ME 459Energy Conversion
- Units
- 0.50
- Faculty
- Engineering
- Subject
- Mechanical Engineering
When it runs
- F24
- W25
- S25
- F25
- W26
- S26
- F26
- W27
- S27
Ran in 4 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: not on the schedule. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.
Review of reserves and consumption trends of Canada's and the world's energy resources. Design of fossil-fuel central power plants, including boiler efficiency calculations and advanced steam and binary cycles. Review of atomic physics including fission and fusion energy. Design of nuclear fission power plants including design of reactor core for critical conditions, fuel cycles and radiation hazards. Design considerations for solar energy conversion devices including: availability of solar energy, solar-thermal converters, thermal storage and photovoltaics. Principles of fuel cells and some aspects of their design. Other topics as appropriate.
Prerequisites
- Complete 1 of the following
- Complete all of the following
- Must have completed the following:
- Students must be in level 4A or higher
- Enrolled in H-Mechanical Engineering
- Complete all of the following
- Must have completed the following:
- MTE309 - Introduction to Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer (0.50)
- Students must be in level 4A or higher
- Enrolled in H-Mechatronics Engineering
- Must have completed the following:
- Complete all of the following
Antirequisites
None listed.
Leads to
No course lists it as a requisite.
Fall 2026 sections
| Section | Class | Enrolled | Meets |
|---|---|---|---|
| LEC 001 | 4616 | 21 / 60 | T 18:00–20:50 |
Reviewed on UW Flow
72% liked it75% easy49% useful
From 29 ratings and 16 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.
My god. This should have just been an easy and interesting course. Granted, there are only 3 deliverables, but the way this course was run was super frustrating. The midterm and final were just regurgitated questions from the sample exams, but were marked ridiculously harshly???? The equation sheet he provides has about a million equations on it, except for the ones you actually need. The content of the slides are also decades old.
Dec 2023 · didn’t like it · 3 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
DO NOT TAKE THIS AWFUL COURSE. You will learn nothing, it is a complete waste of time. The 10k project is excessive, and you have more important things to spend your time on. The midterm and final are just the same questions from the study guide the professor gives you, but yet he marks the answers wrong when you spit back exactly what he wrote. All the slides are at least 20 years out of date making the information basically useless.
I know it sounds like an easy course, but trust me, it is not worth your sanity.Dec 2023 · didn’t like it · 3 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
DONT TAKE THIS COURSE!!!!!!!! Most useless course you can take. You'll spend the first 3 weeks debating about whether or now global warming is caused by humans... The content is all about 20 years out of date. You spend about a week learning about coal, and a single lecture learning about wind and solar. The 10k report is more than excessive. The marking for the midterm is stupid to say the least. Yes, this course is easy. But no DO NOT TAKE IT. The amount of time you'll waste writing the report and "studying" for the midterm is not worth it.
Nov 2023 · didn’t like it · 3 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
Good lord do not take this course. In theory this is quite possibly the best TE offered to mechs but Professor Schneider completely butchers the execution. Where do I begin? Spent the first few weeks debating whether climate change was caused by humans or not. Class consisted of reading off of outdated slides (some data was 20 years old). Class was also confusing as we looked at a lot of conflicting data on the same slides. I would have loved to learn about all the interesting topics but we sort of just grazed the surface level of each topic. Often times we would hyper focus on the technical aspects of a topic, such as solar power for example. He might spend an hour talking about the…
Dec 2023 · didn’t like it · 2 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
I can definitely understand where the bad reviews come from for this course. For myself I really enjoyed it but I think it was mostly due to Professor Fraser teaching this. There is an assignment, an essay/presentation and a midterm/final for this course. None of them were particularly hard though the assignment and essay took up more time than I would've liked. While some of the info was outdated Professor Fraser did a good job filling in the gaps to where we are today. He also really pushed us to think deeper about topics and ask questions. You can tell he really likes the topic and has a deep knowledge. The pacing of the course was weird and we didn't get to cover a lot of the ending…
Dec 2025 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
Discussed on r/uwaterloo
16 posts and comments in 13 threads mention ME 459, December 2013 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.
Winter 2024
Nuclear Energy Courses at UW? 5 points, 1 comment
u/Choice_Shoulder_3366: “… I have also looked into ME 459 which covers all types of energy production (which I am also open to) but the UW flow reviews are putting me off. …”
Fall 2021
4th Year technical elective choices 3 points, 2 comments
“I'm a 3B Tron trying to figure out the best courses to take for my 4th year TEs, curios about anyone's thoughts on what the most interesting or easy classes they took were, good profs etc. …”
u/Plane_Razzmatazz_143: “I was ECE but took ME459 (not sure if its offered in Winter) - super easy course and concepts were pretty cool”
Spring 2021
Question about Quest + another for Mech Eng students 1 point, 9 comments
u/RedReddnReddit: “… 2) For Mech Eng students: Did anyone take the ME 459 Energy Conversion course before? If so, either DM or comment on this please! …”
u/Plane_Razzmatazz_143: “I'm not Mech Eng (ECE actually lol) but I took ME 459 as a TE. How can I help? If you take it with Prof. Schneider then it's honestly a super chill and laid back course. He is a really solid dude who isn't trying to screw you over or something. …”
u/Plane_Razzmatazz_143: “… So guess ME 459 might be one of those courses blessed with good profs and you don't really have to worry much? Here is the link: https://uwflow.com/course/me459 Btw, I doubt the variance would be that significant between the two profs cause its not a very numbers heavy course. …”
Fall 2020
Anyone taking ME 459 this term? 0 points, 0 comments
u/Plane_Razzmatazz_143: “Hope your first day is going well. Wondering if anyone here is taking ME 459 and what it's like? I am planning on taking the course this term but am on coop so concerned about the workload. Thanks”
Spring 2020
Advice for Technical Elective MEGA-Thread 1 point, 1 comment
“Hey everyone. I am currently a 3A student and I was wondering what technical electives you senior students have taken and why. …”
u/veganwaterboy: “… ME459, Schneider: I took this because it was supposed to be birdy. Sure it's easy, but the content is boring af. 30sih page report over the whole semester takes up a third of the marks ME548, McCloskey: My favourite course this semester. …”
Winter 2020
Anyone here taken ME 459? 2 points, 1 comment
u/powerfulwizkid: “Basically the title lol Just wondering what the course is like. Thinking of taking it as a technical elective for my ECE 4th year course requirements. Does it require a mechanical engineering background? TIA”
Winter 2019
Mech TEs help 6 points, 4 comments
“Has anyone taken ME566 or ME559? Which one would you recommend?”
u/timmoer: “Took both and would recommend both. Just bear in mind, the goal of both courses are quite different. With ME566 you learn the theory behind CFD, but all of the marks are with the assignments, where …”
u/_Cementite_: “I kind of want to take both as well but then I’d have to drop energy conversion (ME459). Did you take that course?”
Winter 2018
need some advise on 4th year mech courses 6 points, 10 comments
u/shaysura: “… Composite Materials ME 452 - Energy Transfer in Buildings ME 456 - Heat Transfer 2 ME 459 - Energy Conversion ME 557 - Combustion ME 567 - Fire Safety Engineering ME 571 - Air Pollution I'm not interested in any particular specialization and am really only looking …”
u/WarpdriveEngineer: “… ME 459: Kinda boring, not too hard. We had a 4000 word research essay as a major assignment. Not a big deal for me because I like essays and had a topic I wanted to learn more about. However, many of my peers were understandibly frustrated by this assignment. …”
Fall 2017
Any way to disable UWCourseLinker from posting? 16 points, 26 comments
“posting a reply to my comment I find the bot annoying.”
u/Jackhofmann: “PSYCH 483 PSYCH 484 PSYCH 485 PSYCH 486 PSYCH 490R PSYCH 499A PSYCH 499B PSYCH 499C PSYCH 621 PSYCH 630 PSYCH 677A PSYCH 704A PSYCH 704B PSYCH 707 PSYCH 710 PSYCH 714 PSYCH 717 PSYCH 720A PSYCH 721A …”
u/Jackhofmann: “… 300B ME 322 ME 351 ME 353 ME 360 ME 362 ME 380 ME 400A ME 401 ME 423 ME 435 ME 436 ME 456 ME 459 ME 481 ME 482 ME 548 ME 559 ME 561 ME 566 ME 599 ME 620 ME 627 ME 632 ME 651 ME 659 ME 662 ME 673 ME 680 ME 682 ME 720 ME 738 ME 753 ME 760 ME 765 ME 770 ME 780 MEDVL 115 MEDVL 250R …”
Winter 2017
How is ME 459? 1 point, 0 comments
u/PM_ME_PIZZA_DEALS: “I was thinking about taking it as an elective. I am in chem eng. What are some other TEs that you guys enjoyed? Thanks!”
Spring 2016
Choosing between Robotics and Welding Course 4 points, 2 comments
u/supersymmetry: “… I was originally taking ME 459 (Energy Conversion) because I heard it's easy and the instructor is good but I don't think it will be that practical. …”
ME 459 (Energy Conversion) 2 points, 3 comments
Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026
- Undergraduate Calendar, 2026–27The official entry
- Requirements for Fall 2026Waterloo’s requisite checker
- Schedule of Classes, Fall 2026Instructors, rooms, live seats
- Quest Class SearchWhere you enrol
- Course outlinesSyllabi from past terms (UW login)
- UW FlowStudent ratings and reviews
- WClassesPast sections back to 2004, and who taught them