Teaching
ISEN 210: Introduction to
Sustainability: Challenges and
Solutions
This survey course provides
an introduction to the
importance of life-cycle systems
perspectives in understanding
major challenges and solutions
to achieving more sustainable
societies. The course begins
with an overview of
sustainability challenges in the
context of energy and resource
use, consumption and
development, and environmental
constraints. Basic methods for
life-cycle environmental
inventory and impacts modeling
are introduced and applied. The
life-cycle perspective is used
to develop a quantitative
understanding of potential
solution pathways, including
technology innovation and
deployment, behavioral and
societal changes, and policies,
standards, and regulations.
ISEN 210 is one of
three core courses for Northwestern's Undergraduate
Certificate in Energy and
Sustainability.
Next offering: Fall
2013
ME/ChBE 395:
Quantitative Methods in Life
Cycle Analysis
This course provides a
comprehensive overview of LCA
theory and analysis approaches,
and thereby introduces students
to the state-of-the-art method
for assessing and reducing the
environmental impacts of
product, process, and technology
systems. An emphasis is
placed on quantitative methods
in LCA. The course starts
with system boundary and
functional unit design
approaches, and then covers both
process-based and
input-output-based methods for
modeling mass and energy flows
in life-cycle systems.
Students will then learn
modeling techniques for
estimating relevant
environmental impacts of these
systems over different scales of
time and space, and from both
attributional and consequential
perspectives. The course
concludes with an overview of
modeling methods for prospective
LCA and life-cycle systems
optimization.
Next
offering: Spring
2014
ME/ChBE 495: Sustainable
Manufacturing Systems
This course teaches students
how to apply fundamental theory
in thermodynamics, heat
transfer, engineering economics,
and systems modeling to the
analysis of major industrial
energy systems (e.g., steam
systems, motor systems, pump
systems, and process heating
systems) and resource systems
(e.g., water use, material
transformations and processing)
in plants, supply chains, and
industrial product systems.
Further, this course introduces
students to advanced
technologies and engineering
methods for maximizing the
energy, economic, and resource
efficiencies of these systems in
a variety of industries. This
course is designed to bridge the
gap between energy and materials
sciences theory and applied
industrial-environmental systems
engineering. It also provides
students with important “systems
thinking” perspectives to
improve the sustainability of
manufacturing systems -- and the
products they produce -- in a
cost-effective manner.
Next
offering: Spring
2014
New
online course!
How Green Is That Product? An
Introduction to Environmental Life
Cycle Assessment
This is a free
online course offered through Coursera.
In this course you will learn the basics
of the life-cycle assessment (LCA)
method for holistic environmental
analysis of products, technologies, and
systems. LCA sheds light on the
environmental implications of the
consumption and behavioral choices we
all make on a daily basis.
Course enrollment
is currently open. Sign up at the
following link:
https://www.coursera.org/course/introtolca
Next
offering: January
25th, 2014
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Contact
Us
Energy and Resource
Systems Analysis Lab (ERSAL)
Technological
Institute
2145 Sheridan Road,
E127
Evanston, IL
60208-3100
1.847.467.2929
eric.masanet@northwestern.edu
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