Abstract
The world needs to reduce carbon emissions to combat climate change. Electrification of building and transportation, data centers that are being built to support commerce and enabling artificial intelligence (AI) necessitates innovative energy solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions because of global warming. Decarbonization of the economy, shifting to electricity produced with low-carbon energy sources and building up adequate capacity of renewable energy will take time and will require the discovery of new clean energy sources and innovative technologies to replace the traditional fossil fuel combustion driven power cycles. It is imperative that academic institutions design appropriate curricula that prepare students to tackle the complex energy-related problems faced by society. Students need to understand existing technologies, such as cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP), which reduces energy consumption, and it can be integrated with renewable energy sources. Weatherization of buildings, which consume more than 40% of the energy in the United States, is necessary to reduce energy consumption; however, many mechanical engineering programs are not offering HVAC as a required or even as an elective course. Curricula should include such topics as: energy storage technologies, e.g., batteries, green hydrogen-generation, power transmission, electrochemistry and membrane technologies that are needed for innovative new power generation technologies such as fuel cells (FC) and salinity gradient energy (SGE) generation.
