Towards sustainable materials

Summary

This course will address and model key sustainability issues through an engineering lens. It will examine emerging materials, hard to abate, and critical materials used to manufacture items in our economy during the transition to NetZero targets and their environmental, societal, and human impacts.

Content

Keywords

Sustainability, de-carbonization, NetZero strategies, emerging materials, hard-to-abate, critical materials, life-cycle-analysis, life-cycle-costing, class debates, group case studies

Learning Prerequisites

Required courses

None

Recommended courses

MSE-341 Sustainability and materials

ME-203 Sustainable products and supply chains

ME-516 Life cycle performance of product systems

ENV-510 Life cycle assessment in energy systems

ENV-501 Material and energy flow analysis

ENV-370 Environmental system analysis and assessment

Important concepts to start the course

Sustainability

Materials science and engineering

Role of materials engineering at the forefront of resource management

Interplay between materials the environment, the economy, and society / human health

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, the student must be able to:

• Critique key sustainability concepts
• Analyze environmental and societal impacts
• Model impacts using LCA tools
• Assess / Evaluate the role of hard-to-abate and critical materials in the NetZero transition
• Produce sustainability initiatives in a case study
• Argue the environmental, societal, and human implications of materials utilization

Transversal skills

• Set objectives and design an action plan to reach those objectives.
• Communicate effectively, being understood, including across different languages and cultures.
• Give feedback (critique) in an appropriate fashion.
• Take account of the social and human dimensions of the engineering profession.
• Take responsibility for environmental impacts of her/ his actions and decisions.
• Demonstrate the capacity for critical thinking
• Make an oral presentation.
• Write a scientific or technical report.
• Access and evaluate appropriate sources of information.

Teaching methods

Ex cathedra and invited speakers

Group sessions with exercises and debates

Group project and presentation

Expected student activities

Group sessions with exercises and debates

Short presentations in-class by students

Group project case study research and use of modelling tools

Group project report and presentation

Assessment methods

50% group project written report

20% group project presentation

10% debate short presentation

20% open book exam

Resources

Moodle Link

• https://go.epfl.ch/MSE-433