Spring 2027 ENE Course Offerings
ENE Courses for Spring 2027
Renewable Energy Labs
Minjie Chen
This course explores renewable energy systems, focusing on how energy is generated, converted, stored, and used. Students conduct experiments with solar panels, wind turbines, electric motors, batteries, and thermal systems, measuring power, energy, efficiency, and losses. Brief discussions connect their findings to modern electric grids, conventional generation, renewable variability, energy storage, and demand response. Students apply their measurements to design and evaluate a small energy system.
Energy in Society-Electrons, Molecules, and Quarks Oh My!
Cindy Yeilding
This course demystifies energy sources, systems, and technologies. The class addresses the complexities of the energy sector, including challenges of balancing climate risk, affordability, security of supply, and economics. The course also highlights the critical role of technology and explores a range of career opportunities in energy. This course is designed for undergraduates, seeking participants with a range of academic interests to broaden perspectives and enrich discussions. It is ideal for students focusing on the humanities and sciences, interested in policy, research, teaching, legal, government, and community engagement.
Rapid Switch: The Energy Transition Challenge to a Low-Carbon Future
Eric Larson, Chris Greig
The Paris Accord signaled global consensus on the need for a rapid switch to clean energy and industrial production. In recent years this has resulted in ever increasing pledges by nations, states and organizations to reach net-zero by midcentury. Not well understood are the immense scale and speed of this transformation. Princeton’s Net-Zero America study and similar studies elsewhere have provided highly granular insights on the implications for the environment, finances, jobs, and diverse stakeholder interests. Students will build on these insights with interdisciplinary case studies for ambitious international net-zero hubs.
Solar Energy Conversion
Dane de Quilettes
ENE 431/ECE 431/ENV 431/EGR 431
Principles and design of solar energy conversion systems. Quantity and availability of solar energy from our Sun compared to other solar systems. Physics and chemistry of solar energy conversion: solar optics, optical excitation, capture of excited energy, and transport of excitations or electronic charge. Conversion methods: thermal, wind, photoelectric, photoelectrochemical, photosynthetic, biomass. Solar energy systems: low and high temperature conversion, photovoltaics. Storage of solar energy. Conversion efficiency, systems cost, and lifecycle considerations. Hands-on experiences testing solar panels, touring campus solar farm, etc.
The Battery Age: Powering Mobility, Aviation, and Data Centers
Kelsey Hatzell
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to battery and energy storage technologies, combining foundational knowledge with hands-on laboratory experience. Students will explore the historical evolution of batteries, from early electrochemical cells to modern lithium-based systems, and survey the diverse battery types used across transportation, aviation, data centers, and grid-scale applications.
ENE Cross Listed courses
The Science of Fission and Fusion Energy
Robert Goldston
AST 309/MAE 309/PHY 309/ENE 309
Power from the nucleus offers a low-carbon source of electricity. Fission power is well developed, but carries risks associated with safety, waste, and nuclear weapons proliferation. Fusion energy research, which presents less such risk, is making important scientific progress and progress towards commercialization. We will study the scientific underpinnings of both of these energy sources, strengthening your physical insight and exercising your mathematical and computational skills. We will also ask ourselves the thorny ethical questions scientists should confront as they contribute to the development of new technologies.
The Complexities of the Energy Transition
Lynn Loo
This elective seminar will examine the complexities of the energy transition. Through case studies, a survey of current affairs and interviews with industry leaders, students will appreciate the scale of the challenge and the factors that limit the pace of the transition. This seminar will specifically focus on the decarbonization challenges of difficult-to-abate sectors, like international shipping, in which upcoming policy negotiations will impact whether its transition will keep up with its stated ambition to reduce emissions by 20%, striving for 30%, by 2030; 70%, striving for 80%, by 2040; and net zero around 2050.
Global Air Pollution
Mark Zondlo
CEE 311/CHM 311/GEO 311/ENE 311
Students will study the chemical and physical processes involved in the sources, transformation, transport, and sinks of air pollutants on local to global scales. Societal problems such as photochemical smog, particulate matter, greenhouse gases, and stratospheric ozone depletion will be investigated using fundamental concepts in chemistry, physics, and engineering. Environments to be studied include very clean, remote portions of the globe to urban air quality.
Global Environmental Issues
Denise Mauzerall
CEE 334/SPI 452/ENV 334/ENE 334
This course examines a collection of critical global environmental issues. For each issue the scientific basis is covered first, and the past, present and possible future policy responses follow. Topics include global population growth, climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, air pollution, energy supply and demand, biodiversity and sustainable development. Problem sets, policy memos, projects, news blogs, and presentations are included.
Optical Materials, Build Environments and the Global Cooling Challenge
Jyotirmoy Mandal
This course explores material and optical design strategies for thermal management of buildings. In the first part of the course, we cover fundamental aspects of thermal radiation and light-matter interactions in built and natural environments. The second part covers traditional and emerging materials and strategies for radiative thermoregulation of buildings. Specific topics include traditional designs such as cool-roof films and low-E coatings, emerging materials like radiative coolers, and adaptive coolers/heaters, and their impact within buildings and the broader environment.
Special Topics in Environmental Engineering and Water Resources: Pathways to Water Sector Decarbonization
Z. Jason Ren
This course explores the One Water framework, focusing on decarbonization and building resilient, circular, and equitable water/wastewater systems.
Climate Change: Impacts, Adaptation, Policy
Michael Oppenheimer
GEO 366/ENV 339/SPI 451/ENE 366
An exploration of the potential consequences of human-induced climate change and their implications for policy responses, focusing on risks to people, societies, and ecosystems. As two examples: we examine the risk to coastal cities from sea level rise and extreme heat, the scientific bases for these assessments, and measures being planned and implemented to enable adaptation. In addition, we explore local, national and international policy initiatives to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. The course assumes students have a basic background in the causes of human-induced climate change and the physical science of the climate system.
Energy Technologies for the 21st Century
Alexander Glaser
MAE 228/EGR 228/CBE 228/ENE 228
This course introduces the fundamental physical mechanisms behind sustainable energy technologies and the basic concepts to evaluate and compare their efficiency, environmental impact, and costs. Among others, we will examine the potential of wind energy, photovoltaics, geothermal energy, biofuels, and nuclear energy. We will also examine the concepts of intermittency and dispatchability of energy sources and discuss the relevance of the electric grid, energy storage, energy efficiency, and green buildings. Taken together, this will help us assess energy scenarios and possible pathways to a net-zero carbon energy future.