EESI to Help Develop an Energy 101 Curriculum

Nurturing tomorrow’s future energy leaders by providing them with clear, impartial information and sharp critical-thinking skills is essential to ensuring that our energy production be both sustainable and capable of sustaining America’s economic growth. With this in mind the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) has been selected by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (A۰P۰L۰U) to help develop a model energy curriculum, Energy 101 , for the Department of Energy (DOE) .

The project, funded by the DOE through a contract with Oak Ridge Associated Universities , is led by A۰P۰L۰U and also includes the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and the University of Maryland . They will join forces to develop a model energy curriculum designed to increase energy literacy and critical thinking skills among college students.

The pressing need for such a curriculum was one of the key findings of a June 2011 DOE summit that included faculty representatives from more than three dozen A۰P۰L۰U member universities offering energy-related courses.

A network of experts, identified in part by EESI, will develop an introductory course that can be delivered in a series of modules. These will be made freely available through the DOE’s National Training & Education Resource (NTER) , a cloud-based training tool that allows for content creation and sharing.

With the help of A۰P۰L۰U, EESI will be looking for participants interested in reviewing curricula and modules, sharing their own energy-related curricula, providing expert advice, and piloting elements of the model Energy 101 course.

More information about the Energy 101 project can be found here and on the NTER’s website .

To stay informed or to participate in the project, please email Ellen Vaughan , at evaughan [at] eesi.org.