This course introduces students to contemporary technologies in a specific field of mechanical engineering. In the process of exploring these technologies, the course teaches and applies skills related to communication, economic analysis, ethical analysis, and explores the positive and negative effects of technologies on our society and environment. Specific attention is focused on current events both domestically and internationally.

This course, Sustainable Energy Management, provides an overview of mechanical systems within energy intensive applications such as power plants, automobiles, and buildings with an emphasis on advanced thermodynamic analyses of sub-systems which possess the most visible energy signature in terms of energy usage, energy inefficiency, thermoeconomic costing, and exergy destruction. Fundamentals of system operation are explored as well as various sustainability measures. In addition, the interrelationship between energy intensive applications and public policy instruments and strategies are examined. Students will explore methods by which engineers evaluate energy-intensive systems to assess alignment with sustainability and communicate findings to inform the public policy process cycle.