Free University
Understanding Energy
Six weekly 2 hour sessions beginning in May 2010
To sign-up please email Paul Kando or call him at: 563-5487
The premise of this undertaking is that if people understand some of the underlying laws and natural phenomena that figure in global warming and climate change, it will be easier for them to apply that understanding in their everyday lives. The highly illustrated course begins with a video clip of Hurricane Katrina emerging from above the Atlantic, gaining strength over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and hitting New Orleans as a devastating Category 5 mega-storm. It is the forces and laws of physics at play in the formation and progress of this storm that help define how energy behaves and interacts with our universe. It boils down to a handful of “basics” that can be easily applied to everything around us, from how we heat our houses and how we get around, to our food habits and our economy. The “basics” boil down to a mere fourteen points, which are revisited in each of the subsequent discussions.
Discussions:
- Energy and Climate
- Energy and the Economy
- History of Energy.
- Energy in our home
- Energy and transportation
- Energy and food
Class notes will be provided, but participants are encouraged to augment them with their own notes.
Instructor / facilitator: Paul Kando
Born and educated in Hungary, Paul came to the United States after the 1956 uprising against Soviet occupation was crushed. Pursued a career as a chemical engineer in the synthetic fibers industry where he had an opportunity to work on a pilot project using solar energy. In the wake of the first 1970s oil crisis, Paul switched to energy research and led a team conducting the first-ever energy audit on a whole city. He was also involved in designing the solar heating system for the White House during the Carter presidency. He conducted research on energy storage technologies and photovoltaics; managed a large solar energy program for the U.S. Department of Energy; conducted building energy research in the United States and Scandinavia; and produced three documentary films on advanced building systems.
Kando moved to Maine in 1991 and operated a one-man construction firm. In 2006 he took training from Al Gore on presenting the findings of climate science to lay audiences. Since that time he gave over a hundred presentations to a variety of audiences in Maine and in Hungary. In 2007 he became a Maine certified residential energy auditor. He is one of the organizers of the Midcoast Green Collaborative, a citizen initiative dedicated to the premise that addressing global warming in a timely fashion represents an economic opportunity for Maine. His current activities include research, consulting, policy development to promote conversion to a renewable energy based economy, teaching, energy audits and leading discussions on issues of current interest, especially energy efficiency and climate change.