Course syllabus

Course-PM

SEE160 SEE160 Energy transitions lp2 HT23 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Space, Earth and Environment

The course is part of the Master’s program Sustainable Energy Systems at Chalmers University of Technology. The course is taught in English.

Contact details

Names and contact details of all teaching and administrative staff for this course are available here: Course staff - names and contact details

Course purpose

The course aims to improve students’ understanding of change and continuity in energy systems and equip students with the state-of-the art tools to understand, measure and evaluate the pace of change of energy transitions to a more sustainable society. The focus is on learning to analyze energy transitions from different perspectives and using different types of evidence to assess the feasibility of accelerating transitions. A specific emphasis is placed on methods for evaluating new technologies at different levels of development – from pre-commercial (e.g. hydrogen) to the pilot phase (e.g. CCS) to already growing (e.g. solar and wind).

Schedule

You can find the schedule on the course homepage here in Canvas, and also on TimeEdit.

Course literature

Students do not need to purchase a course book. All literature is publicly available, and the full reference to each article/resource is listed here. See the schedule for the timing of reading and how each reading relates to the lectures and the exercises.

Introduction to energy transitions

  1. Interview with Vaclav Smil: This Eminent Scientist Says Climate Activists Need to Get Real. New York Times Magazine April 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/25/magazine/vaclav-smil-interview.html. 
  2. Nature News and Views: Climate-policy models debated Jewell and Anderson. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02744-9 
  3. Grubler, A. (2012). Energy transitions research: Insights and cautionary tales. Energy Policy, 50, 8–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2012.02.070
  4. Fouquet, R. (2016). Historical energy transitions: Speed, prices and system transformation. Energy Research & Social Science, 22, 7–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2016.08.014
  5. Cherp, A., Vinichenko, V., Jewell, J., Brutschin, E., & Sovacool, B. K. (2018). Integrating techno-economic, socio-technical and political perspectives on national energy transitions: A meta-theoretical framework. Energy Research & Social Science, 37, 175–190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2017.09.015

Phases of energy transitions

  1. Bento, N., & Wilson, C. (2016). Measuring the duration of formative phases for energy technologies. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 21, 95–112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2016.04.004
  2. Markard, J. (2018). The next phase of the energy transition and its implications for research and policy. Nature Energy, 3(8), 628–633. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-018-0171-7
  3. Cherp, A., Vinichenko, V., Tosun, J., Gordon, J. A., & Jewell, J. (2021). National growth dynamics of wind and solar power compared to the growth required for global climate targets. Nature Energy, 6(7), 742–754. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-021-00863-0
  4. Breetz, H., Mildenberger, M., & Stokes, L. (2018). The political logics of clean energy transitions. Business and Politics, 20(4), 492–522. https://doi.org/10.1017/bap.2018.14
  5. Gross, R., Hanna, R., Gambhir, A., Heptonstall, P., & Speirs, J. (2018). How long does innovation and commercialisation in the energy sectors take? Historical case studies of the timescale from invention to widespread commercialisation in energy supply and end use technology. Energy Policy, 123, 682–699. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.061

Measuring energy transitions

  1. Cherp, A., Vinichenko, V., Tosun, J., Gordon, J. A., & Jewell, J. (2021). National growth dynamics of wind and solar power compared to the growth required for global climate targets. Nature Energy, 6(7), 742–754. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-021-00863-0
  2. Vinichenko, V., Cherp, A., & Jewell, J. (2021). Historical precedents and feasibility of rapid coal and gas decline required for the 1.5°C target. One Earth, 4(10), 1477–1490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.09.012
  3. Kramer, G. J., & Haigh, M. (2009). No quick switch to low-carbon energy In the first of two pieces on reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Nature, 462(3), 568–569. https://doi.org/10.1038/462568a
  4. Griliches, Z. (1957). Hybrid Corn: An Exploration in the Economics of Technological Change. Econometrica, 25(4), 501. https://doi.org/10.2307/1905380

Evaluating energy transitions

  1. Jewell, J., & Cherp, A. (2023). The feasibility of climate action: Bridging the inside and the outside view through feasibility spaces. WIREs Climate Change. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.838.
  2. Sovacool, B. K. (2016). How long will it take? Conceptualizing the temporal dynamics of energy transitions. Energy Research and Social Science, 13, 202–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2015.12.020
  3. Grubler, A., Wilson, C., & Nemet, G. (2016). Apples, oranges, and consistent comparisons of the temporal dynamics of energy transitions. Energy Research & Social Science, 22, 18–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2016.08.015
  4. Odenweller, A., Ueckerdt, F., Nemet, G. F., Jensterle, M., & Luderer, G. (2022). Probabilistic feasibility space of scaling up green hydrogen supply. Nature Energy, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-022-01097-4
  5. Semieniuk, G., Taylor, L., Rezai, A., & Foley, D. K. (2021). Plausible energy demand patterns in a growing global economy with climate policy. Nature Climate Change, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-00975-7.
  6. Jewell, J. (2011). Ready for nuclear energy?: An assessment of capacities and motivations for launching new national nuclear power programs. Energy Policy, 39(3), 1041–1055. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2010.10.041

Course content

In this course, students learn how to use different types of empirical evidence to evaluate historical and ongoing energy transitions to better understand the output of mathematical projections and energy system model outputs.

The course covers three major themes: the first is how to describe and analyze energy transitions from different perspectives (techno-economic, socio-technical, political). Under this theme, students learn how the main disciplines dealing with energy transitions explain change and continuity in energy systems.

In the second theme, students learn how to identify causal similarity between different changes in energy systems. Many of the changes in energy systems needed to meet climate change mitigation targets are unprecedented in their pace and scale and involve deploying technologies which are not yet commercial. Here, students learn the principles for identifying appropriate analogies and develop the skills to characterize the difference between relevant analogies and projected change in energy systems.

Finally, in the third theme, students learn how to measure energy transitions and technological change. Here, students are introduced to different models of S-curves and their parameters. Students learn the strengths and weaknesses of different metrics for measuring the speed of energy transitions and how to apply these metrics to measure the pace of the energy transition and compare this speed to the change needed to reach climate and energy targets.

Course design

The course includes: interactive lectures delivered by the examiner, TAs and invited speakers, readings, three exercises, a group project including report and presentation, and a take-home exam.

The lectures and readings introduce students to tools and methods for assessing future energy transitions.

The three exercises give students hands-on experience with key methods in understanding and evaluating energy transitions.

In the group project students apply their knowledge to assess the pace and dynamics of a specific transition case as well as its potential for acceleration.

The work-load is estimated to be 80 hours for the group project per student and 10-20 hours per student for the exercises. The rest of the time is allocated to lectures, reading and examination.

Changes made since the last occasion

This is the first time the course will run.

Learning objectives and syllabus

Learning objectives:

  • be able to analyze energy transitions from techno-economic, socio-technical and political perspectives using the key variables appropriate for each discipline
  • be able to describe and map the causal similarity of energy transitions across multiple perspectives (techno-economic, socio-technical and political)
  • be able to use and apply principles for identifying analogies (context, sectoral, technological) and use multiple evidence to evaluate the feasibility of current or planned transitions
  • be able to diagnose different phases of energy transitions and measure their speed using a method appropriate for the level of development of a specific technology
  • articulate the strengths and weaknesses of different metrics for measuring the speed of energy transitions
  • understand the challenge of projecting transitions and the limitations of different types of projections (e.g. forecasts, visions, plans and scenarios) and be able to relate empirical observations to long-term modeling outputs

Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen.

Study plan

Examination form

The grading for the whole course is: 3, 4 or 5 and is based on the performance in both these parts.

The requirements to pass the course are:

  • passed exercises and project (4.5 hec);
  • passed take-home exam (3 hec).

It is strongly recommended to read the literature for the course and participate in the lectures to be able to pass the course.

Grades are assigned based on the individual grade for the take-home exam, plus any bonus points from the project (see below).

Bonus points can be earned through the assessment of the group project. The bonus points will be added to the points received at the exam, which can result in a higher grade. However, the bonus points cannot be used to pass the exam. The bonus points can only be used during the ordinary exam and the two following re-exams. Each project can earn 0-5 bonus points depending on how well the project meets the aims and objectives. The student presentations and the report is used for evaluation.

The exercise and projects must be submitted by 17:00 on the due date. If a group submits their exercise or project after this time, those individuals will accrue minus one bonus point for each day of delay which will be deducted from any bonus points accrued in the project.