Energy and Resources 199: Applications of Energy Efficiency and Conservation.

ERG 199 is a new class that Green Campus started in Spring 2008. The course can be taken for 1-3 units and can be applied to the ERG minor if taken for 3 units. The workload consists of 2-3 hours a week. This course serves as an introduction to using energy efficiency and conservation in real applications. Students will apply background academic knowledge of the energy sector to work on energy and climate problems at UC Berkeley.

Students will:
• Learn how to conduct energy audits from professionals
• See how to reduce energy consumption in different types of building spaces (commercial, residential, labs…)
• Consider the range of energy conservation tools in solving climate change and energy supply problems
• Utilize classroom experience in real applications of conservation at UC Berkeley

The student projects will involve working in campus buildings to conduct energy audits and work with building coordinators on reducing energy consumption through efficiency and behavioral changes. At the end of the project, the students will present an analysis of their building and lead a field visit through their building highlighting changes, recommendations, and other interesting things.

The student project is part of the larger Building Sustainability at Cal program that seeks to incorporate positions for student building sustainability leaders in all buildings across campus. The ER 199 and ES 84 courses will be developing the sustainability plans of action that will be implemented by the future student leaders as the program grows. This collaboration includes doing lighting systems and auditing, green building and LEED EB (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings), efficiency in offices, classrooms, and labs, effective methods for altering people’s behavior, consulting, and grant-writing skills. The students will be coordinating with other students from another class, ES 84, to perform a semester-long project in seven campus buildings. The students will conduct energy, water, and waste audits and inhabitant surveys to create sustainability plans for each building that consider long and short term operational, structural, and behavioral changes. The audits conducted in each building will be given to Physical Plant and Campus Services for future lighting retrofits. When possible, the audits and programs will also qualify the buildings for LEED EB prerequisites and points.

For more information on the class/enrollment, please contact us subject: ER 199

This course is sponsored by Daniel Kammen, Director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, a Professor in the Energy and Resources Group, and a Professor of Public Policy at UC Berkeley.