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Welcome to the class, Fundamentals of Energy Resources.
The class is designed primarily to empower us
with information that we need to make informed decisions about the kind
energy resources we want to use in our lives, and the kind
energy policies we would like to see pursued both within our
country and within countries around the planet.
We live on a planet with increasing populations
and increasing aspirations of those populations. Normally this is coupled
with an increasing consumption of
all kinds of energy resources, be it electricity,
coal, petroleum, biomass, wind,
solar, you name it. Many of us
have very little understanding about the nature and extent that these resources
and also the depth and breadth
of their use and
our continuing dependency. This course is designed to
open some those understandings up. So along the way
we're going to be looking at non-renewable and renewable resources, as well as
looking at the virtues and vices are both these kinds.
Oftentimes the non-renewable are
thought to basically have just vices an no
virtues, but I think it's important to realize that
every form of energy resource has
both positives and negatives. We need to explore all those so we're better
informed about the entire energy resource picture.
We'll be going to places like the United States Energy Information
Administration to acquire data.
We'll also be looking at power plants and
this issue called nameplate capacity as well as
capacity factor. We're going to be looking at how electricity is generated,
transported, and also consumed. We're going to be looking at actual
bills of electricity consumers and understanding
electricity bills better then you ever understood before.
We'll also consider how societal development
is often coupled with increasing amounts of
energy consumption and the repercussions regarding
that consumption increase, especially in regards to carbon dioxide emissions
from power plants that use non-renewable fuels,
particularly coal, in order to achieve the level of energy
output that is needed for increasing societal development.
So we have three sections in this class.
The first one is called Non-renewable and Renewable Energy Resources, where we
introduce the topic.
The second section is called Electricity and Power Plants,
and the third section is called Societal Development and
Energy Resources. Along the way we'll be exploring
many topics and I hope that you find it informative
and especially empowering in terms of your own energy use
and the policies that you would like to see in place
now and in the future in terms of our
energy consumption as a nation and as a planet.
So welcome to the course again and I will see you very shortly
in various sections of the material.