Renewable Sources of Energy
Instructor: Masoud Kayhanian, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering
Description: The United States relies heavily on imported oil for energy supply and transportation use. A major fraction of the world’s imported oil is from the Middle East. While in the past, the U.S. benefited a great deal from this imported oil, recent war in Iraq and growing instability in the Middle East region may jeopardize the steady flow of oil in the future. More important, there have been substantial increases of oil prices in recent years. For instance, the average price of oil throughout the month of May in 2006 was close to $70 per barrel, compared with $17.50 per barrel in October of 1994. The price of oil within the past 12 years has increased roughly four-fold. The uncertainty regarding imported oil, coupled with increased oil prices, provides a good opportunity to explore energy production from renewable sources such as solar, hydropower, geothermal, wind, biomass, and the production of bio-diesel or ethanol from sugar cane and corn. These alternative renewable sources of energy could reduce the U.S. dependency on foreign oil, as well as eliminate any potential sources of pollution that are inherently associated with conventional electric power production. The course is organized so that students will gain a basic knowledge of the principal operational mechanism of each renewable source of energy, the amount of energy that can be produced from each system, and the environmental benefit associated with each energy production system.
Format: The course will consist of (1) informal lectures involving student participation and interaction, and (2) video presentations of various alternative and renewable energy recovery systems. Students will be asked to prepare a short summary (1-2 pages) of the videotapes shown in the class and to prepare a short summary of reading assignments for up to five alternative sources of energy. Depending on the class size, the students will be divided into groups and each group will select a relevant renewable energy production topic and prepare a PowerPoint presentation at the conclusion of the course. Grading: Students will be assigned a letter grade based on: (1) regular class participation and interaction (30%), (2) review of videotapes and reading assignments (40%), and (3) the quality of the final in class PowerPoint presentation (30%).
About the Instructor: Dr. Kayhanian has been a member of the research faculty at UC Davis for the past 16 years. He is currently a research professor and is the Associate Director of the Center for Environmental and Water Resources Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Most of his current research activities are related to the fate and transport of non-point source pollutants from transportation facilities. Prior to his current research activity, Dr. Kayhanian was Director of the UC Davis High-Solids Bio-Gasification Project where he performed over 15 major research projects on energy-related topics. He is the contributing author of Chapter 24 of a new book entitled of Handbook of Energy Conversion and Renewable Energy discussing Biomass Conversion Processes for Energy Recovery. This book will serve as a reference material for this course.