Classroom units were developed for high-school environmental science and college industrial ecology classes to introduce life-cycle perspectives and systems analysis of transportation fuel/vehicle systems. The units at both levels emphasize the need to consider energy and environmental issues related to the nation’s transportation sector that extend well beyond the gasoline pump and vehicle emissions. The units include several lessons to introduce environmental issues, understand the fuel and vehicle technologies (high-school level only), and conceptually and quantitatively evaluate differences among the expected future fuels through a life-cycle assessment. The quantitative assessment of the high-school students shows that the units helped students to significantly raise their energy knowledge and change their attitudes. Anecdotal information from the students indicates that the increased awareness about the seriousness of energy issues has caused them to be more conservative and conscientious about their energy consumption behaviors. The evaluation of the class in the 2009–2010 academic year (AY09) was excellent, suggesting that the addition of the life-cycle assessment activities described in this paper were well received by the students.

This paper presents the pedagogical development of an undergraduate course in energy and the environment at Rice University and the crucial role of comparative metrics in its curriculum. The course, aimed at undergraduate engineering and science majors, overviews the physical principles that constrain energy use and explores how various sectors and fuels affect Earth’s environment and climate. The curriculum emphasizes the application of objective metrics for comparing the cost, energy intensity, and environmental impacts of various energy sources. Such metrics provide alternate approaches for assessing the relative merits of energy options but are neglected in most undergraduate textbooks. Thus, the course relies on assignments derived from supplemental readings to prompt students to compute comparative metrics and critically assess the approaches taken by energy researchers. A term project engages student teams in designing and evaluating original proposals for improving the use of an energy source from the perspective of a scientist, businessperson, or policymaker.

Previous sustainability engineering education studies have suggested the importance of problem-based learning, project-based learning, team-based learning, and interdisciplinary learning. Place-based learning, interacting with outdoors, and building sustainable communities are also important aspects of sustainability education, yet relatively little has been published on how to use these pedagogical approaches in engineering education. The goal of this paper was to illustrate the implementation of all these pedagogical approaches in a graduate-level sustainability engineering education class. Fink’s taxonomy of significant learning and the University of Toledo’s Outdoor Classroom Garden provided the framework for this implementation. Throughout the semester, sustainability engineering students worked toward an engineering solution for how to water the University of Toledo’s outdoor classroom garden. They also estimated the life-cycle cost and environmental impacts of their proposed solutions. The garden project and the design of the course provided many different learning opportunities that might be absent in a traditional civil engineering class.

As articulated in the Bodies of Knowledge for Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering, all civil and environmental engineering students should be introduced to the concept of sustainability. A sustainability module was added into two required first-year, 1-credit introductory courses, one for civil engineering and one for environmental engineering. Data from approximately 150 students were collected. Student attitudes about sustainability were evaluated using a written survey. There was greater initial knowledge of sustainability and positive attitudes toward sustainability among students enrolled in the environmental engineering course compared with those in the civil engineering course, but this did not translate into better performance on the related homework assignment. There was strong evidence that the inclusion of the sustainability module encouraged the students to consider sustainability in subsequent course assignments, even when not explicitly prompted to do so. This indicates that early emphasis of sustainability may affect the students’ concepts of its importance in civil and environmental engineering.

An existing multidisciplinary course on sustainable engineering in developing societies was expanded to include sustainability issues and challenges faced in the developed world. The new course consisted of independent modules on general background, sustainability concepts and tools, sustainable water and waste systems, sustainable energy systems, sustainable agricultural and food systems, and sustainable building systems. The course included a semester-long project experience conducted in interdisciplinary teams. Projects were sourced from local businesses and institutions or from organizations involved in international development. Course evaluation included an end-of-semester self-assessment by students and an analysis of project reports. Thirteen out of 18 students surveyed (72%) agreed that their ability to consider techno-economic, environmental, and social aspects of sustainability was improved as a result of the course. An improved student understanding of aspects of sustainability and its measures was also evident in student project reports.

Sustainable development and the green building movement have been adopted faster than any recent movement in the engineering field. With over 40% of the total U.S. energy usage servicing the operation of commercial and residential buildings, this trend is well founded. Recent surveys of the industry indicate that within 4 to 5 years, a vast majority of engineering firms expect their business will be significantly dedicated to green building designs. In contrast, current academic institutions are not well positioned to prepare young engineers for this challenge, and current faculty are not well trained in the tenets of sustainability or the roles of engineers in this movement. Change must occur if the engineering and design professions are to remain relevant and responsive to societal needs. To accommodate this challenge, the writers have designed and implemented the Integrated Design Experience (IDeX), a capstone course in which undergraduate and graduate students interact with faculty and practitioners on real projects with challenging needs in sustainability. The course is designed to provide an actual and virtual space for the multitude of disciplines to interact on real designs to foster both improved research and outreach efforts. Expected outcomes from the course include both student and faculty learning on the methods and value of sustainable design as well as the development of an interdisciplinary network of faculty and practitioners involved in sustainable design. Learning is being evaluated using a continuous authentic assessment of design products. First-year results indicate that students learned interdisciplinary teamwork and communication skills, and they see substantial value in the authentic design experience. In future years, the development of the interdisciplinary network will be tracked by using social networking tools and by assessing faculty attitudes toward involvement in IDeX. Both metrics will be investigated using the diffusions of innovation framework. The combined evaluation will lead to an in-depth understanding of how the IDeX model can be scaled and replicated at other institutions.

The objectives of this study were to describe two approaches to incorporating sustainability into the undergraduate engineering curricula and to list a variety of existing course resources that can easily be adopted or adapted by science and engineering faculty for this purpose. The two approaches described are (1) redesigning existing courses through development of new curricular materials that still meet the objectives of the original course and (2) developing upper division elective courses that address specific topics related to sustainability, such as manufacturing or life-cycle assessment, in depth. Case studies of three courses—Green Industrial Organic Chemistry, Environmentally Conscious Design and Manufacturing (Kettering University), and Sustainable Engineering (University of Oklahoma)—are presented. Assessment results from Green Industrial Organic Chemistry indicate that alternative curricular materials incorporating green chemistry can be used to meet the learning objectives of more traditional courses in organic chemistry, which are already required for many engineering majors. Environmentally Conscious Design and Manufacturing assessment data indicate that students increased their knowledge and application of industrial ecology topics as a result of taking the course. Preliminary assessment data from Sustainable Engineering indicate that students applied concepts of global resource reserves, sustainable growth and development, design for environment, and life-cycle assessment in their course work or employment approximately 1 year after finishing the course.

This paper discusses a framework for incorporating sustainable design/thinking as a new civil engineering course and experiences from the pilot offering. Important areas are outlined to aid all engineers in understanding sustainability in context with traditional engineering principles. Green-building rating systems were used to introduce the concepts of sustainability in buildings and infrastructure, highlighted by presentations from green-building professionals. By providing a better understanding of sustainability through education, civil engineers can provide proactive solutions to a growing global infrastructure.

The University of Nebraska Partners in Pollution Prevention (P3) program has provided a results-oriented intensive sustainability course since 1997. This course focuses on providing students with application tools to promote environmental sustainability, including a service learning internship component directly on site at businesses. A survey was used to evaluate the long-term impact of this intensive sustainability course on subsequent workplace behavior of past student interns. Comparison of former interns with a control group found that interns reported they were more likely to apply source reduction principles in their workplace and more able to quantify the impact of implementation. A strong personal environmental ethic was an important predictor of reporting success in applying source reduction. Those past students with the intensive sustainability course and a self-reported strong environmental ethic were significantly more likely to report successful implementation of source reduction, even though both interns and the control group considered pollution-prevention concepts at similar rates. These data suggest that exposure to an intensive sustainability course can have a positive long-term impact on workplace behavior.