| Course ID: | ENVE 4530/6530. 3 hours. |
| Course Title: | Energy and Environmental Policy Analysis |
Course
Description: | A study of how public policy is shaped by the energy and environmental issues of society since the mid-1900's. Topics will include the advent of stronger environmental protection regulations in the later 1960's and 1970's due to increased public awareness and the ever-evolving energy policy starting with the initial energy shortages in the 1970's and continuing on to the current energy policies which include energy supply, energy demand, and environmental concerns. |
| Oasis Title: | ENERGY ENV POLICY |
| Prerequisite: | Permission of department |
Semester Course
Offered: | Offered every year. |
| Grading System: | A-F (Traditional) |
|
| Course Objectives: | By the end of this course, students will have an understanding
of:
(1) Energy and environmental policy developed in the U.S.
(2) The impact of engineered systems and their operation on the
policies developed
(3) How public policy influences the progress of engineering in
the fields of energy and environment
(4) Current and future challenges in energy and environmental
issues, and how engineers will be called upon to contribute
expertise in solving these problems
(5) How to apply the techniques followed in analyzing the case
study examples to analyze the situations in other related
policy areas that engineers may have to deal with in future
jobs, such as transportation, land use planning, etc. |
| Topical Outline: | 1) Overview of public policy process
a) What is public policy?
b) What types of policy decisions are needed for energy
issues?
c) What types of policy decisions are needed for
environmental issues?
2) Review and analysis of public policy in energy during past
100 years, using case studies as a primary learning method.
3) Review and analysis of public policy in environmental issues
in the U.S., again using case studies.
4) Comparison of current policies in the U.S. with other
regions of the world (Europe, Asia, developing nations in
general)
5) How engineering and engineered products influence the
development of public policy, and vice-versa
a) Traditional fossil based energy systems
b) Renewable energy
c) The environment
i) Air issues
ii) Water issues (freshwater and oceans)
iii) Land
iv) Waste management
6) Case studies on topic(s) of current public focus, for
example the trend for states to require renewable energy
portfolio standards for electric utilities and how that
influences the utility industry in general. Topics will change
and evolve through the years as new issues come up.
7) Speculation on the future
a) What are the foreseen changes anticipated for the
energy industry
b) What types of public policy decisions are necessary?
c) The influence of a changing energy infrastructure on
the future U.S. society
d) Climate change issues: How will these affect energy?
e) Other environmental challenges
f) The engineers role in addressing and solving these
problems |