THERMAL ENERGY AND BIOENERGY

The combustion of fossil fuels for energy leads to a negative  impact on the environment through greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming and other impurities that are hazardous to human health. Renewable energy results in little or no harmful emissions, even when considering the full life cycle of the technologies. This course will introduce students to different techniques used to harvest biomass and geothermal energy resources aiming at producing electricity free from pollutants. Heat transfer, steam cycle, physical and chemical properties of combustion will also be described to introduce the application of thermodynamics in geothermal and bioelectricity generation and use.