ENS480 Special Topics in Engineering and Natural Sciences:Energy...

 ENS 480  

Special Topics in Engineering and Natural Sciences  

Energy: Supply Chain, Economics and Geopolitics 

 

Course Syllabus

Fall 2012-2013

Course Description

This introductory course on “energy” is composed of two parts. The first part (taught by Dr. Kaya and Dr. Şahin) considers the supply and distribution of energy and electricity, as well as the relevant market and decision processes. The second part (taught by Dr. Evin) focuses on energy geopolitics. The course aims to provide a big-picture view of energy supply chains to help students understand the interdependencies between technology, business, economics, environment and international politics regarding energy-related issues.

 Note that scientific and technological aspects of energy, which are covered in the FENS elective courses ENS 207 and ENS 315, are not at the core of this course.

 Instructors

Dr. Ahmet Evin     FASS 2105,    aevin@sabanciuniv.edu

Dr. Murat Kaya      FENS G020,  mkaya@sabanciuniv.edu

Dr. Güvenç Şahin   FENS 1108,    guvencs@sabanciuniv.edu

 Teaching Assistants

To be announced

Course Schedule

Tue, 13:40-16:30,   FENS  G032

Prerequisites

None

 Textbook and Reading Material

There is no main textbook for the course. Instead, we will use various reading material including book chapters, white papers and reports. Below, we list a number of sample reading material and resources. Additional readings will be posted at SUCourse from time to time.

 

• Sustainable energy without the hot air. D. J. MacKay. Free pdf book available athttp://www.withouthotair.com/
• The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power. D. Yergin. 2009.
• Decision Making under Uncertainty in Electricity Markets. A. J. Conejo, M. Carrion, J. M. Morales. Springer, 2010.
• IEA World Energy Outlook Report
  • http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/
  • US Energy Information Administration
    • http://www.eia.gov/
    • Note on Energy. Stanford Graduate School of Business, 2008.
    • The Global Politics of Energy. Campbell and Price.
    • EIA (DOE) International Energy Outlook 2010http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/pdf/0484%282010%29.pdf
    • ExxonMobil “The Outlook for Energy A View to 2030”http://www.exxonmobil.com/corporate/files/news_pub_eo_2009.pdf
    • Royal Dutch Shell “Shell energy scenarios to 2050” http://www-static.shell.com/static/public/downloads/brochures/corporate_pkg/scenarios/shell_energy_scenarios_2050.pdf
      • Ahmet O. Evin, Energy and Turkey’s Neighborhood: Post Soviet Transformations and Transatlantic Interests 

Tentative Course Outline

Week #	Date	Topics
1	Sep 25th	Introduction & Energy fundamentals Course outline and policies. The big picture: Energy, environment and politics. Energy fundamentals (by Dr. Serhat Yeşilyurt): What is energy? Physics of energy. Conservation of energy. Potential, kinetic, heat energies etc.
2	Oct 2nd	Energy demand  (Dr. Şahin) Energy usage in daily life. Transportation, heating/cooling, lighting, appliances, manufacturing, agriculture etc. Measuring energy use. Energy efficiency. Energy content of products. Historical trends and future projections.
3-4	Oct 9th-16th	Energy supply (Dr. Kaya) Traditional fossil fuels: Oil, natural gas, coal. Renewables: Hydro, wind, solar, geothermal. Nuclear energy Characteristics, worldwide distribution, related technology, relative advantages and disadvantages of each source. Environmental impact. Investment issues, risks. Historical usage trends, future projections.
5	Oct 30th	Electricity (Dr. Şahin) Physics of electricity: Voltage, resistance, AC/DC etc. Production: Technology for each primary energy source. Investment and production costs. Intermittency issues. Environmental effects. Distribution network: Physical network components. Network operation. State of affairs in Turkey. History and trends. Plant types. Distribution issues.
6	Nov 6th	Electricity markets (Dr. Şahin) Market operation. Determination of prices. Producer, retailer and consumer problems. Risk and incentive issues. Decision support tools. Situation in Turkey: Privatization, deregulation.
7	Nov 13th	Oil and natural gas in detail (Dr. Kaya) Importance and history. Oil: Exploration, extraction, refining (different products), transportation, distribution processes. Global reserves and production. Natural gas: Reserves, pipelines, LNG. Market and contracts. Shale gas. Decision problems in oil & gas industry
8	Nov 20th	Energy security (Dr. Evin)
9	Nov 27th	Turkey & Its neighbors (Dr. Evin) Middle East & North Africa, rentier states, resource curse
10	Dec 4th	Turkey & Its neighbors (Dr. Evin) Russia & Euroasia
11	Dec 11th	EU energy policies (Dr. Evin)
12	Dec 18th	Energy policies and regulatory environment in Turkey (Dr. Evin)
13	Dec 25th	Energy industry in Turkey (Panel with guest speakers) Industry players, companies. Historical perspective and future predictions. Career opportunities and required skills. Guest speakers from Energy companies.

Grading

Notes on Grading

• Written assignments may require reading assigned material and conducting web research.
• Late assignment submissions are not accepted.
• Assignments should be prepared in handwriting; typewritten printed material and/or submissions through e-mails are not accepted.
• The lowest graded assignment for each student will be dropped from consideration.
• Quizzes will not be announced in advance; they may be related to the assignment material or topics covered on the same day.
• The lowest graded quiz for each student will be dropped from consideration.

Attendance Policy

• Attendance to lectures is mandatory and will be recorded through quiz attendance.
• Attendance records start with the first lecture. This is also the case for students who “add” the course during the add-drop period.
• The attendance policy is as follows (a lecture is defined as the three-hour class meeting):
  • missing up to 2 lectures: OK, no need for explanation
  • missing 3 or more lectures: direct effect on course grade
  • missing a high number of lectures: failure in the course
• Please email the TAs if you will miss (or have missed) a class session with a valid reason. The TAs will keep track of the attendance records.

Make-up Examination Policy

• There will be a single make-up exam that will be conducted after the final exam.  Any student who misses the midterms or the final exam will take this exam.
• Subject coverage will be the same as the final exam.
• A student who wants to take the make-up exam needs to document the reason to miss the regular exam (such as sickness or official appointment) and inform the instructors immediately before/after missing the regular exam.

Other Notes

• The instructors may have to make modifications in the syllabus due to unforeseen reasons.  Students are responsible for such modifications that will be announced in lectures and/or in SuCourse.
• There will not be any “extra” opportunity, e.g. an extra project work or assignment, to increase an individual student’s course grade.
• Students are responsible from all quizzes and assignments even if they enroll in the course during the add-drop period.