GEOS 24705 / ENST 24705. Energy: Science, Technology, and Human Usage

Prof: Liz Moyer

TA: Andrew Malone

Field trip coordinator: Javon Brown, Austin Herrick

• Monday: 11:30 - 12:20
• Tuesday: 12:30 - 1:20
• Wednesday: 4:30 - 4:50
• Thursday: 12:30 - 1:20

There is no textbook to purchase for this class, as there is no single book that is appropriate for the range of material and we don't want to ask you to buy several books. Instead we will assign readings to be done before certain lectures and will post those on this site in pdf form. People coming in without college-level physics may want to prepare by reading the initial chapters of a book by Prof. David McKay of the University of Cambridge (U.K.) that is available for free download in pdf format. (Renewable Energy: Without the Hot Air). For a broad perspective I also recommend any of the many books by Vaclav Smil (e.g. Energy at the Crossroads, Energy in World History, or Energy Transitions: History, Requirements, Prospects).

Lecture 1: Energy and wealth, energy flows on Earth

Lecture 2: Energy flows on Earth, energy requirements for human society

Lecture 3: Energy flows on Earth, agriculture

Lecture 4: Pre-industrial energy use and limitations

• Pre-Industrial-Revolution growth in human energy use (15th-18th centuries): the chapter on energy from "The Structures of Everyday Life", by the historian Fernand Braudel. It is OK to skim the long and less relevant section on animal power. Pay especial attention to concluding remarks on p. 371-372.
• Selections from "A History of Coal Mining in Great Britain" by Robert Galloway. The book is available for download or online reading. Read Chapters I-III, the paragraph on London's dependence on coal in Chapter IV p. 35, Chapter VI, and Chapter VIII. The language is a bit Victorian but this book is an easy read and a great story. Notes: prices are given in pounds (l), shillings (s, 20 to a pound) and pence (d, 12 to a shilling or 240 to a pound). A "fathom" is 6 feet, or about 1.8 meters. The "noxious gases" or "fire-damp" in the coal mines (p. 26) are methane; methane is often associated with coal seams.

Lecture 5: Breaking the heat-to-work barrier - the steam engine

Lecture 6: Steam engines, heat engines I

• Read the beginning of Chapter 2 ("Rails and Water") in Cronon's book on Chicago, Nature's Metropolis. Read from p. 55 to 76. You can skim, but read for a sense of what the railroads meant for the city and the U.S. in general. I'll post a scan later, but for now you can read this section via Google books here.
• Read pages 105-119 of the chapter called "Engines and Refrigerators: the Second Law" from a great book called "The Refrigerator and the Universe". If everything is making a lot of sense, keep reading to 123. We'll cover this material in class on Tuesday. I'm posting the whole chapter in case people want to read further.

• Carnot's original 1825 paper. A section from Carnot's "Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire and on Machines Fitted to Develop that Power". Pages 1-5 are very clear and worth reading by everyone, but read with decreasing focus as the paper goes on. Mostly make sure you understand all the sentences in bold-face (Carnot's original emphasis). When you read, remember that at the time Carnot is writing, in 1825, steam engines have been in existence for 125 years, in broad use for 50, and have been undergoing steady improvement, but no one has yet deduced the fundamental physics of how they work. Also note that Carnot still does not know what heat is; he thinks it is a fluid called "caloric". Which surprisingly, doesn't stand in his way at all of basically inventing engineering thermodynamics.
• A summary of Carnot's contributions, written by a physicist.
• You may find my background notes on the physics of steam useful for some problems.

Lecture 7: Carnot efficiency limit continued.

• Read this summary of social effects of the Industrial Revolution and the growth of energy use, for Lecture 8, and skim some of the links.to primary-source readings (that is, things written at the time of the Industial Revolution). Read "1780-1800" and "The 19th Century".
• Read this handout on electricity and the basics of electrical generation - the whole thing if you haven't had physics lately, else just the history (Tesla vs. Edison). Also an 1882 New York Times article on the opening of Edison's first power plant in New York and the first lights in the New York Times building, and another article 125 years later on the shut-down of the last DC power generation from Edison's original New York system.

Lecture 8: The Industrial Revolution and the transition to the modern energy system

Lecture 9: Refrigeration, electricity I

Lecture 10: Electricity II: DC and motors

Lecture 11: Electricity III: AC and generation

• This description of the selection of technology for transmitting power from the Niagara Falls hydropower project. Note that options considered viable enough to bid for the contract include not only DC and AC electrical power but mechanical and hydraulic systems.
• Optional This website giving pictures and descriptions of the first power transmission projects in the U.S., 1889-1909. (The site is by a group devoted to the electrical insulators use in high-voltage power lines.)
• A chapter from Brian Hayes' book "Infrastructure": Chapter 6: The Grid. Skim before Lecture 12 and read before the weekend's problem set.

Lecture 12: Electricity IV: Generation and transmission

• The first part of the power plants chapter from "Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape". Read the section on fossil-fuel power plants, to page 201.
• A short letter from Nikola Tesla in 1892 describing his enthusiasm for new steam turbines that worked well for AC electricity generation and so would provide a further advantage to AC as a standard.
• Optional A 1942 book about Sir Charles Parsons, the inventor of the steam turbine (in 1884). Skim for historical context and great photos.

Lecture 13: Power plants, turbines 1: steam and gas

Lecture 14: Turbines II: hydro

• A nice review of wind turbines and wind turbine control.
Some brief notes on rotational vs. linear velocity, if you need review for the problem set.
• The 2013 Wind Technologies Market Report from Lawrence Berkeley lab (80+ pages but full of good information).

Lecture 15: Turbines III: wind

Lecture 16: Internal combustion engines / transportation

Lecture 17: Internal combustion engines and transportation II

Lecture 18: Internal combustion engines and transportation III, fossil fuels I

Lecture 19: Fossil fuels II, solar PV and solar thermal