STS: Energy, Environment and Society

The course offers an introduction to social scientific perspectives on energy and environment, theories and methods for analyzing the social, political and cultural aspects my production and consumption of energy. There is a specific focus on the Norwegian energy system and the development of energy technologies, energy supply and energy justice. Both innovation processes and strategies for renewable energy and environment are important subjects, as is commercialization, technological change and different user perspectives. The course is open to all students, and is part of the STS (studies in knowledge, technology and society) one-year study program.

Students of this course have knowledge of:

• social scientific understandings of energy, with focus on environmental, social, political and cultural aspects of production and consumption of energy
• central issues within social scientific studies of renewable energy technologies, with emphasis on innovation, controversies and domestication
• socio-technical perspectives on technology- and societal change connected to energy and environment

Students of this course are skilled at:

• working interdependently with solving issues using knowledge from the course
• utilizing knowledge gained from the course when analyzing and gaining a deeper understanding of their academic practices
• utilizing knowledge gained from the course to solve practical and theoretical problems, including the ability to reach independent conclusions
• gaining knowledge of specific issues and communicate insights in different formats

The course is taught as a combination of lectures, seminars and project work.

One mandatory task must be approved before the first exam assignment.

The exam is in assignment form: It consists of one shorter exam assignment (constituting 20% of the total grade) and one longer exam assignment due towards the end of the semester (constituting 80% of the total grade). Both exams must be approved in order to get the final grade.