Office of Sustainability

Auburn’s Regional Sustainable Practices in Northern Spain is a four-week immersion program designed to introduce students to sustainable technologies and practices. Students visit wind and solar farm sites, biomass conversion facilities, and a desalination plant. Courses particularly emphasize renewable energy, water treatment, and sustainable infrastructure. Students are able to learn from Auburn University professors as well as current experts in Spain. Courses take place in the facilities of the Engineering Association of Navarre in the center of Pamplona, Spain.

Included in the College of Engineering, BSEN 5260 aims to provide graduates with skill sets needed to solve global issues in applications of food, water, energy, environment, and health. A course designed to examine the use of renewable energy in biological, food, forest, and agricultural systems, BSEN 5260 includes aspects of bioenergy, solar energy, wind power and geothermal energy. A key course in the Biosystems Engineering degree, it aims to prepare students for professional careers in biosystems industries and related natural resource and environmental systems sectors.

CSES 5400/6400: Bioenergy and the Environment, offered through the College of Agriculture, focuses on teaching students the role of bioenergy in reducing the environmental problems related to the use of fossil fuels and addressing declining rural economies. The class summarizes the impacts of fossil fuel use on the environment and human populations with focuses on identifying bioenergy crop species and agricultural practices used in their production. Graduate students research new crops that could be used as bioenergy crops in the US or other parts of the world.

The Center for Bioenergy and Bioproducts was established to bring bioenergy and bioproduct opportunities to the state of Alabama and the Southeast. Auburn University is surrounded by renewable forest and agricultural biomass resources, making it ideally suited to conduct research on renewable energy. The Center has identified several universal research gaps that are barriers to the development of alternative fuels and energy and strives to fill these gaps through targeted program objectives. The Center is a catalyst for the development of bioenergy and bioproduct ideas, which will enhance Alabama’s economy and the quality of life for all by providing jobs for Alabama residents and developing green energy solutions.

Dr. David Scarborough is an Assistant Professor within the College of Engineering. Dr. Scarborough’s research efforts focus upon modeling high-efficiency, low-emissions combustion systems for peak production of power. Within the School of Aerospace Engineering, Dr. Scarborough studies the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by pursuing efficiency and improvement of burners for space heaters. These burners produce less than 1 ppm CO and 5 ppm NOx, significantly less greenhouse gas production than commercial burners.

Methane is an important biofuel, the main component of natural gas, and a potent greenhouse gas. Therefore, a better understanding of how nature makes this energy-rich and relatively inert gas may lead to the development of strategies for the production and/or conversion of natural gas as well as reduction of natural greenhouse gas emissions. Steven Mansoorabadi of the College of Science and Mathematics conducts research that could help mitigate sources of greenhouse gas emissions through the development of technologies for methane capture and conversion. This research could also help identify new targets for inhibitors of the formation of methane.