Postgraduate Course: Climate Change Management (PGGE11127)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course considers climate change mitigation at a range of scales from the local to global, the role of the public, private and third sectors, and includes an array of options and possible technologies including renewables (solar PV, wind, wave, etc.), carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), energy efficiency and demand reduction. The focus is global though examples will frequently draw upon experience in the UK and other parts of Europe. The course covers the emergence of energy markets and the use of policy and regulation to steer such markets towards decarbonisation (and sustainability more widely), while ensuring that energy services are affordable and secure (the ¿energy trilemma¿). The key overarching conceptual framework that will be introduced and used is Michael Grubb¿s ¿three domains / three pillars¿ analysis presented in Planetary Economics (2014). This allows for a coherent approach to understanding carbon mitigation efforts from the behavioural and practice-focused (¿domain one¿, e.g. energy efficiency, behavioural change and changes in practice), market-based instruments (¿domain two¿, e.g. carbon pricing, taxation, emissions trading schemes, reverse auctions, etc.) to systemic, larger-scale and longer-term innovation processes (¿domain three¿) driven more by long-term security concerns but also opportunities arising from systemic techno-economic changes. We will also evaluate the impacts, adequacy, effectiveness and fairness of climate change mitigation policies, options, actions and measures. |
| Course description |
S1 Week One: Introduction and Energy Primer
S1 Week Two: Our friends electric
S1 Week Three: Taming the sun: Solar PV
S1 Week Four: Making waves: Marine Renewables
S1 Week Five: Energy Efficiency
S1 Week Six: Electricity Markets: connecting supply & demand
S1 Week Seven: Electricity Market Regulation and policies
S1 Week Eight: Heat and the City
S1 Week Nine: Transport
S1 Week Ten: Low-carb landscapes
S1 Week Eleven: The new energy economy
S1 Week Twelve: The UN in action: Conference of the Parties 24
S2 Week One: The Three Domains
S2 Week Two: The Three Pillars
S2 Week Three: Pillar II in action: Marginal Abatement Costs
S2 Week Four: Pillar III in action: Innovation in practice
S2 Week Five and Six: Presentations
S2 Week Seven: Is there any role left for fossil fuels?
S2 Week Eight: Trees and other plants
S2 Week Nine: Don't forget the non-CO2 greenhouse gases
S2 Week Ten: Emergency backstop: climate engineering
S2 Week Eleven: Review
Tutorials are in weeks S1-9, S1-11, S2-6, S2-10
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Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2018/19, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 40 |
| Course Start |
Full Year |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Form of Assessment:
- Group presentation on relevant topic (20%).
- Individual business/policy memo (20%).
- Essay (60%). |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand the major policies, options, measures and technologies for limiting greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, in particular renewable energy
- Understand how changes in the supply- and demand-side of energy occur and interact through (regulated) markets, with a focus on decarbonisation
- Understand and apply the concepts of ¿three domains / three pillars¿ to energy markets, behavioural change and innovation
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Reading List
Students are required to read:
Chapters 1 to 5 and 9 to 12 (inclusive): Michael Grubb, with Jean-Charles Houcarde and Karsten Neuhoff (2014), Planetary Economics: Energy, climate change and the three domains of sustainable development, Routledge.
Other useful texts are:
Grin, J., Rotmans, J. and Schot, J. (2010), Transitions to Sustainable Development: New Directions in the Study of Long Term Transformative Change, Routledge.
Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Summary for Policymakers plus other chapters (or sections thereof) as appropriate. All available free of charge from:
http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg3/
The New Climate Economy: The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate (2014). The Executive Summary and more information on particular topics of interest. Available for free at : http://newclimateeconomy.report/ |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Special Arrangements |
This course is only available to students studying the MSc in Carbon Management. Students are not permitted to audit this course unless formally agreed with the course organiser. |
| Keywords | PGGE11127 mitigation,renewable energy,geoengineering,methane,nitrous oxide,project developme |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Simon Shackley
Tel: (0131 6)50 7862
Email: simon.shackley@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Karolina Galera
Tel: (0131 6)50 2572
Email: k.galera@ed.ac.uk |
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