Postgraduate Course: Energy and Society (fusion on-site) (EFIE11349)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh Futures Institute |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | This course will enable students to improve their energy literacy in daily life, and guide them to recognise and address the non-technical barriers that are currently hindering the transition to a low carbon society. |
| Course description |
In terms of essential reading and course teaching contents, the course builds on the core concepts 'energy services' and 'energy literacy' (cognitive, affective and behavioural), and helps students to expose the cultural, political and socio-technical processes which affect the speed in which lower carbon technologies are adopted, especially on the demand-side and how low or high energy consuming activities and lifestyles can become locked-in, and potentially un-locked again.
The pre-recorded lectures will provide a basic technical understanding of the energy system (also using short videos), indicating how this has co-evolved with society over time (some core readings) and shows geographical differentiation through case studies.
As part of their homework before the intensive days, students will undertake self-directed 'energy fieldwork at home' (van der Horst et al., 2016) and share their findings,
The first intensive day will focus energy literacy with peer learning through interactive sessions, intersperced with short lectures that provide key concepts and social science theories to explain the phenomena identified through student-led discussions.
The second intensive day will explore the co-evolution of socio-technical systems with a special focus on energy consumption in daily life (the home, travel, work, leisure). Case studies provided will be explored by students through interactive sessions and students will report back, thus honing their team working and presentation skills.
Both intensive days will include a guest lecture from practitioners in energy demand management. The course will finish with an individual essay, structured to help students capture and reflect on their learning journey.
Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) - On-Site Fusion Course Delivery Information:
The Edinburgh Futures Institute will teach this course in a way that enables online and on-campus students to study together. This approach (our 'fusion' teaching model) offers students flexible and inclusive ways to study, and the ability to choose whether to be on-campus or online at the level of the individual course. It also opens up ways for diverse groups of students to study together regardless of geographical location. To enable this, the course will use technologies to record and live-stream student and staff participation during their teaching and learning activities.
Students should be aware that:
- Classrooms used in this course will have additional technology in place: students might not be able to sit in areas away from microphones or outside the field of view of all cameras.
- Unless the lecturer or tutor indicates otherwise you should assume the session is being recorded.
As part of your course, you will need access to a personal computing device. Unless otherwise stated activities will be web browser based and as a minimum we recommend a device with a physical keyboard and screen that can access the internet.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 20 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 6,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 8,
Fieldwork Hours 4,
Formative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
78 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Summative Assessment:
The course will be assessed by means of the following assessment components:
1) 'Energy Fieldwork at Home Proforma' (20%)
This proforma will consist of a list of energy consuming devices in the home (excel sheet) and a behavioural assessment (on-line questionnaire).
2) Recorded Oral Presentation / PowerPoint Slides (80%)
A 10 minute recorded individual oral presentation with powerpoint slides (submitted separately). Focus: Analysis of non-technical barriers and policy intervention options to reduce energy use in a chosen form of daily activity, drawing on data provided, core literature and own /more extensive lit review. |
| Feedback |
Individual feedback on submitted homework.
Formative assessments in the form of debates and discussions will be provided with feedback after such sessions and during the discussions.
Written feedback to the submitted presentation + further verbal feedback offered on demand.
Coursework support and feedback will be via 4 x 1hr sessions at different times in 24hr clock to support international students and their home locations. These are group sessions where students select the best time for them from the 4 available time options. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Grow their energy literacy through self-guided fieldwork, exploration, experimentation and peer learning.
- Recognise the role of access to energy in historical and current processes of societal change.
- Examine the social nature of technology adoption, and the political nature of energy policy choices in the context of energy systems change.
- Explore the relevance of the social sciences in developing a deeper understanding of transition pathways, trajectories and barriers to systemic change - at different spatial scales.
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Reading List
Indicative Reading List:
Students are guided with regards to core topics and are encouraged to collect and expand their own readings. As a consequence, good students will often be able to find (new) papers which critique or extend on anything that the Course Organiser might label as 'essential' - which is to be welcomed.
Recommended Readings:
DeWaters, J.E. and Powers, S.E., 2011. Energy literacy of secondary students in New York State (USA): A measure of knowledge, affect, and behavior. Energy policy, 39(3), pp.1699-1710.
Fell, M.J., 2017. Energy services: A conceptual review. Energy research & social science, 27, pp.129-140.
Geels, F.W., 2002. Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multi-level perspective and a case-study. Research policy, 31(8-9), pp.1257-1274.
González-Eguino, M., 2015. Energy poverty: An overview. Renewable and sustainable energy reviews, 47, pp.377-385.
Hargreaves, T., 2011. Practice-ing behaviour change: Applying social practice theory to pro-environmental behaviour change. Journal of consumer culture, 11(1), pp.79-99.
Jenkins, K., McCauley, D., Heffron, R., Stephan, H. and Rehner, R., 2016. Energy justice: A conceptual review. Energy Research & Social Science, 11, pp.174-182.
Lockwood, M., 2018. Right-wing populism and the climate change agenda: exploring the linkages. Environmental Politics, 27(4), pp.712-732.
Middlemiss, L. and Gillard, R., 2015. Fuel poverty from the bottom-up: Characterising household energy vulnerability through the lived experience of the fuel poor. Energy Research & Social Science, 6, pp.146-154.
Mitchell, T., 2009. Carbon democracy. Economy and Society, 38(3), pp.399-432.
Seyfang, G. and Smith, A., 2007. Grassroots innovations for sustainable development: Towards a new research and policy agenda. Environmental politics, 16(4), pp.584-603.
Staddon, S.C., Cycil, C., Goulden, M., Leygue, C. and Spence, A., 2016. Intervening to change behaviour and save energy in the workplace: A systematic review of available evidence. Energy Research & Social Science, 17, pp.30-51.
Stephenson, J., Barton, B., Carrington, G., Gnoth, D., Lawson, R. and Thorsnes, P., 2010. Energy cultures: A framework for understanding energy behaviours. Energy policy, 38(10), pp.6120-6129.
Van der Horst D., Harrison C., Staddon S. and Wood G. (2016). Improving Energy Literacy through Student-Led Fieldwork - at Home. Journal of Geography in Higher Education 40(1), 67-76.
Van der Horst, D. and Staddon, S., 2018. Types of learning identified in reflective energy diaries of post-graduate students. Energy Efficiency, 11(7), pp.1783-1795.
Wilhite, H., Nakagami, H., Masuda, T., Yamaga, Y. and Haneda, H., 1996. A cross-cultural analysis of household energy use behaviour in Japan and Norway. Energy policy, 24(9), pp.795-803.
Further Reading:
Not specified - students expected to find their own; an important marking criterion. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
The course contributes to the following graduate attributes and skills:
- Creative problem solvers and researchers.
- Critical and reflective thinkers.
- Effective and influential contributors.
- Skilled communicators. |
| Keywords | Energy Demand,Energy Efficiency,Behavioural Change,Energy Literacy,Socio-Techical Change,EFI,PG |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Dan Van Der Horst
Tel: (0131 6)51 4467
Email: Dan.vanderHorst@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Lawrence East
Tel:
Email: Lawrence.East@ed.ac.uk |
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