ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an opinion about engineering ethics and public policy (PP) and how they relate to each other. It describes knowledge about ethics, ethical theories, and codes of ethics. The chapter discusses the categories of engineering ethics including technical, social, professional, and entrepreneurial. It examines how engineers are required to practice within their field of knowledge and experience, and the role of engineering profession in the development of PP. The chapter explains how engineering professionals translate complex technical issues into a publicly accessible discourse, and the impact of increasing the PP and ethics content on engineering education. It focuses on the contributions of the engineering profession to ethical policies for sustainability. The chapter also provides a sociotechnical case an intellectual basis for understanding the ethical and policy questions and challenges posed by transitions in energy systems, and criteria and approaches for evaluating the ethical desirability of future energy options including renewable resources and smart grid.
