Understand Energy Course is a cross-campus effort of the Precourt Institute for Energy.

Understand Energy Course

Field Trips

Windmills on grassy hill

NextEra Field Trip to Wind Farm

"This is the single best course I've taken at Stanford so far. The content is engaging and you actually learn and retain a lot more than you expect. Plus you get to go on really dope field trips."
 - Student, 2019

"Love the field trips, they really give depth to the class and provide us with real, tangible insight!."
 - Student, 2019

Students pose in front of a oil feild

San Ardo Field Trip to Oil Field

About the Field Trips:

Students enrolled in Understand Energy attend three field trips - one local field tripduring normal class time and two off-campus field trips (chosen by the student out of ~8 off-campus field trips). Students in Understand Energy: Essentials attend one local field trip and one off-campus field trip. Many past students (which now include several university professors) have cited these off-campus field trips as a particuarly powerful part of the course, and even their overall Stanford education. Off-campus trips are generally scheduled on Thursdays and weekends.

On the local field trip, students will explore a campus energy-related facility, including the Stanford Energy System Innovations (SESI), Stanford’s Parking and Transportation Services (P&TS), the Y2E2 LEED Platinum building, and others.

Off-campus field trips will meet at the Tresidder Parking Lot (unless otherwise noted). Below is a list of the possible locations that may be visited. Specific information about scheduled field trip dates and times will be issued in class.

Past field trip locations:

  • Tesla Gigafactory
  • San Ardo Oil Field
  • NEXTracker
  • Moss Landing Power Plant
  • The Geysers Geothermal Power Plant
  • Rancho Seco (Decommissioned Nuclear Power Plant and PV)
  • CAISO: California Independent System Operator
  • NextEra Wind Farm
  • Black Diamond Mines (coal mines)
  • Half Moon Bay Landfill (Ox Mountain) Power Plant
  • Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant
  • PG&E Pacific Energy Center; Moscone Center Solar Electric System
  • Lodi Energy Center (Flexible Combined Cycle Power Plant)
  • Shasta Dam & Power Plant