Engineering 390 - Advanced Topics in Engineering: Geothermal Systems

Advanced Topics in Engineering is designed as a technical depth course for engineering majors. Course topics can adapt to new technologies and opportunities and build on the engineering fundamentals developed through 100- and 200-level coursework. Permission of the instructor required. Not open to first-years and sophomores: Roughly two thirds of the energy used in a typical home in the United States is for heating and cooling. Most often, this energy is produced by burning fossil fuels or pulling electricity from the grid to power inefficient space heaters or air conditioners. Geothermal systems have been used since the 1970s to efficiently provide environmentally sustainable heating and cooling capacity for structures as small as homes or as large as hospitals. Topics to be covered include the different types of geothermal systems used for heating and cooling, calculating heat exchange, evaluation of site geothermal potential, design of geothermal systems, as well as construction techniques and considerations. Course activities will include discussions, design projects, and field trips to ongoing geothermal construction sites (when possible). Prerequisites: EGR 290.

Instructor Permission. Limited to EGN majors, EGR majors Not open to first-years, sophomores