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REM 350-4: Sustainable Energy and Materials Management
Course Outline: Spring 2016
Instructor: Mark Jaccard
Tel. 778 782 4219
Resource and Environmental Management
http://rem-main.rem.sfu.ca:5000/fbsharing/y4dArGN2
Course objective & content
The course takes an interdisciplinary approach to providing students from diverse backgrounds with an
understanding of:
• how humans are disrupting the planet’s energy and material flows;
• our thermodynamic, geological and biological options for reducing this disruption;
• the environmental, economic and social implications of pursuing these options; and
• helpful institutional and governmental changes at local, national, and global levels.
Class Format
Lectures are Tuesday 1:30-2:20 and Thursday 12:30-2:20. There is a 1-hour tutorial.
Prerequisites
45 credit hours or permission of instructor.
Student Evaluation
Best 3 of 4 surprise quizzes (each worth 5%)
Mid-term
Final exam
Tutorial participation (automatic 0 if miss 3 classes)
15%
30%
40%
15%
Representative questions explored in the course
Can current or even substantially higher human-related flows of energy and materials be sustainable?
Can non-renewable resource use be part of a sustainable energy and material system?
Is energy return on energy invested a useful concept?
Is peak oil an important concept?
Is peak phosphorous an important concept?
Is energy efficiency cheap?
How do we define behavioral changes for sustainability and what is this potential?
How do we compare / trade-off between renewables, nuclear and carbon capture & storage?
How do we evaluate alternative policies for sustainability?
Should policies be technology-neutral?
What institutions and policy processes are needed for rapidly scaling-up renewables?
Is carbon neutrality a useful target and are offsets a useful policy contribution?
How do we assess geo-engineering as an option for addressing the climate change risk?
How can we achieve the necessary global effort against the climate risk?
What mechanisms within and between nations can rapidly provide energy access to 2 billion people?
What is economic growth and can it be sustained indefinitely?
Can international trade be sustainable?
How can research into human psychology help with policy design?
What role, if any, for civil activism in advancing sustainability?
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Approximate Course Schedule
This table provides an approximate course schedule and reading list. (SFF = Sustainable Fossil Fuels)
Week
1
Jan 5/7
2
Jan 12/14
3
Jan 19/21
4
Jan 26/28
5
Feb 2/4
6
Feb 9/11
7
Feb 16/18
Topic
Intro to course / Key concepts
Readings
Cleveland & Kaufman, Economist
Comment
No tutorials
Resources & uses
Heal, Jaccard (ch1-SFF)
No tutorials
Resources & use / Defining &
measuring sustainability
Defining & measuring
sustainability / Technologies &
systems
Technologies & systems
Daly (on G-R), Ayres (on G-R)
Ayres (Substitution),
Elser&Bennett
No classes
Reading break
Technologies & systems /
Economics & pricing
Jaccard (UNESCO Encyclopedia),
8
Feb 23/25
9
Mar 1/3
10
Mar 8/10
Economics & pricing
Jaccard (EnEffic),
Jaccard (ch8-Renewables)
Jaccard (ch7-CarbonNeutral),
11
Mar 15/17
Global climate action / Global
energy access
Additional readings may be
assigned for the final weeks.
12
Mar 22/24
Global energy access / Behavior
& sustainability
Mooney, Rees, Jaccard (ch9-SFF),
Jaccard (ch6-BehavioralChange)
13
Mar 29/31
14
Apr 5/7
Behavior & sustainability
Economics & pricing /
Sustainability policies
Sustainability policies / Global
climate action
Final review & conclusions
Final exam: April 22 8:30-11:30
Jaccard (ch8-SFF), Bertram et al,
Axsen
No tutorials
Mid-term
Mar 8