1. science
2. engineering

Session T3B
Extended Abstract - Incorporating Sustainability in
Engineering Design Courses
Sandeep Dilwali
Wentworth Institute of Technology, dilwalis@wit.edu
Abstract - This paper discusses the topic of sustainability
as relevant to engineering education. Factors which
typically prevent incorporation of sustainability in
engineering curricula are analyzed and possible solutions
discussed. Examples of successful implementation of how
sustainability and energy conservation was introduced in
engineering design courses are presented. The focus of
this paper is incorporation of sustainability and energy
conservation in engineering curricula of sophomore and
junior year students.
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Index Terms – Sustainability, engineering education,
Sustainability education, engineering curriculum.
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INTRODUCTION
Sustainability is gaining increasing importance and visibility,
and is now more actionable than ideological. It has become a
very popular term, even though there is some ambiguity
about what all is considered to be included in this generic
term. A product or process is considered sustainable if energy
is conserved through economical means in a way in which
human and social requirements are also met [1]. For this
paper, Sustainability refers to activities that make use of the
earth’s resources in a way which does not diminish their
ability to support future generations. This includes
consumption of energy in a manner that emphasizes
renewable sources and makes efficient use of non-renewable
sources. Sustainability is gaining significance and the
importance of incorporating sustainability in all curricula
cannot be underestimated. This paper will focus on
incorporation of sustainability in engineering education,
considering sustainability to be a part of a general education
as a common thread across all engineering disciplines. It is
to be borne in mind that no specific engineering program is
being addressed, rather this paper is applicable to all
engineering programs.
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CHALLENGES FOR INCORPORATION OF SUSTAINABILITY
IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION
Due to the relative novelty of sustainability, several
challenges exist towards successful integration of
sustainability education in engineering. Many studies have
carried out to identify such barriers [2]-[5]. The following
are the factors which present challenges to incorporation of
sustainability in an engineering curriculum:
Limitations of existing curriculum structure: The
demands and desires on incorporation of newer and
required concepts keep increasing in a typical 4 year
curriculum for an engineering program. In an effort to
maintain currency, and industry desirable skills,
programs periodically revise their programs, generally
adding content, and sometimes replacing content with
outdated technologies. This leaves very little room to add
courses in the area of sustainability, which may be
considered as spanning several disciplines, and in a sense
are very interdisciplinary in nature.
Interpretation of sustainability: The interpretation of
sustainability today is very diverse and not specific. It
includes green engineering, renewable energy, and
energy conservation. At times it seems too general, or
vague to be included in any engineering curricula, and
one of the barriers seems to be accepting sustainability
as engineering [3].
Engineering Departments are Specialized: Most
engineering departments consider themselves to be
specialized in their discipline, and sustainability does not
seem to be part of their department as it spans many
aspects and disciplines including lighting, HVAC,
insulation, water, sewage, pumps and motors, building
construction, solar, wind etc.
Inadequate importance : Sustainability continues to be
a low priority as compared to other subjects to be
incorporated in the engineering curriculum. It appears to
be a less important aspect of engineering and so tends to
get neglected or overlooked. Moreover, social and
institutional aspects are given low priority [6]. The
general acceptability of sustainability education
decreases when it is viewed as a non-essential topic in
engineering [5].
Lack of resources : Few faculty are trained in
Sustainability. Since it is not in the comfort zone of many
faculty, it seems questionable as to how to implement
sustainability in the engineering curriculum, especially
since sustainability seems to span several disciplines.
STRATEGIES WHICH MAY FACILITATE INCORPORATION
OF SUSTAINABILITY INTO ENGINEERING EDUCATION
Conventional engineering designs strive to minimize cost and
maximize performance. Green engineering often results in
products that are neither the most cost-effective nor the
longest lived, but engineers and consumers across the globe
Mid Years Engineering Experience (MYEE) Conference
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March 22 – 24, 2015, College Station, TX
Session T3B
are realizing that sustainability is a critical feature.
Engineering educators who would like to introduce principles
of sustainable engineering to their students are confronted
with the problem of adding more content to an already
overstretched curriculum. Regular review of the engineering
curriculum needs to be carried out and opportunities for
incorporation of sustainability identified. Some of the
strategies which may help incorporation of sustainability in
engineering curricula are as follows:
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Sustainability in Engineering Design Courses.
Engineering Design Courses, ideally in the sophomore
and junior years, present an excellent opportunity to
carry out energy conservation designs and projects. A
great opportunity is to do such design projects is in
collaboration with industry [7].
Interdisciplinary Department: Since Sustainability
involves several disciplines including electrical, lighting,
HVAC, water, insulation, energy conservation, business,
steam, compressed air, and sewage, it seems
overwhelming for one engineering department to
address this in an engineering curriculum. If it were
possible to have a department of Interdisciplinary
Engineering or Sustainability, it may benefit all
engineering programs [8].
Case Studies Approach: Case studies provides an
excellent approach to incorporate sustainability in an
engineering curriculum. There is an enormous amount of
case studies freely available whereby organizations have
reported upon their energy conservation projects, the
approach they followed, and successes or failures they
encountered. Students enjoy reading and analyzing these
case studies, and are able to follow successful measures
while carrying out energy conservation projects.
Outcomes expected by ABET from any engineering
program: Outcome c expected by ABET of any
engineering program requires the student to have an
ability to design a system, component, or process to meet
desired needs within realistic constraints such as
economic, environmental, social, political, ethical,
health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability.
It is hoped that in the near future, all engineering
programs will address the requirement of Sustainability.
Simulation : Teaching simulation based energy
conservation techniques to the undergraduate
engineering students provides an opportunity to involve
students with real-life engineering problems. [9].
Learning Communities : A Learning Community is a
group of people who are interested in a common topic
and engage in collaborative knowledge sharing as well
as valued activities [10]. These members can help
conduct projects in the form of Service Learning projects
which provide an excellent education related to
Sustainability part of Sophomore or Junior courses, or
engineering design projects.
IMPLEMENTATIONS OF ENERGY SAVINGS PROJECTS IN
ENGINEERING DESIGN COURSES AT THE JUNIOR AND
SOPHOMORE LEVEL
As a method of incorporating sustainability in the
Engineering Curriculum, few projects were tried out. These
were as follows:
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Design of a nail salon : The City of Boston had issued
revised guidelines for operation of nail salons in the city,
with an aim of improving the indoor air quality. The
students as part of the Engineering Junior Design carried
out a detailed study of the requirements, and
implemented a design which would meet all the
requirements, while providing a very sustainable
solution. They evaluated the energy savings and the
payback period which would help the nail salon owners
plan the retrofit of nail salon whereby they would
conform the Regulations stipulated by the City.
 Energy Conservation Design – Lighting : Another
Engineering Junior Design project focused on the
lighting in an organization. The students inventoried all
the existing lighting fixtures, found out the power
consumed by each, and measured light output of each
fixture. Then they reviewed the lighting requirements
and the regulations, and suggested retrofits to lighting
which would give the required light output while
providing energy conservation. The payback period and
savings due to reduced maintenance and standardization
of inventory was also calculated.
These two Engineering Junior Design projects, done by third
year Engineering students, demonstrated the possibility of
incorporation of sustainability in the engineering curriculum.
It is interesting to note and that these students were from
diverse engineering concentrations, and sustainability was a
common thread in this interdisciplinary group of engineers.
It is hoped that many engineering programs will try out
similar engineering design projects at the sophomore and
junior level as a way to incorporate sustainability in the
engineering curricula. Similar projects were done Rowan
University [11] whereby students learnt about engineering
economics, HVAC, electricity, water, heat transfer,
monitoring light, temperature, humidity and electrical power.
CONCLUSION
In a time of rapid transformation, as society seeks to build a
more sustainable future, education plays a key role. It is
important that we understand how to equip students with the
capabilities to promote sustainability and how the higher
education curriculum can be changed to facilitate the
paradigm shift needed [12]-[15]. Training in sustainable
practices is valuable for engineers because it brings these
issues to the forefront of design plans and enables them to
understand why some apparently more expensive options can
also be the best options.
Mid Years Engineering Experience (MYEE) Conference
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March 22 – 24, 2015, College Station, TX
Session T3B
REFERENCES
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[2]
Davidson, C., et al , “Adding Sustainability to the Engineer’s
Toolbox : A Challenge for Engineering Educators”,
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[3]
Zhang, Q., Vanasupa, L., Mihelcic, J.R., Zimmerman, J.B., and
“Challenges for integration of Sustainability into Engineering
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[4]
Holmberg, J., and Samuelsson, B.E., “Drivers and barriers for
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[5]
Ashford, N.A., “Major Challenges to Engineering Education for
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effective, and acceptable to the established disciplines?”,
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[6]
Segalàs, J., Mulder, K.F., and Ferrer-Balas, D., "What do
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[7]
Alahmad, M., Wilkerson, A., and Eiden, J., Collaboration with
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[8]
Fraser, J.,"Integration of Sustainability in a Multidisciplinary
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[9]
Chowdhury, A., Rasul, M.G., "Integration of Simulation-Based
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2014, pp. 85-96.
[10] Luo, Y. "A Collaborative Learning Community on ServiceLearning in Energy Conservation and Efficiency." American
Society of Civil Engineers, 2014, pp. 419-425.
[11] Riddell, W., et al, “Conservation of Energy for Campus Buildings
: Design, Communication and Environmentalism Through
Project Based Learning”, American Society for Engineering
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[12] Barth, M., Implementing Sustainability in Higher Education :
Learning in an age of transformation, Routledge, 2015.
[13] Boyle, C, "Considerations on educating engineers in
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[14] Robinson, M. A., and Mueller Price, J.S., "Integrating
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[15] Paten, C.J., Palousis, N., Hargroves, K. and Smith, M.,
“Engineering Sustainable Solutions program : Critical literacies
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Mid Years Engineering Experience (MYEE) Conference
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March 22 – 24, 2015, College Station, TX