Learning-by-doing: experience from 20 years of teaching LCA to future engineers

Abstract

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Teaching life cycle assessment in higher education

“…This mirrors the outcome of the literature review in Section 3.1, where several authors (e.g. Margallo et al 2019;Sriraman et al 2017a, b) emphasize the importance of project-and problem-based learning approaches and others provide examples of real-life company cases being the core element of their teaching concepts (see Cosme et al 2019;Lockrey and Bissett Johnson 2013;Piekarski et al 2019).…”

“…For instance, Burnley et al ( 2019 ) present a software tool developed at Cranfield University to allow part-time distance learning students to gain an understanding and experience of LCA. Olsen et al ( 2018 ) and Cosme et al ( 2019 ) present the LCA course experience at the Technical University of Denmark, including how students and companies are engaged in the course allowing a win–win situation to all stakeholders. De Souza et al ( 2014 ) summarize experiences on graduate education in Brazil considering inputs from five different universities, and identified among others, common challenges among the partners as lack of national inventories to model LCA studies.…”

“…Lockrey and Bissett Johnson 2013 ; Margallo et al 2019 ; Piekarski et al 2019 ; Sriraman et al 2017a , b ), most of the time through a life cycle assessment project developed by the students and using one or different LCA commercial software. Some studies presented experiences with cases developed in partnership with industrial partners (Cosme et al 2019 ; Piekarski et al 2019 ). As emphasized by Sriraman et al ( 2017a , b ), an appropriate pedagogy is essential to activate student engagement in the learning process and facilitate a deeper learning.…”

“…While some universities only introduce the concept as (a small) part of regular courses, others offer dedicated courses, modules, minors, or majors on the subject. A systematic integration of life cycle approaches and tools in a curriculum is still rare, as outlined by Roure et al ( 2018 ) and Cosme et al ( 2019 ).…”

Organizational Water Footprint to Support Decision Making: a Case Study for a German Technological Solutions Provider for the Plumbing Industry

“…It can influence both the upstream supply chain (e.g., by reducing material use or through material substitution), the use phase (e.g., by increasing the energy or water use efficiency of products), as well as the end-of-life phase (e.g., by designing products in a way to support their recycling). The incorporation of eco-design into the EMS framework has been standardized in ISO 14006 [21], and strategies facilitating LCA-based eco-design in companies such as teaching methods for instructing (future) product developers, have been discussed in literature [22,23]. As water scarcity footprints are single-indicator assessments, eco-design options solely based on water scarcity impacts should be considered carefully in order to avoid burden shifting, e.g., reduced water footprint, but increased carbon footprint [24].…”