Main topic: How has energy abundance contributed to the formation of our civilization?

Overarching theme: Rise and fall of complex societies.

Outline: What are our energy needs? How did they develop over time? What defines our contemporary "energy-intensive societies"?

Sources: First, get some context. Check this short video from the Crash Course World History on humans and energy. Then you can dive directly into the main topic. This text by Taylor and Tainter could be your gateway into the fascinating topic of how societies grow more complex and what has energy to do with it. You can then use wiki, google or google scholar to learn more about the bits you find interesting. In any case, make sure you understand what is "complexity" and what is it that makes our society complex.

Get ready: Check the electrical appliances you have at home. What is their rated power (in kilowatts, kW)? How much power do they have in total?

Main topic: Oil crises of the 1970s and their political and economic consequences.

Overarching theme: Decolonization and the power struggles between the FIrst, Second and Third Worlds.

Outline: What happened during the 1970s oil crises? How did they affect the main actors? And what were the consequences for the bystanders?

Sources: This session's contextual video on decolonization is again provided by the people behind the Crash Course World History. Right after that, check this brief refresh about international trade and think about the situation of the newly independent countries. How would you steer their economies if you were in charge? How would you connect them to the world economy? Then you can move on to the 1973 crisis wiki wrap-up. Finally, read this paper by Giuliano Garavini who makes a convincing case for the crisis being a manifestation of the politico-economic struggles between the global North and South.

Get ready: Read more on economic development. What is it? How can you achieve it? How does it relate to international relations?

Main topic: Developing countries and climate change. 

Overarching theme: Uneven regional distribution of the costs and impacts of climate change.

Outline: Discussion of the capacity of developing countries to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Analysis of the problem of global energy and climate justice. Illustration of these issues using sub-Saharan Africa as an example. 

Sources: Watch an interesting TED video discussing some of the energy dilemmas in the region. Further details on the situation can be found in this BBC article. For a more graphic picture, see the IEA Africa Energy Outlook 2021 analysis (just Key findings). 

Get ready: Think about the extent to which it is both ethically right and politically acceptable to require developing countries to exercise frugality in the use of fossil fuels on which developed countries have built their wealth. 

Main topic: The macro-economic consequences of volume-significant export of energy commodities.

Overarching theme: Government legitimacy.

Outline: The challenges associated with oil revenues in the perspectives of industrialized countries, developing countries with stable institutions and developing countries with fragile institutional framework.

Sources: You can start with an illustration of some of the challenges associated with oil revenues: poor governance and rent seeking. After getting the initial idea, it can be useful to give a thought to what is legitimacy and how can it be compromised in fragile situations.  The problems triggered by excessive oil revenues are not confined to state building and governance, though. There are negative (mostly economical) effects that plague developed countries with stable institutions too. Have a look at this comprehensive literature review by Ramez Badeeb et al.  who provide a great account of the evolution of our understanding of the "resource course" concept. While the whole paper is interesting and relevant, make sure that you understand the hypothesized mechanisms of the resource course effects covered in section 4. Additional google searches might be needed.

Get ready: Read more about legitimacy - what is it?  How does it come to being and how is it maintained?

Presentation:

Main topic: Lack of access to modern energy systems or limited affordability of energy as a societal problem.

Overarching theme: Government subsidies and the role of state in energy supply.

Outline: What is energy poverty? How does it affect people in developing and developed countries? What can we do about it?

Sources: Energy poverty is one of the biggest challenges for human development and well being. Let's get directly into that. This video illustrates the causes, manifestations and effects of energy poverty in the developed countries, in our case the EU. For the developing countries, there is this brief yet highly informative note by Bill Gates. And if you do not despise celebrity activism, go ahead and watch this account of energy poverty in Kenya featuring the UNEP Goodwill Ambassador Gisele Bündchen. Finally, a structured and data-rich source can be found in Mikel-Gonzáles Eguino's energy poverty overview.

Get ready: How does energy poverty affect economic development? What can governments do about it?

Main topic: The German Energiewende - the decarbonization of the energy sector of an industrial and export-oriented country.

Overarching theme: The complexity of the energy transition. 

Outline: Analysis of the Energiewende, its strengths, and weaknesses. At a more general level a debate on the basic problem of decarbonization - how to ensure that government policies lead to the desired results and what to do if these policies fail.

Sources: The historical development of German energy policy is described by Hake et al.  The topical questions related to the Energiewende are discussed in the Redefining energy podcast. To get a better idea of the transformation so far and the current state of the German energy sector the Fraunhofer Institute's website is useful. Of particular note is the transformation of the generation portfolio linked to the development of renewable energy sources (Power and Energy links).  

Get ready: Should countries proceed slowly, evolutionarily, and use less invasive instruments in decarbonization, or should they opt for vigorous, forceful, and fast instruments? Why? 

Main topic: The shift away from coal, illustrated by the example of Poland

Overarching theme: Can and should the energy transition be fair? 

Outline: We start with a description of the situation in Poland, a country that is dependent on coal and for which its reduction is an economic, technical, and socio-cultural problem. This will be followed by a more general discussion of how the costs and benefits of energy transition should be distributed and whether the interests of fossil fuel producers should be taken into account in addressing climate issues. 

Sources: The debate between coal divestment advocates and the coal miners themselves is well illustrated in this video. The socio-cultural aspects of coal in Poland are then discussed by Kuchler and Bridge. 

Think about: In the context of fossil fuel divestment, how should we view the companies that operate in this sector? And their employees? Is it fair to compensate them with public money? Is it fair not to compensate them when their business is being wiped out by a political decision? 

Main topic: What is the future of low carbon transportation? 

Outline: Unlike the electricity sector, transport is very resistant to change. In this lecture we will discuss the various issues related to the transition to low-carbon transport, focusing primarily on material and socio-cultural barriers. 

Sources: First,  the basics: Is it environmentally friendly to decarbonize transport by electrifying it? The answer is yes, even when taking into account the entire production cycle of transport vehicles, typically cars, and taking into account the resource base for electricity generation. Good. Now the question is, which form of electrification should we choose - batteries or hydrogen-powered fuel cells? This may not be so clear, but the technological head start, the sheer amount of investment and the considerably simpler and more efficient supply chain now tend to favor battery-powered cars, with the role of hydrogen technology remaining more promising in other areas such as freight or air and marine transport (you can skip the first five minutes of the video as you already know these things from the previous one). But that doesn't mean the end of history for battery-powered passenger cars. Battery design, sourcing precious raw materials or battery after-life are all intensively addressed issues. The essential information about raw materials sourcing (challenges) and recycling options can be found in this longer video by Real Engineering and this video by Matt Ferrell.

OK, but transportation is not just about the means of transport. It's a complex socio-technical system in which cultural patterns play as important a role as economic or technical variables. Without a detailed understanding of all features of this system, decarbonizing transport will not be achievable. An illustration of the complex perspective on individual transport is provided by Giulio Mattioli et al.

Get ready: 

(1) What does individual car transport mean to you? How does it shape your or your family's everyday life? How does your family perceive "the car"? What patterns of meaning are associated with it?

(2) Electrification of transport vehicles is just one way in which the carbon footprint of transport can be reduced. What else can you think of? What challenges and problems, but also benefits (for whom?) are associated with it?

Main topic: Redistribution of costs and benefits across the global energy landscape

Context: Complex systems, change and unintended consequences

Outline: What impacts will the development of renewables and decarbonization bring to countries' economies? What political and geopolitical implications will these impacts have? What measures are countries taking to strengthen the positive effects and mitigate the negative ones?

Sources: The question of the impacts of the energy transition is as complicated as the transition itself. Fortunately, there is a summary text from IRENA (pages 26-62) that presents the main levels of the issue. Then listen to Antony Funnell's podcast on ABC Radio to learn a few additional things and get the contextualized.

Get ready: What advice would you give to the government of your country on adapting to the impacts of energy transition?

Main topic: The role of energy resources against the background of Russia's war against Ukraine.

Overarching theme: Trade in energy raw materials as a factor in the diplomatic and security thinking of Russia and the EU.

Outline: Analysis of the energy plans and actions of the EU, Russia, and Ukraine before and during the war. Russia's use of energy resources as a means of pressure, EU efforts to deal with this pressure. 

Sources: Siddi, M.(2018): The Role of Power in EU–Russia Energy Relations: The Interplay between Markets and Geopolitics, Europe-Asia Studies. 

Main topic: The EU reaction to the Russia-Ukraine war.

Overarching theme: The EU's ability to secure energy supplies for the economy and households, especially in the context of ongoing decarbonisation. 

Outline: The EU's pre-war efforts to ensure energy security, whether through market or strategic instruments. The immediate reaction to the war, the conflict between the long-term efforts to decarbonise and the possible return to the use of domestic energy sources. EU energy perspectives. 

Sources: Falkner, R.(2023): Weaponised Energy and Climate Change: Assessing Europe´s Response to the Ukraine War, https://ppr.lse.ac.uk/articles/10.31389/lseppr.78

In the final session, we will address the students’ questions and suggested discussion topics.