MOOC: Powering Agriculture – Sustainable Energy for Food
Course at a Glance
The global initiative “Powering Agriculture: An Energy Grand Challenge for Development (PAEGC)” in cooperation with TH Köln – University of Applied Science is offering a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on “Powering Agriculture – Sustainable Energy for Food”. Further participating organizations are the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Tetra Tech, the World Bank, as well as the Center for Development Research (ZEF).
The 8-week course, which will run from Feb. 1 to Mar. 27 2016*, will introduce participants to the Energy-Agriculture Nexus and approaches for sustainably providing energy throughout all stages of agricultural value chains. Challenges but also solutions will be analyzed, concrete technologies will be examined focusing on their utility to promote access to clean energy. (*Participants may join the sessions even after 1 February)
Background
Around one third of the energy used worldwide goes into the production and processing of food from field to table. Given the current energy system mix, the agrifood industry sector is however heavily dependent on fossil fuel inputs for production, transport, processing and distribution, and contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. With a continuously growing world population the need for food and for energy to produce it is increasing. At the same time millions of farmers and processors in developing countries and emerging economies lack access to clean energy technologies for irrigation, drying, cooling, storage and other processes.
How can these needs be met sustainably?
We have to produce more food with less energy, make energy use more efficient, and introduce and upscale more clean energy technologies.
About the course
The MOOC is a web-based intensive course with flexible participation, online-video as well as offline reading material, and an online forum. It is offered on the Global Campus 21® platform of GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH), with all learning materials and documents available for offline work. The aim is to build a vibrant learning community focused on co-creating solutions.
In this course, we will give an introduction to the Agriculture and Energy Nexus and introduce approaches for sustainably providing energy throughout all stages of agricultural value chains – focusing on a developing and emerging country context.
Our central concerns are: How can we support the use of clean energy in developing countries and emerging economies within the agriculture and food sector? How can we contribute to reducing the large quantities of agricultural products going to waste every day, and thereby contributing to food security, both globally and locally?’
We will look at different clean energy technologies such as biogas- and solar powered- technologies and examine how those can promote access to clean energy. Together we will explore possible applications of these technologies in agricultural value chains by jointly analysing case studies from all over the globe.
We will learn that – while there is general consent on the importance of ‘clean energy’ and food security – approaches to tackle existing challenges vary enormously. Economic and political factors play a big role within the Agriculture and Energy Nexus, and may either push or restrain progress towards a more sustainable energy use. Together we will master the means to overcome some of the obstacles.
Workload
The total course duration is 8 weeks (February 1st to March 27th 2016,) with a minimum of 3-4 hours a week for reading course materials and collaborative online work.
Curriculum
Learning Goals
At the end of the course, you will have gained a risen awareness of the Energy-Agriculture Nexus and you will have achieved a more complex and critical understanding of its challenges. You are able to identify the potential of various renewable energy technologies in agricultural value chains and you can put the energy food nexus in economic and political context. Further you will have learnt to implement your very own energy solution.
The course structure is as follows:
Introduction to the Energy-Agriculture Nexus
Week 1
- Introduction to the Energy-Agriculture Nexus
- Energy Input in Agricultural Value Chains
Renewable Energy Technologies and Energy Efficiency in Agricultural Value Chains
Week 2
- Renewable Energy Resources and Technology Overview
- Solar Energy – Photovoltaics
- Solar Energy – Thermal Systems
- Application of Solar Energy Technologies in Agricultural Value Chains
- Case Studies
Week 3
- Use of Bioenergy in Agricultural Value Chains
- Bioenergy Resources and Technologies
- Application in Agricultural Value Chains
- Case Studies
Week 4
- Energy Efficiency in the Energy-Agriculture Nexus
- Energy Audits
- Life-cycle Assessment
- Case Studies
The Economics of the Energy–Food Nexus
Week 5
- Macro-level: Policies and Regulations for the Energy-Agriculture Nexus
- Case Studies
Week 6
- Micro-level: Investment Planning
- Feasibility Analysis
- Cost-benefit Analysis
- Case Studies
Week 7
- Business Models for the Energy-Agriculture Nexus
- Grid-connected Projects
- Off-grid Projects
- Value chain integrated generation and supply
Implementation of the Energy-Food Nexus
Week 8
- Summary
Certificates
All participants who have successfully completed the course requirements are awarded with a certificate upon the end of the course. All certificates will be personalised and issued by the PAEGC initiative and TH Köln – University of Applied Sciences. The certificate policies will follow soon.
The Global Initiative PAEGC and its Partners
Powering Agriculture – An Energy Grand Challenge (PAEGC) seeks to identify and support new and sustainable approaches to accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy solutions for increasing agriculture productivity and/or value in developing countries. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Duke Energy, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) have combined resources to fund Powering Agriculture. GIZ supports the initiative on behalf of BMZ. www.poweringag.org
Links and videos
https://poweringag.org
http://www.bmz.de/en/
https://www.usaid.gov/
http://www.sida.se/English/
https://www.giz.de/en/
https://www.th-koeln.de/en/
https://energypedia.info/wiki/Portal:Powering_Agriculture
