A wind farm. (Image courtesy of Joel Carranza.)
Instructor(s)
Prof. Peter Shulman
MIT Course Number
STS.038
As Taught In
Fall 2006
Level
Undergraduate
Course Description
Course Highlights
This course features an extensive list of readings with corresponding reading questions.
Course Description
A survey of how America has become the world's largest consumer of energy. Explores American history from the perspective of energy and its relationship to politics, diplomacy, the economy, science and technology, labor, culture, and the environment. Topics include muscle and water power in early America, coal and the Industrial Revolution, electrification, energy consumption in the home, oil and U.S. foreign policy, automobiles and suburbanization, nuclear power, OPEC and the 70's energy crisis, global warming, and possible paths for the future.