Course Descrption
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The United States reliance on non-renewable resources to satisfy its exponentially growing energy demands comes at a severe environmental, economic, and political cost. Are there alternatives? Are they affordable? What are the scientific tradeoffs and constraints? This course offer's a hands-on exploration of renewable energy technologies, with an emphasis on the underlying physical principles. Students will study and use systems that generate electrical power from the sun, wind, and the flow of water; they will investigate how to store and distribute this energy (both off-grid and on); they will experiment with the use of passive and active solar thermal collector technology to provide domestic hot water and space heating; and the will consider how to make use of these technologies and their understanding of the underlying physics to design, model, and construct a solar powered building. The course will consist of a mix of experiments, field trips, and weekly seminars. Enrollment limited to 16. (E) |
Program