Professor Lonnie Gamble | EnergyGrinnell / Assignments And Grading

Renewable Energy: The Energy Basis of Humans and Nature
ENV 298 - 02
Grinnell College, February 2008
Assignments and Grading

Reading
Course readings will be from a course reader and from handouts given during class. Many, but not all, of the readings are available on-line at www.professorlonniegamble.com. You will be assigned readings every class for homework. There will be a brief discussion of the readings in class. Readers will be available the first day and will cost $25.00. 25 points for participating in discussion in class. Due each class

Course Writing Assignment
Choose 1:

Write a letter to the editor concerning renewable energy technology, policy, conversion to a renewables based economy, or an economic/social justice issue involving renewables. It can be in response to an article or editorial on renewable energy technology or policy, or unrelated to any particular article in the publication.
Write a letter to a politician (local, state, or national) or policy maker suggesting action on some aspect of renewable energy technology, policy, conversion to a renewables based economy, or an economic/social justice issue involving renewables.
Ecotopian Vision for the Future
- Write a future vision for Grinnell (the town or the College) implementing the concepts we are learning about in this course. It can be based on a comprehensive vision for the whole community or an in depth review of one aspect of the community. Samples of ecotopian fiction are available on the course wiki (www.professorlonniegamble.com)
Choose an article in an area of special interest to you from the on-line course wiki resources, Home Power Magazine (back issues available in reserve at the library in paper and on cd rom), the Economist magazine or, with instructor approval, from your own research. Read the article, and do the following:
- A brief oral report on the article and followed by a class discussion led by you on the relevance of the article to the themes of the course. (5-10 minutes)
- A written report (1-4 pages) on the article relating it to the themes of the class. Post the article on your class blog.
  20 points – draft due Wednesday, Feb 20, final due Monday, March 3

Group Project The class will break into groups, and each group will work on a project that explores renewable energy technology and policy ideas and projects for the greater Grinnell community. Your group will do a brief (15-20 minute) presentation to the class as well develop a piece of the Renew Grinnell wiki.

Renew Grinnell Wiki Group Project The class will start the development of a wiki resource for renewable energy, efficiency, public policy, and other ideas about converting to a renewables based economy for Grinnell. Each group will edit a subject area (wind, solar, efficiency, public policy). Groups will review ideas from other communities and catalog past efforts and projects in Grinnell. The each group should use at least two media (print, audio, video) in developing their section. Audio interviews developed here can be used for the radio show project listed below.
25 points – Wiki resource area draft due Wed Feb 27. Final Presentation due March 5.

Radio Project

Access to media is important in the effort to create a renewables based future. The class will put together a radio program about the shift to renewables based economy for Poweshiek County. Individually or in teams of two, do 5-10 minute radio segment. The segments will be prerecorded, but the show will broadcast live with commentary from the entire class on the campus radio station (KDIC, 88.5 FM) and be downloadable from the Internet. We may have enough material for two shows. This is not as hard as it may sound at first reading.

20 points, Due final week of class

Evaluation (written exam) There will be two take home evaluations, one about half way through the course and the other at the end of the course. 10 points each - Due Feb 25 and March 5

Local Meal

Conventional food systems are heavily dependent on fossil fuels for traction, fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, transportation, processing, packaging, and refrigeration. Eating close to home short circuits much of this fossil fuel usage, and has many other benefits. We’ll explore local foods and the slow food movement by creating a local foods meal using products from 100 miles around Grinnell. (See interview with 100 mile diet founders at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10219029.) Each group will create a course for the meal.

10 points, Date to be determined with the class.

Renewable Energy Web Research Report

Research energy related web sites and blogs, pick one or two and do short reviews to them on your blog. Make sure your review includes something about the author of the site or blog, and the organizations that sponsors them.

10 points, Due Feb 20

Project of your own choosing, either alone or with a group Do an individual project of your own choosing, with instructor approval

Project Ideas:

Ecohouse design – explore the conversion of one of the College houses into a state-of-the art lab for beyond-sustainable, regenerative living.
Renewable Energy PrototypeDevelop a prototype of an energy saving or renewable energy generating technology, program, or policy.
- Ideas:
  - Waste Oil Biodiesel Coop
  - Feed-in Tariff
  - Community wide solar hot water project
Make energy/resource use visible – Did you know that the Grinnel campus has just a few meters that measure energy use on campus? Making energy use visible by installing easy to understand metering in public places, like clocks, can make a huge difference in energy. Research and design a way to make energy (and other resource use like water) use visible to occupants and users of a building. This could be the start of wise energy use energy competitions for dorms.
Develop a program that addresses and economic or social justice issue involved in the conversion to a renewables based economy.
Develop a community energy based plan to make Poweshiek County a net exporter of renewable energy.

20 points, Due March 5