This is the final installment of the course syllabus of Pierre Desrochers’ Energy and Society class.

Part I explored the course description as well as the videos and readings from the first two weeks of the class; Part II covered carbon-based energy. Part III yesterday was on electricity generated from non-carbon sources (Hydro, Nuclear, Renewables, Biomass).

This continues a series on the syllabus of Pierre Desrochers’ course at the University of Toronto Mississauga, Energy and Society, which gets my vote as the single best course on its subject in North America if not the world.

Part I explored the course description as well as the videos and readings from the first two weeks of the class; Part II covered carbon-based energy.

General
“Electrification.” Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century. National Academy of Engineering. 2000. 

Bradley, Robert L and Richard W. Fulmer. Energy: The Master Resource, Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, 2004, Chapter 2: Using Energy, pp. 19-20, 25-29, 30-31, 45-48.

Environmental Literacy Council Website.
“Electricity.”
“Electric Current and Power Transmission.”
“Electric Power Grids and Blackouts.”

Lomborg, Bjørn.…

Pierre Desrochers’ course at the University of Toronto Mississauga, Energy and Society, might just be the single best introduction to its subject in North America.

The students get both sides in impressive depth. As such, this course provides a study guide for anyone interested in the multi-faceted issues around the master resource.

Part I today presents the course description as well as the videos and readings from the first two weeks of the class. Part II tomorrow will cover the readings for carbon-based energies (oil, natural gas, coal).

Objective:

The development of new energy sources has had a major impact on the development of both human societies and the environment. This course will provide a broad survey of past and current achievements, along with failures and controversies, regarding the use of various forms of energy.…

[E]nergy is not life, but a prerequisite for it, and life is insatiable for it.

– Bernd Heinrich, American zoologist, professor, and author

Civilization and profit go hand in hand.

– Calvin Coolidge, American President

In his book Economics on Trial, American economist Mark Skousen defined Economics as, “the study of how individuals transform natural resources into final products and services that people can use.”

Skousen’s definition is problematic for the purposes of this book [Caveman Economics, in process], which proposes to illustrate economic principles by imagining a prehistoric world at the dawn of our species.  For in such a world, natural resources do not yet exist.  Natural materials exist, but they do not become natural resources until they are combined with knowledge.  Such knowledge came only after thousands of years of trial and error—trial and error in a world in which error often resulted in death.…