EGEE 101H
Reflective Essay: End of the Semester
4/13/19
I have learned a lot about energy since the beginning of the semester. At the beginning of the
semester, I said I didn’t understand the foundational concepts of energy and power, but that has now
changed. I now understand that energy is the capacity to do work and power is the rate of spending or
doing work. I used to say that you waste energy when you leave the lights on, but now I say you waste
power (which makes some of my friends laugh at my newfound energy knowledge). I also have learned a
little bit about how our daily use of appliances affects the environment. The last homework we did taught
me about this aspect, but I wish we talked about it more in class. After doing homework three, I learned
that all my household’s appliance uses result in burning approximately 64,031 lbs. of CO2. This number
can be decreased by hang drying our clothes, recycling aluminum, and switching to an electric car.
However, switching cars is not very plausible for my family because of how expensive cars can be. When
I get a car, I will definitely consider the total amount of pollution that is emitted and consider getting an
electric car.
In general, I think the most meaningful learning experiences have come from the reflective essay
we had to write in the middle of the semester and the semester presentations. While learning the basics is
important, I did find some of them boring, like learning the conversions. Although, I like how this class
didn’t put emphasis on memorizing the conversions, but rather on knowing how to do the conversions.
My reflective essay helped me learn more about coal and natural gas. I learned that coal contributes to a
large amount of emissions of CO2, leading to respiratory illnesses. I also learned that natural gas emits a
lot less CO2, but emits a good amount of methane during the fracking process to get natural gas. Putting it
in the context of Penn State, Penn State switched from coal to natural gas in 2016, which definitely helped
its environmental impact. However, the use of coal has caused me to question something that happened to
me. I got asthma in the fall of 2016. My doctor said that it could have resulted from a bad cold, but I
wonder if Penn State’s coal use had any contribution. In addition to learning about coal, I also learned a
lot about wind energy. It is a very cheap energy option, only costing between two and six cents per
kilowatt-hour, but has a large impact on indigenous communities due to the lack of due diligence
EGEE 101H
Reflective Essay: End of the Semester
4/13/19
practices. Also, its availability depends on the frequency and speed of the wind, but can be stored through
grid operators and transported through transmission lines. I believe I will learn more about the effects of
different types of energy as I continue hearing other presentations.
Ultimately, I like that this class puts the material we learn in the context of the current energy and
environmental situation. The debate on the Green New Deal helped me learn more about attempts to solve
environmental threats through positive social and economic change. I like how the resolution addresses
the communities that will be affected by this change, mentioning disadvantaged and indigenous
communities, and how one of the goals is that these communities see the economic benefits from
switching to renewable energy resources. I think switching to renewable energy resources is important to
decrease our negative impact on the environment, but is going to be a slow change unless we start to
recognize the urgency of the situation.
Overall, I think this class taught me a lot about the past and current issues related to energy, and
how they can be viewed socially, politically, economically, technologically, and scientifically.
