2024-2025 / ENVT3065-2

Sustainability challenges, Partim 1 - Les enjeux climat et énergie

Duration

16h Th, 16h Pr

Number of credits

 Master in geography, global change, research focus3 crédits 
 Master in geography : general, teaching focus3 crédits 
 Master in geography, general, professional focus in urban and regional planning3 crédits 

Lecturer

Bertrand Cornélusse, Xavier Fettweis

Language(s) of instruction

English language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

The impact of our development model on the environment and our society is increasingly becoming evident. The transition actions to be taken are urgent and require a systemic approach, combining the skills of many disciplines. In this perspective, the course aims to specify:




  • what are sustainable development and the associated issues;
  • the stakes of sustainable development concerning energy and climate as well as its imbrication with our economy;
  • Climate Change and its consequences (on the renewable energies);
  • the dependence of our economy on fossil energy;
  • the possible energy savings;
  • if for a given region, exclusive use of renewable energies is possible;
  • how to compare energies? Introduction to the Energy Returned On Energy Invested (ERoEI), carbon footprint;

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

The main objective of this course is to develop students' critical thinking skills so that they can respond to sustainability issues in their future professional lives.


At the end of this course, students will have learned:




  • to define the concept of sustainable development;
  • to define the issues related to climate and energy problems
  • identify the problem, by nature transverse, to be treated;
  • Restate the current ecological and social context by objectifying it with factual data and relevant orders of magnitude;
  • adopt a critical approach to compare energy sources via the EROI, the carbon footprint and the possibility of basing its economy on the exclusive use of renewable energies;
  • take a critical look at the ICT;
  • understand the issues and possible ways to save energy, materials, etc.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

This course assumes basic disciplinary knowledge in mechanics and physics.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

The course is organized as weekly lab sessions to which attendance is mandatory, supervised by professors, teaching assistants, and teaching aids. Part of the work can also be done at home before the lab sessions.

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Face-to-face course


Further information:

The teaching is based on participative courses (wooclap, etc) and exercises through case studies (study of scientific articles, online scientific content, etc).

Course materials and recommended or required readings

See on ecampus.

 

Other sources:

The Mines de Paris online course on energy and climate change given by Jean-Marc Jancovici to civil engineers allows to deepen the notions but is neither mandatory nor required.


The IPCC and IEA reports and the scientific literature in the fields of Climate Change, energy and climate issues provide additional material. However, it is neither mandatory nor required

Exam(s) in session

Any session

- In-person

oral exam

Written work / report

Continuous assessment


Further information:

The evaluation of learning is mainly continuous. It is based on the following services:

  • Assignments (combining energy and climate issues for a given region)

Work placement(s)

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

Speakers (from the university or outside) who are experts in specific fields (the consequences of climate change, raw materials, etc.) will be invited. However, these speakers will be introduced within the course framework, and the course teachers will systematically make a synthesis. The objective is to keep a global coherence of the course.

Contacts

Teachers :

  • Bertrand Cornélusse
  • Xavier Fettweis

Association of one or more MOOCs