Special Topics in Chemistry 5.S00

Fifty Years of U.S. Energy Policy – Lessons for the Future

Open to undergraduate and graduate students; second half of fall term 2021

Tuesday/Friday 9:30a – 11:00a, Room E25-111
6 units

Taught by Professor John Deutch
Office: 6.215 E-mail: jmd@mit.edu

Course Description:

Review the energy issues that arose and the U.S. policy responses from the Nixon administration in 1969 to the present administration of Joe Biden. What lessons can be learned from this experience and how should they shape the country’s current climate change policy? In what way might these lessons constrain our expectation about the pace, extent, and cost of success? Both domestic and international policy aspects will be addressed.

                          “Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.”  –Winston Churchill

Sample syllabus (subject to change)