Winter 2010

Energy Alternatives

The Great Works Symposium presents the second in its 2009-2010 series on "ENERGY":

ENERGY ALTERNATIVES

UNIV 241, 3 credits
WINTER TERM, 2010

Course Information:

In politics and in business we hear increasing discussion about energy alternatives or alternative energy. What is our energy usage now, and what alternatives do we want to shift to? Are fossil fuels a problem, or merely our environmental, social, and political ideologies surrounding it? What is the emotional or “memory” connection to or against certain types of fuel? Are they based on reality? Can they be changed? Locally, how can we sustain ourselves in regard to energy ? What are the connections between our energy use and our land use planning? What ramifications does our shift to alternatives have for our land use for the future?

This course, co-taught by Richard Cairncross, Paul Salvaggio, and Dan Moscovici, will take up these questions--guest speakers will be featured, and small group meetings will facilitate critical thinking and research on the topic.

Mission:

The Great Works Symposium is an interdisciplinary course—focused on exploring subjects of the broadest possible interest and greatest societal impact—designed to bring Drexel University students, teachers, and visiting expert lecturers into collaboration. The Great Works Symposium strives to avoid the “textbook approach,” with an emphasis on developing in students the active skills of interdisciplinary inquiry: reading, writing, critical thinking, methodological creativity, and argument. Through an intense examination of one topic, students are encouraged to see the University as an interconnected enterprise, and to imagine the University as one part of a larger spectrum of scholars in the communities of the city, the nation, and the world.

Class Meeting Days and Times

Lectures: Wednesday, 6:00-7:20 p.m., Disque 108
Sections: Wednesday, 7:30-8:50 p.m., Curtis 343 & 258

Instructors, Contacts, Office Hours

Richard Cairncross
Associate Professor
cairncross@drexel.edu
215-895-2230
CAT (Center for Automation Technology) room 277

Paul Salvaggio
Adjunct Assistant Professor
paul.j.salvaggio@drexel.edu
610-458-9900 x111

Dan Moscovici
Great Works Symposium Fellow
dmoscovici@gmail.com
215-688-2910
Hagerty Rm. 203

Texts

This course has no assigned textbooks; students will read articles and other selected sources related to course topics. Assigned readings will be made available via e-mail or blackboard, or will be available directly on the web. A reading schedule will be assigned and students must keep up with all assignments. The instructors may add supplemental readings as the course progresses. Please keep up with the weekly reading assignment schedule, and make sure you are aware of any reading updates given throughout the term.

Assignments and Grades

Class Participation (including weekly reaction/discussion papers): 25%
Mid-Term Exam: 35%
Term Project: 40%

This will be a very ACTIVE class! Participation comprises a large proportion of your grade. Please attend every lecture and every section/workshop meeting. Come to class having completed the reading assignments, prepared to meet research goals, and ready to take part. This will result in your getting the most possible from the course, and it will create a dynamic classroom environment. You will be evaluated with these expectations in mind.

Your class participation grade will be determined in part by your attendance and your role in section/workshop discussion. Additionally, for the seven weekly guest lectures, weeks 2 through 8, you will be required to submit a brief (about a paragraph in length) “reaction” paper consisting of questions and/or specific talking points related to the week’s topic and readings. These questions/talking points should be type-written and double spaced, and they should reflect your preparation for the week’s discussion. Please submit your questions to your instructor by e-mail no later than 10:00 a.m. on Wednesdays. You are to use these as the basis for the Q&A and discussion section during these weeks.

At mid-term you will complete an exam that will evaluate your completion and comprehension of assigned readings, and your understanding of material presented in lectures, panel discussions, and section meetings. The format will be written (essay/ID), and topics will be distributed during week 4. The exam will be due in class during week 5. The last date on which a student may withdraw from the course is February 12. Therefore, students who score below a grade of 65 on this exam, or miss it for any unexcused reason will be expected to drop the course.

For a good portion of the second half of the course students will work together as a class towards completion of a major term project. Students will choose an area of interest among the major themes under examination in the course; they will then choose a proper format for the project. In collaboration with the group, students will research, write, and submit their work for “publication” by the close of the term. The class will need to start thinking about the scope and direction of this project early on; individual groups will meet in weeks 8 and 9 with course instructors and with expert workshop facilitators to develop their ideas and craft their contributions to the final project. You will present your project in Week Ten of the course. Though a significant portion of your grade on this project will be earned individually, the group dynamic is expected to push you to produce the most interesting and rigorous possible research effort.

Course Readings Available to Download:

Solving the Climate Problem, R Socolow, J.B. Greenblatt, and S. Pacala, Environment, December 2004.

Course Policies and Grades

Policies and Conduct

Consult the syllabus frequently in order to keep up with scheduled speakers, section meetings, readings, and assignment deadlines. Keeping up with the assignment schedule is your responsibility. We will make all take-home exam assignments available to you in plenty of time for successful completion.

As a rule we do not accept late exams or other assignments for any reason other than excused, documented absences. It will be your responsibility to make certain that the instructor receives a hard copy of any excused absence documentation. Leaving town for work and having a busy week are both understandable facts of life, but they do not comprise excused absences from class.

Please arrive to guest lectures and discussion sections on time, stay for the entire period, and display professional conduct at all times. Cell phones/digital devices must be turned off, laptops must be used only for taking notes during class time—these rules will be strictly enforced.

All excused schedule conflicts must be submitted to your section instructor, in writing, by the end of the first week of the term. Make-up assignments are only offered in the case of documented, excused absences. Excused absences include illness, religious observances, and documented university extra-curricular events.

No extensions or incompletes will be offered in this course. If a student has unfinished coursework at the end of the term due to a documented, excused absence, the instructor will assign the grade earned to that point—the student will then have two weeks from the last day of the term to complete any missing work, and the instructor may at that time submit a change of grade form.

It is the responsibility of the student to be on the class e-mail list, and to be aware of e-mail updates from the instructors. It is the responsibility of the student to make sure that she/he is marked present on roll sheets. It is the responsibility of the student to obtain all reading updates, sample exam questions, take-home exams, and any other materials handed out in class.

The instructors reserve the right to amend this syllabus in any way necessary for the benefit of the class.

Academic Honesty

The following policies are drawn from the Official Student Handbook: Drexel University is committed to a learning environment that embraces academic honesty. In order to protect members of our community from the results of dishonest conduct, the University has adopted policies to deal with cases of academic dishonesty. We comply fully with the Drexel University “Academic Honesty Policy,” as explained in the Official Student Handbook. It is the student’s responsibility to know and follow the policies set forth in the Official Student Handbook.

Academic dishonesty and/or plagiarism will result in an immediate F for the course with no exceptions. Academic dishonesty may result in suspension or expulsion from Drexel University.

Americans With Disabilities Act

In compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and Drexel University’s policies and procedures, the University is committed to the non-discrimination of students with disabilities. Student with disabilities requesting accommodations and services at Drexel University need to present a current accommodation verification letter (“AVL”) to faculty before accommodations can be made. AVL’s are issued by the Office of Disability Services (“ODS”). For additional information, contact the ODS at www.drexel.edu/edt/disability, 3201 Arch St., Ste. 210, Philadelphia, PA 19104, V 215.895.1401, or TTY 215.895.2299.

Course Schedule

Week 1: January 6: Climate Literacy

Excerpts from Films and Interactive Climate Change Websites:

Film: The Great Squeeze, http://www.thegreatsqueeze.com
Film: Six Degrees Could Change the World, http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/six-degrees-could-change-the-world-3188/Overview
Article: A Plan to Power 100 Percent of the Planet with Renewables: Wind, water and solar technologies can provide 100 percent of the world's energy, eliminating all fossil fuels. Here's how, Mark Z. Jacobson and Mark A. Delucchi, Scientific American, November, 2009. Interactive Website: Powering a Green Planet
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=powering-a-green-planet
Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science, www.globalchange.gov/resources/educators/climate-literacy

Week 2: January 13: Our Historical and Future Reliance on Coal, Nuclear and Oil

Guest Panel:

Bill Maguire – Site Vice President of Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station & Drexel Alum
Ned Leonard – Vice President Technology Policy – American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity
David Sexton – Vice President Business Development – Sunoco, Inc.

Assigned Reading:

Week 3: January 20: Biomass and Bio-Fuels Evaluating the Myths and Realities?

Guest Speaker:
Kevin Hicks – USDA Eastern Regional Research Center, Research Leader for the Crop Conversion Science and Engineering Division

Assigned Reading:

“Beneficial Biofuels – The Food, Energy and Environment Trilemma”, D. Tilman et al., Science, 325, 17 July 2009.
Ethanol and Energy Policy Debate between Dale, Patzek, Pimentel and Sheehan, National Press Club, 23 August, 2005. Video available at http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/188549-1
Biofuels and Indirect Land Use Change Effects: Debate between Dale and Searchinger, Ther German Marshall Fund, 25 September 2009. (Both video and Powerpoint slides available at http://www.gmfus.org/event/detail.cfm?id=622&parent_type=E)

Supplemental Resources (Optional Readings):

“Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use Change”, T. Searchinger et al., Science, 319, 29 February 2008.
“Biofuels: Clarifying Assumptions – a response to T. Searchinger et al.”, V. Khosla Science, 322, 17 October 2008.
“Liquid Transportation Fuels from Coal and Biomass”, The National Academies Report , 2009, available at http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12620

Week 4: January 27: Biomass: Why Not Sustain Our Nation's Forest Ecosystems?

MID-TERM PAPER ASSIGNED - DOWNLOAD Mid-Term Here

Guest Speaker:
William McWilliams – Supervisory Research Forester – USDA Forest Service – Forest Inventory Analysis Division – Northern Station

Assigned Reading:

USDA Forest Service Report – “Pennsylvania Forests 2004” – pgs. 2-3, 25-26, 72-75 - http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/rb/rb_nrs20.pdf
Teague, Matthew. “Is Wood Heat the Answer.” Fine Homebuilding, no. 198 Nov 2008: 40-45.
Richter, Daniel deB et. al. "Wood Energy in America." Science. Vol. 323 March 13, 2009.

Week 5: February 3: What is the Role of Energy Alternatives in Land Use & Preservation?

FINAL PROJECT ASSIGNED

Guest Speaker:
Tom Daniels, PhD – Professor of Environmental Planning – University of Pennsylvania

Assigned Reading:

Week 6: February 10: Drexel & Sustainability

TOPIC & SHORT DESCRIPTION DUE (FINAL PROJECT)

Guest Speaker:
Paul Salvaggio

Field Trip:
Sustainability Tour of Recreation Center & Integrated Sciences Building

Assigned Readings:

Grondzik, Walter T. and Kwok, Alison G. and Stein, Benjamin and Reynolds, John S. Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings, 11th Ed. New York: Wiley & Sons, 2009. Chapter 2 “Environmental Resources.” p 27-48.

Week 7: February 17: Solar Technologies!

Guest Speakers:

Nancy McMonigle – Representative with Solular – authorized agent with British Petroleum (BP) Solar
Joe Gigantiello – Solular Installer

Assigned Readings:

Aldrich, Robb. “Wisdom Way Solar Village.” Home Energy Mar/Apr 2009: 24-28

Week 8: February 24: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – LEED with practical examples

Guest Speaker:
Aaron Dahlstrom, P.E., LEED AP – Engineer – AKF Group

Assigned Reading:

Week 9: March 3: Wind: What is it? Let’s go see it!

Field Trip:
ACUA wind/solar facility in Atlantic City on Wednesday, departure at 2:45, tour at 4pm. followed by discussion section only

Assigned Readings:

Stabilization Wedges: Solving the Climate Problem for the Next 50 Years with Current Technologies, S. Pacala, and R Socolow, Science 305, 13 August 2004.

Solving the Climate Problem, R Socolow, J.B. Greenblatt, and S. Pacala, Environment, December 2004.