Books for the course

  • Energy in Nature and Society - General Energetics of Complex Systems
    Smil V. – The MIT Press (2008)

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  • Guida all'energia nella natura e nelle civiltà umane
    Calì M. – Esculapio (2014)


Week 1 - The Secret Driver of Life

 

Reading List


  • Energy in Nature and Society - General Energetics of Complex Systems (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
    Smil V. – The MIT Press (2008)

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  • Guida all'energia nella natura e nelle civiltà umane (Chapters 1, 3, 4, 5)
    Calì M. – Esculapio (2014)

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  • The Exergy Method of Thermal Plant Analysis (Chapter 2)
    Kotas T. J. - Paragon Publishing (2012)

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  • Thermodynamics and the Destruction of Resources (Chapters 16, 19)
    Bakshi B. R., Gutowski T. G. P., Sekulic D. P. – CUP (2011)

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  • Thermodynamics: foundations and applications (Chapter 14)
    Gyftopoulos E. P., Beretta G. P. – Macmillian (1991)

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  • The Entropy Law and Economic Process
    Georgescu-Roegen, N. - Harvard University Press (1971)

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  • A First Course in Atmospheric Radiation
    Petty G. W. - Sundog Publishing (2006)

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  • Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History
    Christian D. - The New Press (2011)

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  • La vita inaspettata. Il fascino di un'evoluzione che non ci aveva previsto
    Pievani T. – Cortina Raffaello Editore (2011)

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  • Storia minima della popolazione del mondo (Chapters 1, 4)
    Livi Bacci M. – Il Mulino (1989)

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  • The economic History of World Population (Chapters 1, 2, 3)
    Cipolla C. - Penguin Books (1964)

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  • Transforming the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations and Their
    Consequences (Chapter 1)

  • Smil V. – Oxford University Press (2006)

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  • Creating the Twentieth Century Technical Innovations of 1867-1914 and Their Lasting Impact (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4)
    Smil V. – Oxford University Press (2005)

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  • Il futuro dell'energia (Chapters 1, 3)
    Silvestri M. - Bollati Boringhieri (1988)

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  • Extraterrestrial cause for the cretaceous-tertiary extinction
    Alvarez L. et al. – Science (1980)

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  • Life and the Evolution of Earth’s Atmosphere
    Kasting J. F. et al. – Science Vol.296 (2002)

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  • The habitat and nature of early life
    Nisbet E. G. et al. – Nature Vol. 409 (2001)

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  • Geology of mankind
    Crutzen P. J. - Nature Vol. 415 (2002)

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  • It’s too soon to call this the Anthropocene
    Smil V. - IEEE Spectrum (2015)

Video and other resources

Week 2 - Effect of energy uses in twenty-first century

 

Reading List

  • Energy in Nature and Society - General Energetics of Complex Systems (Chapters 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
    Smil V. – The MIT Press (2008)

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  • Guida all'energia nella natura e nelle civiltà umane (Chapters 6, 7)
    Calì M. – Esculapio (2014)

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  • Resources to Reserves 2013 – Oil, Gas and Coal Technologies for the Energy Markets of the Future
    International Energy Agency (IEA) - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2013)

  • World Energy Outlook 2014 (Chapters 1, 2)
    International Energy Agency (IEA) - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2014)


  • World Energy Outlook 2015 (Chapters 1, 2)
    International Energy Agency (IEA) - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2015)


  • Harvesting the Biosphere: The Human Impact
    Smil V., Population and Development Review Vol.37 (2011)

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  • Harvesting the biosphere
    Smil V., The World Financial Review (2016)

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  • Quantifying and mapping the human appropriation of net primary production in earth’s terrestrial ecosystems
    Haberl H. et al. - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), USA Vol. 104 (2007)

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  • Human domination of the biosphere: Rapid discharge of the earth-space battery foretells the future of humankind
    Schramski J. R. et al. - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), USA Vol.112 (2015)


  • Uranium 2014 : Resources , Production and Demand
    Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2014)


  • The Coal Resource: A Comprehensive Overview of Coal
    World Coal Institute (2005)

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  • Quantifying global exergy resources
    Hermann W. - Energy Vol. 31 (2006)

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  • Burning buried sunshine: human consumption of ancient solar energy
    Dukes S. J. - Climatic Change (2003)

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  • Carbon and Other Biogeochemical Cycles
    Intergovernmental panel on climate change IPCC- Fifth assessment report (2014)

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  • Nitrogen cycle and world food production
    Smil V. - World Agriculture (2011)

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  • An Earth-system perspective of the global nitrogen cycle
    Gruber N. et al. – Nature (2008)

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  • Anthropogenic carbon and ocean pH
    Caldeira K. et al. – Nature Vol.425 (2003)

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  • The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
    Kolbert E. - Henry Holt and Co. (2014)


  • A Cultural History of Climate
    Behringer W. – Polity Press (2009)

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  • On the Influence of Carbonic Acid in the Air upon the Temperature of the Ground
    Arrhenius S. - Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science Vol.5 (1896)

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  • A slippery slope: how much global warming constitutes dangerous anthropogenic interference? An editorial essay
    Hansen J. - Climate Change (2005)

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  • Power Density: A Key to Understanding Energy Sources and Uses (Chapter 7)
    Smil V. – The MIT Press (2015)

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  • The Water-Energy- Food Nexus, A new approach in support of food security and sustainable agriculture
    Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2014)

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  • Reconciling resource uses in transboundary basins: assessment of the water–food–energy ecosystems nexus
    United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) (2015)

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  • The Water–Energy–Food Security Nexus: Towards a practical planning and decision-support framework for landscape investment and risk management
    The International Institute for Sustainable Development (2013)

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  • Renewable energy for unleashing sustainable development (Chapters 1, 2)
    Colombo E., Bologna S., Masera D. - Springer International Publishing Switzerland (2014)

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  • On the life cycle metaphor: where ecology and economics diverge
    Ayres, R. U. - Ecological Economics Vol. 48 (2004)


  • Eco-thermodynamics: exergy and life cycle analysis
    Ayres, R. U. et al. - Insead R&D working papers 96/04/EPS. Fontainebleau (1996)

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  • Thermodynamics and the Destruction of Resources (Chapter 16, 19)
    Bakshi B. R., Gutowski T. G. P., Sekulic D. P. – CUP (2011)

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  • Embodied energy analysis and emergy analysis: a comparative view.

  • Brown, M. T. et al. - Ecological Economics Vol. 19 (1996)

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  • Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development.
    Daly, H. E. - Beacon Press, Boston, 1996

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  • Thermodynamic analysis of human environment systems: A review focused on industrial ecology
    Wenjie L. et al. - Ecological Modelling Vol. 228 (2012)

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  • The Entropy Law and Economic Process
    Georgescu-Roegen, N. - Harvard University Press (1971)

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  • Energy and economic myths
    Georgescu-Roegen, N., Southern Economic Journal Vol. 41 (1975)

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  • The energetic metabolism of societies, part I: accounting concepts
    Haberl, H. - Journal of Industrial Ecology Vol. 5 (2001)

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  • The energetic metabolism of societies, part II: empirical examples
    Haberl, H. - Journal of Industrial Ecology Vol. 5 (2001)

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  • Africa Energy Outlook: A focus on energy prospects in Sub-Saharian Africa
    International Energy Agency (IEA) - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) - World Energy Outlook Special Report, (2014)


  • The New Geopolitics of Energy, Winners and Losers, Autumn 2015
    Report of the Conference organised by Friends of Europe with the support of Statoil and ENGIE with media partner Europe’s World (2015)

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  • Energy Stability or a False Sense of Security? How Changes in Geopolitics, Political Economy, and Markets Alter the Energy Landscape
    Brookings Doha Center - Energy Security & Climate Initiative Report (2015)

 

Video and other resources

  • Why I must speak out climate change
    James Hansen - TED Talk (2012)


  • NASA's Earth Minute: Earth Has a Fever
    NASA Climate Change


  • The Water Cycle
    U. S. Geological Survey


  • Fifth Assessment Report (AR5)
    Intergovernmental panel on climate change IPCC (2014)

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  • Global-scale temperature patterns and climate forcing over the past six centuries
    Mann M. E. et al. - Nature Vol. 392 (1998)

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  • Corrigendum: Global-scale temperature patterns and climate forcing over the past six centuries
    Mann M. E. et al. - Nature Vol. 430 (2004)

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  • Academy affirms hockey-stick graph
    Brumfiel G. - Nature Vol. 441 (2006)

Week 3 - Global energy trends

Reading List

  • Carbon Mitigation Initiative
    Princeton University


  • Global, Regional, and National Fossil-Fuel CO2 Emissions
    Boden T. A. et al., Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (2015)


  • Vostok ice core data
    Petit J. R. et al. - NOAA Mauna Loa CO2 record NASA


  • Fifth Assessment Report (AR5)
    Intergovernmental panel on climate change IPCC (2014)


  • The SO2 Allowance Trading System: The Ironic History of a Grand Policy Experiment
    Schmalensee R. et al. - Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 27 (2013)


  • IEA Energy Atlas
    International Energy Agency (IEA) - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2015)


  • Sustainability of meat-based and plant-based diets and the Environment
    Pimentel D. et al. - The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Vol. 78 (2003)


  • 2000-Watt Society
    Stadt Zuerich


  • Should We Eat Meat? Evolution and Consequences of Modern Carnivory
    Smil V. - Wiley-Blackwell (2013)


  • Commitment accounting of CO2 emissions
    Davis S. J. et al. - Environmental Research Letters Vol. 9 (2014)


  • Economic, energy and greenhouse emissions impacts of some consumer choice, technology and government outlay options
    Lenzen M. et al. - Energy Economics Vol. 24 (2002)


  • What if consumers decided to all “go green”? Environmental rebound effects from consumption decisions
    Murray C. K. - Energy Policy Vol.54 (2013)


  • Politics of Climate Change
    Giddens A. - Polity Press (2009)


  • The Economics of Climate Change - The Stern Review
    Stern N. – Cambridge University Press (2007)


  • Capturing the Multiple Benefits of Energy Efficiency (Chapter 1)
    International Energy Agency (IEA) - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2013)


  • World Energy Outlook 2015 (Chapter 9)
    International Energy Agency (IEA) - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2015)


  • Key World Energy Statistics, 2015 IEA (Chapters 1, 3, 4, 7, 8)
    International Energy Agency (IEA) - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2015)


  • Resource to Reserves, Oil, Gas and Coal Technologies for the Energy Markets of the Future
    International Energy Agency (IEA) - Organisation for Economic Co-operation
    and Development (OECD) (2013)


  • Renewables Information 2015 Report (excerpt available on www.iea.org/publications)
    International Energy Agency (IEA) - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2015)


  • Africa Energy Outlook: A focus on energy prospects in Sub-Saharian Africa
    International Energy Agency (IEA) - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) - World Energy Outlook Special Report, (2014)


  • Sustainable energy in Africa: a comprehensive data and policies review
    Mandelli S. et al. – Renewables and Sustainable Energy Reviews Vol.37 (2014)

 

Video and other resources

Week 4 - The energy transition

 

Reading List

  • Energy Technology Perspectives (Chapter 1, 2)
    International Energy Agency (IEA) - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2015)


  • The economic History of World Population (Chapter 6)
    Cipolla C. - Penguin Books (1964)

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  • Energy Transitions: History, Requirements, Prospects
    Smil V.– Praeger (2010)

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  • Guida all'energia nella natura e nelle civiltà umane (Chapter 8)
    Calì M. – Esculapio (2014)

  •  

  • Capturing the Multiple Benefits of Energy Efficiency (Chapter 1)
    International Energy Agency (IEA) - Organisation for Economic Co-operation 

  • and Development (OECD) (2013)

  •  

  • Power Density: A Key to Understanding Energy Sources and Uses (Chapters 7, 8)
    Smil V. – The MIT Press (2015)

  •  

  • The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome’s Project on the Predicament of Mankind
    Meadows D. H., Randers J., Meadows D. L., Behrens W. W. – Universe Books (1974)

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  • Our Plundered Planet
    Fairfield O. - Little, Brown and Company (1948)

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  • Road to Survival
    Vogt W. - Sloane (1948)

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  • Storia dell'arroganza - Psicologia e limiti dello sviluppo
    Zoja L. - Moretti & Vitali (2010)

  •  

  • La fine del mondo. Guida per apocalittici perplessi
    Pievani T. - Società editrice il Mulino (2012)

  •  

  • Dike
    Severino E. - Adelphi (2015)

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  • Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
    Diamond J. – Viking, Book Club edition (2005)

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  • Il destino della tecnica
    Severino E. - BUR (2010)

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  • La tendenza fondamentale del nostro tempo
    Severino E. - Adelphi (2008)

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  • Vita activa – the human condition
    Arendt - The University of Chicago Press (1998)

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  • The Imperative of Responsibility: In Search of an Ethics for the Technological Age
    Jonas H. - University of Chicago Press (1985)

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  • La fine dell’epoca moderna
    Guardini R. - Morcelliana (1993)

  •  

  • Encyclical letter - Laudato Si’ – On care for our common home
    Pope Francis

  •  

  • La crisi spirituale dell’uomo moderno
    Nasr S. H. - Medusa Edizioni (2012)

  •  

  • Seven complex lessons in education for the future
    Morin E.

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  • Philosophical Essays: from ancient creed to technological man
    Jonas H. - Atropos Pr (2010)

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  • Advancing higher education for sustainable development: international insights and critical reflections
    Lozano R. et al. - Journal of Cleaner Production (2013)

  •  

  • Higher education as a change agent for sustainability in different cultures and contexts
    Stephens J. C. et al. - International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education (2008)

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  • Renewable energy for unleashing sustainable development (Chapters 1, 2)
    Colombo E., Bologna S., Masera D. - Springer International Publishing Switzerland (2014)

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  • Doing Good or Doing Better development policies in a globalizing world
    Kremer M. et al. - WRR Scientific Council for Government policy, Amsterdam 
    University Press (2009)

Video and other resources