Friday, October 12, 2012

Sustainable Energy class schedule, fall 2012


Sustainable Energy – can we make it happen?
OLLI Fall 2012, 9:00 to 10:30 am
Instructor: Bill Fintel


Oct 15 – David MacKay’s book, Sustainable Energy – without the hot air, Part 1. Comparing energy consumption with the maximum foreseeable energy generation from renewable sources, like wind, solar, waves, tide, biofuels, hydroelectric, and geothermal.

Oct 22Sustainable Energy, Chapter 27, “Five Energy Plans for Britain”. Discussion is encouraged in this class, because there is no obvious good combination of renewable approaches. Near the end of this class we will select a topic or topics for our last class on Nov 19.

Oct 29 – Guest speaker, Professor Jeremy Firestone from the U of Delaware. Dr. Firestone will discuss wind energy potential, research activities with the U of DE wind turbine, and studies on wildlife impacts of wind turbines. A complete description of his presentation and background will be posted on this blog.

Nov 5 – Guest speaker Curt Davis, a grad student at the U of Delaware. Curt will describe some of his fascinating work building cookstoves and documenting biogas generators for cooking in India and Nicaragua, and he will give his forward looking views on how this technology should be expanded. A complete description of his presentation and background will be posted on this blog.

Nov 12 – No class. School closed for Veterans Day.

Nov 19 – Topic or topics selected by class on Oct 22.


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