As sea level rises, wetlands and marshes must move inland, or drown. The Sonoma Land Trust is using innovative strategies to restore and enhance marshlands and the ecosystems they support.
Residents along the U.S. Gulf Coast are familiar with the flooding hazards associated with storms, yet many are unaware of the risk of sea level rise. Shoppers at a local mall had a chance to explore the potential impacts of sea level rise on their communities.
City officials in Tybee Island, Georgia, recognized sea level rise as a growing problem for their community. Visualizations from a sea level rise viewer helped them raise awareness of the city's vulnerabilities and led to development of Georgias first sea level rise plan.
The resource, "Siemens and The Willow School (video)" included in "Lesson 04 Green Sustainable Facility Design Considerations" is a part of "Unit 05 Green Sustainable Facility Design" included in Energy & Sustainability ES - Course 3
This publication from the US Dept. of Energy explores the imperative of revitalizing America's electric infrastructure. The resource, "The Smart Grid: an Introduction" included in "Lesson 1 What Is a SmartGrid" is a part of "Unit 06 Smartgrids" included in Energy & Sustainability ES - Course 4.
Paul Andersen explains how soils are formed and classified. Weathering of rock creates particles which are mixed with water, air, and organic material. Soils are classified according to particle size, chemical makeup, and horizon distribution.
Soil and Water Conservation: An Annotated Bibliography highlights freely-available online resources covering various aspects of soil and water conservation, and is designed to be a resource for conservation students and practitioners. The thirteen chapters in the annotated bibliography are grouped into four sections, including History and Fundamentals, Conservation Practices, Conservation Implementation, and Careers. Types of cited resources include extension bulletins, USDA NRCS conservation practice standards, and other government reports and resources. Cited resources are generally concise, easily read, and meant for general audiences. Annotations and images are used to provide context for each resource. Many contributors made Soil and Water Conservation: An Annotated Bibliography possible through their assistance with technical edits, outline development, identifying resources, or writing annotations. Chapter authors are experts and practitioners of soil and water conservation, or students of soil and water conservation who worked under the supervision of the editor, Colby Moorberg. The annotated bibliography is used as the primary text for Kansas State University’s AGRON 635 – Soil and Water Conservation, which is taught by Moorberg.
Photovoltaic systems are often placed into a microgrid, a local electricity distribution system that is operated in a controlled way and includes both electricity users and renewable electricity generation. This course deals with DC and AC microgrids and covers a wide range of topics, from basic definitions, through modelling and control of AC and DC microgrids to the application of adaptive protection in microgrids. You will master various concepts related to microgrid technology and implementation, such as smart grid and virtual power plant, types of distribution network, markets, control strategies and components. Among the components special attention is given to operation and control of power electronics interfaces.
You will familiarize yourself with the advantages and challenges of DC microgrids (which are still in an early stage). You will have the opportunity to master the topic of microgrids through an exercise in which you will evaluate selected pilot sites where microgrids were deployed. The evaluation will take the form of a simulation assignment and include a peer review of the results.
This image is a diagram of a proton conducting solid oxide fuel cell. The resource, "Fuel Cell Student Handout" included in "Lesson 1 Analysis of Automobiles" is a part of "Unit 03 Transportation" included in Energy & Sustainability ES - Course 4.
Paul Andersen explains the basics of solid waste including trends over time, basic composition, and disposal. A brief description of the three R's (reuse, reduce, and recycle) is included as ways to minimize waste. Legislation including RCRA and CERCLA (the Superfund Act) were enacted to deal with hazardous waste.
This score by Daniel Crawford is based on temperature data. The resource, "A Song of Our Warming Planet (sheet music)" included in "Lesson 3 Variation and Trend - Weather and Climate" is a part of "Unit 06 Energy Budget, Climate and Energy Resources" included in Energy & Sustainability ES - Course 2.
The resource, "A Song for our Warming Planet Redirect" included in "Lesson 3 Variation and Trend - Weather and Climate" is a part of "Unit 06 Energy Budget, Climate and Energy Resources" included in Energy & Sustainability ES - Course 2
A spatial database is the backbone of a successful organization or website that depends upon maintaining and using data pertinent to locations on Earth. In GEOG 868, Spatial Database Management, capabilities specific to Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are combined to teach students to create, maintain, and query spatial databases in both desktop and enterprise environments. Learn the basics of Standard Query Language (SQL) and database design/normalization, the specifics of managing spatial data in an open-source technologies context (Postgres/PostGIS) and in the context of the Esri geodatabase. Along the way, you will become familiar with spatial functions and versioning, the latter in a server environment hosted by Amazon Web Services.
The Stabilization Wedges game is a simple framework for understanding both the carbon emissions cuts needed to avoid dramatic climate change and the tools already available to do so. The resource, "Stabilization Wedges: A Concept and Game" included in "Lesson 1 Climate Change Negotiations" is a part of "Unit 10 Mock Summit and Portfolio Capstone Finale" included in Energy & Sustainability ES - Course 4.
This publication details BMPs for stormwater in urban areas. The resource, "Strategies for Managing the Effects of Urban Development on Streams" included in "Lesson 1 Intro to Stormwater Management" is a part of "Unit 08 Storm Water Management Capstone" included in Energy & Sustainability ES - Course 2.
Paul Andersen explains how stratospheric ozone protects humans from ultraviolet light. He explains how stratospheric ozone is formed when diatomic oxygen absorbs an ultraviolet photon and is split into two free oxygen atoms. The free atoms bond with another oxygen molecule to form an ozone molecule creating a stable ozone layer.
In this activity, students will use several web tools to analyze CO2 concentrations from sites around the globe, measured by NOAA. By analyzing short and long-term trends of CO2 in the atmosphere, students will learn how the atmosphere and climate are changing and determine the causes that are responsible for these changes. The resource, "Student Activity on the Carbon Cycle" included in "Lesson 1 Sources of Atmospheric Carbon" is a part of "Unit 02 Atmospheric Carbon" included in Energy & Sustainability ES - Course 4
The course aims is to understand the relation between urban design and planning and the aspects of: - sun, energy and plants - wind, sound and noise - water, traffic and other networks - earth, soil and site preparation - life, ecology and nature preservation - living, human density, economy and environment These themes in sustainable urban engineering are related to legends for design, described in a wide variety of lecture papers (720 pages, 1000 figures, 200 references, 5000 key words, 400 questions), accompanied by interactive Excel computer programmes to get quantitative insight. The assignment is an evaluation of an own earlier and future design work integrating sun, plantation, wind, noise, water, traffic, earth, land preparation, cables and pipes, life, natural differentiation, living, density, environment and proposing new legends for design. Study Goals The student: - is able to link urban interventions to urban development technology and within that interrelate urban designers to relevant technical specialists - is able to integrating sun, plantation, wind, noise, water, traffic, earth, land preparation, cables and pipes, life, natural differentiation, living, density, environment - is able to develop new legends for design from the perspective of sustainable urban engineering
Human growth has strained the Earth's resources, but as Johan Rockstrom reminds us, our advances also give us the science to recognize this and change behavior. The resource, "TED - Let the Environment Guide our Development" included in "Lesson 4 Safe Operating Space for Humanity" is a part of "Unit 01 The Earths Limit" included in Energy & Sustainability ES - Course 2.
The resource, "BioMimicry in Action TEDTalk" included in "Lesson 4 Research and Careers in Engineering" is a part of "Unit 04 Engineering Design Process and Careers" included in Energy & Sustainability ES - Course 2