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Sustainable and Equitable Energy Futures (UNIB10025)
Undergraduate level 1Points: 12.5Not available in 2023
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About this subject
Overview
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This subject introduces students to the role of energy in shaping society in various forms including the built environment, economic processes, households and communities. Students will come to understand what energy is in an everyday sense, how we measure and control it, and what the social and environmental foundations and consequences of its use are. Students will gain a broad understanding of the key technological, environmental, economic, political and social issues and debates that arise in energy planning. Students will discover that the world offers a variety of energy options, that there is no shortage of energy available to us only a shortage of the environmental and social capacities to deal with transforming the energy that different societies have grown used to. With this context, students will critically consider a range of possible energy futures from engineering, regulatory, social, cultural, economic and political perspectives. Students will think critically about the tools we use to develop future energy scenarios and the implications this has for planning infrastructure, cities, housing etc. By the end of the subject students will be able to use basic quantitative, qualitative and mapping techniques to analyse, critically evaluate and convey information about the nature of energy generation and consumption. Students will be able to demonstrate the ability to apply different types of reasoning to evaluate energy planning decisions. Students will also think about energy futures at different spatial scales (global, regional, national, sub-national and community). They will critically analyse and assess the differential impacts energy decision-making has on different parts of society, with an appreciation of why energy has come to be one of the defining socio-political challenges in the context of our times.
Intended learning outcomes
On completion of this subject, students should:
- Demonstrate basic knowledge and visually represent the role of energy in shaping society in various forms including the built environment, economic processes, households and communities.
- Be able to identify key technological, environmental, economic, political and social issues and debates that arise in energy planning
- Be able to use basic quantitative, qualitative and mapping techniques to analyse, critically evaluate and convey information about the nature of energy generation and consumption;
- Demonstrate the ability to apply different types of reasoning to evaluate energy planning decisions
Generic skills
- the ability to see complex problems from multiple perspectives
- the ability to critically analyse problems and develop a reasoned conclusion about the best possible outcome
- to communicate persuasively to different audiences about the reasoning process and the outcome you seek to achieve using a range of techniques
- Visualising data using software
- The ability to write coherent and well-researched essays and make effective oral presentations
Last updated: 12 December 2024