Rethinking Our Resource Management
Resources and their flows are vital for sustaining the well-being and prosperity of society. These resources are finite, and their distribution across the planet and its communities is uneven.
The imbalance in resource flows is widely believed to be a root contributor to global warming. Fortunately, the global and regional systems that civil and environmental engineers envision, design and build are ideally positioned to alter the flow of resources to create more sustainable habitats. We are reimagining how to manage resources, implement new scientific approaches, design innovations, develop business models and create more equitable access to resources in ways that disrupt the modus operandi. In this way, the efforts of civil and environmental engineers will create efficient resource utilization and sustainable resource management.
We are rapidly moving from a single-use mindset to a circular mindset around use and management of resources. Materials previously classified as waste, such as municipal and industrial waste, can be safely repurposed for use by other sectors of the economy or other communities.
New approaches to capturing and managing all sources of fresh water, such as urban stormwater, can combat water scarcity and provide greater water security. Rich nutrients can be extracted from urine and used to produce fertilizers for food production. Carbon dioxide emitted by industrial processes, including in the creation of infrastructure materials, can be collected and sequestered in built infrastructure.
Novel approaches to managing resource flows require new ways of thinking and interacting with stakeholders and society, who are the ultimate managers, consumers and also producers of resources. We are using the principles of co-design and community engagement to share knowledge in ways that result in user engagement and conservation-minded behavior.
What does it mean to shape resource flows?
Associate Professor Krista Wigginton discusses how civil and environmental engineers can shape resource flows to create a more sustainable future.
Our Approach
Our strategic directions have a broad impact on the way we operate, influencing our approach to research, education and outreach. Explore some examples of how we are implementing the concept of Shaping Resource Flows across our department.
Research
Peecycling
Like many other human wastes, source-separated urine is rich in valuable resources, namely nitrogen and phosphorus. Our researchers are developing new technologies to collect urine and convert it into fertilizer. We also seek to understand and address the infrastructure and societal barriers to capturing nutrients from urine.
Making Waves
Ocean wave energy constitutes a tremendous, untapped resource for utility-scale power in the United States. However, the development of devices to harness this resource is an enormous challenge. Not only must such devices be able to survive the harsh conditions encountered during storms and hurricanes, but they must also be equipped with sophisticated control systems that maximize the amount of energy they harvest from random waves. At the University of Michigan, researchers are collaborating with a number of commercial wave energy device developers to better understand control system design for these devices and to maximize energy output.
Resource Cycles
The way we harvest and leverage resources is constrained by how we initiate the infrastructure design process; it is influenced by “the way things have always been done.” We are re-envisioning the value of wastewater, stormwater, solid waste and even waves as resources by exploring disruptive and transformative approaches to achieve efficiencies in resource harvesting. Here, a University of Michigan researcher works with a system that achieves resource recovery through energy offsets, enabled by sensor-mediated control.
Lock It Down
University of Michigan researchers are finding ways to sequester carbon in manmade materials, such as engineered cementitious composites or “bendable concrete” as shown here. The resulting product not only locks away carbon that would otherwise enter the atmosphere, but also has mechanical properties that may be superior to traditional concrete.
Education
Undergraduate and Graduate Courses
Courses such as “Advanced Fiber Reinforced Concrete for Sustainable Infrastructure,” “Subsurface Energy Systems” and “Materials Selection for Sustainable Design” introduce students to a cyclical view of resources for more sustainable engineering.
Outreach
Engineered Cementitious Composites
The Center for Low Carbon Built Environment (CLCBE) seeks to cut the built environment’s carbon footprint by 50% by 2030. With partnerships across the value chain of building and infrastructure, the center is creating a new circular economy around climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Outreach to the U-M President’s Commission on Carbon Neutrality
Our outreach efforts include working with the President’s office to assist U-M in reaching its goal of achieving carbon neutrality through carbon sequestration, reduced emissions, energy sourcing, policy change and technology development.
News
CEE Engineers Receive Erb Family Foundation Grants
U-M CEE engineers have received two grants totalling more than $1.17 million from the Erb Family Foundation to research regional coordination, with a focus on optimizing wastewater and stormwater systems operations, and assisting residents and municipalities in managing these water issues using digital tools.
Grant Seeks to Improve Storm Surge Barriers
CEE Associate Prof. Jeremy Bricker is part of a research team that has received a $400,000 grant over three years from the National Science Foundation (NSF) social behavioral economics domain to estimate hurricane building damage and recovery inequity using insurance and social survey data.
NSF Grant Will Support Research to Reduce Wildfire Threats
Ann Jeffers is the lead P.I. on a project that just received a grant for almost $600,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop a computational model that will allow researchers to predict structural ignitions under wildfire exposure.
Featured Faculty
Victor C. Li
Lock It Down, Undergraduate and Graduate Courses, Engineered Cementitious Composites, Outreach to the U-M President’s Commission on Carbon Neutrality
SangHyun Lee
Sensing Stress, Engineered Cementitious Composites
Branko Kerkez
The Water Experience, How Cities Work, Resource Cycles, Information Flow, Undergraduate Focus: Smart Cities, Urban Collaboratory Projects, Predicting Performance
Brian R. Ellis
Center for Socially Engaged Design, Lock It Down, Undergraduate and Graduate Courses, Engineered Cementitious Composites
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