Using small scale alternative energy equipment as a vehicle for sustainable development study

Sustainable development, and in particular the need for alternative sources of energy, is one of the key challenges of the 21st century, and thus an important topic to include in the engineering design curriculum. This paper argues that design projects exploring the design of small-scale alternative energy devices are a good way to approach the study of sustainable development issues, because as well as dealing with such issues they allow other design topics such as design for manufacture and selection of product architectures to be addressed. The argument is illustrated with an overview of a series of projects dealing with wind, hydro and wave power devices, and a description of the design issues addressed in the projects. The paper concludes with the suggestion that the study can be extended to the engineering science and laboratory elements of the engineering curriculum.