 |
Environmental engineers can help determine the most sustainable energy options using systems and life cycle analysis (LCA). This allows a comparison of energy use and environmental impacts over the entire life cycle of the system, such as from extraction of oil through refining, transport, and end use. This analysis is needed to determine which energy sources are the most compatible with the environment and are sustainable for the planet.
Environmental engineers can also turn traditional "waste" products into energy. For example, anaerobic digesters can be used to produce methane (aka natural gas) or hydrogen from municipal wastewater,various organics-laden industrial wastewaters, and animal manure.
Environmental engineers can design waste-to-energy incinerators to extract the energy content from municipal solid waste that would otherwise end up in a landfill. Plastics, tires, etc. have an energy content similar to coal! Environmental engineers can also design systems to extract methane from solid waste landfills. Environmental engineers are also exploring biofuels and other options.
In addition to turning wastes into energy, many forms of energy production require significant amounts of water and may generate contaminated water. Coal bed methane extraction generates huge quantities of water that is generally more saline than seawater and contains hydrocarbon contaminants that are detrimental when released into the environment. Hydrogen fuel cells require clean water. If the entire transportation sector's energy consumption in the US were powered by hydrogen, the amount of water needed is similar to the amount of water consumed by Los Angeles, CA, each day. Using currently available technology to biochemically produce ethanol per the DOE target in 2025 will require vast amounts of water. The new "in situ" oil extraction from oil shale that is being developed requires both an ice wall to prevent contaminating surrounding groundwater and it is extimated that it would take three barrels of water to produce one barrel of shale oil. Therefore, environmental engineers will be needed to treat available water supplies for use (and hopefully reuse) in the energy sector.
Finally, traditional environmental engineering projects consume energy. In particular, drinking water treatment and wastewater treatment and transmission are estimated to consume about 4% of all electricity in the US. In addition, electricity accounts for about 80% of municipal water treatment and distribution costs. Therefore, energy efficiency in water and wastewater treatment must be considered. As population continues to grow and stress currently used water resources, lower quality water supplies must be used. Desalination technology can turn seawater into drinking water, but this requires about 20 to 50 times more energy than using a high quality water supply (such as "mining" the groundwater). Therefore, environmental engineers will need to create more energy efficient ways of water and wastewater treatment.
Information on jobs in this area can be found at the company links below.
COURSES
The faculty are still reviewing the courses available at CU to determine which are most appropriate for inclusion in the option. We anticipate that students will be able to include no more than one survey course (such as recent courses in CHEN Energy Fundamentals and MCEN Sustainable Energy, or ENVS 4100 Assessing Sustainable Energy Technologies), and may also include no more than one policy course (such as EVEN 5820 Renewable Energy Policy, and others). A list of courses at CU can be found at: http://ei.colorado.edu/education/cu_energy_courses.html. This will result in a list of around 10 approved courses from which the students can select their 3 courses.
Research:
Prof. John Pellegrino
Prof. Jana Milford
Prof. Mike Hannigan
Companies that Work on Projects Related to Energy:
CH2M Hill, rated top Environmental firm by Engineering News Record, 2007; EVEN alumni here
Bechtel
Shaw Group, consultants
Washington Group Inernational, consultants, esp. nuclear power
Tetra Tech, consultants
Montgomery, Watson, Harza, consultants
Black & Veatch, consultants, EVEN alumni here
Earthtech Energy, Inc.
Arcadis, consultants
Energy Alternatives LTD, Canada
LINKS
Enery Initiative at the University of Colorado
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Air and Waste Management Association
US Environmental Protection Agency, Enegy and Water information
SEI Solar Energy International
Water consumption by conventional power plants vs wind power
Water consumption to make electricity
Water use for ethanol production, Aden, NREL
Water use for US Power Production, NREL, 2003
|
|
