Course Description
An in-depth study of the technical foundations appropriate and necessary for preparing practitioners to engage in the complex and diverse challenges of 21st-century energy policy development at state, national, and international levels. This will range from basic principles of energy conversion to analytical methods for translating technical energy concepts into implementable policy frameworks. All energy resources will be covered, with a particular focus on electric power generation.
Athena Title
Tech Found Energy Pol Pract
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: 1. Understand the inherent benefits and impacts of energy resources in the human endeavor. 2. Understand the technical aspects of electric power generation and associated technologies. 3. Understand the limitations of energy resources and power generation technologies in modern industrialized and emerging economies. 4. Be able to identify and locate key energy and power generation data most relevant to current energy policy issues. 5. Be able to perform key calculations and analyses that influence energy policy decision-making for the electric power sector. 6. Be able to compile energy and power generation data and calculations into a comprehensive analysis to inform policy decisions.
Topical Outline
1. Energy resources a. Geography, geology, and energy resource availability and limitations b. Production and consumption at state, national, and global levels c. Regional and international trade movements 2. Electricity and power generation a. The evolution of modern power generation systems i. Fossil fuels, nuclear, and renewable energy b. Advantages, disadvantages, limitations, and impacts with respect to technological capabilities, environment, climate, and national security c. Baseload, dispatchability, load-following, and intermittency d. Critical characteristics of low-carbon technologies i. Natural gas combined-cycle ii. Carbon capture and storage iii. Renewables and battery storage 3. Calculations and analyses a. Data sets: identifying and locating most relevant sources b. Energy density c. Conversion efficiency, power generation, and capacity factors d. Supply-demand curves e. Emissions and waste f. Normalized intensities to facilitate comparative analyses at disparate state, national, and international levels i. Various energy and emission intensities normalized based on primary energy consumption, secondary electricity generation/consumption, population, GDP, and emissions ii. Levelized cost of electricity 4. Regulated and deregulated power markets in U.S. energy policy 5. Integrated resource planning 6. Critical 21st-century issues pertaining to energy resource constraints for power generation
Syllabus
Public CV