First-Year Seminars 110EG - Energy: Past and Future

Revolutions in energy technology have habituated us to wonders our ancestors would have called magic -- air-conditioned deserts, intercontinental vacations, pocket-sized devices keeping us always online. The comforts of modern life are also destabilizing Earth's life support systems at an accelerating pace. Can advanced societies reengineer the energy systems on which they depend before it's too late? This course will probe the scientific and philosophical mysteries of energy, time travel through history from the dawn of civilization to the atomic age, trace how power is generated and delivered at scale today, and task students with imagining the innovations that will power humanity's future.

Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.