Instructor:  Prof. Tad W. Patzek, patzek@ce.berkeley.edu

When and Where : Wednesdays: 212 O'Brien, 4-5 p.m.

Office Hours: Thursdays, 425 Davis Hall, 2-3 p.m.

How much: One hour of discussion/~1-2 hours of work in teams.

What to bring to class: Good spirit and will to work with others

Grading: Pass/Fail based on attendance and participation

Brief Course Description: If you do not want to be an active participant and contributor to the final report, please look elsewhere, as the class size is limited. 

In this course I intend to take you on a journey into the future of energy supply to our civilization.  First, we will find out what - if anything - can be “sustainable,” and if “sustainable development” is possible at all.  I will stress the differences between the earth-crust fuels (coal, crude oil, methane, gas-hydrates, etc.), and the “renewable fuels,” solar, biomass, and wind. Only when I convince you that the fuels from the earth crust afford convenience but no sustainability, and biomass energy is not sustainable, we will move on to photovoltaic cells. 

Second,  we will study the inherent strengths and severe limitations of solar energy and its weaker derivatives,  hydropower and wind.  We will spend some time talking about the forgotten benefits of energy conservation (which is not an energy source!).  

At the same time, we will work on the class project.  I propose to tackle to issues:

1. Energy needed to irrigate crops, e.g., corn

2. Fossil energy  used by field machinery in the U.S. and in a comparison country

Sponsoring Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering

Required text: None, I will bring the materials for you to use