Courses Related to Sustainability and Energy

Course offerings are subject to change. Please verify information in the Undergraduate Catalog if you see a course that’s of interest.

Courses in this page cover topics related to energy technology, production, use, distribution, and policy. Energy plays a complex political and economic role in society. Courses focus on topics ranging from renewable energy engineering to economic policy.

Civil and Environmental Engineering

CIE 480 – Wind Energy Engineering

This course presents the theory and design of modern wind turbines. Theoretical aspects of the course cover the fundamentals of assessing the aerodynamic loads and efficiency of a wind turbine. Design procedures for wind turbines are outlined with an emphasis on maximizing performance, assuring structural integrity and minimizing the cost of energy. Current trends in offshore wind are also covered as well as the social and environmental issues of a burgeoning wind energy industry.

Earth and Climate Sciences

ERS 107 – Energy, Environment, and Climate

Explores the Earth Science concepts that underlie energy, energy sources, the environmental impacts of energy use, and the role of energy in climate. We will consider the ways in which society interacts with and extracts energy from the Earth System, the energy balance of Earth, the climate and environmental implications of energy use, and gain an understanding of renewable and non-renewable energy sources.

Ecology and Environmental Sciences

EES 312 – Energy, Law, and Environment: Contending with Climate Change

This course addresses the major ethical and legal questions pertaining to energy production and utilization, including environmental and social impacts, with an emphasis on development of climate change policy. Through a combination of lectures, role play, case studies, and discussions, students will consider these issues in local, national, and international contexts.

EES 351 – Energy, Wealth, and Power: a Biophysical Systems View of Nature and Society

Within the biophysical economics paradigm, energy is the unseen arbiter that drives ecological and economic processes. Biophysical systems of nature and human society are organized according to seemingly universal laws that govern the concentration, conversion, and degradation of energy over space and time. These laws explain historic patterns in ecological and societal evolution, and provide a framework for responding to planetary crises of climate change, peak energy, and unpayable ecological debt. Students will apply biophysical systems principles of energy return on investment (EROI), energy hierarchy, transformity, embodied energy (eMergy), and maximum eMpower to better understand the past and better prepare for the future in a rapidly-degrading ecosphere. Students will read historic and current literature, participate in (and sometimes lead) interactive class discussions, and complete individual- or group-projects.

Economics

ECO 180 – Citizens, Energy, and Sustainability

This course is intended to provide students with a broad understanding of energy issues by focusing upon current energy use and mandates, energy production (with a focus on alternative energy options), as well as introduces the political, human, and environmental implications of energy use and production. We will discuss how citizens play a vital role in determining the direction that energy policy will take. In the course of our lifetime each of us will be asked to vote on an energy related circumstance, this course intends to give you a place to start in understanding the complexities of energy.

ECO 405 – SL: Sustainable Energy Economics and Policy

This course examines tradeoffs associated with the technical, economic, environmental, and social implications of energy supply, distribution, and use in the context of transitioning toward a sustainable energy future. Students examine a variety of renewable and non-renewable energy options for electricity, heating and transportation. Students assess quantitative and qualitative indicators of sustainability related to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, air and water quality, human health and safety, energy security, wildlife and the environment, as well as technological efficiency and availability. They examine the effect of policies (e.g., carbon prices, emissions targets, efficiency requirements, renewable portfolio standards, feed-in tariffs) on these indicators and tradeoffs. The course provides brief introductions to environmental life cycle assessment, social benefit cost analysis, and multi-criteria decision analysis, as they apply to energy issues. Students apply course concepts to a service-learning project in which they work with people from surrounding communities on local sustainable energy solutions. Field trips may be required. Students may not receive credit for both ECO 405 and ECO 505.

Electrical and Computer Engineering

ECE 467 – Solar Cells and their Application

This course is concerned with electricity generation direction from solar energy using photovoltaic solar cells. The solar spectrum is discussed, solar cell types are introduced, and efficiency factors are discussed. Techniques for efficiency improvement are reviewed. Photovoltaic electricity generation system design methods are introduced. Economic analysis, such as life cycle costing, and environmental impact of PV systems are discussed.

Electrical Engineering Technology

EET 460 – Renewable Energy and Electricity Production

An overview of renewable energy resources, energy conversion and storage for stationary, and transportation applications. Topics include: Basics of electrical energy and power generation, load specification, history of electric utilities, distributed generation, the economics of energy, biomass fuels, wind and solar power.

Mechanical Engineering

MEE 433 – Solar-Thermal Engineering

Introduces solar energy collection and use as process thermal energy. Includes performance analysis of solar collectors and thermal energy storage devices both separately and as a combined system.

MEE 480 – Wind Energy Engineering

MEE 491 – Offshore Wind Farm Engineering

This course introduces the basics of offshore wind farm engineering and design. A broad introduction is provided on the topics of offshore climate, turbine selection criteria, substructure design, installation processes, operation, maintenance, electrical infrastructure, environmental impacts, and decommissioning aspects of offshore wind farms. The basic theory together with state-of-the-art industrial practices and future technologies driving the offshore wind farm development will be addressed.

School of Forest Resources

SFR 455 – Bioenergy Sources, Systems, and Environmental Effects

A detailed introduction to the use of biomass for bioenergy and includes a broad review of biomass sources, processing systems, human health effects, potential environmental damage, pollution abatement, energy generating systems and the general effects of using renewable and non-renewable sources of energy on the human population. Common definitions, units and the basic thermodynamics of biomass use are discussed. Environmental issues including greenhouse gas emissions are examined along with the benefits and environmental concerns related to using renewable sources of bioenergy. Specific examples, volatile organic chemical release and energy use in drying forest resources are included. Scheduled labs involve field trips.