[LINK] Engineering Education for Sustainable Development, 3 May, Canberra
Tom Worthington
Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au
Fri Apr 27 09:03:52 AEST 2007
Recommended seminar. To make this on topic for Link, I suggest the
web can be a very useful medium for education on sustainable
development and I have proposed a Green IT Special Interest Group
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2007/04/green-it-special-interest-group.html>:
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CSES SEMINAR SERIES
Engineering Education for Sustainable Development - New Challenges,
Initiatives, and Opportunities
<http://cecs.anu.edu.au/seminars/showone.pl?SID=429>
Michael Smith (Departmental Visitor ANU CRES and Research Director of
the sustainability think tank - The Natural Edge Project (TNEP))
DATE: 2007-05-03
TIME: 15:00:00 - 16:00:00
LOCATION: Ian Ross Seminar Room
ABSTRACT:
2005 -2015 is the UN Decade of Education in Sustainable Development.
This presentation argues that it is time we re-examined whether or
not we can improve engineering education in sustainable development.
It is widely acknowledged that engineers have a key role to play in
sustainable development. The challenge to achieve ecological
sustainability fast enough and on a scale large enough globally is
significant.
This lecture argues that to achieve sustainability globally, OECD
nations, like Australia, will need to aim to reduce environmental
pressures by at least 75% by 2050. Far from being radical, such
targets are in line with IPCC and other UN body?s recommendations.
These sorts of targets are also being recommended by academics. The
ANU Factor of 10 Symposium in 2001, which argued that environmental
pressures needed to be reduced by a factor of 10 (or 90%) by 2050, is
an example of this. (http://www.anu.edu.au/factoroften/index.php)
Given these facts, this presentation asks how can engineering
university courses (and ongoing professional development training)
better equip engineers with the very latest to achieve Factor 4-10 or
better now?
Achieving a Factor of 4 (75%) or better marks a significant new
challenge for this generation of engineers. Michael Smith, The
Natural Edge Project (www.naturaledgeproject.net) and partners are
currently in the process of developing three significant engineering
education programs addressing this issue funded by UNESCO and
Engineers Australia, The Department of Environment and Water
Resources and CSIRO's Energy Transformed Flagship respectively.
Drawing on these three training packages for engineers, this lecture
will show how engineers and society already are achieving such large
(Factor 4 plus) reductions in environmental pressures through
re-thinking the engineering design of whole systems. The talk will
overview what is novel about these new engineering educational
packages, what they provide engineers and educators, which
Universities are already using this work, and how it will add value
to ANU?s existing engineering courses. In addition the presentation
will overview other significant initiatives around the world - like
the Netherlands Sustainable Technology Development program; a
national program seeking to help the Netherlands achieve Factor 10-20 by 2050.
BIO: Michael Smith has worked on a range of sustainability focused
initiatives for sometime. Michael and the team from The Natural Edge
Project have developed a range of projects focused on education and
training for sustainable development, working with Universities,
Professional Bodies, Industry Groups, Government Agencies, Companies,
Schools and touring international keynote speakers.
(http://www.naturaledgeproject.net/KeyAchievements.aspx)
In 2005, TNEP was announced the winner of the Banksia Award for
Environmental Leadership, Education and Training for their
publication The Natural Advantage of Nations, and the training
program, Engineering Sustainable Solutions Program. Already 20,000
individuals a month are using the online educational resources on The
Natural Edge Project?s web site. (www.naturaledgeproject.net) In
addition, Michael represents TNEP on the editorial board for CSIRO
ECOS:Towards A Sustainable Future magazine, Engineers Australia?s
Sustainability Taskforce Committee and the Australian Council of
Building Design Professionals. He has also served as PARSA rep on the
ANU Green committee and is a recipient of the ANU Green Individual Award.
Michael H. Smith has joined the Department of Engineering for the
next 9 months. In 2006, Michael was accepted as a Departmental
Visitor to ANU?s Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies to
develop an engineering sustainable energy solutions educational
package, under funding from the CSIRO Energy Transformed Flagship
project grants in collaboration with Griffith University, The Natural
Edge Project and Engineers Australia. The project will research and
deliver an effective toolkit for capacity-building engineers and
other key technical professions, in the skill of finding and
implementing cost-effective low-carbon energy approaches and energy
efficiency options.
The capacity-building training program will empower engineers to
address these issues through the course of their professional life.
The project will deliver peer-reviewed capacity-building modules for
use by both practicing and undergraduate engineers (ie in the
workplace and through universities and vocational institutions).
Given the project's focus, the ANU Department of Engineering have
agreed for him to undertake this program based as part of the ANU
Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems for the duration of this work.
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My blog of the talk at
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2007/04/engineering-education-for-sustainable.html>.
Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington at tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/
Visiting Fellow, ANU Blog: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/atom.xml
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