Langan is a leader in sustainable engineering design. Nationwide, over 100 professionals are LEED Accredited Professionals (AP), making sustainability a focus of all of our professional services. We have been involved in the design and construction of LEED-Gold certified developments, incorporating elements into the designs such as geothermal energy, water conservation and recycling, recycled materials, and solar energy.
Our leadership in sustainability extends to the emerging field of Green and Sustainable Remediation, which involves the use of sustainable practices to accomplish remedial goals. Specifically, remedies should strike a balance between economic viability, and limited external impacts on the environment and natural resources, while enhancing the quality of life, particularly in the surrounding community. This “triple bottom line” is the key to evaluating and implementing remedial solutions in accordance with sustainable practices.
Langan has honed its expertise in sustainable remediation through active participation in programs and professional societies that promote this approach. Notably, we were the first corporate member of the Sustainable Remediation Forum, Inc. (SURF), a newly formed (2010) non-profit professional society devoted to promoting sustainable remediation. Langan is actively involved in the Interstate Technology Regulatory Council’s (ITRC) Green and Sustainable Remediation Task Force. In addition to our participation in these organizations, Langan sponsored a one-day Green & Sustainable Remediation Forum for our clients and partners on June 8, 2010 in Woodbridge, NJ. This seminar, cosponsored with ITRC, featured leaders in sustainable remediation from across government, academia, and industry. We will be presenting a follow-up seminar on Sustainable Remediation and Development in San Francisco in June 2011. Furthermore, we will be chairing sessions on sustainable remediation practices at the upcoming National Brownfields Conference in Philadelphia in April and the Battelle Conference in Reno, Nevada in June.
Langan has directly applied the lessons of sustainable remediation to projects, producing real benefits and savings. Notable projects include:
- The use of TreeWells (a variant of phytoremediation) as a substitute for pump-and-treat technology at a RCRA Corrective Action site. These are supplemented by the use of solar-driven low-flow recovery wells with on-site recirculation of withdrawn water.
- For a major Fortune 500 company, Langan assessed the conversion of an existing pump and treat remedy to solar power. This site has been reused for retail and open space.
- For a New Jersey client, rather than digging and hauling the waste accumulated in on-site lagoons, the on-site disposal unit was designed in a manner so that wetland habitat would be established in the areas of the former lagoon. In turn, a long term goal is to establish this habitat as a local environmental education center. This remedy allowed for a smaller carbon footprint than conventional dig and haul, as well as social benefits, consistent with the “triple-bottom line”.
Treadwell and Rollo/Langan’s Christopher Glenn, P.E., LEED AP, volunteers as a member and co-chair of SURF’s “Metrics Working Group”, a subgroup working toward quantifying opportunities to incorporate sustainability into remediation projects and defining the metrics that will be used to measure the sustainability of the project. The group has drafted sustainability metrics for all phases of a remediation project, from initial remedial investigation through remedy implementation to site closure. These metrics include those that measure environmental sustainability, such a carbon footprint, material use, and waste generation, but also those that measure economic and social aspects of remediation, such as local job creation, economic impacts of land re-use, and traffic, odor, and noise nuisances. The SURF working group intends to publish results of their work in the Remediation Journal in mid-2011.
In addition to volunteering time towards this organization, Treadwell and Rollo/Langan is a proud corporate sponsor of SURF. For more information about SURF, please visit www.sustainableremediation.com. For more information about Treadwell and Rollo/Langan’s sustainability services and expertise, please visit www.treadwellrollo.com and www.langan.com.
Sustainable remediation is needed by people. Although this system was not yet popularly organized, but still it deserves to be promoted. Through this system re-using of water in proper ways will be encouraged. People will become more aware of water conservation and water shortages can be prevented.
We agree that as the public becomes aware of the benefits of sustainable practices in our work that water and other resources will be better protected and available into the future. Thanks for your comments.