How Much Oil Leaked from Deepwater Horizon? part of Integrate:Workshops and Webinars:Systems, Society, Sustainability and the Geosciences:Activities
Stephen Boss, University of Arkansas Main Campus
Students develop an estimate of the total quantity of petroleum discharged from the Deepwater Horizon from 20 April to 15 July 2010 using only two known facts, the diameter of the riser and the flow rate of the oil/gas mixture emanating from the riser.

Action to Enhance Sustainability part of Integrate:Workshops and Webinars:Systems, Society, Sustainability and the Geosciences:Activities
Bill Stigliani, University of Northern Iowa
This assignment is a 10-hour, out-of-class project where each student designs and carries out an action plan to enhance sustainability. Students select from a large suite of alternative actions, most of which can be quantified for reductions in CO2 and energy consumption, as well as in dollar savings.

Analysis of trends in global oil reserves, production, and consumption part of Integrate:Workshops and Webinars:Systems, Society, Sustainability and the Geosciences:Activities
Scott Cummings, Kenyon College
An exercise to analyze trends in global oil reserves, production, and consumption.

A mock legislative debate to enhance and integrate student understanding of climate change science, policy, economics and ethics part of Integrate:Workshops and Webinars:Systems, Society, Sustainability and the Geosciences:Activities
Mari Lee, Colorado College
This activity utilizes publicly available, proposed national legislation to provide a platform for student inquiry into the intersection of climate science, environmental economics and sustainable public policy.

Habitat for Humanity Build Day part of Integrate:Workshops and Webinars:Systems, Society, Sustainability and the Geosciences:Activities
Lori Troxel, Vanderbilt University
Teaching sustainability through Habitat for Humanity.

Students' Evaluation of Competing Alternative Energy Options for a Sustainability Assessment part of Integrate:Workshops and Webinars:Systems, Society, Sustainability and the Geosciences:Activities
Hitesh Soneji, City College of San Francisco
A group exercise in trying to understand the many attributes that contribute to an overall assessment of sustainability for alternative energy projects.

Offshore wind or offshore oil? part of Integrate:Workshops and Webinars:Systems, Society, Sustainability and the Geosciences:Activities
Noah Snyder, Boston College
An introductory environmental science project tasking students with comparing offshore oil and wind power development.

Using Lab Measurements to Determine the Feasibility of a Photovoltaic Panel part of Integrate:Workshops and Webinars:Systems, Society, Sustainability and the Geosciences:Activities
Tom Termes, Black Hills State University
Using Lab Measurements to determine the power output of a solar module and the economic feasibility of photovoltaic panels

Back of the Envelope Calculations: Renewable Energy part of Integrate:Workshops and Webinars:Systems, Society, Sustainability and the Geosciences:Activities
Laura Rademacher, University of the Pacific
This is an example of a back of the envelope calculation of the payback period for a renewable energy installation.

5. Passive Designs part of Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability
Randolph Chambers, College of William and Mary
In this module, we consider how the actual design and placement of buildings can be important considerations for energy efficiency, thereby optimizing winter heating and summer cooling needs. One of the simplest ...

Unit 3: Rivers and Water Diversion part of Environmental Justice and Freshwater Resources - Spanish
Ruth Hoff, Wittenberg University. Authored and compiled new case study material based on Unit 3 of Environmental Justice and Freshwater Resources module by Adriana Perez, Jill S. Schneiderman, Meg Stewart, and Joshua Villalobos
In this unit students will explore surface water and its relationship to the water cycle via watersheds and drainage divides. These topics will inform their analysis of the social and environmental impacts of the ...

10. Energy from Biofuels part of Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability
Benjamin Cuker, Hampton University
This unit explores the historic, current, and potential use of biomass for the production of energy. Various bio fuels are introduced, and students are reminded of the role of biomass in the development of ...

Working with State, National, and Global Petroleum Data part of Introductory Courses:Activities
Eileen Herrstrom, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
This activity takes place in a laboratory setting and requires ~1.5-2 hours to complete. Students work with data on oil production in Illinois, the United States, and the world, creating graphs to interpret data on ...

Biomass conversion into highly useful chemicals part of CUREnet:Institutes:Alabama State University:Examples
SAPNA JAIN, Alabama State University
This is CURE based course that aims at bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge in chemistry and its practical applications at solving real-world problems. It gives students an opportunity to construct and synthesize their knowledge and skills by learning to apply theoretical knowledge to practice by the laboratory research. The purpose of this course is to acquaint students with the fundamental concepts of chemistry, synthetic methods and techniques. The emphasis will be on novel catalysts synthesis and evaluating their activity towards biomass conversion to liquid fuel and useful chemicals. Students will design synthesize, deduce identities of the biomass conversion products from chemical and spectral clues, and predict reaction products.

9. Hybrid and Electric Cars part of Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability
Randolph Chambers, College of William and Mary
This module reviews the history of the automobile and its varied power sources, culminating in the latest versions of hybrid and electric cars.

Capstone Project part of Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability
For those teaching the modules as an entire course, we provide a capstone summary assessment activity. This activity is designed to incorporate scaffolding of the material, to use the gained knowledge to do ...

6. Energy from and to the Earth part of Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability
Randolph Chambers, College of William and Mary
This module compares the spatial availability of geothermal resources for heating and cooling and evaluates different ground exchange systems for practical application. The operation of enhanced geothermal systems ...

7. Better Ways to Illuminate part of Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability
Maurice Crawford, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore
In this module, students compare three types of lamps that are used for lighting: incandescent, compact fluorescent (CFL) and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Students collect data on the amount of heat and light ...

4. Creating Electricity from Light part of Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability
Benjamin Cuker, Hampton University
This module introduces students to the various ways electricity is made from solar radiation. It provides a historical approach following advances over the last two centuries. Students see these technologies in ...

8. Efficiency and Conservation part of Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability
Maurice Crawford, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore
Household energy use accounts for a significant portion of the nation's energy use; therefore, an important aspect of energy conservation is having buildings that are energy efficient. In this activity, ...