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.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students must complete all requirements of
undergraduate students, plus the following: 1) An individual
science and policy-based blog of current events (blog is
presented to the class as required, e.g., weekly); 2) Read an
energy and environmental policy related book (Approved by
instructor); 3) Write a critical policy review of this book
(deliverable: paper) and present it to the class.
Athena 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
Syllabus