The flow of energy drives natural and human systems. The balance between incoming solar energy and outgoing thermal energy is the fundamental driver of Earth’s climate. The photosynthetic transformation of solar energy to chemical energy, and the respiratory transformation of chemical energy to other forms of chemical energy, to useful work, and to heat drive almost all of Earth’s biosphere. The development of human civilization has been closely tied to the ability to capture an ever-increasing fraction of the Earth’s energy budget, first primarily through agriculture and later primarily through combustion of fossil fuels. As a side effect, humanity is effecting major changes to both the climate and the biosphere in which it evolved. Concerns about these changes and about the security of energy supplies are major drivers of modern economic and policy decisions.

This seminar, intended for students from all academic majors, will examine the evolution of energy supply, energy demand and the global energy system as a whole, from the rise of photosynthesis to the development of agriculture, the Industrial revolution, and the modern, carbon-constrained world. It will investigate the historical relationship between energy use and economic welfare and possible scenarios for the coupled development of the global energy system and Earth's climate over the coming centuries. Familiarity with basic mathematical and scientific concepts (comparable to high school physics) will be assumed; moderately sophisticated mathematics (e.g., calculus) will be discussed but not required for homework.