Syllabus for ENGR 302 - Energy and the Environment

Instructor:

Hamid Bahadori
Email: bahadortiaaa@gmail.com
(949)702-3669

Required Text:

Toossi, R., Energy and the Environment: Choices and Challenges in a

Changing World,3rd Ed. Global Digital Central, Columbia, MO 2012.

Office Hours:

ECS-461 Tuesdays 6:45-7:45 p.m. (by appointment) --- other times also
available by appointment ((either email or via cell at 949-702-3669)

Homework:
All assigned homework shall be submitted printed hard copy to the
instructor in the classroom on the due dates shown on the class schedule.
Film Reviews:
All Film Reviews shall be submitted printed hard copy to the instructor in
the classroom on the date of the class the week after the movies was
shown.
Exams:

All exams are open book, but closed notes. Please make arrangements to borrow a
hard copy of the book, if you dont have one, during exam periods. Sharing of textbooks or
other material and equipment during exams will not be allowed.
Students who purchase electronic copies of the textbook may use their laptops, only in offline mode.
All students shall have a Blue Book for all exams. Exams submitted in loose paper
or any other medium other than a Blue Book will neither be accepted nor graded, and the
student who has failed to bring a Blue Book will lose that part of the course grade.
There will be no make-up exams. Please make sure that you do not schedule any
business trip or any other appointments during exam dates.
All exams will be in class, administered by the course instructor.

Grading:

Film Reviews 50 points (10 films each 5 points)

Homework
90 points (3 homework each 30 points)
Midterms
200 points (2 exams each 100 points)
Final
160 points
TOTAL
500 Points

Final grades will be assigned on a curve-basis.

Class Schedule:

Week
Date
Topics and Chapters
Movies (*)
Material Due
1
Aug 26 Course Review - Chapter 1 - Introduction
Chapter 2 - Mechanical Energy
2
Sep 2
Chapter 3 - Fossil Fuels
World in Balance
3
Sep 9
A Crude Awakening
4
Sep 16 Chapter 3 - Fossil Fuels
Gas Land
HW # 1 Due
5
Sep 23 Chapter 4 - Thermal Energy
Absolute Zero
6
Sep 30 Chapter 4 - Thermal Energy
Switch
MIDTERM 1 (in class)
Chapters 1-4
7
Oct 7
Chapter 5 Electricity
8
Oct 14
Chapter 6 - Transportation
9
Oct 21
Chapter 6 Transportation
End of Suburbia
10
Oct 28
Chapter 7 - Air Pollution - Chapter 10 - Solar Energy
Solar Energy
HW #2 Due
11
Nov 4
12
Nov 11 Veterans Day No Class
Solar Energy
Chapters 5-10
13
Nov 18 MIDTERM 2 (in class)
Algae Fuel
14
Nov 25 Chapter 11 Biomass; Chapter 12 - Wind Energy
Chapter 13 - Hydro Energy; Chapter 15 Sustainability
e-design
15
Dec 2
Class Projects Presentations
HW # 3 Due
16
Dec 9
Comprehensive
17
Dec 15 Final Exam (in class)
(*)
All Film Reviews shall be submitted printed hard copy to the instructor in the classroom on the
date of the class the week after the movies was shown .

ENGR 302 Course Outline

1. Course Title and Number.
ENGR 302 Energy and the Environment: A Global Perspective (3)
2. Course Description (including prerequisites, as they will appear in the catalog).
Prerequisites: Completion of the G.E. Foundation, one or more Exploration courses and upper-division
standing. Renewable and non-renewable energy sources, including but not limited to fossil fuels, nuclear,
solar, wind, wave, tides, geothermal, hydroelectric and biomass. Available world resources, market, trends,
and technology. Energy conservation and practical alternatives, social, cultural and economic impacts,
environmental aspects of power generation, air pollution, acid rain, ozone depletion, and global warming.
Recycling and blue print for a sustainable environment (Hybrid with 50% seat time, 3 hours) Traditional
grading only.
3.

Student-Based Learning Outcomes (What students will know and be able to do by the end of the
course).
Course Objectives Are to provide students with a thorough understanding of laws of thermodynamics, energy
conservation, and environmental issues related to use of energy.
The specific knowledge and skills the students will obtain from this course are delineated below:
1.
2.

3.
4.

5.
6.

7.
8.
9.

A broad knowledge of the available renewable sources of energy in the world, and their implication
on the political, social, and economic shape of the future.
An understanding of the basic principles of energy conservation, and the principal laws governing
the production of energy and its use. Students will be given numerous examples describing the First
and Second Laws of Thermodynamics and the manner in which they affect our daily life.
An understanding of the way various thermal systems operate. Examples will include several types
of heat engines, refrigerators and heat pumps.
An understanding of the way the present energy systems operate. In particular a review of coal, gas,
petroleum, biofuel, nuclear, solar, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal sources will be made and the
limitations in each technology will be discussed.
An understanding of the practical alternatives for answering present and future energy needs.
Familiarity with the environmental impacts of various energy alternatives. The basic concepts
relating to solid wastes, greenhouse effects, acid rain, and ozone depletion are presented, and
practical means of reducing these adverse effects are discussed.
Familiarity with various aspects of air pollution, as they are related to health, material response, and
vegetation.
Familiarity with the origins and fate of air pollutants. Various requirements and emission standards
will be discussed, and control strategies for particulate and gaseous emissions will be analyzed.
A limited but essential knowledge of the cultural, political, and legal issues as related to the global
energy sources, and environmental regulations.

4. Major Course Topics:

1. Basic concepts and definitions: Energy, work, and heat. Units and forms, Conservation of energy,
Order and disorder, entropy, the perpetual motion machines and the Carnot principle..
2. Energy Forms: Fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas), nuclear energy, wind energy, ocean and tides, Ocean
Thermal Energy Conversion, geothermal, hydroelectric, and solar.
3. Environment: Air and Water Pollution, population growth, CO, NOx and HC emission from cars,
toxins in the atmosphere, acid rain, greenhouse warming, ozone depletion, and municipal and nuclear
wastes, Global and regional treaties. Indoor air pollution

4. Political and Economical Impacts: Oil and politics of war, Middle East conflicts and impact on future
petroleum resources, Cartels and OPEC pricing policies, Economical analysis of environmental
damage.
5. Sustainability: Defining sustainability, role of technology, a blueprint for a sustainable future.
5. Accommodations Statement (required statement in course outline and syllabus):
Students with disabilities who need reasonable modifications, special assistance, or accommodations in this
course should promptly direct their request to the course instructor. If a student with a disability feels that
modifications, special assistance, or accommodations offered are inappropriate or insufficient, he/she should
seek the assistance of the Director of Disabled Student Services on campus.