SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

According to the general training objectives of the Bachelor's Degree Programme in Environmental Engineering for the Ecological Transition, the course contributes to shape graduates able to operate in the field environmental and territorial engineering, through the assessment of environmental impacts of products and processes, , analysing the most impactful life cycle phases and identifying possible actions to reduce impacts,The teaching will be based on according to the recent European legislation on ecodesign.
The objective is to provide students with the necessary skills for developing and using conceptual tools specific to environmental and territorial engineering, as well as some of the techniques used in these fields. In particular, the theoretical and practical knowledge acquired in the module “Life Cycle Assessment” will be further deepened with practical applications to real case studies from an ecodesign perspective.

Knowledge and understanding
The student will acquire relevant knowledge to evaluate the degree of implementation of ecodesign principles through the assessment of environmental impacts along the life cycle of products and processes and the identification of strategies for their reduction through sustainable design.

Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
The student will acquire specific skills concerning quantification and assessment of environmental impacts for the different phases of the life cycle of products and processes through the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) procedures to real case studies, identifying possible solutions to reduce the impact of the product/process.

Autonomy of judgment
The student will deal with complex data and information collected from different sources (e.g. databases for inventory analysis) and analyze and elaborate them for producing clear and accurate summaries, and for assessing how appropriate design choices can influence life cycle impacts. In particular, he/she will independently evaluate the environmental impacts of individual ecodesign aspects and compare different designing scenarios.

Communication skills
The student will acquire adequate skills and tools for oral and written communication, modern skills to critical assess, propose and discuss the results of his/her analysis with experts and non-experts, also during events for the presentation and discussion of such results and for the discussion of topical issues related to ecological transition.

Learning ability
The student will acquire the ability of learning and deepening aspects of innovative research and resolution of topical issues relevant for the ecological transition with particular attention to ecodesign, in view of minimization of any environmental impacts and towards new frontiers in decarbonization of energy demand.

Theoretical knowledge of LCA and practical base with OpenLCA.

The course will provide a practical in-depth study of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in an ecodesign perspective.
First of all, the recent EU “Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation” (ESPR) will be presented, with a special focus on the different ecodesign principles.
A practical section will follow, where the students will put into practice the previously presented principles, included in ESPR, through real case studies to be modelled in OpenLCA to evaluate how sustainable design can contribute to reducing the impacts of products and processes. Students are expected to apply one or more of the principles outlined and create scenario analyses to determine the impact of design choices on product/process impacts.

Slides presented by the teacher and materials for practical exercises made available by the teacher in the Moodle platform.

Written essay on the practical exercise with OpenLCA (max 16 points) and oral discussion of the essay (max 16 points) to assess the theoretical and practical knowledge acquired by the student on the addressed topics.

oral

For the written essay, max 16 points are assigned: 16=excellent; 14=very good; 12=good; 10=sufficient; 8=poor; 6=bad.
For the oral discussion of the written essay, max 16 points are assigned: 16=excellent; 14=very good; 12=good; 10=sufficient; 8=poor; 6=bad.

Lectures
Practical exercise

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Circular economy, innovation, work" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development