3 credits
Fall 2025 Lecture Lower Division
This course introduces life cycle analysis concepts; every process and material involved in an object's life is accounted for in a system boundary to quantify the effect an item has on the world's environment. Students will become familiar with how materials are sourced from nature, how they are processed into components, how those components are assembled into consumer items, how the consumer item continues to require resources, and how the item is eventually disposed. Particular focus is given to how each of these topics impacts societies and environments at both local and global scales.
Learning Outcomes1Design engineering and manufacturing systems with reduced environmental and ecological impact using industrial ecology principles.
2Describe principles of life cycle analysis (LCA), including its different forms, its limitations, its endpoints, and the common tools, techniques, and databases available to assist in LCA.
3Identify common relationships and dynamics in complex systems, including environmental systems, socio-economic systems, and engineered systems.
4Conduct a limited life cycle analysis on an industrial product or process, with a defined analysis goal.
5Quantify the physical inputs and outputs of specific engineering processes that comprise a product life cycle.
6Demonstrate awareness of the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders in complex contemporary environmental issues.
7Identify implicit and explicit impacts on various stakeholder groups from policies and decisions on environmental issues and engineering solutions.
8Develop an equitable engineering design proposal.
Prerequisites
made by Purdue students.