Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing humankind. This course proposes Energy Change as a response to it. Energy Change encompasses all the energy technologies that can contribute to mitigate climate change, from advanced fossil fuels with carbon storage and nuclear power to renewable energies and energy efficiency. The course commences with a brief description of the scientific evidence for climate change, followed by an overview of the main source of carbon emissions, energy production. A look into the main indicators of energy supply and consumption in the world sets the scene for discussing different scenarios for an energy mix that could limit the predicted increase in the world’s average temperature. Such energy mix relies heavily on the deployment of renewable energy technologies: solar, biomass, wind, wave and tide, hydroelectric, and geothermal. Up-to-date information on the status of these technologies is presented next, including their current level of deployment and economics and the projections for their large scale implementation. Each technology is examined in sufficient detail to gain an understanding of its scientific and technical foundations, in order to assess its ultimate potential as well as its practical limitations. The course is largely based on self learning and reading, guided by lectures and tutorials and prompted by a research project on an energy-related topic.

An undergraduate degree