Energy audits and sustainable engineering

Undergraduate Engineering majors are introduced to Sustainable Engineering by conducting energy audits at farms, office buildings, and industrial facilities. These projects provide real world experiences where the students are called upon to use all their book knowledge, common sense and resourcefulness to make a significant contribution to project goals. Work is conducted in an experiential learning course required by the engineering curriculum. When appropriate, students also work outside of class for pay, e.g., during the summer. Students work in multidisciplinary teams. They are responsible for interacting with clients, conducting audit inventories, simulating building performance with computer models, making recommendations, producing engineering reports, and making presentations. Typical recommendations focus on lighting, equipment & appliances, and HVAC systems. Students also assess the appropriateness of solar energy at many sites. The projects introduce student to the triple bottom line, i.e., projects must work at environmental, economic, and social levels. Students determine the costs, savings and payback periods associated with their recommendations. Though done in a less formal manner, they also consider the appropriateness of their recommendations at a social level. The purpose of this paper is to describe the experiential education program that supports these activities, and evaluate the use of energy audits to teach students about sustainable engineering. Evaluations are based on observation and student deliverables.