Development and implementation of multi-disciplinary renewable energy course at Habib University

Abstract

Energy crises, identified as a global challenge, need to be addressed immediately and are a part of the curriculum, and the focus of the agenda in a newly designed renewable energy course offered to all freshmen at Habib University, Pakistan. Being a stakeholder, energy education shouldn't be limited to those who choose to study the relevant subjects, but should be offered to everyone. Specially designed multi-disciplinary courses can be offered to students from all the disciplines and can establish a common understanding of energy related issues. This paper highlights one such effort, where experts from various disciplines designed a multidisciplinary course to enable students to address real world problems in shaping the energy future globally and specifically in the context of Pakistan. The objective of the course is to create a general awareness about the sensible use of energy and to equip students with a theoretical understanding of energy crises that we face both locally and globally due to the excessive use of fossil fuels. Furthermore, the curriculum emphasizes a quantitative analysis of potential energy alternatives, as well as critical thinking, and multiple skills through a project-based approach to foster a thorough understanding of renewable technologies and later to transform the acquired knowledge into group projects.