Individual Course
Energy Within Environmental Constraints
Course Length
10 weeks
3-5 hours per week
Featuring faculty from:
Harvard Faculty of Arts & Sciences
Enroll as Individual
Certificate Price:
$ 209
Enroll as Individual
Certificate Price:
$ 209
Energy Within Environmental Constraints won’t give you the answer. Instead, we will teach you how to ask the right questions and estimate the consequences of different choices.
Humanity faces an immense challenge: providing abundant energy to everyone without wrecking the planet. If we want a high-energy future while protecting the natural world for our children, we must consider the environmental consequences of energy production and use. But money matters too: energy solutions that ignore economic costs are not realistic, particularly in a world where billions of people currently can’t afford access to basic energy services. How can we proceed?
Energy Within Environmental Constraints won’t give you the answer. Instead, we will teach you how to ask the right questions and estimate the consequences of different choices.
This course is rich in details of real devices and light on theory. You won’t find any electrodynamics here, but you will find enough about modern commercial solar panels to estimate if they would be profitable to install in a given location. We emphasize costs: the cascade of capital and operating costs from energy extraction all the way through end uses. We also emphasize quantitative comparisons and tradeoffs: how much more expensive is electricity from solar panels than from coal plants, and how much pollution does it prevent? Is solar power as cost-effective an environmental investment as nuclear power or energy efficiency? And how do we include considerations other than cost?
This course is intended for a diverse audience. Whether you are a student, an activist, a policymaker, a business owner, or a concerned citizen, this course will help you start to think carefully about our current energy system and how we can improve its environmental performance.
Prerequisites
Certificate-earners will need chemistry and physics at the high school level, as well as basic algebra. However, the majority of the course is accessible to anyone.
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Photo credits:
Solar FarmCC-BY Michael Mees on flickrSmokestackCC-BY Patrick on flickr
Self-Guided
edX
- Learning Outcome
The basic engineering, environmental science, and economics of our energy system.
- Learning Outcome
Environmental impacts of the energy system, focusing on air pollution, climate change, and land use.
- Learning Outcome
Techniques for estimating monetary costs and carbon impacts.
- Learn from Harvard faculty
- Do it on your own time
- Get a certificate, add it to your resume
- Be part of the Harvard Community
Syllabus
View the course syllabus:
Faculty
Your Instructor
Daniel Thorpe
Research Fellow, Energy and Environment
Your Instructor
David Keith
Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics, John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Ways to take this course
Audit or Pursue a Verified Certificate
A Verified Certificate costs $209 and provides unlimited access to full course materials, activities, tests, and forums. At the end of the course, learners who earn a passing grade can receive a certificate.
Alternatively, learners can Audit the course for free and have access to select course material, activities, tests, and forums. Please note that this track does not offer a certificate for learners who earn a passing grade.
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