An overview of life cycle assessment (LCA) and research-based teaching in renewable and sustainable energy education

Engineers working as designers, managers and policy-makers play a key role in decision-making got sustainable energy solutions. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a key decision-making and benchmarking tool used for assessing sustainable energy solutions in the society. As a systemic tool, LCA compiles the environmental impacts of systems from the acquisition of raw materials to the utilisation of waste. Hence, it is essential to integrate LCA into energy education. This paper reviews the use of LCA in renewable energy research and in energy education using a literature survey. It was shown that there exists a lot of LCA renewable energy studies, but LCA is sparsely used in energy education. However, the intention was perceived for using LCA in education in other disciplines than energy engineering. LCA was widely used in energy research for assessing environmental sustainability and compiling sustainability indicators of renewable energy systems. This review also reveals that LCA research-based teaching activates and motivates students better than traditional lectures do. LCA was implemented as traditional lectures and student activating methods, such as hands-on doing, project works, presentations, and discussions on different platforms. Moreover, the use of LCA research in teaching increased student understanding of sustainability through practical LCA projects. In conclusion, the use of LCA should be enhanced as a research-based teaching method in renewable and sustainable energy education curricula. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd