The minor in Energy and Sustainability prepares students to become leaders in engineering solutions that will enable humanity to interact positively with their environment in the critical decades to come. Students will gain foundational knowledge and interact with cutting-edge research as they learn how they can make an impact at Penn and beyond.
Our faculty members are dedicated to building up the next generation of engineers. In addition to being incredible mentors, they’re leading experts and researchers in their fields.
The course will present a comprehensive overview of the global demand for energy, and the resource availability and technology used in its current and future supply. Through a personal energy audit, students will be made aware of the extensive role that energy plays in modern life, both directly, through electricity and transportation fuel, and indirectly in the manufacturing of goods they use. The course will cover how that energy is supplied, the anticipated global growth in energy demand, the resource availability and the role of science and technology in meeting that demand in a world concerned about climate change. The roles of conservation, improved efficiency and renewable energy in meeting future demand in a sustainable, environmentally benign way will be covered. Prerequisite: Basic understanding of chemistry and physics.
Water treatment engineering is the application of scientific and engineering principles to design, develop, and implement processes and technologies to purify and manage water resources for specific quality and safety standards. We will explore a wide range of water engineering technologies used in drinking water treatment, wastewater remediation, resource recovery, and desalination. Fundamental principles and advanced concepts governing water treatment systems will be introduced with a particular focus on the application of fundamental engineering sciences including thermodynamics, mass transport, and fluid dynamics to examine the efficiency of treatment and utilization of energy/emissions required for treatment. In addition to the engineering and scientific aspects of water treatment, this course will also place emphasis on the important humanitarian and economic aspects of water engineering and discuss global issues on water quality, scarcity, and environmental justice. Course content includes: (1) an overview of water engineering and its significance in environmental, societal, industrial, and municipal contexts, (2) a review of key concepts from fluid mechanics, mass transfer, and thermodynamics, (3) a brief introduction to water chemistry and contaminants of importance for human health and ecosystem protection, (4) the key physio-chemical and thermodynamic principles underlying all water treatment processes, (5) analysis of specific unit operations used in municipal water treatment, wastewater treatment, and desalination including membrane processes; and (6) an overview of advanced treatment operations for specific industrial and emerging applications.
This discussion-based course will introduce strategies to improve materials sustainability, particularly with respect to reduced energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions during the extraction, synthesis and fabrication of materials. Innovative solutions will be described that include alternative feedstocks, materials substitutions, and materials waste reduction. This course will primarily focus on metals and polymers. The course will present overarching concepts and illustrative examples that capture the global nature of materials supply chains. Students will explore issues through the framework of the materials lifecycle, including resource availability, manufacturing choices, and disposal options for materials appropriate for the application. The intention is for students to be able to make more informed material selection decisions and to identify critical needs for future material development to improve materials sustainability.
Carbon dioxide capture and sequestration has recently emerged as one of the key technologies needed to meeting growing worldwide energy demand while simultaneously reducing carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. The objective of this course is to provide a quantitative introduction into the science and technology of carbon dioxide capture and sequestration. The following topics will be covered. General CO2 chemistry as it applies to capture and sequestration. Applied thermodynamics including minimal work and efficiency calculations for separation. CO2 separation from syngas and flue gas for gasification and combustion processes and the potential for direct air capture. Transportation of CO2 in pipelines and sequestration in deep underground geological formations. Pipeline specifications, monitoring, safety engineering, and costs for long distance transport of CO2. Comparison of options for geological sequestration in oil and gas reservoirs, saline aquifers, and mineral formations. Environmental risk assessment and management. Life cycle analysis
