Syllabus for Winter 2001

Overview | Goals for Understanding | Objectives | Assessment | Text 
Requirements and Grading | Schedule | Instructions for Assignments 
Grading for Papers | Guidelines for Authors: References

 
Course Overview
 
     This course reviews the scientific foundations and principles of energy use and management. Emphasis is on meeting human needs, economics, environmental issues and management problems and opportunities.

     The goal is to help students develop sufficient understanding of energy issues to contribute successfully in managing their own energy budget and in developing business applications and improving policy.
 

Course Goals for Understanding

1. Demonstration of a global outlook
2. Understanding of the interconnectedness and interdependence of individuals and cultures
3. Skill in critical thinking to assess the quality of information and its importance
4. Competency in interpersonal communication with oral, written, quantitative and computer skills
5. Understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of knowledge
6. Development of team work skills through the workshops
    

Course Objectives

1. Integrate each students unique experiences and background into this class
2. Understand the importance of culture on other cultures, the environment and on historical development patterns. Relate energy and environmental constraints to development patterns and sustainability
3. Develop increased respect and understanding of "others" and especially the skill and intelligence needed for subsistence and survival in difficult and changing environments
4. Apply critical analysis skills to interpreting energy history and current challenges
5. Interpret and present important history , newspaper, and web information for other classmates
6. Understand the inter-relatedness of all things and the importance of systems thinking to solve complex problems
7. Learn to work well with teams and with a partner in analyzing and presenting discussions and displays of important concepts and papers
8. Provide a meaningful project to help others understand energy use and prepare for the future
   

Course Assessment

1. Class understanding, essays, presentation, essay questions and short answer exam questions.
2. Class participation, research papers, team project, exams.
3. Communication - analysis and presentation of a paper to class (seminar style), research paper, workshop project.
    

Text
 
Cole, N. and P.J. Skerrett. 1995. Renewables Are Ready. Chelsea Green.
 

Course Requirements and Grading

 
Schedule:

Jan. 10. Introduction -- energy an introduction. Meeting human needs, what do we use energy for? Energy use and efficiency, conservation and consumption, Renewable and non-renewable sources of energy. Energy quality and demand, energy storage and loss. The world energy crises--the developed world and subsistence economies. Energy basics. Energy economics. Research and writing well. Critical thinking.

Jan. 17. A brief history of energy use - from hunter gatherer to industrial revolution to today. The energy crisis in Greece and Rome. The solar city of Olynthus. Energy use in selected countries today, energy costs and subsidies. The environmental costs of energy use - fuelwood, hydro, coal, oil, gas, nuclear, solar. (slides)

Jan. 24. Energy use in the U.S. -- a case study. Energy use in San Diego. Why are even modern homes pathetically inefficient? Why are our buildings at USIU so poor? How do we design and build solar houses? What can realistically be done? (slides)

Jan. 27. Workshop - solar homes.

Jan 31. Web reviews due. Energy use in commercial buildings and industry. A visit to Knights Foundry (video). Environmental effects of our dependence on fossil fuels, global warming and global change. Local environmental effects from nitrogen pollution. More information on the ecological costs of massive hydropower projects.

Feb. 7. Quiz. Guidelines for retrofitting homes, buildings, and industry. Motivation and cost accounting, life cycle costs and benefits. Identifying opportunities for change. Performance contracting. Why aren't refrigerators built it? Why don't homes in San Diego have solar features built in?

Feb. 14. Paper due. Solar cooking, solar distillation, solar purification, soil solarization. Obstacles to adoption of renewable technology and technology transfer. Planning, implementing and evaluating energy project success.

Feb 17. Workshop - solar cookers.

Feb. 21. Quiz. Energy in transportation. Where does energy go? Bikes, busses, cars, trucks, trains, and planes. What can be done about it? What would the ideal system look like? The success of Curitiba.

Feb 28. Home and industrial design for areas with limited resources. Making charcoal more efficiently. Rammed earth, cob, brick, wattle and daub, straw clay mixes, etc. Straw bale buildings (video).

Mar 6. Photovoltaic solar energy development and considerations. Guest lecture.

Mar 15. Other interesting energy sources -- biomass, biogas, microhydro, hdrogen, fuel cells, biodiesel, alcohols, geothermal, tidal, otec, etc.

Final MARCH 22nd
 

Individual Paper for ENV 3300
 
All papers must be typed, 1.5 or double spaced in 12 point Times or similar font, 1.25 inch margin on the left and 1 inch margins on all other sides. Except in cases where original investigations are done, your paper will be a report on investigations by others so you must be sure to give credit where it is due with proper citations and references. The penalties for plagiarism are spelled out in the student handbook.
 
You should use at least five professional papers or books for your paper, you may use up to five internet sources also. There are books on reserve to help you get started. Use professional journals, government documents, and scholarly books as primary source materials. When you use an investigator's data, state his/her ideas, paraphrase his/her conclusions, or quote him/her directly, cite the reference as follows at the end of the sentence the first time their work is used in a paragraph (Altieri, 1995). This is the CBE reference format, not APA or MLA. Follow the instruction sheet.
 
No footnotes, use direct quotations rarely, and only when they are essential to your argument. In most instances you should paraphrase the information from your sources, giving credit to authors by citing their paper or book. Contact the writing lab for help.
 
The individual paper topic must include energy management, economics and environmental issues. It can be in any region or country - if you can't think of a topic I will help you.
 

Detailed computer search, research notes, and outline
You first turn in a detailed computer search listing the search terms you used, the hits, and the browser and data bases you searched. This will be described in a class handout. You will also be required to turn in a copy of your research notes--which should be computer printed, providing full reference data and shelf numbers. (INCOMPLETE OR MISSING REFERENCES MAKE ME VERY UNHAPPY!!) References must follow the attached format from Ecological Economics.
 
Web reviews
You will then do short web reviews for the two best web sites you found following the format given in class.

Workshops
Teams and/or individuals will work on projects, including a solar house model and solar cooker that will be evaluated. About 1-2 very pages describing the project and results per person.
 

GRADING for PAPERS (papers may be corrected, resubmitted and regraded)

*****  Deductions for spelling errors:  -5 points for each word  *****
*****  Deductions for wrong words:  -2 points for each word  *****
*****  Deductions for incorrect margins:  -5 points  *****
*****  No page numbers:  -10 points  *****
*****  Incorrect line spacing and font:  -5 points  *****
*****  Inappropriate topic:  up to -30 points  *******
Plagiarism (inappropriate copying of web page or other paper):  
no points, and no rewrite

Get a dictionary and use it!
 

Guidelines for Authors -- Ecological Economics (with minor revisions)
References

1. All publications used should be cited in the text. The full reference should be presented in a list of alphabetical listing of references following the text. These are not numbered. The spelling of authors' names and dates must be exactly the same in the text as in the reference list.
    

2. In the text refer to the author's name (without initial) and year of publication at the end of the sentence where this is used, for example (Peterson, 1989). If you rely on information from the same source for a whole paragraph you do not need to repeat it again. If you switch to a new source, then add the citation at the end of the first sentence where this information is used. If no none author use (Anon, 2000).
    

3. For two authors use both last names (Smith and Botkin, 1998). If reference is made in the text to a publication written by more than two authors, the name of the first author should be used followed by "et al." For example, (Smith et al., 1999). This indication, however, should never be used in the list of references. In the reference list, names of first author and all co-authors should be listed.
    

4. Citations listed together in the text should be arranged chronologically (Smith, 1975; Kebbe, 1998). A semicolon is used between the authors citations.
    

5. Use the following system for arranging your references:
    
   The references should be arranged alphabetically on authors' names, and chronologically per author. If an author's name in the list is also mentioned with co-authors, the following order should be used: publications of the single author, arranged according to publication dates; publications of the same author with one co-author; publications of the author with more than one co-author. Publications by the same author(s) in the same year should be listed as 1974a, 1974b, etc. Or (Anon, 1999a; Anon, 1999b).
    

   1. For periodicals 
       
      Volume number, issue number, pages are indicated by: 3(7):33-44. This would be volume 3, number 7, pages 33 to 44. There should be a period after the page numbers. For newspapers note edition, section, and column as appropriate.
      
      Ayres, R.U. 1993. Cowboys, cornucopians and long-run sustainability.
           Ecological Economics. 8(1):189-207.
       

   2. For edited symposia, special issues, etc., published in a periodical
       
      Reiche, E.W. 1993. Modelling water and nitrogen dynamics on
           catchment scale. In: B. Breckling and F. Miller (Editors),
           State-of-the-Art in Ecological Modelling. Ecol.ogical Modelling,
           75/76:371-384.
       

   3. For books
       
      Ahmad, Y., El Serafy, S. and Lutz, E. (Editors). 1989. Environmental
           Accounting for Sustainable Development. The World Bank,
           Washington, DC. 100 pp.
       

   4. For multi-author books
       
      Daly, H.E. 1991. Ecological economics and sustainable development.
           In: C. Rossi and E. Tiezzi (Editors), Ecological Physical Chemistry.
           Elsevier, Amsterdam. pp. 185-201.
       

   5. For unpublished reports, departmental notes, etc.
       
      Goodland, R., Daly, H.E. and El Serafy, S. 1991. Environmentally
           Sustainable Economic Development: Building on Brundtland.
           Environment Working Paper No. 46, World Bank, Washington, DC.
           101 p.
       

   6. Internet sites should refer to the author or use Anon. The full reference includes the author, date, title, and browser used to find it, and the complete URL. For example:
       
      Riter, J. and Riter, M. 2000. Control erosion with rolling grade dips.
           International Mountain Biking Association.
           http://imba.com/resources/trail_building/gradedips.html. 
           Northern Lights. 11/17/00.
       

6. Do not abbreviate the titles of periodicals.
    

7. In the case of publications in any language other than English, the original title should be retained. However, the titles of publications in non-Latin alphabets should be transliterated, and a notation such as "(in Russian)" or "(in Greek, with English abstract)" should be added.
    

8. In referring to a personal communication, the two words are followed by the year, e.g., (J. McNary, personal communication, 1992). In the reference section you would provide further detail.
    
   McNary, J. 1992. Personal communication. Program manager, Owens Energy
        Task Force, PO Box 32322, Bishop, Ca 92187.
    

9. Nomenclature All biotica (crops, plants, insects, birds, mammals, etc.) must be identified by their scientific names when first used, with the exception of common domestic animals (cow, horse). The scientific name should be italicized, the Genus is capitalized the Species is not, for example for corn the scientific name is Zea mays.

For further information, please contact me at: 
David A. Bainbridge
Environmental Studies Coordinator
Department of Global Liberal Studies
United States International University
10455 Pomerado Road, San Diego, CA 92131
E-mail: bainbrid@usiu.edu
 
©1998-2001 David Bainbridge. All rights reserved.

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