Ever since our ancestors ventured onto the African savanna, human beings have searched, explored, and wondered about the world. Nowadays, and certainly for most, science is the vehicle that takes us along a path towards understanding nature. It can bring us from sub-atomic realms to the most distant galaxies. Largely through the discipline of geology, science allows us to push back the mists of time and peer into a past measured in billions of years, and aptly referred to as “Deep Time.” Climb on board! This is a journey of discovery—we'll learn about the origins of science and geology itself, to our planet’s oceans, atmosphere, and crust. The focus then turns to how geologists have probed the rise and fall of the Rocky Mountains, and we conclude by considering not only the power of science but also acknowledging its inherent price and responsibility. Certificate earners demonstrate proficiency through a few short assessments and discussion prompts and are prepared to teach or apply the material.

This course provides a broad view of the evolving nature of energy and the influence of cost, availability, sustainability, technical advancements, lifestyle, and concern over the environment. Learners get a peek into our energy history, recent technical and societal advancements in clean energy, and some of the more important adjustments we have seen and will continue to see. It includes a discussion of how our energy infrastructure adapts to the changing landscape while managing costs, often deploying a new workforce while providing highly reliable grid power necessary for a robust and competitive economy. Material covers current and future workforce opportunities. This course is for individuals considering a career in the energy field (who have a high school diploma, at minimum, and basic knowledge of mathematics), and existing energy sector employees with less than three years of experience who have not completed similar training and would benefit from a course of foundational industry concepts. The course is a combination of online lectures, videos, readings and discussions. This is the fourth course in the Energy Production, Distribution & Safety specialization that explores various facets of the power sector, and features a culminating project involving creation of a roadmap to achieve a self-established, energy-related professional goal. To learn more about the specialization, check out a video overview at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yh9qIYiUDk.

This course takes a detailed look at the remarkable changes unfolding in the Arctic environment, including the shrinking Arctic sea ice cover, shrinking land ice, thawing permafrost and cascading impacts on Arctic ecosystems. After a review of Arctic climates of the past, attention turns to the possible future of the Arctic’s climate and environment.

Have you ever wondered why ceramics are hard and brittle while metals tend to be ductile? Why some materials conduct heat or electricity while others are insulators? Why adding just a small amount of carbon to iron results in an alloy that is so much stronger than the base metal? In this course, you will learn how a material’s properties are determined by the microstructure of the material, which is in turn determined by composition and the processing that the material has undergone. This is the second of three Coursera courses that mirror the Introduction to Materials Science class that is taken by most engineering undergrads at Georgia Tech. The aim of the course is to help students better understand the engineering materials that are used in the world around them. This first section covers the fundamentals of materials science including atomic structure and bonding, crystal structure, atomic and microscopic defects, and noncrystalline materials such as glasses, rubbers, and polymers.

Earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain building, ice ages, landslides, floods, life evolution, plate motions—all of these phenomena have interacted over the vast expanses of deep time to sculpt the dynamic planet that we live on today. Planet Earth presents an overview of several aspects of our home, from a geological perspective. We begin with earthquakes—what they are, what causes them, what effects they have, and what we can do about them. We will emphasize that plate tectonics—the grand unifying theory of geology—explains how the map of our planet's surface has changed radically over geologic time, and why present-day geologic activity—including a variety of devastating natural disasters such as earthquakes—occur where they do. We consider volcanoes, types of eruptions, and typical rocks found there. Finally, we will delve into the processes that produce the energy and mineral resources that modern society depends on, to help understand the context of the environment and sustainability challenges that we will face in the future.

Chemical reactions underpin the production of pretty much everything in our modern world. But, what is the driving force behind reactions? Why do some reactions occur over geological time scales whilst others are so fast that we need femtosecond-pulsed lasers to study them? Ultimately, what is going on at the atomic level? Discover the answers to such fundamental questions and more on this course in introductory physical chemistry. The course covers the key concepts of three of the principal topics in first-year undergraduate physical chemistry: thermodynamics, kinetics and quantum mechanics. These three topics cover whether or not reactions occur, how fast they go and what is actually going on at the sub-atomic scale.

This class describes the science of global warming and the forecast for humans’ impact on Earth’s climate. Intended for an audience without much scientific background but a healthy sense of curiosity, the class brings together insights and perspectives from physics, chemistry, biology, earth and atmospheric sciences, and even some economics—all based on a foundation of simple mathematics (algebra).

Finance may have a central role to play against climate change on the condition that risks are properly measured and managed. In this course you will be introduced to the latest academic research findings and the most commonly used methods in industry to cope with climate change financial risks. How do we assess these kinds of risks? Can our portfolios perform well and at the same time contribute to the transition towards a low-carbon economy? How do climate change risks affect financial markets? This course starts with an overview of climate change and the tools at the disposal of policymakers to curb this phenomenon. These tools, when used to their fullest extent, will have a big impact on businesses and this impact may spill over into the financial markets even before the policies are fully implemented. The risks associated with these changes are grouped under the definition of transition risks. In this MOOC we will analyse these risks and also discuss the methodologies most widely used by asset managers to manage their portfolios’ carbon exposure. The final module of this course shows a real-world example of implementation. At the end of the course, you will understand how to maximize the contribution of your investments to the fight against climate change.

For decades, researchers have been studying microalgae to understand their biological functions and how we can use technology to harness algae’s power to create a wide range of commercial products. In this course, we will cover how synthetic biology, genetic engineering, and metabolic engineering is used in algae biotechnology, and also examine the current state of algae biotechnology research and tools. We’ll also explore some of the common bio-products we can make from algae, and take a look at some real-world algae companies that are using algae biotechnology to create products consumers can buy today. This course is part of a series of courses produced by the Algae Technology Educational Consortium and UC San Diego with funding from the Algae Foundation, National Renewable Energy Lab, and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Understanding renewable energy technologies is important, but equally important is knowing how to effectively deploy these technologies to provide renewable energy to end-users – the topic of this course. Upon completion of the course, you will understand the development and management of renewable energy projects, large and small, from conception to launch and subsequent operation. This course will teach you to plan, execute, and operate renewable energy projects such as solar PV plants, wind farms, and geothermal generators. We first describe how to develop a renewable energy feasibility study and make go-no-go project decisions. We then examine project site selection and evaluation of renewable technology alternatives and technology vendors. Next, we review methods for financing and organizing renewable energy projects. The course concludes with an examinations of project construction, operations and maintenance, repowering, and plant decommissioning. These capabilities will round out your understanding of renewable energy uses and deployment – come join us! Note that this course is the third in a four-course Coursera specialization in Renewable Energy: 1. Renewable Energy Technology Fundamentals 2. Renewable Power Systems 3. Renewable Energy Projects 4. Renewable Energy Futures