Why this course?

Tackling climate change is one of the biggest challenges we face. There is likely to be irreversible and catastrophic damage, unless global action is taken quickly to stabilize the rising temperature of the earth's surface.

The EU adopted an integrated energy and climate change policy in December 2008, including ambitious targets for 2020. It hopes to set Europe on the right track - towards a sustainable future with a low-carbon, energy efficient economy - by:

• cutting greenhouse gases by 20% (30% if international agreement is reached)
• reducing energy consumption by 20% through increased energy efficiency
• meeting 20% of our energy needs from renewable sources. One of the European targets is clearly increasing the energy efficiency.

Reaching energy efficiency requires a complex mix of technological measures. Care must be taken that several measures do not annihilate each other and an overall view has to be kept.

This course aims at providing the participants this overall view. The course treats a wide scope of topics : from heat to power, control and the economical and legislative context of energy. New energy technologies emerging in the market are treated and the link with renewable energies has been added (the second European target).

Each topic starts with the scientific fundamentals and ends with industrial examples. Evaluation after the two previous successful editions showed that this approach was strongly appreciated. More time though has been added for handson training by allowing the participants to solve industrial cases during the course.

People who want to complement their background are invited to follow an introductory module (module 0), where time is spent on recapitulating the basic training courses in Energy Engineering. After attending the course, participants will be able to apply the gained knowledge in energy projects in their company.