Greenhouse gas reduction in industry: A multidisciplinary approach to project-based learning

Since 2004, ten to fifteen final year undergraduate mechanical engineering students at RMIT University have worked on projects with local firms aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by enhancing energy efficiency, reducing waste and/or using renewable energy. This Greenhouse Challenge Plus Support Program is a collaborative project with NORTH Link under the auspices of the Australian Greenhouse Office. In 2007, this project was extended to include students from other disciplines with the help of additional funding from RMIT's Design the Future initiative. In addition to the engineering projects, five multidisciplinary teams of undergraduate students - from the disciplines of mechanical engineering, social science and environment, industrial design, and management - were formed to work on more extensive projects with local firms. On completion of the project, the students and industry representatives were interviewed and the findings evaluated. In this paper, we report on our preliminary findings.