Engineering for Sustainable Development (ESD) | UOA

Calling Engineering and Design students interested in sustainability and innovation! • 12-week design challenge • 6 March - 29 May • $4,000 prize pool • Open to undergraduate and postgraduate students from the Faculty of Engineering and Design at the University of Auckland • Enter in teams of up to 5, or sign up individually to be placed in a team Meridian Energy, in partnership with the University of Auckland and Engineering for Sustainable Development (ESD), is launching the Te Rere Hau Circular Design Challenge 2026. The Te Rere Hau Wind Farm is located near Palmerston North on the Tararua Range, an area with some of the best wind resources in Aotearoa New Zealand. Meridian is currently in the process of repowering the wind farm, which includes the removal of 91 wind turbine nacelles. These nacelles are made of a composite material and are therefore not readily recyclable. Meridian is seeking opportunities to repurpose or recover value from the nacelles, avoiding landfill. Student teams will tackle the real-world challenge of repurposing 91 wind turbine nacelles, developing practical, scalable, and sustainable design solutions. Meridian is interested in exploring a wide range of creative options that provide meaningful, practical, and socially or environmentally beneficial second lives for these nacelles.   The winning design could be implemented by Meridian Energy as part of Aotearoa’s first-ever wind farm repowering project. Register now for your chance to: • Work on a real-world engineering design challenge • Receive weekly mentoring from industry and academic professionals • Develop a creative, meaningful solution that may actually be implemented Register using the link below before 11:59pm Wednesday 4 March to secure your spot! https://lnkd.in/eaHzryiM

✨ Recap: Tonkin + Taylor x ESD Case Challenge ✨ A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for the T&T x ESD Case Challenge Competition! 💡 We are so grateful for all the effort, enthusiasm, and positive energy you brought to the event. The way you tackled the challenges, collaborated as teams, and shared creative, forward-thinking solutions was truly inspiring. You all made this event such a success. 🙌 A special congratulations to our winning teams 🏆 – your innovative ideas really stood out! Finally, a big thank you to Tonkin + Taylor and the Sustainability Society for partnering with is and making this event possible.

What an epic afternoon on 30/07/2025 at Beca‘s brand-new office! 🏢🌿 It was so great to see all the energy and to have so many of you come along and get involved 🙌 A huge thank you to Beca for hosting us and giving students a behind-the-scenes look at one of NZ’s top engineering and design consultancies. From inspiring case studies to seeing how sustainability comes to life in real projects — it was an unforgettable experience! 🌱

Hi everyone - ESD is now on LinkedIn! 🌱 We’re Engineering for Sustainable Development (ESD), a student-led club at the University of Auckland. Our focus? Helping engineering students connect, learn, and create real impact through sustainability. We’ll be using this page to share what we’re up to - events, workshops, projects, and opportunities to get involved. Whether you’re already part of ESD or just curious about what we do, we’d love to have you following along. Here’s to building a future where sustainability is part of every engineering decision. 🌏 #EngineeringForSustainableDevelopment #UniversityOfAuckland #StudentClub #SustainableEngineering #SustainableDevelopment #FutureEngineers #ClimateAction