Sustainable development
2014-2015 - TØL4041 - 10 ECTS

Expected learning outcomes

After completing the course, the student is supposed to have

Knowledge:

• Knowledge about common items on sustainable development: history, globalization, world community documents
• Knowledge about sustainability indicators, indexes and monitoring methods
• Knowledge about sustainable resource management

Skills:

• Sustainable development assessment
• Life cycle assessment (LCA)
• Use of software for LCA (Simapro)

General competence:

• Society: understanding what society’s institutions are, their role in transformation and development; understanding what democratic systems are, their role in providing with opinion representation, consensus reinforcement and overcoming disagreements.
• Environment: conscience what resources physical environment has, how much environment is instable and how it is influenced by human activity and decisions with showing settled intention to account ecological disquietudes within development of social and economic policy.
• Economic-technological line: consideration of all limitations and potential opportunities related to economic growth and their influence on society and environment when aspiring for determination of the private and public consumption level that causes concern in the context of environment and social justice.

Topic(s)

• Common items on sustainable development
  • Prehistory and main sustainable development concepts
  • Globalization and sustainable development problems
  • World community’s main documents for sustainable development
• Sustainable development assessment
  • Sustainable development indicators.
  • Sustainable development indices
  • Environmental monitoring
• Sustainable resource management
  • Natural capitalism.
  • Basics of the natural resource management theory
  • Modeling systems
• Technological dimension of sustainable development
  • Sustainable development, technology and engineering
  • Sustainable energy
  • Cleaner production approach
  • Environmental management systems.
  • Life cycle assessment
  • Environmental labels and declaration

Teaching Methods

Other

Teaching Methods (additional text)

The course will be made accessible for both campus-  and remote students. Every student is free to choose the pedagogic arrangement form that is best fitted for her/his own requirement.

The lectures in the course will be given on campus and are open for both categories of students. Lectures that sum up the main issues in the lecture will also be available on internet through GUC’s learning management system (Fronter).

Tutoring are given at campus in accordance to announced times. In addition there will be at least on gathering at campus for remote students with mandatory laboratory exercises.

Tutoring is also available on internet.

Form(s) of Assessment

Home exam, 12 hours

Grading Scale

Alphabetical Scale, A(best) – F (fail)

External/internal examiner

2 internal examiners. External examiner every 4 years, next time2018.

Re-sit examination

Continuation exam

Coursework Requirements

4 individual works – 3 must be approved before the final exam

Teaching Materials

Compendium made by Prof Gennadiy Statyukha

Support literature:

• Sustainability in manufacturing: recovery of resources in product and material cycles Günther Seliger Springer, 2007 - Business & Economics - 423 pages
• Handbook of environmentally conscious manufacturing, Christian Ndubisi Madu, Springer, 2001 - 488 pages
• Environmentally conscious mechanical design, Myer Kutz, John Wiley and Sons, 2007 - Technology & Engineering - 394 pages
• Environmentally conscious manufacturing, Myer Kutz, John Wiley and Sons, 2007 - Technology & Engineering - 343 pages
• Sustainable development in practice: case studies for engineers and scientists, Adisa Azapagic, Slobodan Perdan, Roland Clift, John Wiley and Sons, 2004 - Business & Economics - 446 pages