Concept and Implementation of a Student Design Project for the Development of Sustainable Products

Abstract

Technology is a major driver for leveraging the potential of multidimensional sustainable development, regardless of the sector examined. Therefore, engineers have an important contribution in developing innovative technical solutions to ensure more sustainable alternatives to conventional processes or products. In order to support this comprehension from an early age on, it is the task of lecturers at universities by developing students access to sustainable engineering activities with new teaching programs. Regarding conventional product development, the question arises how sustainable products can be developed, which concepts for design and which methods for validation and quantification can be used. These and further questions are the basis of the project-based learning (PBL) approach introduced in this paper as part of a new module "Development of Sustainable Products" at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Leibniz University Hannover. In this paper, the need for new courses in the ecological sustainability context and the requirements for student project work are presented. The concept of the project and the overall objective, that the students are required to assess the ecological environmental impact of electric toothbrushes over the entire product life cycle based on a life cycle assessment (LCA) is introduced. After successfully participating in this project, students are able to conduct ecological sustainability analyses and understand the complexity within the development of sustainable products.