Engineering in a Circular Economy
Full course description
This course sets the stage for the pressing need of circular engineers in the modern world that is to face two huge societal challenges: to cope with the scarcity of raw materials and to balance the impact on the environment as wealth continues to increase. In this course, you get an overview of what it entails to become and to be a circular engineer by introducing the concept of circular economy. The circular economy approach addresses material supply challenges by keeping materials in use much longer and by returning materials for new use. The principle is that waste must be minimised and that by the reuse of materials less energy is required to manufacture new products. You are able to explain the concepts of reuse, repair, remanufacture and recycle and their mutual relationship in product design. Furthermore, you can describe state-of-the-art circular design methods that lead to less waste and energy, loss of value and loss of resources and explain issues that rise when implementing such circular economic principles from various perspectives (manufacturer, consumer, government).
Course objectives
At the end of this course, you are able to:
1. Describe and classify various circular economy and design terms, methods, and regulations, such as circularity indicators, value retention strategies, circularity metrics, product life cycle, cradle-to-cradle, circular design, industrial sustainability and ecology, Life Cycle Assessment, energy labels, and carbon footprint.
2. Generate possible circularity improvements in existing product life cycles by studying comparable products that already meet the requirements of circularity.
3. Explain the four steps to perform a Life Cycle Assessment and summarize its value related to sustainability and circular engineering.
4. Explain the impact of existing Life Cycle Assessment reports on a local, national and global scale.
5. Give your own reflection on a circularity
Recommended reading
Mandatory:The following handbooks and resources are used during the course. Only the topics covered during lectures and tutorials need to be studied.
- Reports - published by the Ellen McArthur Foundation:
- - Towards the Circular Economy Vol. 1: an economic and business rationale for an accelerated transition
- - The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics
- Book - Life Cycle Assessment: Quantitative Approaches for Decisions that Matter (2014), H. Scott Matthews, Chris Hendrickson, Deanna H. Matthews; available at https://www.lcatextbook.com/
- Article - Morseletto P. (2020), Targets for a Circular Economy. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 153, 104553; available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.104553
- Selection of literature on circularity and LCA; the sources are defined in the different tasks for this course
Recommended:
The following handbooks and resources are recommended if you are interested in circularity and/or Life Cycle Assessment and desire to have more in-depth information. They are by no means obligatory for the course.
- Handbook on essential concepts of sustainability: Tom Theis and Jonathan Tomkin, Editors, Sustainability: A Comprehensive Foundation. OpenStax CNX. 06.jan.2015 http://cnx.org/contents/1741effd-9cda-4b2b-a91e-003e6f587263@43.5. The book can be read online and is downloadable as PDF or EPUB file Article(s)
- Handbook - General guide for Life Cycle Assessment. European Commission - Joint Research Centre - Institute for Environment and Sustainability: International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook - General guide for Life Cycle Assessment - Detailed guidance. First edition March 2010. EUR 24708 EN. Luxembourg. Publications Office of the European Union; 2010. The pdf file is available at:http://eplca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/uploads/ILCD-Handbook-General-guide-for-LCA-DETAILED-GUIDANCE-12March2010-ISBN-fin-v1.0-EN.pd
- Other reports on circularity published by the Ellen McArthur Foundation