Introduction to Sustainable Materials and Technology

Catalog description

The overall goal of the class is to introduce the students to the properties and production, and environmental implications, of common materials, including biobased, metals, plastics and mineral based. The class will connect the structure and mechanical properties of these common materials with the technology used for producing the materials from raw ingredients, and also the processing of these materials into useful items. In addition to the material properties, the environmental impacts, e.g., emissions of carbon, water, and pollutants, will be discussed. The concepts of embodied energy, mass and energy balances, water and land use will all be considered. The concept of Life Cycle Analysis will be introduced and used to evaluate the production of different building materials.