Sustainable Engineering Thermodynamics

Catalog description

The laws of thermodynamics are elegant statements about the conservation, nature, and behavior of energy in the universe. They also provide a roadmap to designing and evaluating sustainable solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges, from climate change to food insecurity to the energy crisis. This course examines how fundamental thermodynamic concepts characterize both natural and technological systems. We'll use the concept of exergy to benchmark forms of energy and their potential to do work, enabling us to evaluate the sustainability of energy and transportation sectors. Through exploring complex concepts like Gibbs Free Energy and Chemical Potential, we'll understand pollutant transport in environmental mixtures and analyze how human activities contribute to sea level rise. Students will connect thermodynamic theory to real-world sustainability challenges.