Advanced Energy Policy

Credit: Solar Powered Landscape by Dennis Dimick is licensed under (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Course Description

Energy policy is typically evolutionary as opposed to revolutionary. We can look to historical policies to understand how we've inherited the policies governing our energy use today. But looking backward only tells us part of the story. In the face of climate change, we need to look ahead and instead envision a more revolutionary change to our energy systems and the policies that govern them. This class takes you on that journey to energy policies past, present, and future. We look at the political realities of addressing climate change at various scales of governance and work together to craft our own ideal scenarios of what a responsible energy future will be.

This course is part of the following programs: Graduate Certificate in Sustainability Management and Policy (RESS), RESS Sustainability Management Option, Master's Degree in Renewable Energy and Sustainable Systems, RESS Bioenergy Certificate, RESS Wind Energy Certificate, Graduate Certificate in Solar Energy (RESS), RESS Bioenergy Option, RESS Solar Energy Option, and RESS Wind Energy Option.

Online Course

You can view the entire course here: Advanced Energy Policy

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Brandi Robinson

Brandi is a Lecturer in the Energy and Mineral Engineering Department in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State University. She teaches courses for the Bachelor's degree in Energy and Policy Sustainability and the Master's program in Renewable Energy and Sustainability Systems. She completed her undergraduate degree in 2003, with a dual BA in Environmental Studies and Geography from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. In 2005 she earned her master's degree in Geography from Penn State. Her primary research interests included local scale mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and invoking behavioral changes for energy and resource conservation.