UMaine Alternative Energy Course Begins Sept. 4

Note to reporters: the list of lecturers and their subjects may provide a useful directory of expertise related to various energy-related issues.  Please let us know if you would like help in contacting any of the experts listed.

Contact Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571

ORONO — The University of Maine’s Electrical Engineering Technology program and the Maine Association of Engineers will offer a 14-lecture course on the subject of alternative energy, beginning on Friday Sept. 4.  The course will take place in 126 Barrows Hall Fridays from 12:10 p.m.-1 p.m. through Dec. 11.  Open to anybody who is interested, the course will also be available through Web-based instructional technology, a feature that should be particularly attractive to professional engineers interested in the subject matter and the opportunity to earn up to 14 credits (one for each session) applicable to license renewal. UMaine students should register for the course (EET 498-002) as they would any other course.

The cost for taking only selected course lectures breaks down as follows:

1-3 sessions: $25/session
4-8 sessions: $20/session
9 or more sessions: $15/session

Payment by check, payable to the Maine Association of Engineers, will be accepted.  Such payments, along with a list of applicable sessions, should be mailed to:

Maine Association of Engineers
Attention: Judith Pearse, PE
5711 Boardman Hall, Room 119
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469-5711

For more information, contact Pearse at jude_pearse@umit.maine.edu or (207) 542-5523.

UMaine professors, industry executives and government leaders will lead the discussions.  A complete list of the sessions and instructors follows:

EET 498 (002) – Alternative Energy
Agenda

9/4  Energy: Will the Future Ever be Like the Past?
Jim LaBrecque

9/11  Biofuels from Non-food Resources
Peter VanWalsum, Associate Professor, Forest Bioproducts Research Initiative, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Maine

9/18  Fuel Cell Systems and Applications
S. David Dvorak, Professor, Mechanical Engineering Technology, University of Maine
Coordinator, Fuel Cell Systems and Hydrogen, RES: the School for Renewable Energy Sciences Akureyri, Iceland

9/25  Intelligent Heterogeneous Energy from Alternative Resources (iHEAR)
Ali Abedi, Assistanct Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maine

10/2  Electrical Smart Grids
Mohamad Musavi, Chair and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maine

10/9  Forest Biorefinery Producing Pulp, Transportation Fuels and Chemicals
Adriaan van Heiningen, J. Larcom Ober Chair in Chemical Engineering, University of Maine, Orono and FiDiPro Professor, Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo, Finland

10/16  Co-Generation in Maine Industry and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
Glenn Poole, Manufacturing  Support Manager – Energy, Verso Paper in Bucksport, ME

10/23  Building Energy Modeling Seminar
George Callas, Director of Sustainability at the Newforest Institute

10/30    The GridSolar Project
Richard Silkman, GridSolar LLC

11/6  Electric Power from Tidal Energy: Is This Part of the Answer?
Rick Armstrong, Executive Director of the Tidal Energy Demonstration and Evaluation Center (TEDEC)

11/13  Offshore Wind Energy, Part I
Habib Dagher, Bath Iron Work Professor and Director of the Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center (AEWC)  and Professor of Civil/Structural Engineering, University of Maine

11/20  Offshore Wind Energy, Part II
Habib Dagher Bath Iron Work Professor and Director of the Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center (AEWC)  and Professor of Civil/Structural Engineering, University of Maine

12/4  Nuclear:  Is It Part of the Energy Supply Future?
Paul Villeneuve, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering Technology, University of Maine

12/11  Maine’s Energy Future
John Kerry, Governor’s Office of Energy Independence & Security