Links & Resources
Clean Energy
CAL on campus

How is energy created and harvested, stored and transformed, used and abused? We will study energy science and technology, and related topics such as energy policy and environmental concerns, climate change and global warming. We typically study alternative energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, and bio-fuels as well as conventional sources of energy such as hydro, nuclear, gas, and coal. This is a good program for students interested in environmental science and energy physics. We start with skill building and background study, and finish with research projects related to energy.

Student research projects are a major part of Energy Systems. You will choose a research question that particularly interests you, and, with a small team, design and carry out your investigations. For example, research could include field work, energy analysis of an existing system (natural or constructed), or design of a new small-scale energy system, possibly with community applications. Students will be encouraged to apply for Evergreen's green energy grants to build your projects, when appropriate.

Student Research Projects
Presentation Research Paper
Biodiesel from Waste Vegetable Oil and Fish Oil
Farmhouse WVO biodiesel 2008 report
Electric vehicle charging stations
Electrolytic reef building & CO2 production
Solar Farmhouse
Sem II lighting
Stream turbine power
Solar Chimney

Classes meet full-time in fall and winter. Upper division credit will be awarded for full-credit upper division work. For more information, see the Program Description and webpages linked here.

Calculus? If you have had calculus, you will learn how to apply it to energy physics. If you have not had calculus, that's fine; you should take the EWS calculus module in fall (and ask Dr. Zita about flexible credit options when class starts).

FALL QUARTER: The first class meeting is Monday 24 Sept.2007 at 1:00 in Sem 2 A2105

Assignment for the first day: Get all of your required textbooks by the first day of class.
Review your math, especially algebra and precalculus (and calculus, if you have had it).

Questions? You can contact Dr. Zita by email <zita(at)evergreen.edu>, and/or come to the Academic Fair. Please include "Energy Systems" in your email subject header, so the spam filter doesn't delete your email.

Winter SCHEDULE

Monday in Sem 2
Tuesday in Lab II
Thursday in Sem 2 A1107
1:00 in A2105 Science Seminar in Energy Systems
1:00 in 2242: Energy Systems 1:00 Energy Systems
3:00-5:00 in A2107
Science Seminar on the Magnetic Sun
3:30-5:30 in CAL: workshops 3:00-5:00 Research workshops

 

6:00: EWS Calculus II

TEXTS: always get the most recent edition available. Order texts well in advance from the publisher or another online source such as Powell's so you have them the first day of class. The college bookstore may have some texts, but you never know. Click on titles below for links to primary sources. Get the seminar texts too!

kump

Energy, Environment, and Climate Change, by Richard Wolfson. This excellent new book is our primary text, and includes considerable physics. We are communicating directly with the publisher and will make this text available to you in class. No need for you to order this one - just get a nice big 3-ring binder to put your copies of the chapters in.

Optional supplemental text: The Earth System (2d ed.) by Lee R. Kump, James F. Kasting, Robert G. Crane, pub. Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2004. We used this in Fire & Water last year - an excellent interdisciplinary text.

 

A:calci
B:
C:calcmv

giancoli

Calculus: (A) students will learn beginning calculus. (B)+(C) students will learn more advanced calculus. If you're not sure where you belong, we'll help you decide with a math survey in week one.

(A) Students who have NOT had (much) calculus should take the EWS Calculus I module by Allen Mauney and get his required text: Essential Calculus by Larson, Hostetler, and Edwards (Houghton Mifflin 2008), ISBN-13: 978-0-618-87918-2 or ISBN-10: 0-618-87918-8. Double-check with professor Mauney on that text. Winter: You will learn Calculus II in winter quarter.

Students who HAVE had (nearly) a year of college calculus will start with the last few chapters of (B) Single Variable Calculus in fall, and graduate to (C) Multivariable Calculus by winter. Check publishers' websites for student learning resources including solutions manuals. Winter: The few students who may ready for advanced work will discuss options the first week.

(B) Single Variable Calculus, 3rd ed., Hughes-Hallett, Gleason, McCallum, et al. (Wiley, 2002), ISBN 0-471-44876-1 (the Course Advantage Edition includes supplemental learning reosurces).

(C) Multivariable Calculus, 4th Ed., McCallum, Hughes-Hallett, Gleason, et al. (Wiley 2004), ISBN: 978-0-471-48480-6

Optional physics text: Physics for Scientists and Engineers, with Modern Physics, by Douglas C. Giancoli, 3d Ed., 2000, Prentice Hall, ISBN 0130215171. Advanced students need a good calculus-based physics text for reference. I like this text. Other good ones include those by Halliday and Resnick or Serway.

SCIENCE SEMINAR in Energy Systems: Mondays from 1:00-3:00 in A2107 Sem II

Fall quarter readings:

State of Fear, by Michael Crichton (pub. Harper Collins 2004). We'll start with this controversial page-turner to jump-start our conversation. It's long and entertaining, so it's a good book to read over the summer.

Hell and High Water, by Joseph Romm (pub. William Morrow 2006). Romm's intelligent nonfiction is engaging and motivating.

Plan B 2.0, by Lester Brown, (pub. W.W. Norton 2006). Brown has visions for solutions for the near future.

fear hell planb

Seminar is a required component of the Energy Systems program. Science Seminar is also open to other interested students, who may take just this module for 4 credits. (September update: due to a miscommunication with the Registrar, some students are registered for 8 credits. We will discuss in week 1 what additional work you could do for your additional 4 credits.) Be sure to get your texts by the first day of class (perhaps from your favorite online source). The college bookstore might have them, at higher prices. Orca Books downtown may also have some copies (often at reduced prices for students). Get the most recent edition available. While there may be copies of some texts on closed reserve in the Library, you must bring your own copy to class each day - not the reserve copy.   Take notes in the margins as you read, and the text becomes a record of your developing thoughts. "An unmarked text is an unread text." See Seminar Syllabus for details.

Winter Science Seminar in Energy Systems:

Field Notes from a Catastrophe, by Elizabeth Kolbert (2006, Bloomsbury)

Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future, by Bill McKibben (2007, Times Books)

kolbertDeepEconomy

 

Links: Energy;programs from previous years; CAL = Computer Applications Lab

Nature reports: Climate Change -

NASA's poop-powered fuel cells; Union of Concerned Scientists on Clean Energy

End of Oil: Mother Jones review and interview; NPR interview;

Sun:: Early solar minimum? Solar pathfinder measures sunlight at your location

Climate change: M&M links

 

 


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