THE REAL COST OF ENERGY CONSUMPTION

Course Objectives:

This course is aiming to improve awareness on;

• Impacts on energy production and energy consumptions from source to end user irreversible and abrupt climate changes environmental damage (human and animal health, flora and fauna, natural resources) non-climate damage (misallocation of resources, subsidies without adequate return, supply and demand imbalances, structural macroeconomic effects)
• Components of “market price» of energy
• The concepts related to;
  • social cost
  • private cost
  • external costs
• The issues related to «Real Cost of Energy Consumption»

The current discussions on reducing social cost of energy consumption

Course Content:

The first part of the course consists of introductory subject such as summary of primary and secondary energy sources and their classifications, current resources and future projections, up-to-date technologies employed in the energy sector value chain from primary energy resources to the technologies for converting energy to the form requested by end users together with energy distribution technologies. Production and consumption of electrical, thermal and mechanical energy are discussed in detail. The second part of the course comprises component of “market price of energy” such as, maturity of technologies in the value chain, supply and demand balance, status of global and domestic economic activities, global and domestic policies etc. The third part covers the concepts of social cost, private cost to firms and individual and external costs for different energy technologies employed in the value chain from source to the end user. In this part, the common methodologies for the analysis and reflection of these costs to the market prices are also discussed. The fourth and final part of the lecture includes the status of renewables in energy mix today and the future. In this part, the potential of renewables for reducing social costs is also assessed through qualitative analysis of damages caused by different renewable technologies to environment (human and animal health, flora and fauna, natural resources, irreversible and abrupt climate changes), as well as to economies (misallocation of resources, subsidies without adequate return, supply and demand imbalances, structural macroeconomic effects). Current policies and regulations to reduce social cost of energy consumption are briefly touched upon at national and international scale