Mississippi Energy Efficiency and Ethics 15 PDH Discount Package 2

This online engineering PDH course provides an overview of the different types of renewable energy systems and their benefits.

Renewable energy is energy produced from sources like the sun and wind that are naturally replenished and do not run out. It can be used for electricity generation, space and water heating and cooling, and transportation. Non-renewable energy, in contrast, comes from finite sources that could get used up, such as fossil fuels like coal and oil. The advantages of renewable energy are numerous and affect the economy, environment, national security, and human health. The United States is a resource-rich country with abundant renewable energy resources. Renewable energy generates about 20% of all U.S. electricity, and that percentage continues to grow.

This online PDH course presents the basics of motor and drive systems and briefly describes important terms, relationships, and system design considerations. It also provides a roadmap for finding opportunities to improve motor performance, as well as exploring the economics of motor systems.

Electric motors, taken together, make up the single largest end use of electricity in the United States. In the U.S. manufacturing sector, electric motors used for machine drives such as pumps, conveyors, compressors, fans, mixers, grinders, and other materials handling or processing equipment account for about 54% of electricity consumption.

To achieve cost-effective operation and maintenance of a motor and drive system, operators must pay attention to the entire system as well as to its individual components. Often, when investigating efficiency opportunities, operators are so focused on the immediate demands of this equipment that they overlook the bigger picture, which includes the ways in which system parameters affect all the equipment.

This online engineering PDH course presents guidelines on how to reduce mechanical system water use in residential buildings. Mechanical systems are frequently utilized to provide heating and cooling for residential properties. They typically fall into two categories: centralized and decentralized systems.

Centralized mechanical systems provide heating and cooling from a central location, such as a mechanical room or utility penthouse. These systems are more common in mid- and high-rise multifamily properties and can include cooling towers, boilers, and steam systems, each of which uses water as the heat transfer medium. As a result, the use of water for building heating and cooling can be significant and using sound management practices is a good opportunity for water savings.

Decentralized mechanical systems treat each unit of a multifamily property as its own space, as if each unit were a stand-alone single-family residence. These systems do not typically use process water, so they are not the focus of this water efficiency management guide.

This online engineering PDH course provides basic information on wireless occupancy for lighting controls.

Lighting use constitutes about 20% of the total energy consumption in commercial buildings. Adding lighting controls is a simple retrofit option than can save on energy costs while helping to meet agency and federal energy savings mandates. Some energy codes and federal standards require the use of lighting controls.

Studies have shown that adding lighting controls can reduce lighting energy use 10% to 90% or more depending on the use of the space in which the sensors are installed. One study conducted on a university campus found that installing wired occupancy sensors to control lighting in more than 200 rooms in 10 buildings provided an annual cost savings of about $14,000 with a simple payback of 4.2 years.

In this online engineering PDH course, background on the philosophical models that guide ethical behavior is discussed and then applied to specific situations in engineering codes of ethics. This course is based on the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Professional Practice Curriculum, Volume 8, Section: Engineering Ethics.

Many engineering organizations have drafted codes of ethics to which their members are required to commit.  Generally, these codes are quite similar and are based on a few fundamental principles which provide guidance to professional engineers in common situations. Nevertheless, there are many difficult or ambiguous situations in which the best ethical solution is difficult to determine.

This 2 PDH online course is intended primarily for engineers seeking to learn ethical principles and how to apply them to their professional practice.