In this video, Jane Poynter tells her story of living two years …
In this video, Jane Poynter tells her story of living two years and 20 minutes in Biosphere 2 - an experience that provoked her to explore how we might sustain life in the harshest of environments. The resource, "Biosphere TED Talk Video" included in "Lesson 4 Human Habitat Sustainability Biosphere1" is a part of "Unit 02 Introduction to Science and Engineering Methods" included in Energy & Sustainability ES - Course 1
EME 807 overviews a wide range of contemporary technologies in the context …
EME 807 overviews a wide range of contemporary technologies in the context of sustainability and examines metrics for their assessment. The course explores the main principles that guide modern science and technology towards sustainable solutions. It covers such topics as resource management technologies, waste and wastewater treatment, renewable energy technologies, high performance buildings and transportation systems, application of informatics and feedback to sustainable systems, and more. Learning in EME 807 heavily relies on real-life examples and taps into current practices of technology analysis. This course goes beyond understanding the background, fostering critical thinking and challenging the students to draw connections between social, environmental, and economic aspects of sustainable technologies.
Terry Williams is blunt when he describes the environmental crisis tribes in …
Terry Williams is blunt when he describes the environmental crisis tribes in the Pacific Northwest are facing: "We’ve lost 90 percent of the salmon population."
As the Tulalip Tribe’s Fisheries and Natural Resources Commissioner, Williams has witnessed the decline of salmon and its impacts on tribal members. For the Tulalip and other tribes in the region, the population crash of salmon is much more than an assault on their economic lifeblood—it is a cultural and spiritual threat to their identity as a people.
The annual springtime Salmon Ceremony puts tribal members in direct touch with their ancestors, and other ceremonies and practices center on the fish through the year. Losing the fish is a strike to the core of the Tulalip people, but they have a long-term vision to restore wild salmon populations to levels that will support their fishing needs.
This fact sheet highlights selected findings of a comprehensive assessment by the …
This fact sheet highlights selected findings of a comprehensive assessment by the National Water-Quality Assessment Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) of the effects of urban development on stream ecosystems in nine metropolitan study areas. The resource, "Urban Development Results in Stressors that Degrade Stream Ecosystems" 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.
In this video, part of NewsHour's series "Food for 9 Billion," special …
In this video, part of NewsHour's series "Food for 9 Billion," special correspondent Sam Eaton resports on a push in Costa Rica to embrace forest preservation and biodiversity while keeping up with the demand for farming. The resource, "Balancing Costa Rica's Farming With Preservation Video" included in "Lesson 3 Species Interactions" is a part of "Unit 09 Biodiversity Decline and Sustainablility" included in Energy & Sustainability ES - Course 4
EME 812 explores the main physical principles of core solar energy conversion …
EME 812 explores the main physical principles of core solar energy conversion systems, including direct power conversion photovoltaics, concentrating photovoltaics (CPV), and thermal conversion to electricity via concentrating solar power strategies (CSP). It also covers the fundamentals of enabling technologies such as light concentration, solar tracking, power conversion cycles, power conditioning and distribution. Learning in EME 812 relies on analysis of design and performance of existing solar plants that have been deployed in areas such as the southwestern USA, Spain, and North Africa.
Solar thermal energy is a vast renewable energy resource that has been …
Solar thermal energy is a vast renewable energy resource that has been harvested by human civilizations for centuries. Now as energy conversion technologies quickly develop, we look at solar thermal energy as a significant contributor to the future world's energy profile. Solar heat, when properly collected and stored, can provide cost-effective benefits to a wide array of industrial and residential applications. In EME 811, Solar Thermal Energy for Utilities and Industry, we talk about both the main principles of solar thermal energy conversion and some implementation scenarios, such as utilization of solar heat in buildings, solar cooling, solar desalination, solar drying, and chemical processing.
The resource, "Video Natural Step and Sustainability" included in "Lesson 4 Sustainability …
The resource, "Video Natural Step and Sustainability" included in "Lesson 4 Sustainability in Practice" is a part of "Unit 01 What is Sustainability" included in Energy & Sustainability ES - Course 1
Wading Through the Past is a collection of essays based on the …
Wading Through the Past is a collection of essays based on the 2021 Western Water Symposium, sponsored by The Claremont Colleges Library. An assortment of scholars, librarians, and advocates have virtually gathered to discuss the process of digitizing, making accessible, and using the Western Water Archives in the hope that we might better understand and improve our relationship to water.
How can we ensure the continuous supply of the increasingly scarce raw …
How can we ensure the continuous supply of the increasingly scarce raw materials that are needed to make the products we use every day? In this course, we will look at the potential benefits of circular procurement and how recycling technologies and more efficient ways of collecting and recycling critical raw materials (CRMs) can make your business and production more resource resilient.
A good number of the materials found in everyday products are now referred to as “critical”. This means that there is a risk of failure in their supply and that they are also critical in terms of economic importance.
Many metals, for instance, are already critical or could become critical in the near future due to their limited availability and the growing demand for products worldwide. Think of the newest electronic products that contain critical metals such as gallium, which is used in integrated circuits; beryllium, used in electronic and telecommunications equipment and permanent magnets and germanium found in infra-red optics.
Innovative product design and reusing, recycling and remanufacturing products can help to deal with a raw materials shortage. But this can only provide an integrated solution if we keep CRMs in the loop through smarter CRM management. The starting point is to identify CRMs in products. It is not always clear what materials are in which products. It is, therefore, necessary to keep all metals in the loop for as long as possible.
Scarcity in the supply chain can not only damage businesses but also negatively impact economic development and the environment. For this reason, the course will also discuss environmental issues and electric and electronic waste regulations.
This course will be of value to a wide range of professionals working in or interested in this field. These include professionals involved in producing products containing CRMs (such as electronics) as well as local or national government officials tasked with organizing waste management and recycling for these products. Students interested in the field of waste management will also find this course helpful for their studies in electronics, industrial design, and industrial ecology.
Welcome at the course Wastewater Treatment. This course is given by the …
Welcome at the course Wastewater Treatment. This course is given by the faculty Civil Engineering and Geosciences at the University of Technology Delft. Description The course deals with background and application of various wastewater treatment technologies. Both high-tech and low-tech systems are discussed, which are applicable in industrialized and developing countries. Anaerobic treatment systems, focusing on resource recovery are extensively discussed. Modern technologies for (extensive) nutrient removal / recovery are dealt with as well as membrane techniques for wastewater treatment.
Climate scientists project that future climate conditions will result in increased risk …
Climate scientists project that future climate conditions will result in increased risk of wildfire across much of the Southwest. Although fires are a natural part of Southern California landscapes, efforts by SDG&E and their partners may help minimize the impacts of future fires.
Paul Andersen explains how water quality can be degraded by pollutants. Wastewater …
Paul Andersen explains how water quality can be degraded by pollutants. Wastewater is the main source of water pollution and can be measure using the BOD (biochemical oxygen demand). Dead zones, cultural eutrophication, disease, and other pollutants are included.
Paul Andersen explains how water is unequally distributed around the globe through …
Paul Andersen explains how water is unequally distributed around the globe through the hydrologic cycles. Seawater is everywhere but is not useful without costly desalination. Freshwater is divided between surface water and groundwater but must me stored and moved for domestic, industrial, and agricultural uses.
We refer to Earth as the \Blue Planet\" because of its abundance …
We refer to Earth as the \Blue Planet\" because of its abundance of liquid water; indeed, NASA's search for life on other planets starts with the search for water. While its importance for sustaining life is perhaps common knowledge, the extent to which we depend on water in every aspect of our everyday lives and activities is less obvious. Looking into the coming decades, the global need to decrease water stress and increase water quality is inescapable. In this course, you will explore water's impact on human society from investigating your own personal water usage to developing a water portfolio to addressing global water needs as human population centers and industrial development continue to grow."
This table identifies factors that make a planet habitable. The resource, "What …
This table identifies factors that make a planet habitable. The resource, "What Makes a World Habitable?" included in "Lesson 6 Testing New Worlds Mars Colony" is a part of "Unit 02 Introduction to Science and Engineering Methods" included in Energy & Sustainability ES - Course 1.
This video from NOAA details their greenhouse gas monitoring process. The resource, …
This video from NOAA details their greenhouse gas monitoring process. The resource, "What's in the Air: How NOAA Monitors Greenhouse Gases in our Atmosphere Part 2" included in "Lesson 1 Sources of Atmospheric Carbon" is a part of "Unit 02 Atmospheric Carbon" included in Energy & Sustainability ES - Course 4.
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