Course syllabus

Course-PM academic year 2024/2025

TRA355 TRA355 Modern energy technologies and systems lp1-4 HT24-VT25 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by Tracks

 

Welcome to the TRACKS course in Modern Energy Technologies and Systems. This document provides some practical information about the course. Please read this document carefully. In case of questions, do not hesitate to get in touch with the teachers’ team.

 

Purpose of the course

To tackle climate change, all carbon-neutral energy sources are required. The course describes various such technologies, their advantages/disadvantages and their interdependencies. By following the course, you will be able to understand how these technologies work and how they contribute to some of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
The course covers eight broad themes:

  • Energy and transport systems.
  • Batteries, fuel cells and electrolysis.
  • Bioenergy and power-to-fuel.
  • Wind power technology.
  • Nuclear power technology.
  • Hydropower technology.
  • Solar power technology.
  • Environmental economics and energy policy.

 

Prerequisites

You need to be enrolled in an “engineering” programme at Chalmers at either the BSc, MSc or PhD level. The course is also offered to professionals, Chalmers Alumni and Chalmers employees having an “engineering” background.

Some elementary knowledge in “Thermodynamics” is recommended. A self-paced learning module on “Thermodynamics” is also offered, so that you can easily catch up in case you are not familiar with some elementary concepts of thermodynamics or if you want to fresh up your knowledge on thermodynamics.

 

Overall learning objectives and syllabus

When you successfully complete the course, you will be able to:

  • Explain the working principles of each energy technology presented in the course, their advantages, disadvantages, and limitations.
  • Differentiate the impacts of each technology in a climate-change mitigation perspective.
  • Weigh the various technologies against each other, taking technological, social, ethical, economic and policy perspectives into account.
  • Decide on when to make best use of each of the technologies.
  • Capitalize on the interdependencies between those technologies.
  • Work and communicate in an intercultural environment, taking advantage of the multidisciplinary competences of your workmates.

The syllabus on Studieportalen is available at:

Study plan

 

Overall pedagogical set-up and course design

The course relies on the concept of active learning, according to which students learn much more efficiently when they participate to engaging activities in the classroom with the support from the teachers. To make room for such activities, a flipped classroom is used, with the traditional delivery of lecture-based contents moved outside of the classroom: lecture and materials usually presented in class are instead made available to the students on the web and before as self-paced learning resources.

Each course module typically consists of the following elements:

  • Handbooks/textbooks/papers covering the theoretical aspects of the covered topics.
  • Pre-recorded lectures (or webcasts) available for on-demand viewing and extracting the main features, results, and concepts of the handbooks/textbooks/papers.
  • Online quizzes associated with the webcasts, focusing on conceptual understanding, with immediate feedback to the students on their learning.
  • The possibility to pose questions to the teachers while watching the lectures.
  • Active learning sessions in forms of wrap-up, tutorials, group discussions and group project work with synchronous interactions between the students and the teachers.
  • Use of discussion fora monitored by the teachers.

 

Contents of the course

The course is divided into several modules:

  1. A module called “Introduction”, in which the present document can be found.
  2. An (optional) module called “Reminder about thermodynamics” that presents the necessary concepts of thermodynamics to fully comprehend this course. You should study this part only if you are unfamiliar with thermodynamics or if you want to fresh up your knowledge in this area.
  3. A module called “Tracks Professional Skills – Sustainability”.
  4. A module called “Tracks Professional Skills – Intercultural Communication”.
  5. A module called “Energy and transport systems”.
  6. A module called “Batteries, fuel cells and electrolysis”.
  7. A module called “Bioenergy and power-to-fuel”.
  8. A module called “Wind power technology”.
  9. A module called “Nuclear power technology”.
  10. A module called “Hydropower technology”.
  11. A module called “Solar power technology”.
  12. A module called “Environmental economics and energy policy”.

The first modules (1 to 3) are self-paced learning modules, whereas the last modules (4 to 12) both contain some self-paced learning elements and activities to be carried out during the scheduled sessions. Instructions specific to each module can be found in Canvas under the sub-heading “ReadMe first!”. Please carefully read those instructions to get detailed instructions pertaining to those modules.

 

Course organization and schedule

The course extends over the entire academic year (across the four study periods). The course is implemented as 8 consecutive course modules corresponding to each of the last 8 modules earlier described (modules 5-12 described in “Contents of the course”). Each course module is typically offered on a three-week period. Exceptions may nevertheless occur due to examination periods and/or non-working days/breaks. Each module corresponds to about 25 hours of full-time studies. Those 25 hours are split as follows:

  • Preparatory work amounting to 7 hours of self-studies, which include reading the handbook/textbook/paper, watching the webcasts, answering the quizzes, and interacting with the teacher.
  • Interactive active learning (synchronous) sessions amounting to 18 hours, split as follows:
    • 4 hours (usually on Friday afternoons)/session x 3 weeks = 12 hours.
    • 2 hours/week x 3 weeks of post-class activities = 6 hours.

The dates/times of the interactive (synchronous) sessions can be found at:
TimeEdit
(choose “Chalmers tekniska högskola” and thereafter enter the course code TRA355 in the search bar, if needed).
The location of the teaching room can also be found at the link above.

The modules 5-12 are planned as follows:

  • Module 5: preparatory work on weeks 36-37 + interactive (synchronous) sessions on weeks 37-39 in 2024.
  • Module 6: preparatory work on weeks 40-41 + interactive (synchronous) sessions on weeks 41-43 in 2024.
  • Module 7: preparatory work on weeks 44-45 + interactive (synchronous) sessions on weeks 45-47 in 2024.
  • Module 8: preparatory work on weeks 48-49 + interactive (synchronous) sessions on weeks 49-51 in 2024.
  • Module 9: preparatory work on weeks 1-4 + interactive (synchronous) sessions on weeks 4-6 in 2025.
  • Module 10: preparatory work on weeks 7-8 + interactive (synchronous) sessions on weeks 8-10 in 2025.
  • Module 11: preparatory work on weeks 11-13 + interactive (synchronous) sessions on weeks 13-15 in 2025.
  • Module 12: preparatory work on weeks 16-17 + interactive (synchronous) sessions on weeks 17, 19 and 20 in 2025.

 

Teachers

The following teachers are involved in the course:

Prof. Demazière is also the course examiner and responsible for the overall administration of the course.

To communicate with the teachers, use primarily Canvas.

 

Course credits and examination form

The course is worth 7.5 ECTS. There is no final examination. The graded activities are activities to be taken through each module along the academic year. The modules 5-12 have an equal weight of 12% to the final score, whereas the assignments on “Intercultural Communication” (module 4) has a weight of 4% to the final score. The maximum total score of the course is thus 12x8 + 4 = 100%.

The module score is calculated taking both the asynchronous and interactive (synchronous) activities into account as follows:

  • The asynchronous quizzes account for 30% of the module score. The number of attempts on quizzes is limited and depends on the number of offered alternatives. An average grade will be applied, reflecting the number of attempts.
  • The active participation to the interactive (synchronous) sessions and any hand-ins related to those account for 70% of the module score.

The grades are based on your final score, some conditions on the attendance of the interactive (synchronous) sessions and the approval of the assignment on "Intercultural Communication":

  • Fail: you obtained strictly less than 50% of the maximum total score for the entire course or did not attend at least 18 of the interactive (synchronous) sessions or did not get the assignment on "Intercultural Communication" approved.
  • Grade 3: you obtained more than 50% of the maximum total score for the entire course and strictly less than 67.5% of the maximum total score for the entire course, you attended at least 18 of the interactive (synchronous) sessions, and you got the assignment on "Intercultural Communication" approved.
  • Grade 4: you obtained more than 67.5% of the maximum total score for the entire course and strictly less than 82.5% of the maximum total score for the entire course, you attended at least 20 of the interactive (synchronous) sessions, and you got the assignment on "Intercultural Communication" approved.
  • Grade 5:  you obtained more than 82.5% of the maximum total score for the entire course, you attended at least 20 of the interactive (synchronous) sessions, and you got the assignment on "Intercultural Communication" approved.

You need to work on all modules in their sequential order. You need to attend at least 2 interactive (synchronous) sessions on each module in order to get access to the subsequent modules. In case you cannot attend those 2 interactive (synchronous) sessions per module, you will be given some complementary work that will need to be completed and approved before the start of the subsequent module.

The asynchronous quizzes must be completed by the corresponding deadlines. After the deadline, the quizzes become unavailable, resulting in lower chances to pass the course.

 

Course literature

Any additional course literature is listed in the corresponding modules on Canvas.

 

Communication

The communication within the course will be handled in the following ways:

  • Messages of general or administrative nature will be posted by the teachers in the Announcements.
  • In case of questions, use the Discussions forum, choosing the category corresponding to what your question refers to. You need to manually subscribe to each discussion forum to receive e-mail notifications when posts are made on the forum.
  • In case several of you are online on Canvas and/or some teachers are online on Canvas, you could also use the Chat.

 

Module on energy and transport systems

Course module responsible person: Maria Grahn

Description

This course module aims at presenting an overview of the entire global energy and transport systems, briefly describing the main components related to the production, conversion, delivery, and use of energy carriers.  We discuss potential advantages, disadvantages, and limitations on an overarching holistic level. We use multi-criteria assessments as one tool of comparing the various technologies, or transition pathways, against each other, from, e.g., technological, social, economic, and policy perspectives. In the following modules, the main technologies, for the transition towards a modern energy system without harmful emissions, are discussed in more detail. 

Learning objectives

After attending this course module, the students should be able to:

  • Explain the basic concepts of primary energy sources, resources vs. reserves, energy carriers, energy security, climate sensitivity, and sector-coupling.
  • Discuss the main challenges for future energy systems.
  • Describe the main measures to reduce CO2 emissions from the transport sector as well as from the entire energy system.
  • Discuss the main possibilities and challenges with 100% renewable electrical systems, smart grids and electromobility.
  • List examples of critical raw materials related to the transition towards sustainable energy and transport systems.
  • List examples of advantages and disadvantages of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon capture and utilization (CCU), including the complexity related to upscaling these technologies, and present arguments of both sides.
  • Explain why a need for different types of energy storages may arise, describe the main storage options, and discuss potential future trade-offs for the society having energy systems with or without energy storage.
  • Being able to carry out multi-criteria assessments.

 

Module on batteries, fuel cells and electrolysis

Course module responsible person: Björn Wickman

Description

This course module aims at presenting fundamental principles of electrochemistry in the concepts of energy conversion, to and from electricity. The specific processes in batteries, fuel cells and electrolysis are studied in detail. Historical development, state-of-the-art as well as potentials for future evolution are covered. In addition, the possibilities, limitations, advantages, and disadvantages of integrating batteries, fuel cells and electrolysis on a large scale in sustainable energy systems are also addressed.

Learning objectives

After attending this course module, the students should be able to:

  • Know the fundamental principles in electrochemical energy conversion.
  • Know the specific processes within batteries, fuel cells and electrolysis.
  • Relate and apply the fundamental properties of these devices to large-scale sustainable energy systems.

 

Module on bioenergy and power-to-fuel

Course module responsible person: Maria Grahn

Description

The key aspects covered in this module are as follows:

  • What is biomass?
  • Under what conditions can biomass be judged a carbon neutral energy source?
  • Large scale use of bioenergy: pros and cons.
  • Example of bioenergy conversion processes: pros and cons.
  • What is the global supply potential of biomass and why do figures differ that much?
  • Electrofuels (power-to-fuel) as a complement to biofuels: pros and cons.
  • Comparisons between biofuels and electrofuels. Costs and environmental performance.
  • Reflections around the future role of biofuels and electrofuels. What are the main trade-offs?

Learning objectives

After attending this course module, the students should be able to:

  • Understand the basic concepts of bioenergy and power-to-fuels.
  • Know the advantages and disadvantages of scaling up the use of bioenergy and electrofuels, describe the complexity related to upscaling and present major arguments of both sides.
  • Understand the environmental impact as land use change, area-efficiency, water demand, toxicity, health affecting emissions etc., of both concepts.
  • Discuss global supply potential and potential competition for the resources.
  • Describe the main technical components needed to produce biofuels and electrofuels.
  • Calculate generalized production costs of biofuels and electrofuels. Compare the results and understand what cost components dominate and under what circumstances these fuel options can compete with conventional fossil fuels.
  • Discuss the trade-offs between different biofuel and electrofuel production options as well as their potential role in a future sustainable energy system.

 

Module on wind power technology

Course module responsible person: Sara Fogelström

Description

This course module introduces the fundamental principles of wind power. The course covers different types of wind turbines, the development of wind turbines up to today and how energy is converted from the aerodynamic power in the wind through mechanical power to electrical power in the wind turbine. The course also discusses which components that make up a wind turbine and how wind power effects the environment and society. Wind power's role in today's energy system as well as the future ones is also covered.

Learning objectives

After attending this course module, the students should be able to:

  • Understand the technical function and characteristics of wind power.
  • Describe the aerodynamic constraints and calculations related to wind power turbines.
  • Be able to calculate energy production at different conditions for wind power.
  • Understand which electrical components are used in power production from wind power.
  • Explain how variable technologies like wind power can be implemented into the electricity grid and how they are connected to variation management.
  • Analyze the effect wind power has on environment and society.

 

Module on nuclear power technology

Course module responsible person: Christophe Demazière

Description

The course module aims at presenting nuclear power technology for electricity generation. Although focus is put on fission-based systems, the principles of fusion reactors are also touched upon. The history of development of nuclear reactors are presented. The various technologies of past, current, and future reactors are highlighted. The entire fuel cycle is considered, from fuel resources to waste handling, together with the associated risk in general and the risk of proliferation in particular. The possibility to use nuclear reactors for climate-change mitigation is also addressed.

Learning objectives

After attending this course module, the students should be able to:

  • Explain the working principles of nuclear reactors for each of the various reactor generations/technologies.
  • Discuss and weigh the advantages and disadvantages of such systems.
  • Analyse the impact of using nuclear reactors.
  • Reflect upon the use of different reactor technologies depending on various factors, such as resource maximization, waste minimization, heat/hydrogen production or electricity production, etc.

 

Module on hydropower technology

Course module responsible person: Håkan Nilsson

Description

This course module introduces the fundamental principles of hydropower and pumped hydro storage (and gives examples from tidal and wave energy plants that use turbine technologies). We start with the original source of the energy and discuss the available hydraulic energy and power from a hydropower perspective. We move on to how the available hydraulic energy is converted to mechanical energy (and finally to electrical energy), and learn about different turbine designs and their application areas. We discuss the historical and future role of hydropower in the electric energy system, and how hydropower can contribute to an available and stable renewable electric energy system while remaining safe and cost-efficient. We discuss how the present and future role of hydropower in the electric energy system influences the power plants and their equipment, and how hydropower influences environment and society.

Learning objectives

After attending this course module, the students should be able to:

  • Use fundamental mechanical energy relations for fluid flow (e.g., the Bernoulli equation) to understand, describe and quantify the energy conversion taking place in hydropower from a system perspective.
  • Describe the fundamental principles of energy conversion in different turbine types, and know under which condition each turbine type is used.
  • Describe how hydropower interacts with the electric and hydrological systems, and which effects the role of future hydropower operation has on the machines, the dams, the environment, and the society.
  • Understand the purpose and function of pumped hydro storage, and why we do not have many pumped hydro storage plants in a country like Sweden, with many run-off-river hydropower plants.

 

Module on solar power technology

Course module responsible person: Anders Hellman

Description

The course module introduces the fundamental principles of solar power technologies for sustainable energy systems. This includes, but is not limited to, solar thermal processes, solar storage technologies, and photovoltaics. In addition, we discuss the present and future role of solar energy in large-scale sustainable energy systems.

Learning objectives

After attending this course module, the students should be able to:

  • Know the working principles of solar power technologies.
  • Know the advantages and disadvantages of different solar power technologies.
  • Understand and apply the fundamental properties of these technologies to large-scale sustainable energy systems.

 

Module on environmental economics and energy policy

Course module responsible person: Sonia Yeh 

Description

The overall aim of this module is to address the following questions:

  • Which climate policies are needed for a cost-effective solution to the climate challenge?
  • How may climate change policies reshape the world energy system over the next century?

The content includes the following:

  • The concept of time discounting and its relevance to climate policy debates.
  • Energy economics - cost efficiency, discounting, investment analysis, prices vs. costs, supply & demand curves, external costs, opportunity costs.
  • Policy instruments - carbon taxes vs. cap-and-trade schemes, direct support vs. technology neutral policies, and other instruments.

Learning objectives

After attending this course module, the students should be able to:

  • Understand the basic concept of time discounting and its relevance to long-term investment decisions including both individuals and public policies especially the environmental and climate policies.
  • Calculate the levelized cost of electricity, given fuel costs, operation & maintenance costs, and investment costs and discuss the pros and cons of using it to evaluate a technology.
  • Describe how climate policy instruments such as a cap-and-trade scheme or a carbon tax work, and reflect upon advantages and disadvantages compared to other policy instruments.
  • Discuss the responsibility of individuals versus governments when it comes to solving the climate problem.