Monday, August 8, 2011

Infrastructure Sustainability Rating System

The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), the American Public Works Association (APWA) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) recently joined together to create the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) to develop a new infrastructure rating system to assess the sustainability of civil-engineering projects.

ISI’s "EnvISIon" rating system aims to do for infrastructure projects what the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program does for buildings.  EnvISIon is just one of many initiatives currently underway by a variety of professional organizations (such as SURF) and academic institutions that are studying and measuring sustainability. Through the creation of guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable design, construction, maintenance and remediation practices, these new tools will allow risk managers, corporate executives and directors to make better decisions.

EnvISIon is now available for public comment through December 9, 2011.  Practitioners and interested parties may critically review the tool and its assumptions and make comments or suggestions prior to its actual release for commercial use early in 2012.  All comments will be reviewed and considered in confidence by the ISI Technical Committee.