MIE 515F

Alternative Energy Systems

Fall 2015
Continuing Online for 2015!
MIE 515 will be delivered online for Fall 2015, building on four years of online
experience. The course material has been completely revised and updated for 2015. All
parts of the course (except for the two exams) will be online.
The academic rigor, the learning outcomes and learning objectives of the online
version of MIE515 are identical to an in-class experience.
The online course is be administered through the University of Toronto learning
management system, the Portal. Therefore it is important for online students to
understand and be proficient in the use of this system (e.g. download course documents,
navigate the course website, post and reply to discussion threads, have basic word
processing skills etc ).
The course structure is as follows:

MIE 515 lectures are available on the course website. Online students can
choose their own time to view the lectures and engage in the learning experience at
a time that is convenient (asynchronous delivery mode).
All non-supervised term work will be submitted on-line. Term work will consist of
problem sets (5 over the course of the term), two peer-assessed assignments, and
two longer assignments that involve Excel-level simulation and simple economic
analysis.
Student questions about the lectures should be posted on the appropriate
discussion board on Piazza (see next page), so that all students can benefit from
both the question and the instructors response.
There will be two exams, a mid-term and a final exam, and both must be written in
person at the physical location designated (just as in a traditional course).
LECTURER:
Professor James S. Wallace
Office:
MC 421
Telephone: (416) 978-4899
e-mail:
wallace@mie.utoronto.ca - use for administrative questions only.
Questions on course material must be submitted on Piazza, so that all can
benefit from the question and the response. Individual e-mail questions to the
instructor about course material will not be answered.
Questions about marks should be directed by individual e-mail to the instructor.
LECTURES:

Lectures will be posted online, download from the MIE 515 Portal website:
http://portal.utoronto.ca

LIVE TUTORIAL (OPTIONAL):

Monday 20:00 21:00 (8-9 PM) MC 102

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ONLINE HELP
All student questions will be answered using Piazza, so please do not email
questions to the course staff. While we encourage students to display their identity,
students can post questions anonymously or even privately so only instructors can
view them. If, in the opinion of the course staff, a private post contains information
that the entire class would benefit from, we reserve the right to make the private
post public.
You will need to sign up for Piazza: www.piazza.com/utoronto.ca/fall2015/mie515;
details are provided on the MIE 515 Portal Site. You do not need to provide any
private information on the Piazza site and no work is submitted there. However, if
you are uncomfortable signing up for Piazza, then questions can be posted to the
discussion board on Portal and a TA will respond (and repost the content of the
exchange on Piazza so that everyone can see the question and response).
Students are encouraged to actively participate in Piazza by asking and answering
questions. Students are expected to communicate in a respectful manner with each
other and with the course staff much like in a classroom. An online environment is
no excuse for unprofessional conduct.
OPTIONAL BOOK (NOT REQUIRED):
Renewable Energy: Power for a Sustainable Future, 2nd Edition, Godfrey Boyle,
Oxford University Press, 2004
MARK COMPOSITION:
nd
30% - Midterm exam Monday, November 2 , 1800-2000, EX200
44% - Final exam Date, time and place set by the Faculty Registrar.
10% - Problem sets (5)
6% - Peer assessed assignments (2)
10% - Renewable technology simulation and economic analysis (2)
100% Total
The exams will be type D [the candidate may bring to the examination and use such aids
(in the form of printed or written material) as the examiner may specify]. Calculators used
for the exams must be non-printing, non-communicating, silent and self-powered.
PREREQUISITES:
MIE 515 is an advanced technical elective course for students having a Mechanical
Engineering or Chemical Engineering background. All students taking the course should
have taken the following three courses or their equivalent:
MIE 210 Thermodynamics or equivalent (Text: Fundamentals of Engineering
Thermodynamics, Sixth Edition, by M.J. Moran and H.N. Shapiro)
MIE 312 Fluid Mechanics or equivalent (Text: Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics, 6th
Edition, by B.R. Munson, D.F. Young, T.H. Okiishi and W.W. Huebsch)
MIE 313 Heat and Mass Transfer or equivalent (Text: Fundamentals of Heat and
Mass Transfer, Sixth Edition, by F.P. Incropera and D.P. DeWitt)
_________________________________
A Heads-Up for graduate students: All students (approximately 200 in total) in this 500 series course
submit the same assignments and write the same exams. As such, all students (undergraduate and
graduate) are marked to the same standard. There is no separate scale for graduate students.
Please note that SGS requires that graduate students obtain a final course mark of 70% or better to
pass.

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MIE 515 Topics covered

Module
Introduction
Radiation Heat Transfer

Solar Radiation
Solar Thermal

Passive Solar
Solar Photovoltaic
Wind Energy

Wave Energy
Tidal Energy
Energy Storage
Grid Connection Issues
Future of Renewable Energy

Version 2, August 28, 2015

Topics
Energy Overview
Radiation heat transfer concepts
Directional and spectral characteristics
Blackbody radiation
Surface properties
Atmospheric losses
Sun-earth relations
Estimation of terrestrial solar radiation
Solar collector theory
Solar collector practice
Solar heating systems
STPG technology and case studies
Passive solar concepts
Planning for passive solar
Photovoltaic fundamentals
Equivalent circuits and characteristics
PV case studies
Wind technology fundamentals
Wind sources and influences
Predicting wind turbine output
Wind case studies
Wave energy fundamentals
Wave energy converters case studies
Tidal energy fundamentals and devices
Energy storage technology
Energy storage applications
Integrating renewable systems in electric grids
Summary and future prospects