Content: The big picture of transition to renewable energy

Study materials: In this session we put aside deconstruction and analysis, zoom out to the sheer complexity of our energy transition and approach it as a system. System thinking is hard. In particular because most of us were conditioned to make sense of complex issues via breaking them down into individual parts (that is what "analysis" means, right?). We therefore start with this introductory video on systems thinking. After watching it, try to apply this perspective on what you have learned so far and synthetize it into a system perspective.

Next, learn about leverages. Leverages are points at which systems are susceptible to change. In other words, certain type of change in/of the system requires certain type of action directed at certain (leverage) point in the system. More on leverages can be found in this accessible video or, if you want to get serious about systems thinking (and you probably should given your choice of study program), read this overview by Dana Meadows, one of the leading figures to develop systems thinking in the 1970s. Her writing style is very talkative and she makes no effort to hide her political views so you can treat the text as an interesting field trip outside of what we now consider academic writing.

Next, systems thinking is not only about introducing changes in systems but also about controlling unintended consequences these changes bring along. Get the idea by watching either this short, single-case video or this more elaborated TED talk by Edward Tenner.

Finally, see systems thinking in practice in the EU's draft plan to implement the European Green Deal (the executive summary should suffice).

Get ready: What we going to do with renewable energy will be largely determined by where we set the boundaries of the system that we want to change, and how far do we want the change to go. That is, will we end up simply replacing fossil fuels with RES within the same structure or are we going to climb higher on Meadows' ladder and change the rules or the goals of the system or even the mindset behind it?