PrintFor Jan 11, 2011 meeting
Agenda
1. Unit 1 (Lessons 1 -5) - Michael
- Outline and Objectives for each Lesson
- Lesson Content and Presentation where available
- Gap analysis re Course Proposal
2. Review overall Course Outline (see below)
3. Assessments--big picture (see below)
4. Next Steps and Schedule
Course Outline - as of Jan 11, 2011
Unit 1 The Commercial and Social Environment of Energy
L1. Economics and Market Imperfections (what is "economics", how do agents decide--ideally and really)
L2. Analysis of Non-Market Considerations (id issues, stakeholders, influence; "supply" and "demand" of non-market action)
L3. Venues for Non-Market Action [private politics (eg public opinion) and public politics (legislative, regulatory, judicial)]
L4. Strategies for Managing Non-Market Risk (strategy to influence non-market risk, dimensions (positioning, stakeholders, venues, geography, timing)
L5. Putting it All Together (Ethics, algorithmic approach to stakeholder engagement planning, metaexample)
Unit 2 Global Energy Production Sectors
L6. Coal Industry
- Technology Overview (Geographic distribution of known reserves, discovery and extraction, processing and distribution, carbon capture and sequestration)
- Global Capacity, Trends, Stakeholders (producers, plant owner/operators, consumers, environmentalists)
- Externalities (e.g., environmental, safety, carbon policy, local economies)
- Student learning activity: Identify and correct errors detected in an incorrect investor’s prospectus, news feature, editorial or letter to the editor concerning a leading firm involved in coal mining or use. Erroneous sources prepared and assigned by course author/instructor.
L7: Nuclear Industry
- Technology Overview (nuclear fuel, power plants, radioactive waste)
- Global Capacity, Trends, Stakeholders (owner/operators, manufacturers, regulators, consumers, environmentalists)
- Externalities (e.g., safety, security, public opinion/activists)
- Student learning activity: Identify and correct misstatements in a debate between a French nuclear power advocate and an opponent. (Where to go for vetted data to make the case?)
L8. Oil and Natural Gas--since students already took EGEE 120 Oil course, maybe skip oil here and add natural gas to coal week?
L9: Sustainable Energy Industry--would like to do this as two lessons--one solar & one wind (plus other)
- Technology Overview (Hydropower, Wind, Biomass, Solar-PV/HW/CSP,Geothermal, Other – e.g. tide and wave)
- Global Capacity, Trends, Stakeholders (owners/operators, investors, manufacturers, consumers, environmentalists, governments)
- Externalities (e.g., climate change public perception, carbon policy, energy independence, social justice/developing countries)
- Student learning activity: Prepare and justify a recommendation to a hypothetical entrepreneur [wind farm in western OK] about how to maximize benefits (including but not limited to return on investment) in one or more renewable energy enterprises in an assigned country or U.S. state and within a given time frame.
Unit 3 Political Economies
L10: Political Economy of (European Union)(USA)
L11: Political Economy of (China)(India)
L12. Political Economy of Africa (Nigeria/Ethiopia/Desert-tec) [Off-grid applications]
In course proposal:
- 5% Pre-test—energy conservation (EGEE 102) & oil international evolution (EGEE 120)
- 50% Case studies
- 10% Regional examples
- 10% Discussion forums
- 25% Post-test
- Extra credit 5%
Alternatively, I propose (maybe...)—
- 20% Discussion forums & possibly systems dynamics/iThink
- 20% Weekly “Just the Facts Ma’am” Quizzes—open book, no time limit (except due date), no retries—purpose of the quizzes is to confirm they are reading assigned material and gleaning critical info: new terms & definitions, relationships, big picture data and facts
- 60% Weekly assignment—including use of system dynamics (iThink—hopefully!) and Excel
- No pre-test/no final
Lesson 11: Electricity Cases [Spread out over the fuel sources]
Technology Overview (power generation, transmission, smart grid, demand management, off-grid)
Worldwide capacity, energy sources, trends (facts & sources for future investigation)
Leading businesses
Externalities (e.g., siting, regulatory regimes, renewable portfolio standards, deregulation)
Example student learning activity: Prepare an analysis for stakeholders of a hypothetical energy transmission utility in operating in a given country or U.S. state comparing the costs and benefits of major investment in smart grid technologies.
Lesson 12: Oil and Natural Gas Cases
Technology Overview (discovery and extraction, processing, distribution)
Worldwide reserves and markets (facts & sources for future investigation)
Major producers and refiners
Externalities (e.g., environmental impacts, regulatory regimes, energy independence)
Student learning activity: Identify and correct misstatements in an error-ridden hypothetical prospectus to be presented to landowners who own potentially valuable mineral rights to non-conventional gas resources in the U.S. (E.g., Barnett shale and Marcellus shale plays).
Things on my mind, to discuss with you, thanks!
Business content that's energy focused & international
Blending systems thinking into the mix, w/o over burdening students
Like to use Meadows’ Thinking in Systems
Simple class structure—establish routine, as much as possible
Interaction among students
Clear “arc” of the course—continuity across lessons
Text—Barron? Case studies are dated, too much so?
Alignment of course objectives and lessons
“Hours of classroom instruction”?
BP oil spill
Hydroelectric dams in Ethiopia
Case studies in Portugal, Germany
HB80 debate in PA
Ethanol (international perspective, re Brazil & tariffs)
Cash for clunkers
Berkeley study of consumer response to electricity consumption feedback (‘psychology of climate change”)
Course Objectives (from proposal)
- Detect and correct misstatements and misconceptions about the production, distribution and use of various energy resources
- Prepare and defend recommendations for market and nonmarket strategies in emerging energy technologies and businesses
- Name and discuss the characteristics of leading energy producers in a given region and/or energy sector
- Investigate and report on the energy production, consumption and policy regime characteristics and trends for a given country or US state
Discussion call:
- [Allocation framework] Prepare and defend recommendations for market and nonmarket strategies in emerging energy technologies and businesses
- [Technology and Sectors] Name and discuss the nonmarket aspects of leading energy producers in a given region and/or energy sector [know when you are talking about State/Industry/Oligopoly etc per region : e.g. state run oil, multi small commercial holders, etc.]
- [State and Players] Know how to develop case studies for a given country/state energy production, reserves, consumption, and policy regime characteristics and trends. [energy goods per region: oil, electricity, infrastructure/grid, nuclear power]
- [? Where ?] Detect and correct misstatements and misconceptions about the production, distribution and use of various energy resources
Student Assessment (from proposal)--graded work for Lessons 1-5?
Pre-test 5%
Cast-Study Exercises 5@10%
Nuclear
Sustainable Energy
Coal
Electricity
Oil & Natural Gas
Regional Examples 2@5%
European Union
China
Class Participation 10%
On-line discussion forums w/each lesson (each student moderates? topics?)
Post-Test 25%
Optional extra credit (Regional energy profile) 5%
Revised course outline (kept original Lesson numbers for easy reference)
-
Unit 1 [Science of Social Interaction] Business and Its Environment-- (5.1 wk)--(9/13/10) Mike to revise & refine
combine Lessons 1 & 2 here, add a Lesson in Unit 3?--(9/13/10) instead, condense lessons in Unit 2
maybe add Systems Thinking throughout Unit 1, via Discussion Forum? Demonstrate market/nonmarket factors?--(9/13/10) Vera & Mike will work on this
Unit development guidance: what background is required to understand the implications of collective action / multi-party bargaining for development and implementation of energy businesses and policies?
At the end of this unit (lessons 1 to 5?), students will be able to:
- identify various non-market considerations which are the essential/predominant/defining characteristics of energy business and policy issues.
- recommend strategies and tactics which address the non-market considerations (with recommendations based upon a systematic set of considerations).
Unit 1: (see recommended academic plan for existing content)
WEEK 1 -- (see EBF 200 / EMEC 100)
- economics in the ideal world
- what is economics? – study of allocation of scarce resources. Every decision you make is a tradeoff … Rationality… (aside: on the value of abstraction)
- how does a rational individual decide? Marginal analysis
- how do rational individuals exchange? Mutually-beneficial exchange via competitive markets
- economics in the real world
- market imperfections
- externalities
- transactions costs
- asymmetric information
- moral hazard
- cognitive imperfections -- psychological biases, behavioral economics, etc
- market imperfections
WEEK 2 --
- Real-world exchange - mutually-beneficial exchange avoided by market and cognitive imperfections results in resource reallocations determined by judicial mediation, public politics, and private politics
- Judicial exchange - conflict resolution via courts, etc.
- description/characterization
- strategies
WEEK 3 --
- Public politics - how do real-world considerations result in political action via formal political institutions (e.g. lobbying legislators, regulators)?
- description/characterization
- strategies
WEEK 4 --
- Private politics - how do real-world considerations result in political action (e.g. collective action)?
- description/characterization
- strategies
WEEK 5 --
- putting it all together - evaluating and managing multi-stakeholder issues - restate heuristic/algorithm for evaluating non-market environments(?)
- ethics - see Christian Becker (PSU Philosophy), EMSC302 - see lesson 8 (sustainability ethics), see ESP curriculum (PHIL 103)
- Lesson 1: Integrated Strategies—Market and Nonmarket Environments
- Market Environments [market governance: bilateral exchange of goods and services]
- Nonmarket Environments [D. Baron => public/private governance :: low coordination costs/high externalities/environmental wellbeing]: strategies to manage collective action
- Integrative Strategy and Nonmarket Positioning [systems thinking]
- Student learning activity: [Opportunity cost decisions] Identify market and nonmarket strategies in an energy-related industry case example (e.g. BP, City of Phoenix, Bechtel Power, Allegheny Power, PA electricity deregulation, etc.)
- Lesson 2: Systematic Bias and (?): Media and Nonmarket Strategies
- Role of social networking tools
- Role of the traditional news media
- [Thinking in Systems models?]
- Competition among Firms: Private Politics
- Student learning activity: Case study comparison of social network and cable news networks affecting policy change or political process. Assess nonmarket strategies using both.
- Lesson 3: Government Institutions and Nonmarket Strategies
- Connection between Market and Nonmarket Environments
- Collective Action
- Social and Political Dilemmas
- Majority-Rule Institutions
- Bargaining vs. Voting
- Organization of Congress and Committees
- Nonmarket Analysis for Business
- Student learning activity: The politics and energy implications of Daylight Savings Time.
- Lesson 4: Ethics and Responsibility
- Ethics Systems
- Utilitarianism
- Rights and Justice
- Challenge of Corporate Social Responsibility
- Ethics in International Business
- Student learning activity: [Thinking in Systems models?] Enron Power Marketing, Inc. and the California Market
Unit 2 Global Energy Production Sectors (5 wk) :: NOT ENGINEERING SPECIFIC, economic allocations, think in the context of Unit One, role of externalities--(9/13/10) Vera will detail/revise one lesson outline here
- Lesson 5: Government and Markets
- Antitrust
- Regulation
- Environmental Protection
- Law and Markets
- Student learning activity: [Thinking in Systems models?] EPA endangerment assessment of CO2 as a pollutant and the impact of the Clean Air Act.
- Lesson 6: Nuclear Cases
- Technology Overview (nuclear fuel, power plants, radioactive waste)
- Worldwide capacity & history
- Externalities (e.g., safety, security, regulatory regimes, public opinion/activists)
- Student learning activity: Identify and correct misstatements in a debate between a French nuclear power advocate and an opponent. (Where to go for vetted data to make the case?)
- Lesson 7: Sustainable Energy Case--(9/13/10) Jeffrey will revise & detail outline here
- Technology Overview (Hydropower, Wind, Biomass, Solar-PV/HW/CSP,Geothermal, Other – e.g. tide and wave)
- Worldwide capacity, markets & manufacturing, trends (facts & sources for future investigation)
- Leading businesses
- Externalities (e.g., climate change public perception, carbon policy, energy independence)
- Student learning activity: Prepare and justify a recommendation to a hypothetical entrepreneur [wind farm in western OK] about how to maximize benefits (including but not limited to return on investment) in one or more renewable energy enterprises in an assigned country or U.S. state and within a given time frame.
Unit 3 Political Economies (wk 1.9)--(9/13/10) tabling devlopment of this unit for now until more progress is made on Units 1 & 2
- Lesson 9: Coal Cases ["Fossil Fuels" could be a join with Lesson 12]
- Technology Overview (Geographic distribution of known reserves, discovery and extraction, processing and distribution, carbon capture and sequestration)
- Worldwide reserves and markets/end uses (facts & sources for future investigation)
- Major coal producers
- Externalities (e.g., environmental impacts, safety, regulatory regimes, carbon policy, local economies)
- Student learning activity: Identify and correct errors detected in an incorrect investor’s prospectus, news feature, editorial or letter to the editor concerning a leading firm involved in coal mining or use. Erroneous sources prepared and assigned by course author/instructor.
- Lesson 11: Electricity Cases [Spread out over the fuel sources]
- Technology Overview (power generation, transmission, smart grid, demand management, off-grid)
- Worldwide capacity, energy sources, trends (facts & sources for future investigation)
- Leading businesses
- Externalities (e.g., siting, regulatory regimes, renewable portfolio standards, deregulation)
- Example student learning activity: Prepare an analysis for stakeholders of a hypothetical energy transmission utility in operating in a given country or U.S. state comparing the costs and benefits of major investment in smart grid technologies.
- Lesson 12: Oil and Natural Gas Cases
- Technology Overview (discovery and extraction, processing, distribution)
- Worldwide reserves and markets (facts & sources for future investigation)
- Major producers and refiners
- Externalities (e.g., environmental impacts, regulatory regimes, energy independence)
- Student learning activity: Identify and correct misstatements in an error-ridden hypothetical prospectus to be presented to landowners who own potentially valuable mineral rights to non-conventional gas resources in the U.S. (E.g., Barnett shale and Marcellus shale plays).
- Lesson 8: Political Economy of (European Union)(USA)
- Regional energy sources, generation, manufacturing
- Regional population trends and consumption
- Import/export trends
- Major energy businesses
- Institutions of the EU
- Economic and Monetary Union
- Nonmarket Strategies
- Student Learning Activity: Assessing the costs and benefits of the EU Carbon Tax and the economics of emissions control.
- Lesson 10: Political Economy of (China)(India)
- Regional energy sources, generation, manufacturing
- Regional population trends and consumption
- Import/export trends
- Major energy businesses
- History of Chinese Socialism and shift to the modern market
- Institutions of China
- Nonmarket Strategies
- Student learning activity: Assessing rapid economic growth in China tied with increased emissions and the economics of emissions control in light of increased development.
- Lesson XX: Political Economy of Africa (Nigeria/Ethiopia/Desert-tec) [Off-grid applications]