GV2EGR: Energy Resources

Module code: GV2EGR

Module provider: Geography and Environmental Science; School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science

Credits: 20

Level: Level 2 (Intermediate)

When you'll be taught: Semester 1

Module convenor: Professor Alan Howard, email: a.howard@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 12 September 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

The module explores past, present, and future social, environmental, health and political aspects of energy resource utilisation. The module aims to provide a holistic consideration of the role of different energy resources in the national, international, and global energy mix. The module will consider the role and impact of international agreements such as Kyoto 1997 and Paris 2015 on shaping energy policy. 

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to: 

1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the past, present and future importance of different energy resources to the energy mix of individual countries and globally. 
2. Demonstrate knowledge of, and objective reflection on, how energy resource issues incorporate social, political, and environmental factors. 
3. Demonstrate knowledge of, and objective reflection on, the objectives and impacts of energy policy and international agreements. 

Module content

Theme 1: Patterns of change in energy demand, production and policy.

• The rise and demise(?) of fossil fuels.
  • Oil and gas
    • Comprehensive knowledge of discovery, production, and consumption data globally and for selected countries from 1960s to present.
    • Peak oil theory: Hubbert’s curve. Predictions and reality.
    • Evidence for how long reliance on oil and gas will remain, including intended nationally determined contributions initially agreed for the Paris climate summit.
  • Coal
    • Trends in global and UK coal production, coal imports and employment.
    • Factors that led to the decline and death of British coal mining.
      • Post-1945 policy.
      • Energy diversification.
      • Political factors.
      • Environmental concerns.
    • Global reliance on coal – how long will this persist including data trends globally and for selected countries and evidence from intended nationally determined contributions initially agreed for the Paris climate summit.
• Energy policy and strategy.
  • UK energy policy history.
  • The energy trilemma.
    • decarbonise electricity generation;
    • ensure energy security; and
    • minimise the cost of electricity and energy to consumers.
  • Changing focus of UK policy.
    • Energy Act 2013, including electricity market reform and contracts for difference subsidy.
    • Recent policies including Net Zero and Road to Zero.
• Towards low carbon electricity generation.
  • Comprehensive knowledge based on data about renewables and nuclear in the energy mix for electricity generation, globally and for selected countries.
  • EU context and other drivers.
  • Developments in the UK:
    • Wind, solar, bioenergy.
    • Nuclear.
    • Microgeneration.
    • Hydro.
  • Energy efficiency and conservation.

Theme 2: Impacts of Energy

• Oil and conflict
  • Geopolitics and energy security. How oil, politics and conflict have been closely interlinked.
  • Examples of military and political conflict related to oil (and/or gas) from 1940s to present from lecture content, screencasts, and wider reading.
  • Energy crises 1973, 1979, 2021.
• Energy and disaster
  • Chernobyl case study.
  • Nuclear risk and accidents, including examples positioned on the international nuclear event scale (INES).
• Energy and public health
  • Leukaemia cancer clusters.
    • The Windscale discovery and subsequent enquiries and academic studies.
  • Impacts of burning fossil fuels.
• Energy and the environment
  • Environmental impact of energy resource utilisation.
  • International agreements: Kyoto, Paris, etc.

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

• Weekly in person class including delivery and discussion of core lecture content. 
• Use of supplementary screencast and other video materials to extend core content. 
• Setting independent learning tasks to actively engage students with the weekly topic, with follow-up discussion in class. 
• 1:1 appointments and feedforward and feedback sessions to actively engage students with the assessments. 

Study hours

At least 20 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Reassessment

Additional costs