Mech DAMP Blog

EN 653 - Energy Policy Analysis

Instructor:

Prof Rangan Banerjee

Motivation to take this course:

Exploration of the public policy space with a focus on technology. It will equip you with the tools to analyse and design a policy intervention. You will be able to assess the government policies towards dealing with climate-change/global warming etc.

Sections:

Only one section, not a core course

Semester:

Spring ‘20

Course Difficulty:

Moderate

Time commitment required:

Moderate

Attendance Policy:

Attendance in classes, presentations, computer tutorials is compulsory. To encourage 100% attendance, an incentive of + 5 marks in the in semester will be given for 90%+ attendance, a penalty of -3 marks for attendance between 70-80 % and a penalty of -5 marks for attendance less than 70%.

Grading Policy and Statistics:

Relative Grading AA-4; AB-11; BB-13; BC-7

Prerequisites:

No pre-reqs (Some overlap in initial course content with EN606, but a small handout is given with relevant content)

Evaluation Scheme:

Assignment-10; Course project-30; Midsem Test-10; Weekly Quizzes- 10; Endsem Exam- 40

Course Contents (in brief):

The course will provide the tools and techniques necessary for analyzing energy policies. Students will be expected to carry out a project to analyse an existing policy in a specific context or design a policy intervention for a specific goal.

Overview of energy policy instruments – pricing, regulation, Incentives, subsidies
Framework for policy analysis, stakeholders, criteria – energy access, security, sustainability, development
Case studies of a few energy policies – successes and failures, Free riders and rebound effect
Reference Energy system, End Use Analysis
Modelling Energy Demand, Elasticities
Substitution- S-shaped Logistic curves, Examples of accelerated diffusion- factors affecting diffusion
Economy wide impacts- Input-Output models, Optimisation models, TIMES-MARKAL
Scenario generation – approach and examples
Energy policy analysis project

Mechanism of Instruction and Teaching Style

Rangan sir is a very good instructor. He teaches by quoting a lot of real-world and current examples. A great mix of theory, problem-solving and analysis. Sir gives a lot of focus to understanding the numbers that result from calculations - significance, comparison etc. He is patient and clears all doubts well.

Feedback on Tutorials/Assignments/Projects etc

Assignment and Project are both group submissions. Project will require significant time commitment over the semester with a couple of interactions with the Prof, TA(s) to discuss progress. Mid-term report has to be submitted as well. Overall, the different modes of evaluations offer diverse learning outcomes and hence the course is well-designed in that perspective.

If you’re remotely interested in the policy space with application to tech, definitely would recommend this course.

When did you take this course? What will be the ideal semester to take this course? Any other course which can be done before this?

I took the course in my 8th semester. Can be done in any semester.

Feedback on Exams:

Quizzes are very-short 5-10 min long. They are directly based on what is taught in class, easy-level questions and do not require any prep as such. Mid-Sem paper was a little difficult and lengthy. However, every question usually has 4-5 subparts, the first few parts in each are usually easy to answer. In other words, sometimes the solution is just broken down into sub-parts of the question- this makes it easier to solve as the method is indirectly laid out. End-Sem was not conducted (Due to the semester termination) but can be expected to be similar to the mid-sem

Importance of course:

Useful for research in Transportation/Energy policy.

References used:

Professor shares relevant articles from time to time. There is some overlap with the EN606 (Energy Resources, Economics and Environment) course offered in the autumn semester- NPTEL videos are available (Rangan Sir only) https://nptel.ac.in/courses/109/101/109101171/