Energy Policy of the EU and Alternative Energy Sources

obligatory courses

Classroom

The lectures are dealing with one of the crucial global issues. The changeable world is standing in front of the major challenges in the form of quick disappearance of fossil fuels. Lack of them can have even major consequences to the global security system.

Amongst the global challenges the question of the energy sources is probably the hottest one. There is growing awareness that traditional fossil fuels (oil, gas, to a less extend coal) are quickly starting to shrink and in a short term could even totally disappear. This lecture has the aim to include this crucial issue into the consciousness of the attending students, and allow them to realize how the new methods and tools in this respect are implemented, especially that the EU is here one of the global leaders. While in Poland the issue is less known outside a small expert circles, and - what more - is ideologically biased in and treated with many prejudice in wide media and public discourse. Thus, the second cardinal goal of the lecture is to spread the knowledge among the students of the European studies course, especially that the European institutions are recently so much focused on those issues. Finally, participants of the course, starting from the wide material available, hopefully should pay some more attention to the issue of global challenges and be ready to make comparisons how the major players, like the S (shale gas is the issue there), China (not only one of the leaders in solar and wind energy, but also a main power in rare earth) or Japan (atom energy) are dealing with hose challenges and shaping their energy landscape and programs. Poland is localized only in this wider respect.

The Lecture is divided into three chapters and 15 detailed items the following way:

I. The Sources

1/2 Globalization and global challenges; categories and types

3/4 History of fossil fuels and their use

5/6 Emerging Markets and the fossil fuels use

7/8 Climate-energy package of the EU

II. The types of alternative energy sources

9. Solar energy

10. Wind energy

11. Water and hydrogen energy

12. Bio-fuels

13. Atomic energy and energy security

III. The Effects and Possibilities

14. New Technologies: rare earth, electric cars, photosynthesis etc.

15. Energy and the global system of security

Students obligations/workload:

- Lecture - 15 h

- Preparing for Lecture - 30 h

- Preparing for the Exam - 15 h

- In all - 60 h

Alternative Energies - http://www.alternative-energies.net/

SaveEnergy.com - www.saveenergy.com

Alternative Energy - www.altenergy.org

Alternative Energy Sources - www.alternativeenergysources.org

1. Jonathan Cowe, ""Zmiany klimatyczne. Przyczyny, przebieg i skutki dla człowieka" (oryginał: "Climate Chane. Biological and HumanAspects"), Warszawa 2009.

2. Anthony Giddens, "Klimatyczna katastrofa" (oryginał: "The Politics of Climate Change), Warszawa 2010.

3. Sascha Müller-Kraenner, "Energy Security", London 2008.

4. Jeremy Rifkin "Trzecia rewolucja przemysowa" (orygina "The Third Industrial Revolution"), Katowice 2012.

After the lecture, the student has to:

IN KNOWLEDGE

- know, how dangerous is further exploitation of fossil fules, and that some of them are already on the verge of extinctuion;

- understand the reasons and dynamics of climate change;

- be conscious that the humnankind is on threshold of another civilizational shift, with squandering of traditional resources and need to search for new solutions in energy productuion;

- realize the energy security issues, coming out from climate chaneg and environmental degradation;

- realize, that the EU, current leader in promotion of alternative energy sources, should remain an innovative leader on the global scale.

QUALIFICATIONS

- be ready to identify the new energy sources, characterize them and show advantages and disadventages of them;

- know which new technology is helpful in promotion and development of alternative energy sources;

- show, which technology is helpfukl to save energy.

ATTITUDE

- independently judge, what does it mean the cl;imate change;

- be ready to asses individually, without ant prejudice or emotion, wehat is climate change, environmental pollution, and energy security in current globalization era.

Written exam. Source: Material presented during the lecture.