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Description
The objective for Under the Camper Shell was to build a prototype of a full living environment within the confines of a pickup truck bed and camper shell. The total volume available to work with is approximately 85ft3. This full living environment entails functioning systems for essential modern living, providing shelter and spaces for cooking, sleeping, eating, and sanitation. The project proved to be very challenging from the start. First, the livable space is extremely small, being only tall enough for one to sit up straight. The truck and camper shell were both borrowed items, so no modifications were allowed for either, e.g. drilling holes for mounting. The idea was to create a system that could be easily removed, transforming it from a camper to a utility truck. The systems developed for the living environment would be modular and transformative so to accommodate for different necessities when packing. The goal was to create a low-water system with sustainability in mind. Insulating the space was the largest challenge and the most rewarding, using body heat to warm the space and insulate from the elements. Comfort systems were made of high density foam cushions in sections to allow folding and stacking for different functions (sleeping, lounging, and sitting). Sanitation is necessary for healthy living and regular human function. A composting toilet was used for the design, lending to low-water usage and is sustainable over time. Saw dust would be necessary for its function, but upon composting, the unit will generate sufficient amounts of heat to act as a space heater. Showering serves the functions of exfoliation and ridding of bacteria, both of which bath wipes can accomplish, limiting massive volumes of water storage and waste. Storage systems were also designed for modularity. Hooks were installed the length of the bed for hanging or securing items as necessary. Some are available for hanging bags. A cabinetry rail also runs the length of the bed to allow movement of hard storage to accommodate different scenarios. The cooking method is called "sous-vide", a method of cooking food in air-tight bags submerged in hot water. The water is reusable for cooking and no dishes are necessary for serving. Overall, the prototype fulfilled its function as a full living environment with few improvements necessary for future use.
ContributorsLimsirichai, Pimwadee (Author) / Foy, Joseph (Thesis director) / Parrish, Kristen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Materials Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
This project is focused on local scale sustainability. The goal is to understand the impact of small unsustainable actions of people, and hopefully create a change in their habits. The focus was plastic usage, such as the use of water bottles, grocery bags, or even the packaging that our food and other products typically come in. Plastic has become an integral part of lives, where we do not even think of our actions as we stuff our leftover grocery bags in its designated drawer. My goal throughout this project was to guide people to an environmentally conscious lifestyle by increasing the likelihood of recycling on the ASU campus. I created an interactive informative presentation that focused on recycling and preventing plastic and unwanted trash from ending up in landfills and oceans. The presentation was given to a small group of participants along with two surveys. There was a survey provided before the presentation to gauge a participant's present recycling habits then there was a survey that was given some time after the presentation to track if certain recycling habits had changed due to the presentation. The post presentation survey did report that there were changes to some of the participants' recycling habits. The research provides suggestions to help increase recycling and waste prevention based off surveys that were widely distributed on campus. The top three suggestions that would help make recycling more prevalent on campus are: education on the subject, more accessibility to recycling bins, and creating an incentive program.
ContributorsVazquez, Juliana Evone (Author) / Parrish, Kristen (Thesis director) / Burke, Rebekah (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Building construction, design and maintenance is a sector of engineering where improved efficiency will have immense impacts on resource consumption and environmental health. This research closely examines the Leadership in Environment and Energy Design (LEED) rating system and the International Green Construction Code (IgCC). The IgCC is a model code, written with the same structure as many building codes. It is a standard that can be enforced if a city's government decides to adopt it. When IgCC is enforced, the buildings either meet all of the requirements set forth in the document or it fails to meet the code standards. The LEED Rating System, on the other hand, is not a building code. LEED certified buildings are built according to the standards of their local jurisdiction and in addition to that, building owners can chose to pursue a LEED certification. This is a rating system that awards points based on the sustainable measures achieved by a building. A comparison of these green building systems highlights their accomplishments in terms of reduced electricity usage, usage of low-impact materials, indoor environmental quality and other innovative features. It was determined that in general IgCC is more holistic, stringent approach to green building. At the same time the LEED rating system a wider variety of green building options. In addition, building data from LEED certified buildings was complied and analyzed to understand important trends. Both of these methods are progressing towards low-impact, efficient infrastructure and a side-by-side comparison, as done in this research, shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of each method, allowing for future improvements.
ContributorsCampbell, Kaleigh Ruth (Author) / Chong, Oswald (Thesis director) / Parrish, Kristen (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This paper describes the research done to quantify the relationship between external air temperature and energy consumption and internal air temperature and energy consumption. The study was conducted on a LEED Gold certified building, College Avenue Commons, located on Arizona State University's Tempe campus. It includes information on the background of previous studies in the area, some that agree with the research hypotheses and some that take a different path. Real-time data was collected hourly for energy consumption and external air temperature. Intermittent internal air temperature was collected by undergraduate researcher, Charles Banke. Regression analysis was used to prove two research hypotheses. The authors found no correlation between external air temperature and energy consumption, nor did they find a relationship between internal air temperature and energy consumption. This paper also includes recommendations for future work to improve the study.
ContributorsBanke, Charles Michael (Author) / Chong, Oswald (Thesis director) / Parrish, Kristen (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Hospitals constitute 9 percent of commercial energy consumption in the U.S. annually, though they only make up 2 percent of the U.S. commercial floor space. Consuming an average of 259,000 Btu per square foot, U.S. hospitals spend about 8.3 billion dollars on energy every year. Utilizing collaborative delivery method for hospital construction can effectively save healthcare business owners thousands of dollars while reducing construction time and resulting in a better product: a building that has fewer operational deficiencies and requires less maintenance. Healthcare systems are integrated by nature, and are rich in technical complexity to meet the needs of their various patients. In addition to being technologically and energy intensive, hospitals must meet health regulations while maintaining human comfort. The interdisciplinary nature of hospitals suggests that multiple perspectives would be valuable in optimizing the building design. Integrated project delivery provides a means to reaching the optimal design by emphasizing group collaboration and expertise of the architect, engineer, owner, builder, and hospital staff. In previous studies, IPD has proven to be particularly beneficial when it comes to highly complex projects, such as hospitals. To assess the effects of a high level of team collaboration in the delivery of a hospital, case studies were prepared on several hospitals that have been built in the past decade. The case studies each utilized some form of a collaborative delivery method, and each were successful in saving and/or redirecting time and money to other building components, achieving various certifications, recognitions, and awards, and satisfying the client. The purpose of this research is to determine key strategies in the construction of healthcare facilities that allow for quicker construction, greater monetary savings, and improved operational efficiency. This research aims to communicate the value of both "green building" and a high level of team collaboration in the hospital-building process.
ContributorsHansen, Hannah Elizabeth (Author) / Parrish, Kristen (Thesis director) / Bryan, Harvey (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
This is an applied research paper, where a micro campus was designed for the San Carlos Apache Community with a goal of meeting requirements for at least three petals of Living Building Challenge. The end goal was to submit recommendations for attaining the petal certifications. The process of design not only included following spatial requirements of designing the building, but also including a wider perspective of construction and energy management in it. The first step of the research was getting to know the community and their requirements and priorities. This was done in 1st semester as a part of an applied class Indigenous Project Delivery. The second part of the research was to design a micro campus for the community that is in sync with the main campus. The intent of design is to respect the community’s culture and help them pass it on to the next generation while abiding by the Living Building Challenge standards. The third step of this research was to back up the design with recommendations for petal certifications.
ContributorsSingaraju, Meghana (Author) / Costa, Wanda Dalla (Thesis advisor) / Coseo, Paul (Committee member) / Vekstein, Claudio (Committee member) / Parrish, Kristen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Arizona has been rapidly expanding in both population and construction over the last 20 years, and with the hot summer climate, many homeowners experience a significant increase in their utility bills. The cost to reduce these energy bills with home renovations can become expensive. This has become increasingly apparent over the last few years with the impact that covid had on the global supply chain. Prices of materials and labor have never been higher, and with this, the price of energy continues to increase. Therefore, it is important to explore methods to make homes more energy-efficient without the price tag. In addition to benefitting the homeowner by decreasing the cost of their monthly utility bills, making homes more energy efficient will aid in the overall goal of reducing carbon emissions.
ContributorsFiller, Peyton (Author) / Phelan, Patrick (Thesis director) / Parrish, Kristen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
One of the key infrastructures of any community or facility is the energy system which consists of utility power plants, distributed generation technologies, and building heating and cooling systems. In general, there are two dimensions to “sustainability” as it applies to an engineered system. It needs to be designed, operated, and managed such that its environmental impacts and costs are minimal (energy efficient design and operation), and also be designed and configured in a way that it is resilient in confronting disruptions posed by natural, manmade, or random events. In this regard, development of quantitative sustainability metrics in support of decision-making relevant to design, future growth planning, and day-to-day operation of such systems would be of great value. In this study, a pragmatic performance-based sustainability assessment framework and quantitative indices are developed towards this end whereby sustainability goals and concepts can be translated and integrated into engineering practices.
New quantitative sustainability indices are proposed to capture the energy system environmental impacts, economic performance, and resilience attributes, characterized by normalized environmental/health externalities, energy costs, and penalty costs respectively. A comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment is proposed which includes externalities due to emissions from different supply and demand-side energy systems specific to the regional power generation energy portfolio mix. An approach based on external costs, i.e. the monetized health and environmental impacts, was used to quantify adverse consequences associated with different energy system components.
Further, this thesis also proposes a new performance-based method for characterizing and assessing resilience of multi-functional demand-side engineered systems. Through modeling of system response to potential internal and external failures during different operational temporal periods reflective of diurnal variation in loads and services, the proposed methodology quantifies resilience of the system based on imposed penalty costs to the system stakeholders due to undelivered or interrupted services and/or non-optimal system performance.
A conceptual diagram called “Sustainability Compass” is also proposed which facilitates communicating the assessment results and allow better decision-analysis through illustration of different system attributes and trade-offs between different alternatives. The proposed methodologies have been illustrated using end-use monitored data for whole year operation of a university campus energy system.
New quantitative sustainability indices are proposed to capture the energy system environmental impacts, economic performance, and resilience attributes, characterized by normalized environmental/health externalities, energy costs, and penalty costs respectively. A comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment is proposed which includes externalities due to emissions from different supply and demand-side energy systems specific to the regional power generation energy portfolio mix. An approach based on external costs, i.e. the monetized health and environmental impacts, was used to quantify adverse consequences associated with different energy system components.
Further, this thesis also proposes a new performance-based method for characterizing and assessing resilience of multi-functional demand-side engineered systems. Through modeling of system response to potential internal and external failures during different operational temporal periods reflective of diurnal variation in loads and services, the proposed methodology quantifies resilience of the system based on imposed penalty costs to the system stakeholders due to undelivered or interrupted services and/or non-optimal system performance.
A conceptual diagram called “Sustainability Compass” is also proposed which facilitates communicating the assessment results and allow better decision-analysis through illustration of different system attributes and trade-offs between different alternatives. The proposed methodologies have been illustrated using end-use monitored data for whole year operation of a university campus energy system.
ContributorsMoslehi, Salim (Author) / Reddy, T. Agami (Thesis advisor) / Lackner, Klaus S (Committee member) / Parrish, Kristen (Committee member) / Pendyala, Ram M. (Committee member) / Phelan, Patrick (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Engineering education can provide students with the tools to address complex, multidisciplinary grand challenge problems in sustainable and global contexts. However, engineering education faces several challenges, including low diversity percentages, high attrition rates, and the need to better engage and prepare students for the role of a modern engineer. These challenges can be addressed by integrating sustainability grand challenges into engineering curriculum.
Two main strategies have emerged for integrating sustainability grand challenges. In the stand-alone course method, engineering programs establish one or two distinct courses that address sustainability grand challenges in depth. In the module method, engineering programs integrate sustainability grand challenges throughout existing courses. Neither method has been assessed in the literature.
This thesis aimed to develop sustainability modules, to create methods for evaluating the modules’ effectiveness on student cognitive and affective outcomes, to create methods for evaluating students’ cumulative sustainability knowledge, and to evaluate the stand-alone course method to integrate sustainability grand challenges into engineering curricula via active and experiential learning.
The Sustainable Metrics Module for teaching sustainability concepts and engaging and motivating diverse sets of students revealed that the activity portion of the module had the greatest impact on learning outcome retention.
The Game Design Module addressed methods for assessing student mastery of course content with student-developed games indicated that using board game design improved student performance and increased student satisfaction.
Evaluation of senior design capstone projects via novel comprehensive rubric to assess sustainability learned over students’ curriculum revealed that students’ performance is primarily driven by their instructor’s expectations. The rubric provided a universal tool for assessing students’ sustainability knowledge and could also be applied to sustainability-focused projects.
With this in mind, engineering educators should pursue modules that connect sustainability grand challenges to engineering concepts, because student performance improves and students report higher satisfaction. Instructors should utilize pedagogies that engage diverse students and impact concept retention, such as active and experiential learning. When evaluating the impact of sustainability in the curriculum, innovative assessment methods should be employed to understand student mastery and application of course concepts and the impacts that topics and experiences have on student satisfaction.
Two main strategies have emerged for integrating sustainability grand challenges. In the stand-alone course method, engineering programs establish one or two distinct courses that address sustainability grand challenges in depth. In the module method, engineering programs integrate sustainability grand challenges throughout existing courses. Neither method has been assessed in the literature.
This thesis aimed to develop sustainability modules, to create methods for evaluating the modules’ effectiveness on student cognitive and affective outcomes, to create methods for evaluating students’ cumulative sustainability knowledge, and to evaluate the stand-alone course method to integrate sustainability grand challenges into engineering curricula via active and experiential learning.
The Sustainable Metrics Module for teaching sustainability concepts and engaging and motivating diverse sets of students revealed that the activity portion of the module had the greatest impact on learning outcome retention.
The Game Design Module addressed methods for assessing student mastery of course content with student-developed games indicated that using board game design improved student performance and increased student satisfaction.
Evaluation of senior design capstone projects via novel comprehensive rubric to assess sustainability learned over students’ curriculum revealed that students’ performance is primarily driven by their instructor’s expectations. The rubric provided a universal tool for assessing students’ sustainability knowledge and could also be applied to sustainability-focused projects.
With this in mind, engineering educators should pursue modules that connect sustainability grand challenges to engineering concepts, because student performance improves and students report higher satisfaction. Instructors should utilize pedagogies that engage diverse students and impact concept retention, such as active and experiential learning. When evaluating the impact of sustainability in the curriculum, innovative assessment methods should be employed to understand student mastery and application of course concepts and the impacts that topics and experiences have on student satisfaction.
ContributorsAntaya, Claire Louise (Author) / Landis, Amy E. (Thesis advisor) / Parrish, Kristen (Thesis advisor) / Bilec, Melissa M (Committee member) / Besterfield-Sacre, Mary E (Committee member) / Allenby, Braden R. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
In the burgeoning field of sustainability, there is a pressing need for healthcare to understand the increased environmental and economic impact of healthcare products and services. The overall aim of this dissertation is to assess the sustainability of commonly used medical products, devices, and services as well as to identify strategies for making easy, low cost changes that result in environmental and economic savings for healthcare systems. Life cycle environmental assessments (LCAs) and life cycle costing assessments (LCCAs) will be used to quantitatively evaluate life-cycle scenarios for commonly utilized products, devices, and services. This dissertation will focus on several strategic and high impact areas that have potential for significant life-cycle environmental and economic improvements: 1) increased deployment of reprocessed medical devices in favor of disposable medical devices, 2) innovations to expand the use of biopolymers in healthcare materials and devices, and 3) assess the environmental and economic impacts of various medical devices and services in order to give healthcare administrators and employees the ability to make more informed decisions about the sustainability of their utilized materials, devices, and services.
ContributorsUnger, Scott (Author) / Landis, Amy E. (Thesis advisor) / Bilec, Melissa (Committee member) / Parrish, Kristen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015