Sustainable Energy. 3 credits, 3 contact hours

Catalog description

The course is a project-based advanced graduate course which requires strong background in engineering thermodynamics and transport phenomena. The main goals of this course are to gain an understanding of the cost-benefit ratio of various alternative energy sources and to understand some of the various obstacles associated with current and conventional technologies and industrial applications. Different renewable and conventional energy technologies will be discussed in class. Course materials include biomass energy, fossil fuels, geothermal energy, nuclear power, wind power, solar energy, hydrogen fuel, hydropower, and fuel cells. Students will learn a quantitative framework to aid in evaluation and analysis of energy technology systems in the context of engineering, political, social, economic, and environmental goals.