Energy and Environmental Analysis
Instructor
Valerie Thomas
Tuesday and Thursday, 3:00-4:30
Purpose, goal, content
This course will provide undergraduate ISyE students with the quantitative engineering
and scientific foundations to describe, evaluate, design, modify, control and improve the
performance of systems that have significant energy and environmental impact, viewed
over time and within their relative context.
Environmental issues are one of the major challenges facing the engineering profession
now and in the future (NAE 2004). Industrial engineering programs across the nation
have yet to fully develop their curricula to meet this challenge. The goal for this course is
to become a model for preparing industrial engineers to meet the energy and
environmental challenges of the 21st century.
Content: (draft for discussion)
Energy: Quantitative understanding of energy is fundamental to a addressing a wide
range of environmental, society, policy, and energy problems.
Content will include energy calculations for mass, fuel energy value, electricity
generation, energy efficiency. Applying energy knowledge to calculate energy resources
and constraints
Water: Water can be a significant constraint on agriculture, on siting of power plants,
industrial facilities, and human habitation, and can be one of the main environmental
constraints on industrial systems.
Content will include: water mass balances – energy needed for power plants,
typical household, industry, water limitations in US and world regions (Georgia)
Air Pollution: Air pollution, especially from particulates, sulfur, nitrogen oxides,
tropospheric ozone, and carbon monoxide, has significant human health impacts which
are well quantified in terms of both human health endpoints and economic costs. Air
pollution can be a significant impact of industrial and urban systems, and measures to
reduce air pollution provide a basis for system redesign.
Content will include: calculations of cost impact of air pollutants
Greenhouse gas emissions are the leading global environmental challenge.
Content will include GHG accounting – greenhouse gases, global warming
potential calculations
Cost and Benefits of Environmental and Energy Impacts and Improvements.
Content will include: Cost of Energy – calculations of cost of different kinds of
power plants, cost and savings of energy efficiency technologies. Cost benefit analysis of
air pollution reduction. Supply curves for global greenhouse gas reduction measures.
Resource constraints and availability – physical limits calculations – resources of fossil
fuels, water, solar energy, biomass potential, food production, calculations with food
yield, Human population dynamics: calculations with population, technology,
consumption and emissions.
Material flow accounting and industrial ecology – global and national materials use,
waste as raw materials
Environmental Lifecycle Assessment, Green Supply Chains, Redesign of products,
processes, services, and systems. – environmental impact of a product lifecycle including
production, use , disposal
Reference.
National Academy of Engineering. The Engineer of 2020: Visions of Engineering in the
New Century. National Academy Press, Washington DC, 2004.