Is It All about Efficiency? Exploring Students’ Conceptualizations of Sustainability in an Introductory Energy Course

Laura A. Gelles, Joel Alejandro Mejia, Susan M. Lord, Gordon D. Hoople and Diana A. Chen
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Laura A. Gelles: Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080, USA
Joel Alejandro Mejia: Integrated Engineering, Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA 92110, USA
Susan M. Lord: Integrated Engineering, Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA 92110, USA
Gordon D. Hoople: Integrated Engineering, Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA 92110, USA
Diana A. Chen: Integrated Engineering, Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA 92110, USA

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 13, 1-21

Abstract: Engineers are increasingly called on to develop sustainable solutions to complex problems. Within engineering, however, economic and environmental aspects of sustainability are often prioritized over social ones. This paper describes how efficiency and sustainability were conceptualized and interrelated by students in a newly developed second-year undergraduate engineering course, An Integrated Approach to Energy. This course took a sociotechnical approach and emphasized modern energy concepts (e.g., renewable energy), current issues (e.g., climate change), and local and personal contexts (e.g., connecting to students’ lived experiences). Analyses of student work and semi-structured interview data were used to explore how students conceptualized sustainability and efficiency. We found that in this cohort ( n = 17) students often approached sustainability through a lens of efficiency, believing that if economic and environmental resources were prioritized and optimized, sustainability would be achieved. By exploring sustainability and efficiency together, we examined how dominant discourses that privilege technical over social aspects in engineering can be replicated within an energy context.

Keywords: sustainability; efficiency; sociotechnical; engineering; energy education; undergraduate students; qualitative research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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