MISSION STATEMENT

Environmentalists and foreign policy experts have joined in a call for America to rid itself of its fossil fuel habit; we have been called “addicted” to oil. Environmentalists, because fossil fuels contribute - or cause - global warming, foreign policy experts, as well as some economists, because of the high military and economic cost of securing oil fields and transportation routes.

Sounds good. There is plenty of sunlight, the sun also powers strong winds, provides biomass and hydropower, and there are lots of geothermal and tidal energy sites in the country as well. And nuclear power plants have already been operating for decades, and new reactor designs are extremely promising.

However, energy from the sun is very dilute and variable, drilling for geothermal energy causes earthquakes, nuclear plants produce much radioactive waste and produce material which if enriched, could produce lethal weapons. And it all may be very expensive. Can it be done?

The class will find out. With each class member becoming part of a research team, we will conduct research and calculations to determine exactly how hard it will be to get off the fossil fuel habit, and how we can do it. Each class member will have a particular semester long assignment - solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, wind, biomass, geothermal, energy efficiency, nuclear, and so forth - and will conduct research to determine what contribution to America’s energy needs each of these technologies can make.

A portion of each class will be devoted to receiving reports from each researcher, and discussing the results. Each research should spend about half an hour - no more - before each class session doing research, and spend about five minutes - no more - of class time making a report. [Given different schedules, it is conceivable that some researchers may find it better to do one hour of work before every other class session; this is totally acceptable.]

In all of these activities, we will be mindful of the costs and benefits to all parts of the population, particularly poor people. It is likely that some measures will increase costs to working people, such that some amelioration will be necessary. These measures will be included in our analysis.

The result will be a full report, complete with calculations as accurate as can be given current knowledge of the technology, which will be given to an appropriate body (say the Environmental Studies program and the Science and Math department). All researchers will participate in the presentation.

It is an ambitious project, to be sure, but if all the researchers work as a team, with every person pulling his or her own weight, it can be done. It will even be exciting!