Power from the nucleus offers a low-carbon source of electricity. Fission power is well developed, but carries risks associated with safety, waste, and nuclear weapons proliferation. Fusion energy research, which presents less such risk, is making important scientific progress and progress towards commercialization. We will study the scientific underpinnings of both of these energy sources, strengthening your physical insight and exercising your mathematical and computational skills. We will also ask ourselves the thorny ethical questions scientists should confront as they contribute to the development of new technologies.

This elective seminar will examine the complexities of the energy transition. Through case studies, a survey of current affairs and interviews with industry leaders, students will appreciate the scale of the challenge and the factors that limit the pace of the transition. This seminar will specifically focus on the decarbonization challenges of difficult-to-abate sectors, like international shipping, in which upcoming policy negotiations will impact whether its transition will keep up with its stated ambition to reduce emissions by 20%, striving for 30%, by 2030; 70%, striving for 80%, by 2040; and net zero around 2050.

Students will study the chemical and physical processes involved in the sources, transformation, transport, and sinks of air pollutants on local to global scales. Societal problems such as photochemical smog, particulate matter, greenhouse gases, and stratospheric ozone depletion will be investigated using fundamental concepts in chemistry, physics, and engineering. For the class project, students will select a trace gas species or family of gases and analyze recent field and remote sensing data based upon material covered in the course. Environments to be studied include very clean, remote portions of the globe to urban air quality.

This course explores material and optical design strategies for thermal management of buildings. In the first part of the course, we cover fundamental aspects of thermal radiation and light-matter interactions in built and natural environments. The second part covers traditional and emerging materials and strategies for radiative thermoregulation of buildings. Specific topics include traditional designs such as cool-roof films and low-E coatings, emerging materials like radiative coolers, and adaptive coolers/heaters, and their impact within buildings and the broader environment.

This course explores the One Water framework, focusing on decarbonization and building resilient, circular, and equitable water/wastewater systems.

The Paris Accord signaled global consensus on the need for a rapid switch to clean energy and industrial production. In recent years this resulted in ever increasing pledges by nations, states and organizations to reach net-zero by midcentury. Not well understood are the immense scale and speed of this transformation. Princeton's Net-Zero America study and similar efforts in Australia and elsewhere have provided highly granular insights on the implications for the environment, finances, jobs, and diverse stakeholder interests. Students will build on these insights with interdisciplinary case studies for ambitious zero emissions hubs.

This course examines the field of carbon capture, conversion, and storage. The course is interdisciplinary and surveys fundamental aspects of combustion, kinetics, material science, thermodynamics and electrochemistry. The class will survey the working principles of existing and emerging technologies that aim to make a critical impact on decarbonizing energy systems. Topics related to carbon capture and negative emission technologies will be discussed.

This course provides an introduction to the electricity sector drawing on engineering, economics, and regulatory policy perspectives. It introduces the engineering principles behind various power generation technologies and transmission and distribution networks; the economics of electricity markets; and the regulation of electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and retail sales. Open challenges related to the growth of distributed energy resources, the transition to low-carbon electricity sources, and the role of the electricity sector in mitigating global climate change are also discussed.

Principles and design of solar energy conversion systems. Quantity and availability of solar energy. Physics and chemistry of solar energy conversion: solar optics, optical excitation, capture of excited energy, and transport of excitations or electronic charge. Conversion methods: thermal, wind, photoelectric, photoelectrochemical, photosynthetic, biomass. Solar energy systems: low and high temperature conversion, photovoltaics. Storage of solar energy. Conversion efficiency, systems cost, and lifecycle considerations.

This course provides an introduction to the electricity sector drawing on engineering, economics, and regulatory policy perspectives. It introduces the engineering principles behind various power generation technologies and transmission and distribution networks; the economics of electricity markets; and the regulation of electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and retail sales. Open challenges related to the growth of distributed energy resources, the transition to low-carbon electricity sources, and the role of the electricity sector in mitigating global climate change are also discussed.

This course introduces the fundamental physical mechanisms behind sustainable energy technologies and the basic concepts to evaluate and compare their efficiency, environmental impact, and costs. Among others, we will examine the potential of wind energy, photovoltaics, geothermal energy, biofuels, and nuclear energy. We will also examine the concepts of intermittency and dispatchability of energy sources and discuss the relevance of the electric grid, energy storage, energy efficiency, and green buildings. Taken together, this will help us assess energy scenarios and possible pathways to a net-zero carbon energy future.

This course will cover fundamentals of heat transfer and applications to practical problems in energy conversion and conservation, electronics, and biological systems. Emphasis will be on developing a physical and analytical understanding of conductive, convective, and radiative heat transfer. Numerical methods will be introduced to simulate a variety of steady and unsteady heat transfer applications and will form the basis of the final project.

Overview of energy utilization in and environmental impacts of propulsion systems for ground and air transportation. Roughly half of the course will be devoted to reciprocating engines for ground transportation, and the other half of the course will be devoted to gas turbine engines for air transportation. The course will focus on device efficiency/performance and emissions with future outlooks for improvements in these areas including alternative fuels and alternative device concepts. Relevant thermodynamics, chemistry, fluid mechanics, and combustion fundamentals will be reviewed or introduced and will permeate the course material.

Chemical thermodynamics and kinetics, oxidation of hydrogen, hydrocarbons and alternate fuels, pollutant chemistry and control, transport phenomena, laminar premixed and nonpremixed flames, turbulent flames, ignition, extinction, and flammability phenomena, flame stabilization and blowoff, detonation and blast waves, droplet, spray and coal particle combustion, principles of engine operation.

Overview of the issues surrounding global energy supplies, oil's unique physical and economic properties, and its role in shaping the political economy of the Middle East and U.S. strategic interests in the region. Discuss availability of energy sources, the state of technology, the functioning of energy markets, the challenges of coping with global climate change and the key role of the oil reserves in the Middle East. Then focus on the history of oil and gas in the Middle East and its impact on societies in the region.

This course surveys a wide range of health effects from climate change and discusses strategic opportunities to improve health outcomes through energy decarbonization efforts. The course is highly interactive, combining lectures with a wide variety of in class activities. Class participation is a critical component of the learning experience. Course activities and assignments are designed to help students understand the topics covered in the class, as well as to develop key research and communication skills related to climate and health.