Sustainability in a common first year engineering program

Do the lifestyle and technology of today compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs? Since the Fall of 2005, first year engineering students at Michigan Technological University have been considering this question. They began by learning the definition of sustainability and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in2007 37th Annual Frontiers In Education Conference - Global Engineering: Knowledge Without Borders, Opportunities Without Passports pp. S2J-1 - S2J-6
Main Authors Kemppainen, A.J., Veurink, N.L., Hein, G.L.
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 01.10.2007
Subjects
Automobiles
Automotive engineering
Design engineering
Educational products
Educational programs
Energy consumption
Engineering
Environmental economics
First Year Education
Power engineering and energy
Power generation economics
Problem-solving
Sustainability
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Summary:Do the lifestyle and technology of today compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs? Since the Fall of 2005, first year engineering students at Michigan Technological University have been considering this question. They began by learning the definition of sustainability and then examined its importance to engineering through: (i) Researching and presenting the sustainability of 20th century engineering achievements. (ii) Investigating the ethical issues involved in sustainable technologies. (iii) Evaluating sustainability case studies using global Sullivan principles. (iv) Calculating their individual electrical energy consumption within their residence hall room and the resultant carbon dioxide produced. From this, they proposed methods to reduce their energy consumption.(v) Analyzing the sustainability of their semester design projects. From these activities, students learned that engineers need to evaluate the economic, environmental and social aspects of their designs in order to produce sustainable solutions. They investigated the differences of sustainable technologies in developing and developed countries. They determined the effect their lifestyle had on the environment by calculating both their carbon and ecological footprints. This paper will describe the incorporation of these sustainability activities into the Michigan Tech first year engineering program and the assessment methodology used.
ISBN:9781424410835
1424410835
ISSN:0190-5848
2377-634X
DOI:10.1109/FIE.2007.4417849