"While so many pontificate about sustainability, it is heartening to see a bunch of young engineers leading from the front. Engineers Australia, and the Environment College in particular, should be commended for backing such an initiative."
Attendee, EA Environment College Breakfast Briefing

Introduction to Sustainable Development for the Engineering and Built Environment Professions

The course is the introductory course in the Critical Literacies Portfolio of the Engineering Sustainable Solutions Program. The course focuses on the context for incorporating sustainable development into the engineering profession, describing the terms, barriers, opportunities and existing tools that define and explain a whole systems approach to Sustainable Development. TNEP received grants from UNESCO (Natural Science Sector) and The Institution of Engineers Australia (College of Environmental Engineering and Society for Sustainability and Environmental Engineering) to develop this course.

The purpose of the Whole System Design Suite is to provide introductory technical design based teaching material to demonstrate how advances in energy, materials and water efficiency can be achieved through applying a Whole System Approach to Sustainable Design. Whole System Approaches for designing buildings, cars, cities, industry plants, motors, farming and agriculture, and lighting systems are increasingly being seen as the key to the most cost effective reduction in negative environmental impacts. TNEP received a grant from the Australian Federal Department of the Environment and Water Resources under the Education for Sustainable Development Grants Programme.

This portfolio will provide a freely available online education and training package to bring together the knowledge of how Australia can achieve at least 60 percent cuts to greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This training package provides industry, business and households with the knowledge they need to realise at least 30 percent energy efficiency savings in the short term while providing a strong basis for further improvement. TNEP recieved grants from CSIRO, as part of the Energy Transformed Flagship, and the National Framework for Energy Efficiency (NFEE).

University of South Australia - Louis Laybourne Smith School of Architecture and Design

In 2006/07 TNEP is working with UniSA on the development of two coursework units for the Master of Sustainable Design The first two courses proposed are 'Sustainable Design Theory - Sustainability and Society' and 'Sustainable Design Theory - Sustainable Design Principles'.

KBR Government & Infrastructure

"Selected KBR staff attended workshops, courses and seminars by The Natural Edge Project (TNEP). These resulted in the development of an in-house sustainability program through which we will educate and support our wider staff in the Asia Pacific region as the field of sustainable engineering continues to develop. This program has set the benchmark for our global counterparts in KBR and has provided a robust framework upon which we can build a sustainable future. We will continue to collaborate with TNEP as we progress towards sustainability."

Bridget Kelly, Sustainability Technical Sector Leader
KBR Government & Infrastructure.

RMIT Master of Sustainable Practice

In 2006 TNEP worked with RMIT to deliver courses as part of the Master of Sustainable Practice. Currently two units from the Critical Literacies Portfolio have been approved under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Roger Hadgraft, School of Civil and Chemical Engineering. TNEP will be both offering these units in partnership with RMIT to private clients and groups and also to Students of RMIT as shortcourses. The first course was also delivered twice in late 2006 in partnership with Griffith University.

Queensland University of Technology (QUT)

In 2006 TNEP undertook a collaboration with the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering at QUT to develop a Faculty-wide ‘Introducing Sustainability’ unit. TNEP assisted by facilitating preparatory workshops, delivering base lecture material and assisting in tutor training and support. The base unit material for the unit is a hybrid of the TNEP 'Role of Engineering in Sustainable Development - A' course and the textbook for the unit is ‘The Natural Advantage of Nations'.

HATCH

In 2005/06 TNEP worked with Hatch to assist in the development of training material focused on sustainability critical literacy skills, relevant to the minerals processing industry. The training materials strongly align with the leading sustainability tools within Hatch.

Queensland Government Environment Protection Agency - Sustainable Industries Division - ecoBiz Program
In 2005/06 TNEP worked with the Sustainable Industries Division of the Queensland EPA to assist the division to further develop their capacity building programs and assist the division to embed sustainability thinking, methodologies and tools into the organisations behavior and practice.