BSEN20190 Intro to Carbon and Energy Footprinting

Academic Year 2024/2025

Sustainability is a priority across sectors as organisations respond to sustainability targets to be achieved by 2030 for compliance, consumer and market retention purposes. Engineers Ireland have identified a skills gap in understanding of how to implement sustainability. This module will introduce the concept and practices in carbon footprinting to students in STEM fields. Students will learn the principles of carbon footprinting in relation to international standards. Students will develop competencies in carbon footprinting through project-based assignments aimed at development of an excel-based spreadsheet model to calculate their personal carbon footprint.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of this module, students should be able to;
(1) Understand the basic concept of life cycle thinking, its relevance and use in different contexts,
(2) Comprehend standardised methodologies for carbon footprinting,
(3) Apply specific methodological steps of carbon footprinting,
(4) Perform a partial carbon footprint including analysing and evaluating the validity of specific steps, the quality and reliability,
(5) Interpret the results of the carbon footprint calculation and identify areas for improvement.

Indicative Module Content:

This module will introduce the concepts and practices of energy and carbon footprinting. The module will explore the importance of energy and carbon footprinting in the STEM fields with reference to national and international reporting requirements. Relevant international (ISO) standards for the assessment of the carbon footprint will be discussed throughout the module with case studies used to illustrate the application of the standards to a project. A focus of the module will be on building students competencies in energy and carbon footprinting through project-based assignments.

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

24
Specified Learning Activities

48
Autonomous Student Learning

48
Total

120
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
1. Lectures to deliver theory of energy and carbon footprinting.

2. Problem-based assignments to develop critical awareness, analysis, synthesis and communication skills. These will be focussed on building students competencies in carrying out a carbon footprint of a product or process.

3. Directed Study: Learners will be directed to access and work through a program of content which will be delivered asynchronously. This approach will enable the students to access and work through a program of content (e.g. readings, videos, podcasts, online web-based tools for personal carbon footprint calculation) at a time of their choosing within the weekly time frame and within the context of the supported learning environment. 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Assignment(Including Essay): Carbon Footprint Report n/a Standard conversion grade scale 40% No

50
Assignment(Including Essay): An excel-based energy footprint model n/a Standard conversion grade scale 40% No

30
Assignment(Including Essay): Critical Review of Personal Carbon Footprint n/a Standard conversion grade scale 40% No

20

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Summer No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.