Educating Engineers About Sustainable Energy: An Overview of the Issues

The decisions and activities of engineers are often intimately connected with the choice of energy systems and their far reaching effects on society and the environment. Yet there is little or no explicit ‘sustainable energy education’ — that is, education about the rote that the production and use energy plays in modern society, including the related technical aspects—in most undergraduate engineering courses. The significance of energy to modern society, the culture of engineering, and the future outlook for sustainable energy education are explored from a historical perspective in the context of environmentalism, feminism and industrialism. The current status of sustainable energy education theory and practice in Australia is outlined. Drawing on interviews with key practitioners possible approaches to sustainable energy education in engineering are discussed. Current courses and resources for sustainable energy education for engineers are summarised.