Teaching sustainability in an engineering graphics class with solid modeling tool

Abstract

There is consensus about the need to teach sustainability, but also concern about how to accommodate these concepts into a crowded curriculum. Offering a separate course may not be a realistic choice due to resource or credit hour constraints. This paper investigates the capability of the sustainability component recently added to SolidWorks, which many universities use as a main Computer Aided Design (CAD) tool. We studied its usefulness in teaching sustainability concepts to engineering students. The study was performed in a Southern Colorado regional university over a period of two years involving eight sections of a first-year engineering graphics class consisting twenty four students each. In one course module, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was used to analyze the environmental impact of a cup holder. A sustainability report generated in SolidWorks accounts for the amount of Carbon Footprint, Water Eutrophication, Air Acidification and Total Energy Consumption. The base design scenario along with alternative options was evaluated to identify the environmental impacts and was compared to determine the most environmentally friendly options. To study the impact of this module on students, pre and post surveys were administered and the results suggested a significant improvement in sustainability learning and an increase in interest in sustainability. A similar approach could be used in other engineering programs with modifications depending upon the students' learning styles and educational background. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2013.