Academy of Environmental Engineering

Mr. Eric Stubbs, Director
(352)955-6839 ext.264
stubbsea@gm.sbac.edu
Class Blog

The Academy of Environmental Engineering provides basic knowledge for careers in environmental engineering, alternative energy (especially solar power), and biotechnology. Students completing this academy will be prepared to enter into the quickly growing industries that are solving environmental and economic problems. They will receive college credit, exceptional hands-on experiences, and industry certification.

Environmental engineers may specialize in many topics including designing green products and buildings, energy efficiency, lifecycle analysis (analyzing the environmental impacts of products), water quality, air quality, and environmental remediation (cleaning up pollution).

The alternative energy industry is rapidly creating more “green collar jobs.” Students will learn about all the conventional methods of energy production such as coal, petroleum, and nuclear power plants. They will use that background to explore and understand the booming alternative energy industries. In the Academy of Environmental Engineering, students set up solar arrays and conduct many experiments. Through this, they will learn valuable lessons about electrical engineering. Other hands on experiences with biofuels, wind mills, hydrogen fuel cells, and energy conservation will provide a complete picture of the energy industry.

Biotechnology is the combination of biology and technology. Biology basics are learned through organic gardening and hands-on experiments in plant biology. These topics quickly become tied into alternative energy and environmental engineering: 10 calories of fossil fuel are currently used to create about 1 calorie of food; algae can be used to sequester CO2 from coal power plants; plants can be used to help filter and purify water. Biotechnology also has many applications to medicine, forensics, and chemical products.