Energy plays an important role in everyday life, starting from the morning breakfast after a shower. We interact with different forms of energy during the day knowingly or unknowingly. A good example is an "electric toothbrush," do you wonder how it works? We use electrical energy to charge the small battery (energy storage) placed inside the casing that powers the electric motor, which rotates the brush through crank and gear mechanism (converting to mechanical energy). Engineering categories of energy are mechanical, thermal, electrical, nuclear and chemical. The predominant forms of the energy are thermal and mechanical, or energy converted using a mechanical device. Energy conversion using mechanical devices has been explored since ancient times; one such example is the use of the kinetic energy of wind to sail a boat. Presently, a high emphasizes is being placed upon the environment and sustainability, where the energy storage and conversion are more important than a decade ago. Furthermore, consequences of climate change are clearly visible, where the source of energy, methods for energy generation, storage and conversion are key drivers to achieve the goals of the green transition globally.

Energy and sustainability (TEP4111) course is designed and developed for the Mechanical Engineering students enrolled under the study programs, Maskin- og energiteknologi and Industrial Economics and Technology Management. This course was developed during 2021 - 2023 and formally inducted in the study program catalogue in Autumn 2023. The Department of Energy and Process Engineering coordinates and maintains the course. The aim of the course is to lay the foundation for advanced courses through fundamental understanding of renewable energy. The course serves as an introduction to sustainability analysis in the context of energy conservation, utilization, storage, and transportation, providing opportunities to consider ethical aspects of the energy transition, and to make well-informed choices by calibrating the available facts, government policies and societal view.

Broad topics:

1. Energy sources, classifications, and historical developments

2. Renewable energy (Wind, Solar, Hydro, Biomass, Hydrogen)

3. Energy conversion and storage (thermal storage and electricity)

4. Energy demand and focus on energy efficiency in the food- and process sector

5. Life cycle analysis, environmental impact, sustainability, carbon footprint

6. Societal perspectives on energy, green transition, including United Nation Sustainable Development Goals

Sustainability is a wide topic, and this course does not cover everything related to energy and sustainability. It is designed for specific study programs only. Self-learning and critical thinking are key elements of this course. Students are clearly expected to put own effort in learning outside the classroom, completing the exercises, project work, participating in laboratory and field tours.

Learning methods and activities

Learning methods and activities are divided into four categories.

Classroom lectures

Attending classroom lectures are very important because main instructions are provided in classroom. Learning contents in this course are divided into four specific modules. The first module covers the topics related to energy generation, energy conversion, classification of renewable and non-renewable energy. Second module covers the topics on hydrogen, biogas, lifecycle analysis, carbon footprint and environmental impact. Third module covers the topics thermodynamic process, heating, cooling, heat pumps, refrigeration, LNG, ammonia, food storage and processing. Fourth module covers the broad topics on UN sustainable development goals, societal perspectives on green energy, energy transition, sustainable developments, government policies at national and international levels.

Division of TEP411 into four modules. M1: Energy, M2: Environment, M3: Process, M4: Society.

Exercise

In addition to the classroom, exercises are valuable learning material that incorporates critical thinking, collaboration and making well-informed choices of the real-life sustainability challenges. Exercises will take place in the group auditorium R2.  Students are expected to solve those exercises independently, and minimum of five must approved/passed before the deadline in order to appear in examination. The exercise submission and approval will be carried out through Blackboard. Students are required to upload the answers on each exercises on Blackboard before the due date. 

Project work

Students are expected to carry out the project work parallel to the regular classroom lectures and exercises. We will create groups in a week time and students will be given group number. There are 5 - 7 students in each group. The group will select the project topic in three weeks and discuss with the teachers. Students can start working on project anytime, in addition, students will have full exercises hours as soon as we complete the main exercises. The project work also includes the writing of the project report and presenting the project work at the end of the semester. Here is overall guideline; more specific guideline will be provided during the semester. We along with students assistance will help in the project work.

• Groups will be formed soon and you as a group will select the project topic
• Group project will start after we complete the exercises.
• Teaching will continue throughout the semester.
• We will use exercise hours to carry out the project work.
• Depending your choice of topic…the project work can be theoretical or numerical or practical. It can also be the field project.
• We will form groups of 5-7 students.
• We will give you topics and you will select according your choice. You can also bring your choice of topic for the project work.
• Project topic must be within our scope of study in this course.
• You are as a individual within the group expected to spend minimum of 50 - 60 hours for the project work.

Specific information on the project work will be available on the dedicated section: 'Project work'. At the end of the project work, student make oral presentation at the decided date and time. Students are also required to write the project report in the prescribed format and deliver before the set deadline.

Requirement

1. Must have carried out the project work within the assigned group
2. Each member of the group must contribute equally
3. Each member must have specified task and activities, members must cooperate each other to complete the project work
4. If there is disagreement, try to solve internally first, otherwise contact the teacher
5. Entire group will receive same grade, assuming members have contributed equally
6. All members must contributed to write the project report in prescribed format
7. All members of the group are present during the presentation
8. All students must participate in the project presentations
9. Incomplete project work will not be approved
10. Project work represents own work therefore direct copy of the contents from other sources without proper citation will be termed as violation of plagiarism rules in NTNU.
11. AI produced contents, results in the project report are not acceptable, and can lead to fail in the project work

Laboratory exercises and tour

We organize one physical laboratory exercise in this course. The exercises is focused on hydropower, more specifically hydraulic turbine. This is mandatory exercise for all, where all students go to the Vannkraftlaboratoriet and conduct experiments. This the group exercises and the students will be divided into several groups. You will deliver the results of the laboratory experiments on the Blackboard. More information including the time plan and activities will be available during the semester.

We also organize laboratory tours, where you have possibility see state-of-the-art research and laboratory infrastructure. We generally organize tour for two-three laboratories of Energy and Process Engineering Department, and scheduled for one day, mainly exercise hours. We divide the students into groups and prepare time slot. More detail including the date and time-slot is available on 'Laboratory tour' section. This tour is not mandatory but essential, it is important that all students join since the tour is planned during the mandatory exercise hours.

Field trip

We also organize one field trip for the TEP4111 students. The field trip is aimed to show real-life cases of energy and sustainability. Generally, the tour is scheduled for one day, 08:00 - 16:00 hrs, and the date is published based on approval from the corresponding firm/company. Primarily, we visit the Norsk Kylling at Orkanger. Specific detail about the trip is available at 'Field trip' section.

Attendance

Attendance is essential for this course, but not mandatory. Students usually note down the important points in their note during the lecture in the classroom. Therefore, physical attendance is invaluable to understand contents presented in the classroom. Since, we do not have dedicated book that covers all topics, contents covered in the classroom are the key material for reading and understanding the fundamental concepts.

Workload

The average work load is 12 - 16 hours per week for TEP4111. The workload calculation is for understanding of hours distribution in TEP4111. It does not guarantee anything and takes no responsibility. Each student has different capacity of learning and gaining knowledge. This calculation provides overview of hours distribution for different elements while developing the course and meeting the expectations.

Main elements in this course are:

1. Classroom lectures
2. Assignments
3. Project work
4. Project work presentation
5. Self-study or homework or pre-lecture work
6. Examination

TEP4111 is developed for the first semester university students, and it is the foundation course at level 1. Total course credits are 7.5 SP (equivalent to 7.5 ECTS, European credit system). 1 ECTS corresponds to 24 - 30 hours of work. TEP4111 assumes 30 hours per credit therefore total assumed work hours are 30 x 7.5 = 225 hrs. The students are expected to spend minimum of 225 hrs in this course.

The autumn semester in NTNU typically spans over 14 weeks of work or teaching. Weekly work time hours distribution is,

The remaining 116 hours are flexible, where students are expected work on solving exercises, self-study, homework, pre-lecture work, conducting project work and preparing for the final examination. Since each student is unique in learning and gaining knowledge, the 116 hours are flexible.

Examination and grade

Assessment in this course is divided into two parts (1) Project work, 25% and (2) Final examination, 75%.

At the end of the project work, group presentation is scheduled; it may be either power point or poster presentation. All students must present their project work at the scheduled date and time. The presentations are scheduled on the last teaching week of the semester. After the successful group presentation, the project report must be delivered through the examination system (Inspera) before the deadline. Assessment of the project work will take place through project report. The project work accounts for 25% of total grade in this course. At the end of the semester, main examination will be held, accounting for 75% of total grade in this course. There are additional specific conditions for the examination. Read those conditions on the official website of the course: https://www.ntnu.no/studier/emner/TEP4111#tab=omEmnet

Learning and reading materials

This course does not have specific book for reading and preparing examination however, the maximum emphasizes placed on the contents covered in the classroom. The learning and reading materials include,

1. Power point presentations delivered in the classroom,
2. Topics covered in the classroom blackboard (tavla),
3. Topics covered in the exercises,
4. Hand notes and other learning material provided through Blackboard.

Student day

One day during the semester, we usually celebrate the student day. On this day 2 - 3 students make presentation on the topic of energy and sustainability. Specific date and practical information will be published during the semester on 'student day' page.

Reference group

NTNU's most frequently used method for collecting feedback from students, is to create a reference group for the course. This page describes what a reference group is, how it works, and what the duties of the course coordinator are in this respect.

Why use reference groups?

Reference groups are the most frequently used method for collecting feedback from the students following a course.

• Reference groups enable close dialogue and cooperation between the course coordinator and the students throughout the course.
• Reference groups can be used both for mid-way adjustments and for hindsight evaluation and development.
• Reference groups work particularly well in combination with other methods for collecting feedback from the students.
• The reference group represents all students enrolled in the course, and should should actively seek the opinions of the other students. The course coordinator should regularly collect feedback from all students, e.g. through questionnaires.

 Duties and composition of reference groups

A reference group consists of at least three students taking the course. If the course is part of more than one study program, all programs should be represented. In courses with few students (such as PhD courses), it might be natural to include all the students in the reference group. Likewise, a single reference group may be created for several small courses within the same study program, subject area and level of study. The students evaluate the course and provide feedback to the course coordinator. In addition to dialogue and direct feedback during the course, the reference group writes a report at the end of the course, using the study program management system, KASPER. The reference group's report is integral to the course coordinator's final course report, and is published as an attachment to this.

The students in the reference group should

• have ongoing dialogue with their fellow students about education quality
• represent all the students in the reference group meetings
• sum up the feedback to the course coordinator in a reference group report, including proposed adjustments

Requirement

• Around 5 - 7 members. Each will be given responsibility of certain students.
• Not only girls, not only boys. 50 - 50 is ideal combination.
• Members should represent the class.
• Collect feedback from the students time-to-time. We expect both positive and negative comments that help to improve the course.
• Meeting with teachers (2-3 times) during the semester. Preferable time is exercise hours.
• Send me your interest before the deadline.

Contact

Chirag Trivedi is the course coordinator, and he will cover the course contents on energy, energy conversion, UN SDG and societal perspectives. Armin Hafner is another teacher with expertise on heating and cooling process involving refrigeration and air conditioning. Jacob Joseph Lamb is also another teacher in the course, who will cover the contents on Battery, hydrogen, biogas, carbon footprint, lifecycle analysis and environmental impact.