Applied Sustainability Engineering, the second course in the "Applied Sustainability for Technical Managers" specialization discusses the techniques used by engineers and scientists to develop and assess the environmental impact of products and processes required to make those products. It begins with a discussion of different renewable energy technologies and their economics – highlighting how continued reductions in cost have made wind and solar power the least expensive way to generate electricity. It then addresses carbon footprints and how they are determined, applying a practical example where you determine your residential and transportation carbon footprints. From there, the course transitions to defining sustainable and circular products and packaging and showcasing several examples. As Technical Managers, you’ll need metrics for determining whether a product is truly sustainable, so the course introduces techniques such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Streamlined LCA (S-LCA), and the Eco-Audit methodologies. The course concludes with an overview of sustainable product design frameworks, including Cradle-to-Cradle, Design for the Circular Economy, and Biomimicry, just to name a few.
This course is very practical, introducing you to several areas critical to managing and learning about sustainability initiatives, from assessing the environmental and social impacts of a product or process, to designing more sustainable and circular products. If you want to work towards having a positive impact on the planet and on society, then this course is for you!
This course was developed in collaboration with Siemens Digital Industries Software and is part of the "Design for the Circular Economy" collection. Learners who complete and pass the course can receive an industry-recognized digital badge.
The “Design for the Circular Economy” microcredential and graduate certificate are developed around the educational goals of providing technical, business, and leadership knowledge and skills that inspire the transformation towards a more circular economy. This includes gaining technical knowledge to apply circular economy principles in product design, minimizing waste and maximizing impact; developing business acumen to implement innovative circular economic models that prioritize sustainability and resilience; and acquiring leadership strategies to communicate effectively and inspire change within an organization.
This course can be taken for academic credit as part of CU Boulder’s Master of Engineering in Engineering Management (ME-EM) degree offered on the Coursera platform. The ME-EM is designed to help engineers, scientists, and technical professionals move into leadership and management roles in the engineering and technical sectors. With performance-based admissions and no application process, the ME-EM is ideal for individuals with a broad range of undergraduate education and/or professional experience. Learn more about the ME-EM program at https://www.coursera.org/degrees/me-engineering-management-boulder.
Overview
Syllabus
- Renewable Energy: Technologies and Economics
- Welcome to Applied Sustainability Engineering! This first module introduces the course and how it operates. Then, it is all about renewable energy (RE); the different technologies and economics associated with them. We begin with a discussion of hydropower, the largest global source of renewable energy. You'll then learn about the second most abundant and cost effective type: onshore and offshore wind power. After, we'll discuss solar power and you'll learn the terminology behind its operations, physics, and economics. A future with renewable energy requires energy storage, so its important to discuss topics of pumped hydro, battery technologies, and hydrogen, as well as the emerging technologies, such as wave and tidal power, concentrated solar, geothermal and hydrogen fuel cells. The module concludes with an overview of how the world is transitioning to renewable energies in an effort to limit global warming to only 1.5o Celsius, which is the newest target established by the International Panel on Climate Change.
- What's My Carbon Footprint?
- This module is all about bringing the effect of carbon production home, so to speak, by determining your own carbon footprints based on personal energy use. Note that the method for calculating one's carbon footprint is similar to calculating Scope 1 and 2 emissions for a business (as part of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.) After an initial exercise of calculating your personal transportation carbon footprint, we turn our attention to the residential footprint. First, you'll uncover the standard utility bill; what's on it and what it all means. Then, you'll be introduced to, and apply, the EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency)'s eGrid website to determine the Carbon Emissions Factor and mix of power generation technologies for your area. Next, you'll calculate a CO2-equivalent footprint, based on the EPA's emission factors for methane, nitrous oxide, natural gas, and propane. The module concludes with an example of a typical U.S. college student's residential carbon footprint. Then, you'll see how it compares to other countries as well as your own!
- Sustainable and Circular Products and Packaging Design
- The module is all about sustainable products and packaging. We introduce the concept that sustainable products are true differentiators in the market and highlight several well-known examples. You'll learn what constitutes a sustainable product in terms of the circular economy's butterfly diagram: safe materials, long-life, ease of repair and maintenance, and ease of disassembly for ultimate recycling. We then shift to sustainable packaging, starting with understanding the significant challenge associated with packaging waste. We end the module with an overview of why packaging exists, and some ways of making it more sustainable. This week, you'll also gain awareness of your own packaging consumption as you undergo the 7-day plastics challenge and share your experience with peers. We can't wait to hear what you learn from it!
- Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Streamlined LCAs (S-LCA) and Eco-Audits
- This module introduces the topic of life cycle assessments or LCA's. You will learn how to establish system boundaries, define functional units, and know where to look for environmental impact data. More importantly, you'll think critically about conflicting paradigms, such as product designs that could good from a greenhouse gas perspective but are detrimental from an eco-toxicity view. While you may not become a full LCA specialist by the end of this module, you can begin to appreciate the complexity and cost of conducting a full LCA, which is why the Streamlined LCA was designed. It simplifies the process at the expense of accuracy, yet it still provides guidance to product and process designs to reduce environmental impact. You'll be able to practice this hands on, when you conduct an SLCA on gold wedding rings. Finally, you'll learn one last tool for environmental impact analysis: the Eco-Audit. Eco-Audits are particularly important in analyzing the impact of materials and understanding the concept of embodied energy.
- Circular Product and Packaging Design: Fundamentals and Frameworks
- Congratulations on almost completing the course! This final module outlines the specific tools and frameworks used to design, engineer, and manufacture sustainable and circular products along with the packaging that protects them. As a useful and pragmatic framework, we discuss the Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) design methodology in some detail, showing how the C2C's Certification process is analogous the the LEED standards for the built environment. We'll also touch on other approaches to sustainable product design with the frameworks of Biomimicry and The Natural Step. You've almost come full circle, and we hope you've enjoyed this course!
Taught by
Michael J. Readey, Ph.D.
