The Global Energy Crisis (PHYS 140)

Term: 2025-2026 - Fall

Faculty

Elliott F TammaroShow MyInfo popup for Elliott F Tammaro

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Schedule

Mon-Wed, 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM (8/25/2025 - 12/12/2025) Location: MAIN FR 27

Description

We harnessed fire and used cooked proteins as a fuel source to grow the human brain. We smelted metals with wood and coal. We used petroleum to construct and power the modern world. The human story is hallmarked by our innovative use of energy sources. Our ability to master new energy sources has led to many of the greatest technological revolutions. Indeed, energy is the agent of change. Yet our unbrided use of such resources, in the pursuit of development, goods, comfort, amoung other valued entities, leads us on a path toward irreversible environmental changes and even possibly to the edge of our own destruction. In this course we explore these topics, assess the associated web of economic and political issues, contemplate current technologies and the science on which they rest, and ask what frontier thinking might be ultimately our salvation?