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+# Winter 2024 Course Review: CEE 265
+
+2024-05-28
+
+Course Title: Sustainable Engineering Principles
+
+Trivia: this course shows up on my transcript as "Sus Engr Prin"
+
+Rating: 3/5
+
+## Instructor (Seth Guikema)
+
+As friendly an instructor as you get. Always stops every so often for
+questions. He once complimented my "This Machine Kills Homophobes" laptop
+sticker.
+
+## Course topics
+
+- Materials (mass balance)
+- Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
+- Air pollution
+    - Airshed (mass balance)
+    - Gaussian plume model
+- Risk
+- Water pollution (mass balance)
+- Energy
+    - Greenhouse gas emissions
+- Economics
+    - Discounting
+
+## Math prerequisites
+
+I expected this course to be chemistry-heavy, like balancing equations and
+equilibria and stuff, but instead it was mostly math. The chemistry was
+useful only for getting the molecular weight of gases and doing pV = nRT.
+
+### Math models
+
+- Exponential
+- Geometric series
+- Logistic growth
+- Gaussian
+
+There was even a little bit of differential equations (the easy kind).
+However, the formulas were always in the slides. All we needed to know is
+how to use a calculator.
+
+On the final exam there was a question about I thought required some
+integration, but it seemed ambiguous whether or not I need to do
+a division. I stepped out of the classroom to ask the GSI, but she pointed
+to the slides, which I apparently forgot existed because I missed that
+lecture (I was rehearsing a presentation for EECS 373). The formula for
+the very answer was there. Welp.
+
+### Linearity
+
+Out of the various models, the math was exceedingly linear. The most
+important concept is mass balance: the mass in an isolated system is
+conserved. If one gram of methane leaks out of the pipe, then there is one
+more gram of methane in the room. If you dump one ton of paint into
+a lake, then there will be one ton of paint in the lake.
+
+On most occasions, we solved steady state conditions, which means one
+single equation where one side is zero. It was intuitive, just like the
+KCL (Kirchhoff's Current Law), but instead of electrons it was matter.
+
+Another type of linear calculation is adding up things and multiplying
+things. Like, if a ton of steel requires one megajoule (fictional), and
+you need 1,000 tons, then you need 1,000 megajoules.
+
+Even so, I've seen several students struggle with this kind of math. Like.
+How do you even fail at this. As long as the units match you're probably
+correct.
+
+### Unit conversion
+
+The biggest challenge of this course was not math. It was unit conversion.
+Americans are notorious for their units like ft, ft², ft³, gal, mile, and
+mpg. But all the science-y numbers are in metric (phew).
+
+## Assignments
+
+Eight assignments in total. Not hard, just long. Standards were low. GSI
+didn't care how you typeset it. I've done LaTeX, LibreOffice Writer, and
+by hand, and as long as you get the answer and the key steps, you get the
+points.
+
+There were no projects or presentations.
+
+## Verdict
+
+Not a challenge. Didn't end up saving the world or anything, but at least
+I learned how civil engineers gauge their environmental impact. Chill
+course.