[Dr. Shih, I was unable to pull architecture's divestment of responsibility for structural integrity into a coherent presentation. The issue is lost in a tangle of legal liability law I've been unable to unravel sufficiently for use as anything other than a sleep aid.]

This paper considers sustainability as an ethical issue for civil engineers. What are the implications of unsustainable practices? How can engineers evaluate the sustainability of alternatives under consideration? What can engineers do to make projects more sustainable?

• What is sustainability in engineering terms? Conservative quantities: energy, water, raw materials balances.¹⁾²⁾ Land? Food? Labor?
• How Long is Indefinitely? ΔS→0
  • Ethics: Service Life and False Assumptions
    • Some Conservative Assumptions
  • Ethics: Life Cycle Analysis
    • Energy Consumption ≤ X W/person
    • Fresh Water Consumption ≤ X l/person/yr
    • Raw Materials Consumption ≤ X kg/person/yr
      • Often Limited by Energy and Water used to Produce Materials
• Energy Balance
  • Fossil fuels are finite and not sustainable as an energy source by definition.
  • Energy conservation: not just a good idea, it's the Law!
    • A Note on Nuclear Energy
    • Notes on Geothermal and Tidal Energy
    • A Note on Hydrogen
      • Hydrogen is only a carbon-neutral energy storage medium.
    • A Note on Carbon: Reducing S_atm
      • Carbon-based sustainable energy sources and storage media reduce S_atm.
      • Ethanol is ok; sugar is good; cellulose is better.
  • Efficiency, Enthalpy, and Energy Density
• Water Balance
• Raw Materials Balance
• Cash Flow Model Repurposed
  • Is the 'interest rate' positive or negative?
• Civil Engineering Examples
  • Wastewater Treatment
  • Transportation