ER 100– ENERGY AND SOCIETY – undergraduate course (room share with ER200N)

NEW CLASS!
ER 101 – ECOLOGY AND SOCIETY

Three hours of lecture per week. Prerequisites: One college level course, or high school Advanced Placement, in either physics or biology; introductory calculus. This course introduces students to the many ways in which our lives are intertwined with the ecosystems around us. Topics will include ecological limits to growth, climate change and other threats to biodiversity, the value of ecosystem goods and services, the ecology of disease, ecotoxicology, the evolution of cooperation in ecosystems, industrial ecology, and the epistemology of ecology.

NEW CLASS!
ER 175 – WATER AND DEVELOPMENT (roomshare with ER275)

This course introduces students to water policy in developing countries. It is a course motivated by the fact that over one billion people in developing countries have no access to safe drinking water, three billion don’t have sanitation facilities and many millions of small farmers do not have reliable water supplies to ensure a healthy crop. Readings and discussions will cover: the problems of water access and use in developing countries; the potential for technological, social, and economic solutions to these problems; the role of institutions in access to water and sanitation; and the pitfalls of and assumptions behind some of today’s popular “solutions.” Course Entry Code required.

ER 190 – RELIGION, SCIENCE, AND THE ECOLOGICAL CRISIS IN POSTMODERN AMERICA

Religious fundamentalism is on the rise; science is being ignored and denigrated by political leaders; democracy is threatened by crony capitalism and free market fundamentalism.  Meanwhile we face climate change, continued ecosystem transformation, and biodiversity loss.  This course addresses the historic and now shifting ground between science, religion, and environmental governance with the aim of re-establishing constructive relationships.

ER199 – SUPERVISED INDEPENDENT STUDY AND RESEARCH (1-4 units P/F)

ER200N – INTERDISCIPLINARY ENERGY ANALYSIS (room share with ER100)

Four hours of lecture per week. Energy sources, uses, and impacts: an introduction to the technology, politics, economics, and environmental effects of energy in contemporary society. Energy and well-being: energy international perspective, origins, and character of the energy crisis. 

ER 201 – INTERDISCIPLINARY ANALYSIS IN ENERGY AND RESOURCES

Introduction to interdisciplinary analysis as it is practiced in the Energy and Resources Group (ERG).  Most of the course consists of important perspectives on energy and resources issues introduced through a particularly influential book or set of papers.  The course also provides an introduction to the current research activities of the ERG faculty and practical knowledge and skills necessary to successfully complete graduate school in an interdisciplinary program.

ER C226 – PHOTOVOLTAIC MATERIALS: MODERN TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONTEXT OF A GROWING RENEWABLE ENERGY MARKET (cross listed with Material Science MS C226)

A technical course which focuses on the fundamentals of photovoltaic energy conversion with respect to the physical principles of operation and design of efficient semiconductor solar cell devices.  Aims to equip students with the concepts and analytical skills necessary to assess the utility and viability of various modern photovoltaic technologies in the context of a growing global renewable energy market. 

ER 275 – WATER AND DEVELOPMENT
This class is an interdisciplinary graduate seminar for students of water policy in developing countries. It is not a seminar on theories and practices of development through the “lens” of water. Rather, it is a seminar motivated by the fact that over one billion people in developing countries have no access to safe drinking water, three billion don’t have sanitation facilities and many millions of small farmers don’t have reliable water supplies to ensure a healthy crop.

ER 290 – CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS AND ADAPTATION

The course will emphasize the consequences of climate change and actions that people can take to minimize its impacts. The course will consider specific impact scenarios and create detailed impact scenarios for a given region. It will describe response actions and evaluate their technical potential in the short- and long-term, their cost and unintended consequences. 

NEW CLASS!
ER290-002 GRADUATE SEMINAR IN BETA DIVERSITY (room share with Integrative Biology 250)

Enrollment: PhD students, with a preference to students in ERG and IB; limit 15 students; permission of instructor required.

This course will examine spatial patterns in biological diversity from both ecological and evolutionary perspectives. Topics will include both statistical and mechanistic theories of spatial structure in the distribution and abundance of species, the match between environmental variables, traits, and species turnover across spatial scales, and the phylogenetic component of ecological communities across space. Students will develop an independent project that will further explore these topics.

NEW CLASS!
ER 291-001 – CLIMATE POLICY DESIGN

What are the bottom-lines and open questions
in high-stakes climate policy negotiations?
• International Negotiations: From Berlin to Kyoto to Bali to Copenhagen
• The Role of States in the Formulation of U.S. Federal Climate Policy
• Targets and Timetables: Negotiating Scale and Speed
• Charting Energy Technology Paths to Climate Stabilization
• Designs for Cap-and-Trade, Carbon Fees: Devils in the Details
• Ensuring Cost Containment vs. Environmental Effectiveness
• Terms for Offsets: Clean Dev’t Mechanism and Avoided Deforestation
• Structure and Influence of Scientific Review Mechanisms
• Addressing International Competitiveness Concerns
• Leveraging Complementary Policies
• Climate Justice: Integration with Development Demands
Don’t just get ahead of the climate policy curve –
help this generation steer where it is headed!

Graduate course (open to undergraduate juniors and seniors)

ER 291-002 – SUSTAINABLE SANITATION POLICY AND PLANNING FOR THE URBAN US
(co-listed with City & Regional Planning)

Analysis of selected topics in city and metropolitan planning with emphasis on implications for planning practice and urban policy formation. In some semesters, optional five-week, 1-unit modules may be offered, taking advantage of guest visitors. Check City and Regional Planning department for modules at start of semester.

The construction of wastewater collection systems and treatment plants in the United States was one of the great public health success stories of the millennium. Today, however, many question the ability of the current centralized model to meet the challenges of climate change, urban growth, replacement needs, and the prospects of global disease transmission. This model uses vast quantities of clean water as transport, does a poor job of reusing nutrients, is increasingly energy intensive, disperses contaminants into drinking water sources and disrupts natural ecological cycles. Efforts have been underway in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East for the past decade to develop “zero emissions” technology for wastewater. The concept treats water and waste as a system that can provide high quality recycled water, safe fertilizers and energy, to mimic the natural cycle. These innovations however, have not made headway in the urban U.S.

This course will address these issues and will explore the feasibility of more sustainable wastewater alternatives by using Wurster hall as a pilot site.

ER 292A – TOOLS OF THE TRADE (for ERG students only)

Quantitative methods for energy and resource analysis.  Topics include linear algebra, differential equations, statistical methods, chemical equilibrium theory, and thermodynamics.

ER 292D – MASTER’S SEMINAR (for ERG students only)

Required of second-year Energy and Resources Master’s candidates.  Topics include the adoption of a research project, research design, presentation of work, statistical analyses.  Students will apply the interdisciplinary methods, approaches and perspectives learned in the core curriculum. Sequence begins spring each year. Credit and grade to be awarded upon completion of the full sequence. 

ER 295 - COLLOQUIUM 

Presentations of research in energy issues by faculty, students, and visiting lecturers. Master's degree students required to enroll for three semesters.

Course may not be offered weekly; check ERG website for Colloquium dates.

ER296 - PhD SEMINAR

ER298 - SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS

In this graduate seminar, we will investigate the environmental impacts of food systems, with an emphasis on the greenhouse gas emissions associated with different diets and food production systems. We will study methods of quantifying impacts and students will carry out group or individual projects. Some guest speakers but mostly participant-led.

ER299 – INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH – variable 1-12 units

ER 301 – GRADUATE STUDENT INSTRUCTOR PRACTICUM

ER 602 – INDEPENDENT STUDY DOCTORAL STUDENTS – variable 1-8 units

To be used by those preparing for qualifying exams.

 [back to top]

ER24 – FRESHMAN SEMINAR       

California experiences the nation's worst air quality. Its innovative regulatory program is a model for the nation and the world. This seminar examines current California air pollution issues including health based air quality standards and their attainment, which did kill the electric car, growth eroding emissions reduction, motor vehicles that clean the air, and California's role in addressing global warming. The seminar will meet for two hours on six Fridays plus two field trips. The seminar requires short paper and presentation.                                 

ER 102 - QUANTITATIVE ASPECTS OF GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT                       

Application of basic principles of natural science to the analysis of human influence on environmental conditions and processes at continental to global scale. Topics covered include dimensions of the physical world and of human modifications of it; techniques of estimation and back of the envelope calculation; box models of environmental stocks and flows: equilibrium and feedback; chemical equilibria in the environment; nutrient cycles and their disruptions; acid deposition and its consequences; climate change and its consequences; stratospheric ozone depletion; sources, fate and effects of toxic substances in the global environment; radioactivity and radiation; epidemics; biodiversity and its diminution; carrying capacity and human population growth.      

ER C180 - ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT (cross listed with Envecon C180)

Economists through history have explored economic and environmental interactions, physical limits to growth, what constitutes the good life, and how economic justice can be assured. Yet economists continue to use measures and models that simplify these issues and promote bad outcomes. Ecological economics responds to this tension between the desire for simplicity and the multiple perspectives needed to understand complexity in order to move toward sustainable, fulfilling, just economies      

ER199 – SUPERVISED INDEPENDENT STUDY AND RESEARCH (1-4 units P/F)

ER 254 - ELECTRIC POWER SYSTEMS

This course provides an understanding of concepts in the design and operation of electric power systems, including generation, transmission and consumption; covers basic electromechanical physics, reactive power, circuit and load analysis, reliability, planning, dispatch, organizational design, regulation, environment, end-use efficiency, and new technologies. Has a significant mathematical component, including both analytics and modeling.

ER 273 - RESEARCH METHODS IN SOCIAL SCIENCES

This course aims to introduce graduate students to the rich diversity of research methods that social scientists have developed for the empirical aspects of their work. Its primary goal is to encourage critical thinking about the research process: how we "know," how we match research methods to research questions, how we design and conduct our information/data collection, what we assume explicitly and implicitly, and the ethical dilemmas raised by fieldwork-oriented studies. The course will be broad rather than deep; it is a step toward, and not a substitute for, in-depth courses on interviewing or regression analysis or the philosophy of knowledge.

 ER280 – ENERGY ECONOMICS

ER 291-003 DESIGN FOR SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES

This course provides concepts and hands-on design experience with innovative products or processes for improving sustainability of communities. The focus will be resource-constrained communities (mostly poor ones in the developing countries). Five teams of four students each will take on practical projects, with guidance from subject experts, to help mature technical/scientific innovations into useful products or processes. Lectures will introduce relevant concepts and analytical tools on a parallel track as projects are developed by the five teams. Lectures will address topics such as sustainability, relevant aspects of economics, sociology of innovation diffusion, product design principles, and walk through a few selected examples. We will also discuss readings during the lecture hours.

(3) Gadgil, Ashok

ER291-005 POLICIES AND STRATEGIES IN ENERGY MARKETS (MBA 212.1) (ERG Students ONLY, Course Entry Code Required to Register)

In the past 30 years, some of the largest industries have made the transition from a regulated to market-based paradigm.  Managers in many transportation, information technology, and energy companies have had to devise strategies to cope with changes in economic and environmental regulations and the evolution of new markets and trading platforms.

Drawing heavily on the tools of economics and finance, we study the business and public policy issues that these changes have raised in energy markets. Topics include the development and effect of organized spot, futures, and derivative markets in energy, the political economy of deregulation, environmental impacts and policies related to energy production and use, privatisation of publicly owned energy assets, market power and antitrust, and the transportation and storage of energy commodities. We examine the economic determinants of industry structure and evolution of competition among firms in these industries; investigate successful and unsuccessful strategies for entering new markets and competing in existing markets; and analyze the rationale for and effects of public policies in energy markets. PREREQUISITE(S): MBA201A or equivalent microeconomics course

ER 292C -  MASTER’S PROJECT SEMINAR (for ERG students only)

Required of second-year Energy and Resources' Master's candidates. Topics include the adoption of a research project, research design, presentation of work, statistical analyses. Students will apply the interdisciplinary methods, approaches, and perspectives learned in the core curriculum. Sequence begins fall each year. Credit and grade to be awarded upon completion of the full sequence.

ER 295 - COLLOQUIUM 

ER298N – DIRECTED GROUP STUDIES (1-3 S/U)

Informal group studies of special problems in energy and resources.  Prerequisites: Graduate standing and consent of instructor.  Must be taken S/U.

ER 301 – GRADUATE STUDENT INSTRUCTOR PRACTICUM

Credit for those employed as Graduate Student Instructors

ER 602 – INDEPENDENT STUDY DOCTORAL STUDENTS – variable 1-8 units

To be used by those preparing for qualifying exams.

 [back to top]