START HERE: Course Overview

Course Overview

We live in times when we are experiencing the impacts of climate change. Topics in this course will discuss trends moving toward low carbon energy sources and how natural gas technologies fit in the future energy market. This course will cover proactive environmental management opportunities including concepts in pollution prevention and industrial ecology applied to natural gas systems. We will review how to calculate material and energy balances for power systems which is the basis of any sustainability analysis. Students will learn how to prepare a Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and will get familiar with available tools and resources to prepare LCAs. A final team project is required for this course.

 

Course Goals

The activities, content, and assignments in this course will guide your learning process to ensure you can:

  • Identify and describe environmental sustainability issues within the natural gas sector,
  • Apply critical thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving skills to environmental sustainability problems
  • Collaborate with a group to present the findings of your assigned team project
  • Employ simulation and prediction tools, methods, and techniques for the elaboration of Life Cycle Assessments
  • Communicate Life Cycle Assessment results to a wide audience using appropriate technical language, formatting, and writing conventions.
  • Critically review and discuss scientific literature, and
  • Apply the content presented in this course to real world problems

 

Weekly Learning Experience

The course is divided into modules. Modules end on Mondays. 

Our class will meet online in real time, every other week. We call these virtual meetings, Live Sessions.  Some modules will not have Live Sessions, so I will put up a question board where you can add questions you'd like for me to discuss in the next Live Session. The Live Session will be the last activity in the module and will address learning from the previous week. 

Look at the example modules below. As a general rule, modules start on Tuesdays and end on the following Monday, with the conclusion of the Live Session. For those weeks when we don't have a Live Session, you might want to use that time to get ahead on the next module.

This means that Module 1 starts on Tuesday of Week 1 and ends on Monday of Week 2.  Don't worry about it. You'll get the hang of it

Course component break down of the first two modules of the coue

Course component break down of Modules 3 and 4