ME 6759 Materials in Environmentally Conscious Design and Manufacturing

ME 6759: Materials in Environmentally Conscious Design and Manufacturing
Offered Spring, Odd Years

Credit Hours:	3-0-3
Prerequisite:	Graduate standing in engineering or related disciplins
Catalog Description:	Covers the environmental impact of materials choices and quantitative measure of life-cycle assessment and environmental burden. The Natural Step philosophy will be used as a model for the overall approach. Crosslisted with MSE and PTFE 6759.
Textbook:	Braden R. Allenby, Industrial Ecology, 2nd Edition, Pearson Education, 2002.
Instructor:

References:

Environmental Consciousness: A Strategic Competitive Issue for the Electronics and Computer Industry, March 1993, published by The Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC).

Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Electronics and the Environment, 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1996.

1996 Electronics Industry Environmental Roadmap, February 1996, published by MCC.

The National Technology Roadmap for Electronic Interconnections, published by the Institute of Interconnecting and Packaging Electronic Circuits, 1995.

EPA Design for the Environment: Federal Environmental Regulations Affecting the Electronics Industry. Printed Wiring Board Project. (EPA-744-B-95-001)

EPA. Environmental Accounting Case Studies: Green Accounting at AT&T. EPA 742-R-95-003.

Goals:

To introduce the principles of environmentally conscious products, processes and manufacturing systems;
to use electronics manufacturing as the platform to demonstrate the importance of materials choice and process selection when considering the life-cycle environmental impact;
to teach the student to perform life-cycle assessments and to estimate environmental burdens.
This course will review the principles of sustainable development, industrial ecology and will discuss the environmental thinking associated with The Natural Step.

Topics:

Introduction
Historical background and perspective
The Natural Step philosophy applied to concepts of sustainable development and industrial ecology
Environmental Concerns including global, regional and local impacts
Overview of electronic product manufacturing including material selection and manufacturing processes
Packaging Materials Choices
Energy Sources for manufacturing, shipping, use
Life-cycle assessment issues from raw material extraction to end-of-life
International considerations
Case studies
Team projects which include disassembly of an electronic product, assessment of the present design from an environmentally responsible perspective, recommendations for redesign/improvements
Tour of local recycling facilities and electronic manufacturing facilities

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Revised June 2004