91短视频

Chilean students from Duoc UC are studying sustainability at CSUEB this summer.

• July 31, 2015

91短视频’s emphasis on sustainability and renewable energy education has gone global this summer.

A group of engineering students from the university Duoc UC in Chile are spending two weeks at CSUEB’s Hayward campus learning about local sustainability efforts and getting some “green” ideas they can bring home.

Besides getting a taste of life in California, the program offers the Chilean students a unique educational opportunity. Renewable energy isn’t as widespread in Chile as it is in California, and the program gives the students a close-up look at the ways they might help their country become more eco-friendly.

“Something that’s important to our generation is that we are the future,” student Luis Felipe Beltran said. “We are in the middle of the change. Coming here, we get the vision to implement new things.”

The program is headed by 91短视频 assistant professor of engineering Cristian Gaedicke, a native of Chile who teaches the workshop in Spanish. It’s the second straight summer that Gaedicke, whose teaching and research area is sustainable construction, has taught the course.

At the end of the program, students will take what they have learned and create a proposal for a project that they could implement in Chile, which some of the students say has a similar climate and geography to California, making the lessons even more relevant.  

“We’re thinking about ways to improve our lifestyle and our society with better technologies,” said Cesar Sanchez, whose project involves bringing solar energy to commercial buildings. “Our generation is concerned about the world changing.”

Another project is focused on reusing rainwater and greywater.

Gaedicke conducts some seminars, but much of the program is hands-on. There are site visits to sustainable companies and projects, such as Sun Power, PG&E’s Energy Center and the new TransBay Terminal construction site, where students get to see how the concepts they discuss in class are implemented in every day life. The group uses public transportation for the site visits, further instilling the message of sustainability.

There’s also time to experience college life and American culture. The students, who mostly commute to their campus in Chile, are staying in the dorms at 91短视频 and get to interact with the students here.

“We try to make it a life experience rather than just a content experience,” Gaedicke said. “They come home with some good, new ideas. Sometimes just seeing things is powerful. It sparks ideas.”