Sustainable Energy Systems

Overview

A multi- and cross-disciplinary approach is adopted to energy and environmental problems, their solutions and the economic and social dimensions of sustainable development. 

The Master's in Sustainable Energy Systems at Universidade de Aveiro is structured in such a way as to foster an understanding of the processes, technologies, economics, and politics associated with energy systems within the context of a sustainable supply and demand of energy.

It also focuses on the following issues: the processes of converting conventional and renewable energy resources, materials and technologies employed in the conversion and use of energy, methodologies of efficient energy use, instruments and measurement of energy and environmental processes, energy and environmental policies, the concepts of sustainable development and the politics leading to sustainable development.

The organisation of the programme around optional modules allows the student, on completion of a first year core curriculum, to opt for a more specialised programme, from amongst the principal areas of study on offer. In this way, students can broaden and extend their knowledge through a more specialised focus on a particular domain of Sustainable Energy Systems. 

Due to the multidisciplinary nature of the degree, several Departments from the University of Aveiro are involved in the process, namely: Environmental Studies, Mechanical Engineering, Ceramics and Glass Engineering, and Physics. 

Competences 

The goals of this cycle of studies are fulfilled through the articulation of the specialised contents in the areas of energy, the environment, materials and management. The integration of these concepts will enable the Master in Sustainable Energy Systems to demonstrate the following competences:

• intervention in the area of energy resources management, resorting to renewable energies and efficient energy systems;

• assessment of options regarding the conversion, distribution and use of energy in a rational and sustainable way;

• intervention in the area of integrated environmental management, either through environmental management systems, or through the application of preventive tools and integrated pollution control systems, such as cleaner production technologies, life-style analysis and eco-efficiency;

• advanced knowledge of the monitoring methods and the instruments utilised in the domains of energy and the environment;

• ability to use, independently, principles, concepts, and analysis instruments, techniques and legal matters, which allow him or her to find the most adequate solutions for energy and environmental problems in broader and multidisciplinary contexts;

• capacity to identify, prevent or minimise hazardous situations; to quantify and solve specific energy and environmental problems involving entities of an industrial or public nature, through technical solutions which are efficient from an economic, environmental, and social point of view;
• a global understanding of the energy and environmental sectors, with an emphasis on the capacity to analyse, create, plan, implement, manage, operate, control and communicate the application of solutions in enterprises, organisations, and in the territory - evidently in agreement with the new paradigm of sustainable development, taking into account Economics, Social, Environmental, Technological, and Energy factors.