Postgraduate Course: Sustainable Energy Contexts (MSc) (PGEE11161)
Course Outline
| School | School of Engineering |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | This course aims to establish a basic understanding of global patterns of energy use and systems of energy supply, in the context of their sustainability: social, environmental and economic. It is structured so as to familiarise students with the wide range of literature on sustainability, and will develop independent study and analysis skills.
More specifically;
1. To provide an overview the world's energy resources, and the current patterns of the production and use of energy.
2. To examine the current world energy picture in the context of sustainability.
3. To present strategies for more sustainable supply, and to consider the constraints on expansion of supply.
4. To discuss future sustainable energy scenarios
5. To develop an appreciation of the global nature of the issues, and an accompanying appreciation of the need for local variations to be understood and accounted for
6. To develop a realisation of the intricacy and complexity of sustainable energy issues; to gain ability to critically appraise information in the sector, and to detect and reject over-simplified assertions and/or solutions. |
| Course description |
1.Introduction
2. Primary Energy
3. Global Climate change
4. Environmental impacts of energy use
5. Energy resources and reserves
6. Costing energy
7. Lifecycle assessment
8. Transitional technologies (I)
9. Transitional technologies (II)
10. Energy scenarios
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Navigate a route through the many public-domain sources of information about energy and sustainability;
- Summarise the current world-wide pattern of energy production and use, and their future trends and describe the environmental impact of current energy production and use;
- Perform basic calculations to quantify energy flows and environmental impacts, and describe strategies for developing sustainable energy sources;
- Appreciate the geopolitical, economic and environmental constraints on expansion of energy supply;
- Describe strategies for reducing energy demand on a local (user) scale, and a global (geopolitical scale).
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Reading List
(not compulsory)
Everett, Boyle, Peake & Ramage, Energy Systems and Sustainability: Power for a Sustainable Future,
Oxford University Press, 2011. £29.59
David J.C. MacKay,
Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air £16.06, http://www.withouthotair.com/ |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Tom Bruce
Tel: (0131 6)50 8701
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Jennifer Yuille
Tel: (0131 6)51 7073
Email: |
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