Welcome to "Sustainable Energy Systems" at Dalarna University

Welcome to the "Sustainable Energy Systems" course. It is intended primarily for students taking the Master’s Programme in ESES. The Sustainable energy system course is 5 Credits and is planned from week 36 to 43.

Most of the lessons in this course will be taught at Campus Borlänge. Recorded material will mainly be used as the teaching resources, supported by seminar discussions and Q&A sessions. Zoom will also be used for digital meetings.

The following lists the learning outcomes for the course.

1. Explain the essential principles in technical systems for electricity generation from water, wind and bio energy. (Assessed in written exam.)

 2. Explain the essential principles in distribution systems for electricity. (Assessed in seminar discussion.)

 3. Carry out computations for dimensioning of power and energy for systems and plants mentioned in the previous points.(Assessed in Project report.)

 4. Carry out computations using simulation and optimization computational tools for sustainable energy systems for single buildings, municipalities, and regions at national and international levels. (Assessed in Project report.)

 5. Assess the sustainability of energy systems using analyses of life-cycle assessment. (Assessed in Project report and written exam.)

When you take this course, you will study the following:
Content 1: Biomass and Bioenergy, including different sources for bioenergy and different ways of bioenergy conversion.

Content 2: Wind power, including the principle of how a wind turbine works and how to analyze wind power production.

Content 3: Hydro power, including the principle of how a hydropower plan works and how to analyze its potential.

Content 4: Life-cycle assessment, including the four stages and examples.

Content 5: Energy system modelling and simulation. 
 

The main learning activities, and how they connect to the course examination, are described below.

Course room in Canvas
In the Canvas course room you will be able to find reading material, recorded lectures, hand-in instructions and more. The announcements in Canvas will be the main information channel used to share important information so make sure to keep updated here and check your E-mail for Canvas updates.

Zoom
Although the main form of study for the live lectures and seminars in the course will be on campus, it is sometimes possible to join on Zoom, and some activities may be only on Zoom. We expect you to join on campus so availability to join on Zoom should be seen as a service if you are not able to join on campus. If you need information or help regarding Zoom, please visit our website https://www.du.se/en/study-at-du/study-tools2/zoom/ or our support. You will need both a mic (preferably a headset) as well as a web camera if you join over Zoom. With Zoom it’s also possible to join using your smartphone which would give you access to both mic and camera (see the above link for information regarding this).

Lectures
Most of the lectures are from previous recordings. Q&A sessions and seminars will be arranged to support the course session. 

Seminars
Throughout the course there is a compulsory seminar. In order to be approved on the compulsory seminars, you need to come prepared (have done the required work for the seminar) as well as actively contribute during the seminar.

Project 

Decide on groups (depending on the number of students, preferably 2 students work together, the same are used for the seminars)

• Consider a possible renewable system case (preferable related to your home country/city)
• Design and evaluate the energy supply, savings, costs, emission reductions, financial viability and risk of the system.
• The software RETScreen is free available at: http://www.retscreen.net/ang/php.
• Write a report to be handed in via Canvas
• Give a presentation (20 minutes)

More detailed instructions for RETScreen and the project can be downloaded in Canvas. The report will be assessed.

Presentation orally.

Examination
The final exam is graded Fail/3/4/5. The final course grade will be approved for students passing both the project report and the exam. 

Course evaluation
At the end of the course, a course evaluation will be available as a hand-in in Learn. Please take the time to do this since it really helps with the development of the course.

Meeting schedule

In total, we will meet six times in this course. Below is the course schedule. You need to watch the recordings and finish the assignment before the Q&A of specific sessions. 

	Course Syllabus			Contact information
	Reading List			Pei Huang Course Coordinator phn@du.se