Energetic and Natural Resources
Code: 106785 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2504604 Environmental Sciences | OB | 2 |
Contact
- Name:
- Daniel Campos Moreno
- Email:
- daniel.campos@uab.cat
Teachers
- Joan Escuer Solé
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
In order to follow and integrate properly the contents of this course it will be necessary to have taken (and passed, preferably) previously the courses of 'Fonaments de Física', 'Fonaments de Geologia' i 'Fonaments de Química'.
Objectives and Contextualisation
This course should provide the students the ability to assess and quantify the main sources of natural resources that human beings have available to develop their basic functions and/or their economic activities (in particular the transofrmation and production of energy), and up to what extent such resources are being used and/or overexploited nowadays in our society.
Likewise, the course will introduce the main processes used for extracting and processing such resources, and what is their expected evolution for the following decades (in particular within the context of the energy transition). It will also provide the students with tools to quantify and assess critically the physic, energetic, economic end environmental costs/impacts associated to such uses and processes.
Learning Outcomes
- CM46 (Competence) Contrast the different current and future options for environmental risk management, especially in the context of resource management, human health, and global and climate change.
- KM57 (Knowledge) Identify the complex network of knowledge necessary to comprehensively address the main contemporary challenges in environmental science.
- KM60 (Knowledge) Compare the political, social and cultural dimensions of the development of science and technology at different historical stages, as well as their impact on the environment and on the human condition.
- KM62 (Knowledge) Identify the main concepts and technologies involved in the management of natural and energy resources, as well as their distribution and consumption.
- SM55 (Skill) Integrate different types of scientific, technological and social knowledge necessary for the in-depth analysis of environmental processes related to human health, climate change, and environmental management in companies, among others.
- SM56 (Skill) Identify the main threats associated with the use of the natural environment and their corresponding restoration mechanisms on a local and territorial scale.
Content
1. Introduction: the global problem of the finiteness of energy and natural resources
2. The exploitation and consumption of resources in our society
3. Transport and distribution of energy in the current models
4. Fossil fuels
5. Extraction and management of nuclear fuels
6. Geothermal resources
7. Hydrolectric resources
8. Eolic resources
9. The energy from the Sun
10. Storage and recovery/reutilization of resources and energy
11. Future scenarios: the energy transition
12. Case studies
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Gamified activities in the classroom | 8 | 0.32 | CM46, KM57, KM60, KM62, SM55, SM56 |
| In-class lectures | 38 | 1.52 | KM57, KM62, SM55, SM56 |
| Visits to UAB Campus facilities related to energy efficiency | 2 | 0.08 | KM62, SM55, SM56 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Autonomous work | 86 | 3.44 | CM46, KM57, KM60, KM62, SM55, SM56 |
| Tutorials | 10 | 0.4 | CM46, KM57, KM60, KM62, SM55, SM56 |
The course includes 38 teaching hours of theory (including both lectures and practical demonstrations in the classroom), 8 teaching hours of seminars (where two interactive and cooperative activities will be developed, based on role-playing and serious games methodologies, to reproduce different case studies related to the management of natural resources and energy) and 2 teaching hours of external visits to several facilities avaiilable at the UAB Campus related to the consumption and management of energy in the university.
Additionally, the course includes a certain number of hours devoted to personal study (which includes both theoretical study and consultation of sources through the Internet and/or other channels), plus those hours that the students will need to prepare the different assigments during the course.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st partial exam | 35/100 | 2 | 0.08 | CM46, KM60, SM55 |
| 2nd partial exam | 35/100 | 2 | 0.08 | CM46, KM60, SM55 |
| Gamified activities in the classroom | 30/100 | 2 | 0.08 | CM46, KM57, KM60, KM62, SM55, SM56 |
i) The evaluation of the course will include two independent partial exams covering each a part of the contents of the course, each representing a weight of 35% over the final grade.
ii) Additionally, there will be two interactive and cooperative activities in group based on a role-playing games (to be developed during the last 3/4 weeks of the semester) based on practical case studies/projects. These activities will involve several assignments and/or oral presentations that will represent globally a 30% of the final grade, and will imply compulsory attendance to all the sessions where the activitites are developed.
iii) Finally, as a part of the evaluation of the course, the attendance to the external visits included in the course program will give the student the right to present an assignement that will increase the final grade of the course up to 0,5 points.
To pass the course the student will have to:
i) Get a minimum average grade of 5 (over 10).
ii) Get a minimum grade of 3,5 (over 10) in each of the three main evaluation activities (the two partial exams and the interactive activitites). In case this requirement is not fullfilled the final grade that will appear in the expedient will be (i) the average grade in case it is below 4,5, (ii) 4,5 in case it is above this value.
It will be considered that a student will obtain the qualification of "Not Assessable" if does not present the assignments (tassignments andor oral presentation during the interactive activities), and/or does not appear in any partial exam.
Retake:
i) Those students that have attended a minimum part of the evaluation activites (corresponding at least to 2/3 of the final grade) but do not get the minimum grade to pass the course, or that want to improve their grades, have the option of a retake exam that will be independent for each partial.
ii) The interactive activities, as well as all assignments in the course, will not have a retake option.
Given the characteristics of some of its evaluation activities, this course does not offer the option of a Unique-Assignment evaluation.
Bibliography
Books
V. Ruiz. El Reto Energético. Almuzara, 2013 (2a ed).
J. González-Velasco. Energías Renovables. Reverté, 2005.
C. Riba Romeva. Recursos Energètics i crisi. Octaedro, 2012.
D. Yergin. The New Map: Energy, Climate and the Clash of Nations. Penguin Books, 2021
R.L. Jaffe and W. Taylor. The Physics of Energy. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2018
D.J.C. Mackay. Sustainable Energy: Without the Hot Air. (https://www.withouthotair.com/)
B. Cassoret. Energy Transition. Taylor & Francis, 2021.
IEA Reports
World Energy Outlook. https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2023
The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions. https://www.iea.org/reports/the-role-of-critical-minerals-in-clean-energy-transitions
Clean Energy Transitions Programme 2022. https://www.iea.org/reports/clean-energy-transitions-programme-2022
Technology Innovation to Accelerate Energy Transitions. https://www.iea.org/reports/technology-innovation-to-accelerate-energy-transitions
World Energy Investment 2023. https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-investment-2023
Global EV Outlook 2023. https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2023
Renewable Energy Policies in a Time of Transition. https://www.iea.org/reports/renewable-energy-policies-in-a-time-of-transition
Recommendations of the Global Commission on People-Centred Clean Energy Transitions. https://www.iea.org/reports/recommendations-of-the-global-commission-on-people-centred-clean-energy-transitions
IRENA Reports
Critical Materials For The Energy Transition. https://www.irena.org/Technical-Papers/Critical-Materials-For-The-Energy-Transition
Managing Seasonal and Interannual Variability of Renewables. https://www.iea.org/reports/managing-seasonal-and-interannual-variability-of-renewables
Financing clean energy transitions in emerging and developing economies. https://www.iea.org/reports/financing-clean-energy-transitions-in-emerging-and-developing-economies
Smart Electrification with Renewables. https://www.irena.org/Publications/2022/Feb/Smart-Electrification-with-Renewables
Innovation landscape for smart electrification. https://www.irena.org/Publications/2023/Jun/Innovation-landscape-for-smart-electrification
Innovation landscape for a renewable-powered future. https://www.irena.org/publications/2019/Feb/Innovation-landscape-for-a-renewable-powered-future
Community-Ownership Models. https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2020/Jul/IRENA_Community_ownership_2020.pdf?la=en&hash=A14542D0C95F608026457B42001483B9B82D1828
Capturing Carbon. https://www.irena.org/Technical-Papers/Capturing-Carbon
Scenarios for the Energy Transition. https://www.irena.org/publications/2020/Sep/Scenarios-for-the-Energy-Transition-Global-experience-and-best-practices
Other Reports
IPCC. Mitigation of Climate Change 2022. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/
World Energy Council: Five Steps to Energy Storage. https://www.worldenergy.org/assets/downloads/Five_steps_to_energy_storage_v301.pdf
Technical support for RES policy development and implementation. https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/949ddae8-0674-11ee-b12e-01aa75ed71a1
EEA: Energy Prosumers in Europe. https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/the-role-of-prosumers-of
Carbon dioxide removal: Nature-based and technological solutions. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EPRS_BRI(2021)689336
Recursos online
Demanda Red Eléctrica Española. https://demanda.ree.es/visiona/home
Global Wind Atlas. https://globalwindatlas.info/en
European Wind Atlas. https://map.neweuropeanwindatlas.eu/
Photovoltaic Geographical Information System. https://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvg_tools/en/
Global Solar Atlas. https://globalsolaratlas.info/map
Energy Transition Model. https://energytransitionmodel.com/
De l’Euro al Joule. https://www.eur2j.cat
Central Gorona del Viento. https://www.goronadelviento.es/
Web d’Energia de la UAB. https://www.uab.cat/web/energia-1345825228693.html
Software
Excel
Language list
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (SEM) Seminars | 1 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (SEM) Seminars | 2 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (SEM) Seminars | 3 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (SEM) Seminars | 4 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 1 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |