Homework Assignments


  1. Homework 1 due Friday, April 2, 2010
  2. Homework 2 due Friday, April 9, 2010
  3. Homework 3 due Friday, April 16, 2010
  4. Homework 4 due Friday, April 30, 2010
  5. Homework 5 due Friday, May 7, 2010
  6. Homework 6 due Friday, May 14, 2010

Guidelines for writing up solutions to homework problems.

Personal Reference Sheet



A key goal of this class is for you to gain a feeling for the size of a variety of different units and the energy or power associated with different things. Starting the first week of the course, you should keep list of useful facts and benchmarks. Choose things that are memorable and meaningful to you.

Final Projects


The projects for this class are meant to be satisfying way for you to apply some of the skills and ideas of the course. They are not huge term-long projects, but should be a moderate amount of work. We will give you a menu of projects to choose from. Here are some of the things we're thinking of now:

  • Analysis of heating options for the greenhouse(s) at Beech Hill Farm.
  • Critiquing proposal(s) for biofuels or biodiesel
  • Analyzing potential uses at COA's new Rockefeller land
  • Analyzing wind and/or solar data from BHF, Pemetic School, and/or the Coast Guard Station
  • Determining whether or not it makes sense to heat COA with wood pellets
  • Preparing a business plan for freezer retrofits
  • Analyzing the potential of off-shore wind for Maine
  • Experimenting with Mother Earth micro-home, developing high school or middle school activities.

We can decide on the format for the projects. It will include a short report, and possibly a short presentation.