Asee peer logo

Integrating Economic and Environmental Sustainability for Undergraduate Education

Download Paper |

Conference

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Columbus, Ohio

Publication Date

June 24, 2017

Start Date

June 24, 2017

End Date

June 28, 2017

Conference Session

Environmental Engineering Division Technical Session 3

Tagged Division

Environmental Engineering

Page Count

12

DOI

10.18260/1-2--28551

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/28551

Download Count

695

Paper Authors

biography

Pablo K. Cornejo California State University, Chico

visit author page

Pablo K. Cornejo joined the Department of Civil Engineering at California State University, Chico as an Assistant Professor in Fall of 2016. Dr. Cornejo received his Ph.D. and Master's degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of South Florida (USF) and B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. His doctoral research focused on the life cycle environmental impacts of wastewater management and resource recovery strategies. After obtaining his Ph.D., he conducted post-doctoral research at the University of Colorado at Boulder, investigating multi-criteria sustainability frameworks to aid decision-making for small drinking water treatment systems. Other research interests include greenhouse gas models for water reuse and desalination facilities; sustainability metrics for integrated resource recovery systems; and sustainable engineering education.

visit author page

Download Paper |

Abstract

Increasingly, engineers must approach problems considering economically viable, socially just, and environmentally sustainable solutions. This paper describes a new green engineering design course developed at California State University, Chico, which provides students with a sustainability framework to approach engineering problems considering the triple bottom (i.e., economic, social, environmental issues). Through a group project, students applied quantitative environmental and economic assessment tools (i.e., life cycle assessment software and life cycle cost analysis), decision-making strategies, and sensitivity analysis tools to evaluate real-world problems. Students’ (n=86) abilities to understand and apply key concepts in the course were evaluated by examining overall performance in the class and performance on group projects. The majority of students performed well in the class (average = 84%, standard deviation = 7%) and on the final group project report (average = 90%, standard deviation = 4%). Future versions of this course could be improved by introducing LCA software earlier in the curriculum and integrating this course as a pre-requisite or co-requisite to a senior capstone. By teaching students an innovative approach to the conventional evaluation-of-alternatives, students were able to propose designs that minimize environmental impacts (e.g., carbon footprint) and provide economically feasible solutions simultaneously. Consequently, this paper highlights a viable teaching model for other universities integrate sustainability into their curriculum.

Cornejo, P. K. (2017, June), Integrating Economic and Environmental Sustainability for Undergraduate Education Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--28551

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2017 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015