Global Arc

The course presents human impacts on the environment and their relationship to sustainable design. Students learn using labs, experiments, tours, and design projects and focus on how computing tools like AI and IoT facilitate rapid and deployable sensors and systems to better understand the environment and campus. Themes of population, food, water, energy, climate, and pollution provide fundamental material that is then translated into initial labs and open-ended assignments considering Princeton's campus. Finally, students work in groups to create a sustainable design intervention addressing campus sustainability challenges.

Students will learn how to identify and analyze technology and business innovations in energy, determine likelihood of success in the contemporary market, and design companies and careers to maximize their positive impact on global energy and environmental progress. Students will gain an understanding of unique aspects of energy technologies, markets, and businesses, including the underlying science, influence of government policies, and how innovations can proliferate through new companies and business models. Focus will be on hardware and software innovations for US and global markets, including distributed energy generation and use.

An introductory course focused on the new and existing materials that are crucial for mitigating worldwide anthropogenic CO2 emissions and associated greenhouse gases. Emphasis will be placed on how materials science is used in energy technologies and energy efficiency; including solar power, cements and natural materials, sustainable buildings, batteries, water filtration, and wind and ocean energy. Topics include: atomic structure and bonding; semiconductors; inorganic oxides; nanomaterials; porous materials; conductive materials; membranes; composites; energy conversion processes; life-cycle analysis; material degradation.

This course explores broadly renewable energy systems and smart grids. Technical and operational principles of the modern electric grids will be introduced, followed by an overview of various energy sources from fossil-fuel generators to photovoltaic systems. The intermittency of renewable energy systems and its impact on the electric grid will be discussed together with its potential solutions: energy storage systems and demand response techniques. This course will also include a few experimental demo sessions in which students will gain hands-on experience in understanding the fundamental principles of power conversion.

This seminar focuses on the science, engineering, policy and ethics of climate engineering -- the deliberate human intervention in the world climate in order to reduce global warming. Climate/ocean models and control theory are introduced. The technology, economics, and climate response for the most favorable climate engineering methods (carbon dioxide removal, solar radiation management) are reviewed. Policy and ethics challenges are discussed.

What are biofuels, and why are we making them? How can they help address our energy needs in a warming planet? What are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation biofuels? What is the controversy surrounding the food versus fuel debate? Will thermocatalysis or genetic engineering improve biofuel production? Can we make biofuels directly from light or electricity? These are some of the questions we will answer through discussions during lecture. In precept we will discuss primary literature, relevant news reports, and studies on the socio-economic impact of biofuels.

The course will focus on emerging science and technologies that enable the transition from our traditional linear economy (take, make, waste) to a new circular economy (reduce, reuse, recycle). It will discuss the fundamental theories and applied technologies that are capable of converting traditional waste materials or environmental pollutants such as wastewater, food waste, plastics, e-waste, and CO2, etc. into value-added products including energy, fuels, chemicals, and food products.

The Paris Accord signaled global consensus on the need for a rapid switch to clean energy and industrial production. In recent years this 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.

This course provides a broad overview of power electronics and smart grids. We introduce the connection between Watts and Bytes in intelligently controlled power electronics and smart energy systems, develop a fundamental understanding about power electronics from devices, circuits, systems to control, and review operation principles of the modern energy systems from power generation, transmission, to utilization. Numerous examples will be presented, including power electronics for renewable energy systems, information systems, robotics, and transportation electrification. Students build a real power converter at the end of the course.

The goal of the course is to (1) learn basic principles underpinning energy systems, (2) learn the basic theory, modeling techniques, and software tools for optimization, (3) apply optimization methods to design and analyze energy systems.