Schedule, contacts, requirements, and grading
Schedule
Contacts and office hours
Course Requirements
(1) Active participation is the key. Check the literature and other required sources before each session and join us on time with your webcam on. Be ready for in-class polls and discussions.
(2) Team up with a classmate and submit a country analysis together (see details below). Register your topic (country) by October 12 via this excel sheet. Late registration will be penalized by a loss of 1 point.
The final analysis should be submitted by November 9 via an IS vault linked below. Late submissions will be penalized by a loss of 2 points per each day of delay.
(3) Submit a short feedback to one country analysis. Each analysis shall therefore receive feedback by two students. After the submission deadline, check the available (submitted) analyses and register to one of them in the same excel sheet. The feedback should be submitted to the same folder as the analyses by November 16. In the feedback, discuss the clarity and validity of argumentation, analytical depth and the selection and use of sources and data. Late submissions will be penalized by a loss of 1 points per each day of delay.
(4) Prepare the workshop assignment. Your task will be to find the cheapest decarbonization path for the German energy system. Background information such as relevant characteristics of energy technologies and load variations in grids will be provided. The deadline for the assignment is November 28. Late submissions will be penalized by 1 point.
(5) Submit three questions or discussion topics related to renewable energy. They can, but do not have to, follow-up on issues covered in sessions or course sources. The questions shall be submitted in a doc(x) or odt format into a dedicated IS vault linked below by November 29. Late submissions will be penalized by a loss of 1 point.
Country analysis
Details and recommendations
(1) Form a group of two. Together select a country whose approach to renewable energy stands out in some way (fast build up of renewable energy over short period of time, little development of renewable energy despite favorable conditions, rapid decline in (previously) high pace of deployment of renewable energy, etc.)
(2) Use the explaining-outcome process-tracing methodology (see for example Beach 2017 - attached below) to identify and discuss e.g. the socio-political or techno-economic factors behind the examined situation.
(3) Prepare an academic poster summarizing your study.
(4) Prepare a supporting document to your poster. The document should add details and sources to the information presented in the poster. Think of the document as if it was a list of footnotes to the poster - make sure you add some text or graphical anchors to the poster so the reader can identify the connections easily.
Required structure
(1) Title (think of something interesting not just "Czech Republic"), full names of the authors and the estimated contribution of each author to the whole endeavor - this will be reflected in the grading (see below). Example: Filip Černoch (60%), Jan Osička (40%).
(2) Justification: What makes the selected country a relevant case for the analysis (max 5 sentences).
(3) Results at a glance (4-5 most important takeaways from your analysis; max 3 sentences per result; see Agora Energiewende studies for inspiration).
(4) The supporting text to the poster (up to 1,500 words).
(5) Conclusions (4-5 most important takeaways from your analysis; one paragraph per result)
(6) Acknowledgements (mainly the use of software or AI)
(7) References (the use of citation manager such as Mendeley is highly recommended).
- items 1-3 can be placed on the front page, do not bother with University logos.
Evaluation criteria
Validity, consistency and analytical depth: up to 5 points
Data and literature (richness and relevance): up to 5 points
Visualization (search for tips on preparing a good poster, for example here): up to 5 points
Use of AI
(1) The author(s) must acknowledge that they used an AI tool in the preparation of their analysis.
(2) The author(s) should provide details about the AI tool that was used. For example “ChatGPT version 3.5”
(3) The author(s) should specify which parts of the analysis were prepared with AI assistance.
(4) Brief details should be provided as to how the AI tools was used.
(5) If the paper has multiple authors, then it should be assumed, unless otherwise stated, that all the authors are aware that an AI tool was used.
Workshop assignment
Choose the optimal (low-carbon) energy mix that will provide the required amount of electricity for 8,760 hours (a whole year). Who can decarbonize power generation at the best price?
Grading
Grading details
The final grade will be determined by the country analysis (up to 15 points), the feedback (2 points), the workshop assignment (2 points), the submitted questions (1 point).
To avoid freeriding in the groups, the authors' scores will be determined by weighting the analysis' final score by the authors' stated contribution. Example: the analysis by Filip (60%) and Jan (40%) receives 8 points out of 15, which makes it 2 x 8 = 16 points in total for both authors. Consequently, Filip will receive 16 x 60% = 9.6 = 10 points. Jan will receive 16 x 40% = 6.4 = 6 points (and will have to retake the course).
Points and grades
A 20-19
B 18-17
C 16-15
D 14-13
E 12
F 11 and less