Energy Policy Undergraduate Certificate
Through an interdisciplinary understanding of the economic, environmental, and policy dimensions of the energy system, prepare to engage in energy policy discussions and contribute to decision-making in government, industry, nonprofit, and research settings.
Program overview
This 12 credit hour certificate focuses on the technologies, markets, economics, and real-world considerations of energy policy decisions, equipping students to assess how policies will impact the environment, energy reliability, energy costs, and various stakeholders.
Why study Energy Policy?
Energy shapes nearly every part of the economy, environment, and society. Combining this certificate with a complimentary major will provide you with the practical tools to analyze complex real-world challenges surrounding energy policy.
What can you do with a certificate in Energy Policy?
The Energy Policy Certificate prepares undergraduates for careers at the intersection of energy, policy, and public affairs. Graduates may pursue roles with public utilities, state energy offices, public authorities, independent regulatory commissions, quasi-governmental organizations, consulting firms, and energy companies.
Featured Courses
AREC 270 Economic Perspectives on Natural Resource and Environmental Issues
Exploration of the economic causes of natural resource depletion and environmental degradation, employing the concepts of externalities, public goods, and market failure. Use of economic logic and analysis to assess the relative effectiveness of alternative policy approaches for addressing such problems. Application to issues of air quality, climate change, water quality, water quantity, energy use, fisheries management, endangered species protection, and waste recycling.
AREC 345 Climate Change and Renewable Energy Economics
Overview of climate change economics and policy and avenues for addressing climate change, including renewable energy. Assessment of the economic, environmental, and policy forces that are shaping the policy debate surrounding climate change policy. Exploration of methods for evaluating the economic costs and benefits of climate policy and investment in renewable energy.
HBS 424 Energy Markets and Economics
Theoretical and empirical perspectives on individual and industrial demand for energy, energy supply, energy markets, and public policies affecting energy markets.
HBS 433 Energy Transitions
Energy technology and policy solutions for a growing population, increasingly industrialized world, expanding quality of life, limits of fossil fuel energy sources, and the increasing realization that renewable energy must be integrated into an energy system built around fossil fuels.
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