U13 EPSc 117
3 Credits

Logistics:
Spring 2010
T 6:30 - 9:00 PM
Location: TBA
Instructor: Selby Cull
Email: selby@levee.wustl.edu
Office: EPSc 275
Office Phone: 314-935-8594

Course Description:
Much of the world's energy and fuel comes from non-renewable resources - oil, natural gas, and coal - however, a growing percentage of our energy is coming from "alternative energy" sources. This course covers how these resources formed, were harnessed, and are processed and used in the world today. We will emphasize the environmental, health, and social issues arising from our use of various energy sources.

Reading: Class handouts. (No textbook)

Topics Covered:

1. World Energy Use
1. Energy use through history
2. Predictions for future energy use
3. Energy crises and revolutions in the past
1. The transition from wood to coal
2. The transition from coal to oil
2. Oil
1. Getting Oil
1. How oil forms: timescale, conditions of formation
2. Finding oil: prospecting methods
3. Drilling for oil: techniques and issues
4. Processing crude oil into usable fuels
5. Global oil distribution
2. Using Oil: Issues
1. Oil and U.S. Foreign Relations
1. OPEC
2. Venezuela, Nigeria, the Former Soviet Union
3. The Middle East
4. Oil and War
5. Oil and Human Rights
2. Oil and the Environment
3. Oil and the Global Economy
3. Running Out of Oil
1. Hubbert's Peak
2. Energy Crises
3. Life After Oil
3. Coal
1. Getting Coal
1. How coal forms
2. Finding and mining coal
3. Processing and burning coal
2. Using Coal
1. Environmental and health issues
2. Political issues: coal as a domestic energy source
3. "Clean" Coal
1. Coal scrubber technologies
2. Carbon sequestration and storage
4. Alternative Energy Sources
1. Solar Power
2. Wind Power
3. Hydro Power
4. Nuclear Power
5. Geothermal Power
6. Biomass Power
7. Alternative-Fuel Vehicles
1. Ethanol
2. Electric Cars
3. Hybrid Cars
4. Hydrogen Fuel Cells