Sustainable Development – Feb.

12, 2022
Instructions for First Assessment – Work in Groups
Dear Students,

Please find below the instructions and directions for the First Assessment of the Sustainable Development
in Civil Engineering course. This Task is in Groups of 5 students. This class has in total 19 students so
it will be 3 groups for 5 students and 1 of 4 students for this assignment.

You will require calculating yours or your family’s Carbon Footprint for a period of the past last 12
months, in accordance with the learning received during the classes of this semester. Because there are 5
students per group, each student of the same group will make the calculations using a different
calculator/organization such as, carbonfootprint.org, any other from a different country such as,
Australia, Canada, India, or Spain, where they are using their own calculator, and the one from Foresta.bio
from Colombia. There will be one per student. After completing your own calculations, each student
will compare with the other members of the team and provide recommendations on the findings. You are
also required to provide ways to reduce your Carbon Footprint, Energy Costs and Water Reduction.
Information must be factual and available for verification so you are required to include in the work the
past 12 month utility bills for verification. You will write an essay with the whole calculations and
reductions. Essays shall be submitted in writing and in English.

You are also to respond the following question: Do you believe that it is possible to achieve zero carbon
footprint? Explain your response in detail.

Utilize all information available in the websites such as Carbon Footprint.com, books, notes from the
classes or any additional resources. The use of carbonfootprint.org and the Colombian one are
mandatory. The calculations will include as a minimum the following categories: House, Flights, Car,
Bus & Rail, and Secondary with their respective RESULTS.

Submit your work no later than Saturday, February 26, 2022 before midnight. It can be earlier at
your convenience. READ BELOW GRADING RUBRIC CAREFULLY TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE.
The essay constitutes 10% of the first period; the remaining 23.3% will be the Period Exam.
TOPIC: Calculate your Carbon Footprint for the last 12 months (Jan 2021 – Dec 2022) or similar
period, and ways to reduce/cut the carbon, energy costs and water consumption.
Grading Rubric
8 -10 points 5 -7 points 2-4 points Score
Calculation of  Proper Implementation of  Incomplete use of the  Wrong Use of Carbon
Carbon the Carbon Footprint calculation Footprint calculation
Footprint calculation for all cases

Reduction of  Organized & feasible  Unrealistic proposals  No proposals

Carbon & proposals  Reduction of Carbon and  Reduction of no more than
Energy Costs  Reduction of at least 35% of energy costs between 20% 10% of Carbon and energy
Proposals Carbon and energy costs & 34%. costs
 Good English structure and  Mostly good sentence  Poor sentence structure and
flawless spelling & grammar structure and less than 10 more than 20
 Includes at least 3 article grammar or spelling errors spelling/grammar errors
references  Includes only 2 references  Includes only 1 reference
Participation of  Organization & Clear  Organization & Confused  Lack of Organization &
every student of Message Delivery Message Delivery Confused Message Delivery
the group  All students participation  Only 4 students  3 or less calculations.
(5 calculation) participation
Total Score