Overview

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This course is designed for the next generation of policy-makers, sustainability consultants or professionals and students from various fields who want an overview of climate change mitigation strategies in industry and electricity generation and apply them to their own projects.

This course covers a wide variety of topics in the industry and electricity generation domains, from the current situation to the challenging mission of becoming climate-neutral. Specifically:

Industry - You will learn about types and sources of industrial emissions. You will also learn about the existing technological options, methodologies and tools to mitigate emissions (mainly GHG) inside and outside the boundaries of the industrial plant.
Electricity generation - you will learn what the options are for climate-neutral electricity and review the strategies for dealing with the variability of renewable energy, as well as how energy system modeling is used to devise plans and policies for the energy transition.

The course includes videos, examples, interviews with experts, exercises and quizzes so that you can master and practice what you have learnt and explore mitigation strategies through real life examples. Enriched by relevant readings and discussion forums, this course will let you dive deeper into specific areas of interest you might have and further facilitate your learning experience.

Course material and exercises will be complemented by relevant content about policy, through which you will also discover current measures taken by governments world-wide.

Syllabus

The course is organized across four units:

1. Industrial sector contribution to GHG emissions and mitigation measures

In the first week of the course, you will examine the role of industry as source of emissions. You will discuss the metrics and indicators that can be used to monitor GHG emissions, and will come to understand the role of different mitigation options inside the boundaries of the industrial plant.

The content is split into six modules:

Industrial sources of emissions and main mitigation options
Gas, solid and liquid waste
Energy and material consumption and CO2 emissions
Heat integration
Renewable sources
Carbon capture, utilization and storage

2. System thinking in the industrial sector

In week two you will explore the main methodologies and tools that are currently used to evaluate and motivate climate change mitigation options beyond the boundaries of a single company. You will see that these measures have not only benefits, but also trade-offs.

The content is split into four modules:

Industrial Ecology and system thinking
Environmental life cycle assessment
Governance of integrated energy systems
Trade-offs, synergies and industry 4.0

3. Climate-neutral electricity: the pivotal role of renewables

In week three you will focus on climate-neutral electricity, especially renewables: wind, solar, water. These technologies are likely to form the backbone of any climate-neutral energy system, but you will also discuss them in the context of other options. The five modules are:

How the electricity grid works
Quantifying renewables costs
Quantifying renewables variability
Quantifying renewables resources
Other climate-neutral electricity technologies

4. Managing renewable variability and planning the energy transition

In the fourth and final week you will first systematically explore the available options for dealing with the variability of renewable electricity generation, before zooming out and looking at the role of energy system models in quantifying the trade-offs between different options and guiding policy and planning. The five modules are:

Designing for variability 1: Geographical balancing
Designing for variability 2: Storage
Designing for variability 3: Demand response and dispatchable supply
Examining trade-offs between different options: energy system models
Case study: Designing options for the energy transition