Undergraduate Teaching 2024-25

Engineering Tripos Part IB, Sustainable Engineering, 2023-24

Engineering Tripos Part IB, Sustainable Engineering, 2023-24

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Coordinator

Dr A Gonzalez Cabrera Honorio Serrenho

Timing and Structure

5 in-person lectures in Michaelmas Term. Lectures will be recorded but all students are expected to attend in person.

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

  • Introduce some of the key engineering challenges to promote global sustainability

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

  • Recognise the scale of the global challenges in energy production and control of climate change, and the importance of identifying, quantifying and pursuing developments which will have significant impact.
  • Understand a range of opportunities to reduce energy consumption and to implement lower carbon technologies, in different sectors of engineering, in both developed and developing economies.
  • Complete a technical investigation into an aspect of Sustainable Engineering.

Content

Students follow up 5 lectures with an individual assignment over the Christmas vacation, submitted as a poster. This is will be followed by a presentation and discussion during Lent term.

Climate Change Mitigation: an Engineering challenge

  • Climate Change: review and targets
  • What makes a difference and what progress has been made to date?
  • Net Zero vs Absolute Zero
  • The need for electrification of energy uses

Technology implementation to step up climate change mitigation

  • Why can’t technology solve everything? Pace of deployment and change
  • How to make sure we are doing the right thing? Life-cycle thinking
  • How fast can we go? What may limit our desired pace of deployment?

 

Pathways for climate change mitigation

  • Buildings
  • Transportation
  • Industry: steel, cement, plastics, fertilisers

Sustainable Development Goals

  • Historic review of international coordination and policy
  • Responsibilities for achieving Sustainable Development Goals and implications for the engineering profession
  • Examples of evolving engineering practices in response to the sustainability agenda

Coursework

The coursework assessment for Sustainable Engineering comprises two stages:

1.     preparation of a technical poster about a topic discussed in the Sustainable Engineering lectures. The poster should:

·       present an activity or service that can’t happen in 2050 in the same way as today;

·       discuss how that service or activity might be delivered in 2050 and what needs to happen to make it possible.

2.     presentation and discussion of your poster during a 1-hour lab session to take place between weeks 1 and 4 of Lent term.

 

Booklists

Allwood, J. M., Cullen, J. M., Carruth, M. A., Cooper, D. R., McBrien, M., Milford, R. L., Moyniham, M. C., & Patel, A. C. H. (2012). Sustainable Materials with Both Eyes Open. UIT Cambridge. www.withbotheyesopen.com

Ashby, M. F. (2013) Materials and the Environmental — Eco-informed Material Choice. Elsevier. https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780123859716/materials-and-the-environment

IPCC — Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2021). 6th Assessment Report. https://www.ipcc.ch

MacKay, D. (2008). Sustainable Energy — Without the Hot Air. UIT Cambridge. http://www.withouthotair.com/Contents.html

UN — United Nations (2015). Sustainable Development Goals. https://sdgs.un.org/goals

Examination Guidelines

Please refer to Form & conduct of the examinations.

 
Last modified: 30/05/2023 15:17