Engineering Thermodynamics and 21st Century Energy Problems: A Textbook Companion for Student Engagement (Synthesis Lectures on Energy and the Environment: Technology)

Energy is a basic human need; technologies for energy conversion and use are fundamental to human survival. As energy technology evolves to meet demands for development and ecological sustainability in the 21st century, engineers need to have up-to-date skills and knowledge to meet the creative challenges posed by current and future energy problems. Further, engineers need to cultivate a commitment to and passion for lifelong learning which will enable us to actively engage new developments in the field. This undergraduate textbook companion seeks to develop these capacities in tomorrow's engineers in order to provide for future energy needs around the world. This book is designed to complement traditional texts in engineering thermodynamics, and thus is organized to accompany explorations of the First and Second Laws, fundamental property relations, and various applications across engineering disciplines. It contains twenty modules targeted toward meeting five often-neglected ABET outcomes: ethics, communication, lifelong learning, social context, and contemporary issues. The modules are based on pedagogies of liberation, used for decades in the humanities and social sciences for instilling critical thinking and reflective action in students by bringing attention to power relations in the classroom and in the world. This book is intended to produce a conversation and creative exploration around how to teach and learn thermodynamics differently. Because liberative pedagogies are at their heart relational, it is important to maintain spaces for discussing classroom practices with these modules, and for sharing ideas for implementing critical pedagogies in engineering contexts. The reader is therefore encouraged to visit the book's blog. Table of Contents: What and Why? / The First Law: Making Theory Relevant / The Second Law and Property Relations / Thinking Big Picture about Energy and Sustainability Acknowledgments Introduction Why college? Why thermodynamics? Why this book? A textbook companion: a book of ideas An open discussion for students and teachers: learning objectives Learning process Evaluating student work References 1. What and why? 1.1 Module 1.1. thermodynamics is about energy 1.1.1 Exploration:what is energy? 1.2 Module 1.2. pedagogy: how to learn using this book 1.2.1 Exploration 1: principles of critical pedagogies 1.2.2 Exploration 2: models of learning 1.3 Module 1.3. US and world energy needs and uses 1.3.1 Exploration 1: energy use 1.3.2 Exploration 2: women, poverty, and energy 1.3.3 Exploration 3: 1 KW per capita? 1.4 Module 1.4. US and world energy policies: what are the issues? 1.4.1 Exploration 1: Copenhagen 1.4.2 Exploration 2: the cost of energy 1.5 Module 1.5. getting education right for a sustainable energy future 1.5.1 Exploration 1: power/knowledge 1.5.2 Exploration 2: what do current engineering students need to learn to be able to work on energy issues? References 2. The first law: making theory relevant 2.1 Module 2.1. learning from history 2.1.1 Exploration 1: first law in western Europe 2.1.2 Exploration 2: de-centering western thermo 2.2 Module 2.2. energy independence 2.2.1 Exploration 1: "Foreign" oil independence 2.2.2 Exploration 2: energy independence reconceived 2.3 Module 2.3. evaporative coolers 2.4 Module 2.4. hunger, poverty, and obesity 2.5 Module 2.5. thermo to life References 3. The second law and property relations 3.1 Module 3.1. the limits of efficiency: heat engines vs. other energy technologies 3.2 Module 3.2. perpetual motion machines 3.3 Module 3.3. entropy as a social construct 3.3.1 Exploration 1: origins of entropy 3.3.2 Exploration 2: entropy's philosophical implications 3.4 Module 3.4. evaluating entropy analogies 3.5 Module 3.5. making math relevant: thermodynamic relations in context References 4. Thinking big picture about energy and sustainability 4.1 Module 4.1. climate action 4.2 Module 4.2. selection criteria for energy technologies 4.2.1 Exploration 1: developing selection criteria 4.2.2 Exploration 2: evaluating and selecting power generation technologies 4.2.3 Exploration 3: evaluating and selecting transportation technologies 4.3 Module 4.3. is it green? 4.3.1 Exploration 1: nuclear power as a green alternative? 4.3.2 Exploration 2: ethanol 4.3.3 Exploration 3: coal train 4.4 Module 4.4. home energy uses 4.4.1 Exploration 1: solar cooker 4.4.2 Exploration 2: refrigeration 4.4.3 Exploration 3: Dean Kamen's Stirling engine 4.5 Module 4.5. ethics of energy disasters References Author's biography.