Course syllabus for Environmental management and science

Course syllabus adopted 2023-02-15 by Head of Programme (or corresponding).

Overview

  • Swedish nameMiljöledning och miljövetenskap
  • CodeKBT020
  • Credits7.5 Credits
  • OwnerTIKEL
  • Education cycleFirst-cycle
  • Main field of studyChemical Engineering
  • ThemeEnvironment 7.5 c
  • DepartmentTECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS
  • GradingTH - Pass with distinction (5), Pass with credit (4), Pass (3), Fail

Course round 1

  • Teaching language Swedish
  • Application code 64123
  • Maximum participants35
  • Open for exchange studentsNo
  • Only students with the course round in the programme overview.

Credit distribution

0105 Examination 7.5 c
Grading: TH
0 c7.5 c0 c0 c0 c0 c
  • 13 Jan 2025 am J DIG
  • 15 Apr 2025 am J DIG
  • 22 Aug 2025 am J DIG

In programmes

Examiner

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Eligibility

General entry requirements for bachelor's level (first cycle)
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Specific entry requirements

The same as for the programme that owns the course.
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Course specific prerequisites

LKT032/033/034 General and inorganic chemistry and LKT053 Physical chemistry, or equivalent.

Aim

The course aims to provide knowledge of the natural environment, key environmental impacts caused by human interference at the workplace and planetary scales, and some of the main information tools we use to manage environmental impacts.

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)

  1. describe different attempts to implement the concept of sustainable development
  2. describe the trends and the mechanisms behind regional and global environmental problems
  3. describe different forms of human impact on ecological processes
  4. describe the effect of chemicals on human health
  5. describe the risk assessment process, fate and transport models for emissions and perform simple risk assessments
  6. describe environmental assessment processes, and perform the four steps of a life cycle assessment
  7. describe how various approaches including environmental management systems are used in sustainability work at the company, national and EU levels
  8. discuss and apply different principles for ethical decision-making and discuss the engineers role in relation to sustainable development

Content

Ecology and biogeochemical cycles, global environmental problems, eutrophication, simplified models of the transport and fate of chemicals, toxicology, chemical health hazards, qualitative and quantitative risk assessment techniques, environmental quality standards, life cycle assessment, environmental management systems, environmental strategy, REACH, ethical decisionmaking, the role of engineers.

There are also optional projects on risk assessment and on LCA involving literature analysis and class presentation.

Additionally, participants in the LCA project may participate in a seminar discussion to deepen their understanding of LCA.

Organisation

The course consists of lectures and tutorials based on key aspects. Optional student projects include written and oral presentation. The seminar is an additional chance to practice public speaking.

Literature

Peters & Svanström (2019) Environmental Sustainability for Engineers and Applied Scientists. Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 9781316617731
The textbook, lecture and tutorial materials define the course content. See the course syllabus in Canvas for details.

Examination including compulsory elements

Written exam. Marking scale: 3, 4 and 5.

The course examiner may assess individual students in other ways than what is stated above if there are special reasons for doing so, for example if a student has a decision from Chalmers on educational support due to disability.