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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.
DRAFT
One course with strong technical content such as:
MCEN 4122 Thermodynamics 2 (3 credits, Spring, pre-req. thermodynamics 1)
CHEN 4838 Energy Fundamentals (3 credits, Clough); overlaps significantly with MCEN 4228
MCEN 4228 Sustainable Energy (3 credits, Hannigan); overlaps significantly with CHEN 4838
Select an additional 6 credits from the following:
AREN 3130 Building Energy Laboratory (3 credits, Spring, pre-req. AREN 3010 Mechanical Systems for Buildings)
MCEN 4228 Wind Energy (3 credits, Spring, restricted to seniors)
ECEN 2060 Special Topics: Renewable Energy(3 credits, Spring, pre-req. Physics 2)
ENVS/PHYS 3070 Energy and the Environment (3 credits, Fall and Spring)
CVEN 5020 Building Energy Audits (3 credits, Fall, pre-req. AREN 3010 Mechanical Systems for Buildings)
CVEN 5050 Advanced Solar Design (3 credits, Fall)
ENVS 4100 Energy Policy or ENVS 5820 Renewable Energy Policy or AREN 4830 Energy Technology and Policy or BCOR 4000 Assessing Sustainable Energy Technologies [no more than one of these largely non-techical policy courses can apply]
Many of the above courses have pre-requisities that are not among required courses for the EVEN degree. If you plan ahead these pre-requisite courses can often be used as technical electives. For example, AREN 3010 is a pre-req for 2 of the courses. [AREN 3010 pre-reqs are thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and environmental systems for buildings]
Brief descriptions of the energy related courses at CU can be found at the Energy Initiative website
Electrical Renewable Energy Systems MINOR
You may want to consider earning a minor in Electrical Renewable Energy Systems. This requires 18 credits, many of which will count as option courses and technical electives. For more information, see the ERES Minor website
With careful planning, all of the minor course credits can apply to both the EVEN degree and the minor. GPA restrictions apply.
Specifically, take:
ECEN 2060 Renewable Sources and Efficient Electrical Energy Systems [required for minor; use as energy option course in EVEN]; spring course; pre-reqs PHYS 1120 Physics 2
ECEN 2010 Circuits 1 for Renewable Energy Minor (co-taught with ECEN 2250; no lab) [required for minor; use as lower division tech elective in EVEN]; pre-req. APPM 1360, co-req APPM 2360
ECEN 2020 Circuits 2 for Renewable Energy Minor (co-taught with ECEN 2260; no lab) [required for minor; use as free elective in EVEN]; pre-req ECEN 2010 or ECEN 2250
ECEN 3000 Circuits 3 for Renewable Energy Minor (co-taught with ECEN 3250; no lab) [required for minor; use as upper division tech elective in EVEN]; pre-req ECEN 2020 or ECEN 2260
Two of the following upper division courses, 6 credits:
- ECEN 3170 Energy Conversion 1; pre-req. ECEN 3000 or ECEN 3250; uses PSPICE, MATHEMATICA, MATLAB.
- EVEN 4167 Energy Conversion 2 (pre-req ECEN 3170)
- ECEN 4797 Introduction to Power Electronics; pre-req ECEN 3250 or ECEN 3000
- Power Electronics and Photovoltaic Power Systems Lab (pre-req ECEN 4797)
- MCEN 4228 Wind Energy
Note that the final upper division technical elective (3 credits) must be an Earth Science course.
Article in CUE magazine 2009 on CU environmental engineers working on energy issues
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
Alternative Fuels in-depth report from NewsHour, January 2009
Coal predominant energy source in Georgia, report from NewsHour, May 19,2009
Clean Coal debate, report from NewsHour, April 21, 2009
Fusion Energy: progress toward; report from NewsHour, March 17, 2009
Green Energy Limitations, a report from NewsHour, February 17,2009
Solar Energy industry during recession, a report from NewsHour April 14, 2009
Wind Farms Expand, a report from NewsHour, January 30, 2009
Wind Power, in-depth report from NewsHour, May 24, 2007
Energy Initiative at the University of Colorado
Energy and Development in China, Dr. Zhai (CU) and Abby Watrous (PhD candidate; MS in Civil-Environmental Engineering at CU) featured in an NSF video
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Air and Waste Management Association
US Environmental Protection Agency, Energy 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
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