Energy education is central to MAP's culture, and the commitment to energy education includes a long-term relationship with Stanford University. MAP’s CEO, Jane Woodward, is also a Consulting Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. She began teaching at Stanford University in 1991 and since then has continued to teach Energy and Environment courses to undergraduate and graduate students, with significant support from other MAP staff members. Karl Knapp is Director of Sustainable Energy Education at MAP and a Lecturer in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, where he co-teaches energy courses with Jane Woodward.
Stanford Energy Courses
Energy Resources
CEE 173A/207A and ESys 103
This course presents an overview of oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear, hydro, solar, geothermal, biomass, wind, and ocean energy resources in terms of supply, distribution, recovery and conversion, environmental impacts, economics, policy, and technology. The opportunities for energy efficiency, electric power basics, the changing role of electric utilities, transportation basics, and energy use in developing countries are also studied.
Energy Systems Field Trips: China Energy Systems
CEE 176F/276F
This is a directed readings course that studies the energy resources and policies in use and under development in the world's most populous nation. As a country undergoing rapid and sustained economic growth, China's decisions as to how to meet its energy requirements will affect global energy markets and impact the global environment. This course investigates the areas of major impact that are forecast and presents a comparative analysis of China's energy management strategies. The course is offered every two years (the last one was in 2010) and culminates in a two week trip to China to observe energy facilities and initiatives, thematically moving from dark to light: fossil fuels to renewables.
Faculty Support
MAP provides funding for outstanding Stanford teaching professors in the sustainable energy field.
Gil Masters
Gil Masters is the MAP Emeritus Teaching Professor of Sustainable Energy. Although he officially retired in 2002, he continues to teach CEE 176A: Energy Efficient Buildings and CEE 176B: Renewable and Efficient Electric Power Systems. He publishes a periodic Energy Folks newsletter, a periodic summary of important “energy in the news” as well as many relevant job opportunity announcements: back issues are archived here.
Professor Masters has focused the latter part of his career on renewable and efficient energy systems as keys to both climate stabilization and energy security. His primary interests are in the energy-efficiency side of green buildings, distributed generation, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) potential, combined-heat-and power systems, design and evaluation of solar and wind energy systems, and emerging solar-thermal technologies. He is actively involved in the CEE department's planning for an energy-efficient "green dorm" on campus. He is the author or co-author of eight books, including Introduction to Environmental Engineering and Science, now in its third (2008) edition, Renewable and Efficient Electric Power Systems (2004), and Energy for Sustainability: Technology, Policy and Planning (2008). Professor Masters has been the recipient of a number of teaching awards at Stanford, including the Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the Tau Beta Pi teaching award from the School of Engineering. He was also a three-year Bing Fellow for Undergraduate Teaching. Over the years, more than 10,000 students have enrolled in his courses. He served as the School of Engineering Associate Dean for Student Affairs from 1982-1986, and he was the Interim Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 1992-93.
Peter Rumsey
Peter Rumsey is the West Coast Director of Integral Group and the Managing Director of the Oakland, California, office of Integral Group. Integral Group – Oakland has recently been awarded its ninth LEED Platinum certification, and has designed and is currently designing Net Zero Energy and Living Building Challenge projects. Peter has worked in engineering and energy consulting since the mid 1980s, and is widely recognized as global player in energy efficiency and a leader in sustainable building design. He teaches CEE226E – Advanced Topics in Integrated, Energy-Efficient Building Design during Spring Quarter.
Peter’s passion for energy efficient and sustainable design issues has led him to publish widely on HVAC energy efficiency. He is the author of a column on GreenerComputing.com, and has contributed to many other publications. He is a Senior Fellow of Rocky Mountain Institute, a recipient of the 2005 AIA Allied Professions Honor Award and the 2002 Energy Engineer of the Year Award from the Bay Area chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers. Peter has held engineering and management positions at Sol*Arc Architects, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories, XENERGY Energy Consultants, the International Institute for Energy Conservation, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Mr. Rumsey has a Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, and is a Certified Energy Manager and a member of the ASHRAE Cleanrooms Committee.
Joel Swisher
Joel Swisher, PhD, PE, is Director of Technical Services and CTO for Camco International. Dr. Swisher has 30 years' experience in many areas of clean energy technology. Starting in 1989, he performed some of the seminal research into carbon offset baselines and project analysis, helped develop offset projects in forestry, renewable energy and energy efficiency, and authored emission inventories, baseline studies and monitoring and verification plans for various offset buyers. Prior to joining Camco, Dr. Swisher was managing director of research and consulting at Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), where he is now Senior Fellow. He led RMI's consulting work for electric utilities and major corporations in mining, oil and gas, and manufacturing of products ranging from semiconductor chips to potato chips. Dr. Swisher is a Consulting Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford, where he teaches courses in greenhouse gas management and sustainable energy (CEE 172S/272S: Technology & Business Strategies to Reduce GHG during Spring quarter), and was the MAP/Ming Visiting Professor for Energy and the Environment in 2002-2003. Dr. Swisher is a registered professional engineer, and he speaks five languages. He has a PhD in energy and environmental engineering from Stanford University, and he also earned a BS and MS from Stanford's School of Engineering.