CE 401 Climate Change Science and Engineering TuTh 9:10 – 10:25 George Mount and Brian Lamb CEE Laboratory for Atmospheric Research 11 January 2011

new class in the CE department – we hope it will be a good one that will challenge you all senior elective to give you details on the science and engineering of climate change topic is polarizing and controversial – you read about it everywhere all the time the discussion and politics often have a “take no prisoners” flavor our job is to give you the facts as best we can, and let you come to your own conclusions as regarding human influences on climate irregardless of where you come down on that controversial topic, engineers are responding to current global discussions concerning sustainability, energy conservation, and climate change  you need to be knowledgeable understand the physical concepts that underlie climate change understand the various pro/con arguments regarding climate change and human influence and be able to separate fact from fiction understand how engineers can accommodate climate change in their designs at the end of the semester, you should be able bring analytical tools to bear on engineering problems regarding climate change, and you will be capable of understanding and criticizing popular and scientific articles about climate change and their influence on your lives and your profession.

learning objectives: intelligently and quantitatively discuss the pros/cons of climate change critique popular and scholarly articles on climate change understand the biases and uncertainties inherent in climate data and models understand the impacts of climate change on humans and the natural world understand how engineering tools can be applied to mitigate and adapt to climate change understand policies put in place by decision makers, based on information and misinformation evaluate the prospects for future management of climate change carry out a team-based research project and present the project in written and oral format

text(s): Global Warming, The Complete Briefing, 4 th Edition, John Houghton frequent use of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports – these will be placed onto the class web site

assessment: participation (pop quizes): 5% homework assignments: 25% term project: 30% [15% written, 15% oral] exams: 40% [20% each, second not cumulative] 22 February 19 April no final exam

term project: 30% of your grade 3-student teams choose a term project related to your interests on a topic related to the engineering of climate change – study in depth related to engineering 10 pages double spaced oral presentation as a team last week of class (approx 25 min/presentation) will involve: literature search (NOT just the web, also use journals and science/engineering articles) possible use of observational data climate science possible use of climate models engineering analysis choose a topic by Friday, 18 February topic must be submitted to both instructors with a short paragraph describing what you want to do and expect to accomplish as a team. Choose your teams yourselves. draft of paper due 31 March written term paper due 28 April, last day of class oral report nominally last week of classes (25 minutes each presentation)

schedule for the semester: get on the web for details and reading assignments weektopic 1introduction and science summary 2solar input and variations, orbital effects, global mean energy budget 3global carbon cycle, greenhouse gases, radiative forcings 4past evolution of climate, climate since the industrial revolution 5modeling of climate change 6predicted effects of climate change 18 February term paper topic submittal; 22 February – exam 1 on science of climate change 7introduction to engineering aspects of mitigation and adaptation 8energy and climate 9transportation 10spring recess 11agriculture and forestry 12infrastructure 31 March – first draft of term paper due 13sustainable development and waste management 14exam 2 on engineering aspects of climate change 15guest lectures 16oral project presentations

homework assignment 1: read “Summary for Policymakers”, a report of working group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [on the class website] read “The Myth of Dangerous Human-Caused Climate Change”, RM Carter on the class website due: Thursday, 13 January 2011

what are class opinions about climate change? - not happening - overblown as an environmental issue - just nature at work - not human caused - just a bunch a scientists trying to keep their research going - the end of the world as we know it – the Earth is going to radically change - politics of CC is going to just tax us more - not understood well enough to make political decisions - should be a national policy on CC - should be a local issue - wayyyyyyyy overblown - too polarizing to see the real facts - an international conspiracy - climategate - too complex an issue to make reliable predictions