Europe: Global Perspectives on Energy and the Environment

Join us for a remarkable instructive experience as we learn about the current transformation that is occurring in the world’s electrical energy system and the future of renewable energy. We will visit Northern Italy, where we will tour a waste incineration plant that generates electricity, a solar PV cell fabrication facility, and other companies focused on energy production and storage. We will see up close the glacial retreat that has occurred due to climate change. We will also experience remarkable Italian cultural sites in the north of the country. In Spain, we will visit two large scale concentrating solar plants that generate electrical power and we will spend time in the culturally rich city of Seville.

In Denmark where more than 50% of the country’s electrical demand is generated from wind energy we will see wind turbine farms, climb to the nacelle of a wind turbine, and we will tour turbine fabrication plants, including where the largest wind turbine blades in the world are designed and prototyped. We will also visit either Sweden or Iceland for additional energy site visits, including a tour of either a nuclear power plant or the largest geothermal power plant in the world. In each country, we will hear from local experts highlighting how renewable energy fits into the country’s energy portfolio. We will also be exposed to the culturally rich heritage and unique geography of each country, visiting sites of interest and sampling traditional local cuisine.

A seminar series 2nd block of Winter Semester will expose students to world energy reserves, environmental considerations related to energy production and use, the importance of government energy policy, and total economic and thermodynamic analysis of energy-producing methods. Prior to departing for Europe we will also visit several local energy-related sites, including coal, hydroelectric, and natural gas powered plants. Over the course of the program we will visit 20-22 different energy related sites. The course will provide three credits of engineering technical elective toward graduation. The course is open to all majors, but preference will be given to engineering students who have taken an introductory Thermodynamics course. Students can take this class in the winter semester 2024 if they haven’t already done so.

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