ENMG

Energy Management and Policy Courses (Choose at least 1-4 one)

Subject

ENMG

Type

course

Edition

2026-2027

Source

catalog.upenn.edu

This seminar will explore a collection of ideas influencing energy policy development in the U.S. and around the world. Our platform for this exploration will be seven recent books to be discussed during the semester. These books each contribute important insights to seven ideas that influence energy policy: Narrative, Transition, Measurement, Systems, Subsidiarity, Disruption, Attachment. Books for 2018 will be chosen over the summer; the 2017 books are listed here as examples: Policy Paradox (2011) by Stone, Climate Shock (2015) by Wagner and Weitzman, Power Density (2015) by Smil, Connectography (2016) by Khanna, Climate of Hope (2017) by Bloomberg and Pope, Utility of the Future (2016) by MIT Energy Initiative, Retreat from a Rising Sea (2016) by Pilkey, Pilkey-Jarvis, Pilkey.

Subject

ENMG

Type

course

Edition

2026-2027

Source

catalog.upenn.edu

This graduate-level course offers an in-depth examination of global decarbonization efforts through the critical analysis of real-world case studies. Students will explore the policies driving the energy transition alongside the economic, political, technological, and institutional barrier that continue to hinder progress toward net-zero emissions. Key topics include electricity sector reform, renewable energy integration, oil and gas market dynamics, energy efficiency, and sectoral decarbonization strategies. The course also addresses the evolving geopolitics of energy and the global implications of national policy choices. Case studies from a diverse set of jurisdictions—including the European Union, India, China, Japan, Canada, the UAE, Ethiopia, Kenya, Brazil, and Colombia—will provide region-specific insights and support comparative analysis. The course is designed to deepen students’ understanding of international energy policy and its regional complexities.

Subject

ENMG

Type

course

Edition

2026-2027

Source

catalog.upenn.edu

Subject

ENMG

Type

course

Edition

2026-2027

Source

catalog.upenn.edu

It's commonly accepted that national energy policies have direct impacts on regional security and global geopolitical dynamics. But what happens when energy itself becomes a national security issue? Contemporary headlines illustrate the risk of viewing energy policy strictly through an economic lens. Authoritarian states continue to weaponize energy resources against dependent global democracies, while democracies increasingly rely on high-profile energy sectoral sanctions and technology export controls as vital tools of economic statecraft. Both examples illustrate how actors can use energy strategically, in both offensive and defensive capacities. An understanding of these threats is essential to developing sound energy diplomacy strategies to ensure that the energy transition is realized in a way that supports regional stability, security, and human rights. This course will teach students how to develop multidisciplinary energy analysis, policy recommendations, and diplomatic strategies that can work to address these global energy security challenges. The course will assess as a case study the current European energy infrastructure landscape and ask students to propose infrastructure, regulatory, and physical/cyber security strategies from the perspective of a practitioner of energy diplomacy. The course will also teach students valuable skills related to open-source intelligence methods, including tapping into new commercial space industry data sets (each student will receive a free Planet satellite imagery account that can be used in research assignments). We will review recent U.S. and European sanctions policies through the framework of existing and proposed Russia sanctions, and understand how the commercial space technology renaissance can aid energy infrastructure protection and sanctions policy development. The course is designed to be fast- paced, highly-active, and exciting, combining primary source readings and guest lectures from senior energy officials, executives, and experts, with classroom simulations drawing on the historical, policy, science, and technology drivers of effective energy security strategies.

Subject

ENMG

Type

course

Edition

2026-2027

Source

catalog.upenn.edu

Energy issues are among some of the most important and complex issues facing the modern world. Energy practices are related intimately to climate change, national security, air and water pollution, economic stability of nations, social inequality, and poverty. This seminar-style course takes an in-depth view at the issues surrounding energy, and both the policy approaches used across the world to address such issues and the justice and equity dimensions of energy systems. Of importance to the discussions in this course is not simply a consideration of which policies have been adopted and to what ends, but rather a comprehensive evaluation of the political environment in which policies are designed and implemented, the manner in which governments can redesign their approaches to energy, and how an energy justice approach has the potential to fundamentally redesign our energy systems. This year, we will also focus quite a bit on the intersections between energy inequalities and racial inequalities, with an objective to elucidate such intersections for the energy-curious public.

Subject

ENMG

Type

course

Edition

2026-2027

Source

catalog.upenn.edu

This course covers the levers within government (policy, regulatory agencies, legislation) and outside of government (communities, businesses, NGOs.) Any organization in pursuit of either a new energy technology or a decarbonizing one must understand and engage with these entities. To meet our net-zero goals in time, we must scale up deployment for deep decarbonization in parallel with the annual removal of gigatons of carbon dioxide from the accumulating pool in the atmosphere. There are, however, multiple barriers to deployment: high costs for first-of-a-kind technology demonstrations; lack of policy frameworks across the broad portfolio of approaches that enable nth-of-a-kind technologies to become universally affordable; and a lack of public acceptance of energy technologies in environmentally impacted communities. That said, by following the path from inception to application to deployment, we will unpack the multiple levers of governance required: the relationship between a vote, a bill, and, ultimately, a law. We’ll dig into the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, explore existing policy levers like 45Q (a tax credit and direct pay that can line up financing to capitalize 2nd- and 3rd-of- a-kind demonstrations). We’ll discuss the impact of non-governmental organizations, how think tanks can drive change, how communities can be engaged. Finally, we will examine the risks and benefits of technology demonstrations within communities: how regional resources, population density, availability of land and water impact the siting of projects; what legacy and future environmental justice impacts might result.

Subject

ENMG

Type

course

Edition

2026-2027

Source

catalog.upenn.edu

2026-27 Catalog | Generated 08/03/26

Subject

ENMG

Type

course

Edition

2026-2027

Source

catalog.upenn.edu

Strong, Stable, Shared Growth

Subject

ENMG

Type

course

Edition

2026-2027

Source

catalog.upenn.edu

Energy technologies are unusual economic goods: they are capital intensive, infrastructure dependent, politically salient, and deeply embedded in market rules. Understanding why some clean technologies scale rapidly (solar PV, batteries) while others struggle (nuclear, CCS, hydrogen) requires tools from microeconomics, industrial organization, and innovation economics. This course provides graduate students with a rigorous, applied microeconomic framework for analyzing clean energy technologies and markets. The course emphasizes how firms, investors, and consumers respond to incentives, risks, market design, and institutional constraints. Students will develop the ability to diagnose market failures, such as risk mispricing, coordination problems, missing markets, credibility issues, and non-price constraints that shape technology adoption and investment outcomes. The course will use structured case analysis and moderated “Market Failures Clinics,” to delve into the microeconomic foundations necessary to understand how clean energy markets function in practice—including with guest practitioners— and why policy intervention is sometimes required.

Subject

ENMG

Type

course

Edition

2026-2027

Source

catalog.upenn.edu