, 1969

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 Protests Followed

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THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY (EPA) WAS CREATED IN 1970

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 The Cuyahoga River Today

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Impact of Human Activity on the Environment

BP Oil Spill 2010

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There is no waste in nature
• Waste is human invention that got worse with affluence.
• The more we have the more we waste and the more we
pollute.

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 Amazon Rainforest
There is no waste in nature

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Changes in Viewpoints Regarding Sustainability
OLD NEW
Focus on shareholders On shareholders, the environment &
only(Profit) society

We can afford it Can’t afford to rob the next generation

Environmental & social issues Focus on the triple bottom line is key
are expensive to long-term success

Customers want low price Customers want good value, quality,

produced responsibly

The normal end of the life of Should mimic nature; products should
products is disposal be recycled or reused

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 Ethiopian Quality Award Criteria

• Leadership • Impact on society

• Policy and strategy • Socio-economic impact
• Resource management • Environmental impact
• Process management
• Customer satisfaction
• Business performance

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Benefits Enjoyed by Top Sustainability Performers

Performance Best in Class (Top Bottom 30%

Measures 20%)
Carbon foot-print -9% +5%

Energy cost -6% +18%

Operating cost -7% +18%

Paper cost -10% +12%

Transportation cost -7% +19%

ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENT KOMBOLCHA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

• A restaurant chain with 4.1 billion dollars in sales:
100% of pork, beef, and chicken are naturally raised
and a majority of dairy is pasture raised.
• It is America’s largest restaurant purchaser of
sustainable and humanely reared meats.
• Revenue in 2017: $4,100,000,000

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• Established in 2003
• The world’s first commercially successful all-
electric car.
• Revenue in 2017: $3.2 billion
• Ford was founded in 1903 and its revenue in 2016
was 151 billion dollars

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• Today, sustainability is viewed as essential
for ensuring sustained profitable growth
• What we do to benefit the environment and
to improve people’s quality of life is good for
business.

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 Sustainable Patterns
• More efficient resource use,
• Less pollution and waste,
• The use of renewable resources,
• Minimize adverse impacts on human health and
wellbeing

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 Conditions to Ensure
Environmental Sustainability
(Economist Herman Daly)

• The rates of use of renewable resources do not

exceed their rate of regeneration
• The rates of use of non-renewable resources do not
exceed the rate at which sustainable renewable
substitutes are developed, and
• The rate of pollution emission does not exceed the
assimilative capacity of the environment

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 A Closer Look at Waste

• Declining air pollution levels improve life expectancy in the

U.S. (Harvard University Study Dec. 2012 )
• Reductions in fine particulate matter leads to improved life
expectancy
• Strong association between exposure to air pollution and
cardiopulmonary disease and mortality

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Air Pollution in Addis Ababa

• For every kilometer

driven 0.28 kg of CO2
goes in the atmosphere.
Source: USEPA

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 Air Quality in Addis Ababa

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 Effect of CO2 Emissions
Addis Ababa from
Entoto in 2011

At Entoto 90o from the line of

sight to AA in 2011

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 Order of Preference in Waste Handling

• Reduce: Preventive
• Reuse: Mainly improving partly preventative
• Recycle: Mainly improving & partly preventative
• Treatment: Mainly assimilative partially improving
• Disposal: Assimilative

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 A Shift in Values Seen in Business
Shared Value

• Create economic value by creating societal value

–What is good for society is good for business
• Next major transformation in management thinking
• Shared value gives rise to broader approaches to economic
value creation
• It can drive the next wave of innovation, productivity
enhancement, and economic growth

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 Example of Shift in Business

• Responsible procurement policy of a major DIY retailer in

Canada
–Goal: to do business exclusively with sustainable
companies
• “Supplier ability to comply with our policy will therefore be
a decisive factor in our business relation.”
• Each vendor has to sign agreeing to the policy

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 Key Components of the Policy

• Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions

• Water savings and conservation
• Protection of human health including VOCs
• Conservation of resources
• Recovery & recycling of waste
• End of life recyclability
• Lower volumes of packaging
• Lower consumption of non-renewable resources
• Social considerations

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 Example of Inter-relationship between
Environmental, Economic and Social Impacts

Goal
• Convert the entire liquid laundry detergent category into more compact
versions at Walmart U.S.
• Annual environmental & economic impact includes reduction of:
• • 56.8 million kg of corrugated box
• • 36.4 million kg of plastic resin
• • 1.634 million liters of water
• • Fewer trucks on the road
• • Customer Friendly

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 What Consumers Want

• Well-made and safe products that work

• Reasonable price
• Reliable availability and convenience
• Outstanding customer service
• In addition, people now want
–Brands that fit with their values
–Brands that give them something to believe in

• Example: Patagonia
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 Key Components of the Policy
• Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
• Water savings and conservation
• Protection of human health including VOCs
• Conservation of resources
• Recovery & recycling of waste
• End of life recyclability
• Lower volumes of packaging
• Lower consumption of non-renewable resources
• Social considerations
ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENT KOMBOLCHA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
 Patagonia
• Exceptionally profitable manufacturer and retailer
• Makes the best, and most expensive outdoor gear in the
world
• Generates $400 million in revenue per year
• Its mission is:
–To build the best products,
–To cause no unnecessary environmental harm,
–To use business to inspire and implement solutions to the
environmental crisis.
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 Unusual Step Patagonia Took

• Asked its customers not to buy what they don’t need or can’t
really use
• “Everything we make--everything anyone makes--costs the
planet more than it gives back.”
• An ad on New York Times: “Don’t Buy This Jacket.”
• To make a jacket, it required 135 liters of water, enough to
meet the daily needs (three glasses a day) of 45 people.
• A jacket leaves behind, on its way to the warehouse, two-
thirds its weight in waste (CO2)
ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENT KOMBOLCHA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
 Patagonia’s Advertising
New York Times Nov. 25,2011

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 Another Version of the Ad

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 Patagonia Making Money by Living Its Brand
Promise
• Invest in reducing their carbon footprint
• Allows customers to track the environmental impact of any
Patagonia item
The Result
Patagonia’s audience:
–Trusts the brand,
–Admires its values, and
–Aspires to live by the same principles.

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 Examples of Waste Reduction What can you do?
Where Do We Go from Here?

• Do you throw trash on the ground?

• How do you react when others do?
• What solid waste do you notice?
• What effort do you make to reduce waste?
• What steps do you take to reduce what is thrown out?
• How do you feel about air pollution?
• What do you think you can do about it?

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 ART WITHOUT ENGINEERING IS DREAMING
ENGINEERING WITHOUT ART IS
CALCULATING

THANK YOU

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