2018 | Energy, Environment, and Policy

Course description and aims

This course – taught as part of the Japan Summer Program in Sustainable Development and Georgia Tech’s Center for Serve-Learn-Sustain initiative – explores the interface between energy security, environment sustainability, and societal acceptance through traditional classroom instruction and problem-based learning. We begin with the recognition that energy choices produce environmental consequences, environmental actions have an economic impact, and societal context shapes the interplay of these forces. Although a variety of energy and environment-related issues will be addressed in this course, we will focus intensively on the factors that produce variation in responses to common challenges of climate change among otherwise similar nations, cities, and other entities. This puzzling variation – highlighted, for example, in the evolution of energy/environmental policies at the national level in Japan and the United States, and at the municipal level in Tokyo and Atlanta – draws attention to the fact that that environmental action cannot be divorced from economic concerns, and that, ultimately, societal acceptance is crucial in determining whether or not an outcome is sustainable.

While much of your time will be spent working in teams, some sessions will be set aside for a classroom lectures. The aim of these lectures is to create a common conceptual framework, highlight the stakeholders and their respective roles, and equip you with essential tools for evaluating sustainability. You will use these tools to assess the prospects for inclusive green growth – the use of natural resources in a sustainable manner that assures that all residents share in the economic benefits – in Tokyo and Atlanta. In this exercise, teamwork is essential because – as you will discover – solving complex sustainability problems in a short amount of time requires many minds and many hands. To be successful in this course, therefore, you must become a self-directed learner, ready and able to extend your knowledge through systematic inquiry. You will be spending time out of class seeking the most reliable, up-to-date and relevant information needed to solve the problem. The problem you and your team will be tasked with solving is designed to help you deepen and broaden your conceptual base in engineering and social scientific analysis. To succeed in all this, you must hone your teaming, communication, and interpersonal skills. In sum, you will need to become and disciplinary- and cultural boundary spanner.

Student learning outcomes

Through comparative analysis of energy policy choices and their environmental consequences (and vice versa), students will demonstrate an understanding of how – and with what consequences – the social, political, and economic forces that influence a critically important area of sustainability develop, persist, and change.

• Students will demonstrate an understanding of how, why, and with what consequences the social, political, and economic forces that influence sustainable development develop, persist, and change.

• Students will become more aware of the diversity of the world’s cultural, ethical, and institutional systems and the shaping effects of these systems on policy and behavior.

• Students will be able to work in multidisciplinary, multicultural groups in a way that demonstrates respect for their colleagues and  efficiency in working collaboratively towards projects and goals.

• Students will be able to express their arguments clearly and effectively both in written reports and class  discussions.

Keywords

Energy security, environmental protection, state actors, private-sector, multinational corporations, civil society, non-governmental organizations, energy mix, hydrocarbon fuel types, nuclear energy, renewable energy, global warming, climate change

Competencies that will be developed

✔ Specialist skills

✔ Intercultural skills

✔ Communication skills

✔ Critical thinking skills

✔ Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

Three-quarters of each class is devoted to content-based lectures that introduce key concepts to students; the remaining one-quarter of each lecture is devoted to discussion

Course schedule/Required learning

	Course schedule	Required learning
Class 1	[Week 1] Energy, Environment, and Society in Sustainable Development Common reading: • World Bank, Inclusive Green Growth: Pathways to Sustainable Development (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2012) – available for download at http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTSDNET/Resources/Inclusive_Green_Growth_May_2012.pdf Reference materials: • “Energy Sources: What are the Pros and Cons,” DLIST Benguela (http://archive.iwlearn.net/www.dlist-benguela.org/Burning_Issues/Energy/Energy_sources_253A_What_are_the_Pros_and_Cons/default.htm) Energy Security Common reading: • Carlos Pascual, “The New Geopolitics of Energy,” Brookings Institution (2015) (http://energypolicy.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/energy/The%20New%20Geopolitics%20of%20Energy_September%202015.pdf). [Week 2] Environmental Protection and Its Challenges Common reading: • Garrett Hardin, “The Tragedy of the Commons,” Science 162 (No. 3859, Dec. 1968) ): 1243-1248 (available online at: http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles/art_tragedy_of_the_commons.html) • Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons (1990), pp. 1-32 (uploaded to T-Square). Energy Security & Environmental Angst in Japan Common reading (uploaded to T-Square): • John S. Duffield and Brian Woodall, “Japan's New Basic Energy Plan,” Energy Policy 39 (June 2011), pp. 3741–3749 • Brian Woodall, “The Development of Japan’s Developmental State: Stages of Growth and the Social Costs of Energy and Export Promotion Policies,” book chapter in East Asian Development Model: 21st Century Perspectives (Shiping Hua and Ruihua Hu, eds.). London: Routledge, 2014. Pp. 101-120 (uploaded to T-Square). [Week 3] Energy Security & Environmental Protection in the United States Common reading (uploaded to T-Square): • James Baker, III et al, “The Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends” (February 2017) (uploaded to T-Square) • “Coral Davenport and Eric Lipton, “How G.O.P. Leaders Came to View Climate Change as Fake Science,” New York Times (June 3, 2017) (uploaded to T-Square) • Coral Davenport and Adam Nagourney, “California Engages World, and Fights Washington, on Climate Change,” New York Times (June 3, 2017) • Miranda A. Schreurs, “Divergent Paths: Environmental Policy in Germany, the United States, and Japan,” Environment 45 (No. 8, 2003), pp. 9-17 Inquiry/work update due Guest Speaker: TBD Common reading: TBD Mid term facilitator meeting Self/peer evaluation (face-to-face meeting) Interim Policy Brief due [Week 4] Group meeting (facilitators: Woodall & Pedicino) Group meeting (facilitators: Woodall & Pedicino) [Week 5] Group meeting (facilitators: Woodall & Pedicino) Group meeting (facilitators: Woodall & Pedicino) Group meeting (facilitators: Woodall & Pedicino) Practice session for PowerPoint presentation Pre-submission review and discussion of written report PowerPoint presentations and written reports PowerPoint presentation due Written report due Final written self/peer evaluation due	Please refer to the 　relevant information in the course schedule.

Textbook(s)

COMMON READINGS AND COURSE MATERIALS

Common readings – i.e., required readings for the entire class – are available either through the Georgia Tech Library’s e-journals portal or will be uploaded to T-Square or GoogleDrive. However, be aware that the bulk of the reading you do for this course will be determined in discussions within your PBL group. If you have questions or wish to pursue a particular topic in more depth, you are encouraged to consult with one of the course facilitators.

Reference books, course materials, etc.

COMMON READINGS AND COURSE MATERIALS

Common readings – i.e., required readings for the entire class – are available either through the Georgia Tech Library’s e-journals portal or will be uploaded to T-Square or GoogleDrive. However, be aware that the bulk of the reading you do for this course will be determined in discussions within your PBL group. If you have questions or wish to pursue a particular topic in more depth, you are encouraged to consult with one of the course facilitators.

Assessment criteria and methods

Grade weighting
• Written report (group work) 35%
• PowerPoint presentation (group work) 35%
• Interim policy brief (group work) 15%
• Self/peer evaluation (meeting + written report) 10%
• Inquiry/work update 5%

Related courses

TSE.C312 ： Introduction to Environmental Policy and Social System
TSE.C205 ： Introduction to Global Development
TSE.C311 ： Sustainable City, Consumption and Production
TSE.C316 ： Global Development Capstone

Prerequisites (i.e., required knowledge, skills, courses, etc.)

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

In this course you will be assessed in standard ways – i.e., attendance, written reports, and PowerPoint presentation. In addition, four key skillsets – inquiry skills, knowledge building skills, problem-solving skills, and team skills – will be assessed by your facilitator based upon observations of your work in group meetings, the quality of your research, and your team skills. An assessment rubric with detailed description of behaviors associated with grading criteria in each category is posted on T-Square.

Attendance at all group sessions, presentations and lectures is both mandatory as well as essential to success in this course. Given the afternoon scheduling of this course, oversleeping should not be a problem and late arrivals – i.e., arriving more than five minutes late – will be penalized with a one-third-letter grade reduction. If you arrive more than 20 minutes late, you will be considered absent. Each unexcused absence will be penalized by a one-letter grade reduction. Excused absences will require documentation.

Other

The following webpages are available for this course.

http://japanprogram.gatech.edu/

http://www.tse.ens.titech.ac.jp/~jspsd/

TOKYO INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY