CEE 292A
Technologies for Sustainable Societies
Fall 2008

Faculty:

Arpad Horvath, Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, horvath@ce.berkeley.edu/p>

William W Nazaroff, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, nazaroff@ce.berkeley.edu

Time and Location:

M 5:00-6:00 pm; 406 Davis Hall

The course will meet once per week. Each meeting will feature a presentation from a student group or the convening faculty on selected topics, plus associated discussion.

Syllabus

Course Description:

The global human population exceeds six billion and is projected to double in the next four decades. Environmental quality is strained on local, regional, and even global scales. Resources are finite. To many, current systems appear nsustainable on a time scale as short as decades. Technology has facilitated human development over the past several centuries. echnological advances are necessary, although not sufficient components of an overall societal movement towards sustainability.

The goal of this 1-unit course is to investigate important technologies that serve major societal needs. The presentations will be framed from the perspective of how technologies do or do not contribute to a move towards sustainability. Elements in the following systems may be considered: buildings, manufacturing, water, food, energy, and transportation.

Prerequisites Graduate standing or consent of instructors.

Process and Groundrules

The faculty will lead the first meeting, the final meeting, and 5 lectures in the first half of the course. The first meeting will be introductory and organizational to jointly determine the presentations and assignments for the semester. The final meeting will focus on integration and synthesis of the themes discussed during the semester.

The presenters for each meeting are responsible for the following:

1. Selecting a title for their presentation (deadline: 9:00 am, October 13, emailed to Horvath)
2. Identifying and distributing a key reading related to the presnetation. ( Distribution by web-pointer or by email preferred but not possible for all, e.g., book chapters.) As a guide to length, the item should take no more than 1 hour to read. (Deadline: paper copy to Horvath 8 days ahead of presentation, or web-pointer/email distribution to Horvath to distribute to group by Monday at 9:00 am before presentation).
3. Prepare and present a 20 minute presentation on the topic, followed by 5 minutes of Q&A.
4. Provide a PDF or powerpoint file containing the visual support materials from their presentation. (Deadline: Emailed to Horvath within one week after the presentation. Size limit = 5 MB.)
5. Write an extended abstract summarizing the presentation and highlights of the subsequent discussion. As a guideline, the abstract should be 2-3 single spaced pages. The abstract should be in MS Word or PDF format. A sample format will be distributed to class participants. (Deadline: Emailed to Horvath within one week after the presentation.)
6. To distribute workload among the faculty, a "primary faculty contact" will be assigned to each student team preparing a presentation.
7. All students and faculty are expected to read the "key reading" each week, before the meeting.
8. All students and faculty are expected to miss no more than two meetings during the semester. Additional absences resulting from extraordinary circumstances should be discussed with one of the faculty.

Example Topics

• Need for sustainability: population growth, resource limits, strained environmental quality
• The case for technologies as necessary components of sustainable societies
• Evaluating technologies through a sustainability lens
• Building services: lighting, ventilation, thermal comfort, materials
• Water: water and wastewater treatment, water reuse and conservation technologies
• Food: sustainable farming practices, cook stoves
• Energy: hydrogen economy, fuel cells, carbon sequestration
• Transportation: hybrid electric vehicles, alternative fuels, mass-transit systems

Schedule

Responsibilities of Student Presenters

1. Selection of title of presentation. Deadline: October 13, emailed to Arpad Horvath by 9:00 am.
2. Selection of reading and transmission to Arpad Horvath (horvath@ce.berkeley.edu) for distribution to the participants. Constraint: Must require no more than 1 hour to read. Deadline: if hard copy, 8 days before presentation; if electronic access, Monday before presentation by 9:00 am.
3. Prepare and deliver a 20 minute presentation on a topic regarding technologies and sustainable societies, followed by 5 minutes of Q&A.
4. Write extended abstract (2-3 single-spaced pages) and transmit to Arpad Horvath for class access. Deadline: One week after presentation.
5. Transmit visuals electronically (ppt or pdf format) to Arpad Horvath for class access. Deadline: One week after presentation.

Last updated: 28 September 2008