Sustainable Development - Employability and Sustainability Assignment

Sustainability and employability

Learning outcome 1: To provide an appreciation of electrical engineers responsibilities in the context of sustainable development

Assignment Task

Write a report on the sustainability of integrated circuits (ICs). You should investigate the product thoroughly, determine its sustainability issues, assess their importance, and propose several possible ways that the product might be made more sustainable.

You should complete the report using the template below, and using the examples given in lectures as a guide for the content of each section.

Marking is anonymous. Do not include any identifying information in your assignment or in the name of the file that you submit.

Your report should have the format given in the template below. Any figures or tables should be numbered and have appropriate captions. You should reference all information in your report, using the standard IEEE style of referencing

Report Template

1. Introduction
(suggested length: 150 words)
Using one or two short paragraphs, state the product or process you have selected and briefly explain the purpose of your report

2. Description of the scope of product or process
(suggested length: 300 words)
Give an overview of the scope of your product or process, its main design features, its market situation and your sustainable development concerns

3. Framing of Product or System in a Sustainable Development Context
(suggested length: 500-600 words)
Summarize the attitudes of the stakeholders in your product or process. The stakeholders might include consumers/users, retailers, manufacturers, any relevant pressure groups, government, and regulators. You should only consider the groups relevant to your product or process

4. Description of the life cycle of the product or process
(suggested length: 200 words)
Using the examples given in lectures as a guide, describe the life cycle of your product or process. You might choose to use a cradle-to-grave diagram to help with your description.

5. Matrix of Life Cycle Stages and Sustainable Development Impacts
Using the examples given in lectures as a guide,
• create a matrix of the life cycle stages and the sustainable development impacts. In the table, the minimum font size should be Arial 9pt.
• rate the impact of the sustainability issues.

6. Analysis of sustainability issues
(suggested length: 250 words total)
Using the information from Part 5, discuss the main sustainability issues associated with developing this product. If possible, summarise any industry attempts to overcome these problems

7. Summary
(suggested length: 150 words total)
In a few short paragraphs, summarise the main points of your sustainability investigation.

8. References
List your references. You should use the IEEE format style.