Energy Systems and Climate Change

How is energy harvested, stored and transformed, then used or abused? What impacts do human energy systems have on Earth's environment and climate, and why? What is the appropriate environmental agenda to address global climate change in the 21st century? These are some questions that motivate our two-quarter program. Students will be empowered to carry out significant research, from the planning phase to execution and presentation phases. We will gain a deeper understanding of issues involved in achieving a sustainable energy society.

We will explore the status of energy recovery, use, and regulation in light of the science of global climate change through skill building and background study, as well as student research projects. We will also learn the physics of climate and energy, applying fundamental principles to both natural and human-made systems. One of the goals of the program is to illustrate the power and beauty of physics and mathematics in the context of energy systems. The program will feature diverse workshops, from research planning and possibly grantwriting, to hands-on and analytical environmental physics workshops, and basic statistical methods for data presentation, possibly including web-based communications.

During fall quarter we will investigate the physical evidence of climate change. We will read about the innovations in U.S., state and tribal law and practices as they relate to energy systems. We will examine how an activist movement for environmental protection may have transformed into a specialized energy industry based on increasingly advanced science with ritualized activities. In the fall, students will prepare a prospectus for research projects, to be completed in winter quarter. Projects may focus on a topic of technological innovation and the policy changes that accompany any proposed change in an issue of natural resource management, or the development of alternative sources, environmental justice, prosperity and health.

In winter quarter we will examine how innovation may become a theme for government. Prominent examples of innovation may include the substitution of "cap and trade" for "command and control" regulation in the development of environmental management systems, and advocacy of the "precautionary principle" as a regulatory framework. We will focus on innovations under consideration by agencies, environmental coalitions and non-governmental organizations.

Students will develop their research projects and complete them in winter quarter. This work will involve quantitative analysis and may include hands-on investigations, field work, or small-scale energy system design. Students will present their research results at the end of winter quarter. Students may continue excellent research projects in spring contracts.