Sustainable Engineering - 2019 entry

Sustainable engineering concerns the design or operation of systems with the aim of reducing energy demand, resource extraction and carbon emissions with the goal of minimising the impact on the environment. By transforming all sectors to become more sustainable, they can play a major role in reducing the threat of climate change. This module discusses the interdependency between the changes required across all activities of human life. This module will make you think across disciplines with the goal of evaluating sustainability on a whole system basis.

This module aims to provide you with an appreciation of the complexities which arise from considering sustainability and the need to tackle the issue from an interdisciplinary perspective. This module will provide you with some of the tools required to assess sustainability as well as the ability to critically analyse the extent to which a product, building, industry or service could be considered to be sustainable. This course will give you some of the essential tools required for sustainable management practice. Throughout the module you will be expected to engage in ‘big picture’ thinking to solve some of the world’s problems related to sustainability.

Lectures will cover a range of topics and will include:

- The rational for sustainability: The impacts of Climate change, national and international policies;
- Methods to measure sustainability: sustainability frameworks, lifecycle analysis and sustainable management;
- Conventional power generation: systems, environmental impacts and resources available;
- Renewable energy: systems, environmental impacts and resources available;
- Sustainable buildings: energy demand, regulations and policy and adaptation.

On successful completion of this module, you should be able to:

Module Specific Skills and Knowledge: D1m, D2m, D4m, ET4m, ET4fl

1 Review the national/international policies and commercial/industrial relevance of sustainability;

2 Apply theoretical analysis to the problems and limits associated with sustainability;

3 Evaluate the principles of sustainability across a range of engineering systems in existing and developing technology;

4 compare the promises, problems and limits associated with different forms of energy generation and supply;

5 Apply principles of sustainability to a range of engineering problems;

Discipline Specific Skills and Knowledge: D7m, D2fl, D8m, D3fl, EA3m, EA1fl, EA5m, EA2fl

6 Critically evaluate scientific evidence from a range of sources;

7 Use theoretical understanding to quantify and produce a rational comparison of options;

8 Work with information that may be incomplete or uncertain;

9 Integrate knowledge and understanding of other engineering disciplines;

Personal and Key Transferable/ Employment Skills and  Knowledge: D6m, EP11m, EP4fl, G1m, G1fl, G4m, G4fl

10 Develop and apply skills in critical analysis;

11 Process and use data from diverse sources;

12 Interdisciplinary and strategic thinking;

13 Present your work in a variety of forms to a range of audiences.

1. Introduction to sustainability: how sustainability can be defined;

2. Legislative framework for sustainability, finite nature of resources;

3. Environmental impacts, potential impacts of climate change and business as usual;

4. Sustainability frameworks, risk analysis, life cycle analysis: BS EN ISO 14040:2006;

5. Sustainable management: BS EN ISO 14001:2015;

6. Sustainable buildings;

7. Conventional Power generation: Fossil fuels, nuclear power;

8. Renewable power generation: Wind, Solar, Water, Biomass, Heat pumps.

Basic Reading:

ELE: http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/

Web based and Electronic Resources:

Other Resources:

McKay, David, Sustainable Engineering - Without the Hot Air, (2008)

Reading list for this module: