1 / 5

Why Take ENVS 350?

Why Take ENVS 350?. The biggest environmental problem facing the United States and the rest of the world lies in finding a new energy economy, one that is no longer dependent upon our dwindling fossil fuel resources - in general this problem is not recognized as urgent.

forrest-barr
Download Presentation

Why Take ENVS 350?

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Why Take ENVS 350? The biggest environmental problem facing the United States and the rest of the world lies in finding a new energy economy, one that is no longer dependent upon our dwindling fossil fuel resources - in general this problem is not recognized as urgent. There are many new, emerging career pathways, especially in policy, at the intersection of the environment and sustainable energy production and delivery. Too little of this material is taught at the UO.

  2. Course Theme • Ecological Footprint: What is the total impact of particular choices of alternative energy production on both a local and national scale • There is no such thing as a benign solution  there are only smart choices and stupid choices • Challenge is to avoid making stupid choices

  3. Course Goals • To gain an understanding of the quantitative cost-benefit ratio of various alternative energy sources to determine regional feasibility within the US • To understand both the potential scalability and implementation obstacles of various sustainable energy production technologies • To do simple calculations regarding the cost of energy usage and the required infrastructure to deliver a certain amount of power.

  4. Perspectives • At the current rate of growth, China will have 50% more greenhouse gas emissions than the US in 2015 • Canada can become the next Middle East by mining Athabascan Tar Sand resource • Current US Energy plan relies strictly on imported LNG – from Iran and Russia • 1.8 billion dollars per day on gasoline • We have no long term energy plan

  5. Course Outcomes • If you think we are already doomed (at any time in history everyone thinks this) then this class will reinforce that outlook • If you are unaware of the issues, this class will show you that viable solutions exist, right now, to solve this problem over the next 30 years • If you become pissed off that we are not doing enough then you will become an activist.

More Related