Energy Principles and Renewable Energy

Heads up! This course may be archived and/or unavailable.

This course is a part of Sustainable Energy, a 5-course MicroMasters series from edX.

This course addresses the important global issue of transitioning to a sustainable energy future.

The course covers: basic energy concepts and terms; energy systems; the challenge of fossil-fuel greenhouse gas emissions from power generation; and describes and evaluates a range of renewable energy technologies. Renewable energy technologies analysed include: bioenergy, geothermal, solar, wind power, hydropower and ocean power.

This course is part of the Sustainable Energy MicroMasters series. You may take the course as a single course or complete all four courses in the series.

There are two enrolment options: verified enrolment and audit enrolment.We recommend that you enrol in the Audit enrolment track first. If you wish to complete the assessment tasks with the aim to achieve at least 70% in the final grade and a course certificate, you must upgrade to the Verified enrolment track and pay the Verified enrolment fee within the first five weeks from when the course opened. If you miss the Verified enrolment upgraded deadline you can continue with the course as an Audit learner and enrol as a Verified learner in the next run of the course (and complete the assessment tasks then). you enrol as a verified learner and successfully complete all four courses you will qualify for the Sustainable Energy MicroMasters credential.

A Sustainable Energy MicroMasters credential is worthwhile in itself, but, if you wish to continue your studies, the Sustainable Energy MicroMasters credential could be used towards studying the Master of Sustainable Energy at The University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.

Learners who choose to enrol as verified and pay the enrolment fee, will be required to write an assignment, and achieve an overall passing grade of 70% or above in order to receive the downloadable verified certificate.

The final examination is timed and has a weight of 30%. The written paper has a weight of 50%, is submitted to Turnitin, a text-matching software, and is instructor-marked.

If you enrol in the audit track, you will have access to all the videos and other resources while the course is open, but you will not have access to the graded assessment tasks. In addition, audit participants will not be eligible to receive a course certificate upon completion of the course.

Both enrolment tracks are valuable. However, if you decide to enrol in the Verified enrolment track, please ensure you will be able to write a Masters level paper.

Plagiarism and cheating, including (i) copying and pasting text from other sources and (ii) using information from other sources without full and compliant referencing, will result in a grade of zero.

This course runs multiple times throughout the year.

What you'll learn

• Ability to perform simple mathematical operations.
• Advanced English language skills.
• The language of energy
• The challenges involved in providing sustainable energy supply
• Key scientific principles that underpin energy systems
• The basics of a number of available renewable energy options
• The role of energy storage