2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

An undergraduate course in materials science and engineering has been delivered that aligns with the Engineering for One Planet (EOP) framework, teaching about the challenges of reorienting the world’s energy supplies to flow through alternative energy systems. Fabrication of such systems requires far more minerals than their fossil fuel counterparts, minerals sourced, refined, and disposed of globally. The course examines the materials employed, studies the functional justification for using those materials, considers the social, economic, and environmental sustainability challenges of using those materials, and highlights strategies to minimize the negative impacts associated with global-scale deployment. The course highlights the sociotechnical reality of sustainability, i.e., success depends upon social and technical advance.

The course is organized into learning modules. In each, relevant clean energy material properties, e.g., magnetic, mechanical, thermal, are introduced and their scientific bases illuminated. Then, select sustainable energy systems are explained to help students understand the system design and materials selection processes. Why is a given material used in that device solution?

Students are introduced to life cycle assessments (LCAs) and learn about major environmental and social impact categories. They develop familiarity with LCA processes and impact categories by examining the social and environmental implications of specifying one material or another for use in energy solutions. Students are asked to think critically as they consider the use of alternative energy systems that rely upon global supply chains. What are the implications of reorienting supply chains to potentially more sustainable materials, manufacturing, or recycling?

Students are challenged to appreciate the scale of the proposed transformation and grapple with the social and cultural, economic, and environmental impacts of achieving the transformation. Examples of social and technical strategies for moderating those impacts are examined, e.g., global governance, materials research and development, and industrial ecology best practices.

By course completion, students are asked to demonstrate achievement of key learning objectives. These include an ability to identify material properties relevant to sustainable energy systems and describe their scientific basis. Students should be able to link properties to specific system performance. Students should be able to review a material life cycle analysis and identify the most important sustainability challenges associated with a given materials selection. They should be able to highlight the equivocal impacts of materials used in energy systems from sustainable social, economic, and environmental perspectives. They should demonstrate critical thinking skills by communicating to non-technical audiences how corrections to the trajectory of the energy transformation can strengthen the undertaking. Strategies for and examples of student assessment are presented to illustrate course design that targets core student learning outcomes highlighted by the EOP framework.