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Politecnico di Milano

Sustainable business in the renewable energy sector

This edition is closed. To enroll in this course, please go to Find courses and search for the running edition.

The course deals with the main issues related to the so-called community engagement in the sector of energy production from renewable sources.

If you are a POLIMI student you have to log in using your Person Code. This is the only way to prove your participation in this course for official recognition.

Course description

What is meant by sustainability? How can the renewable industry promote sustainable socio-economic development in the territories in which it operates? What is sustainability according to Falck Renewables?

The growing global concern about climate change has led companies in all sectors to integrate the concept of sustainability into their strategic action lines.

The online course “Sustainable business in the renewable energy”, realized by Falck Renewables in collaboration with Politecnico di Milano, intends to provide theoretical elements and practical examples on sustainability in the renewable energy sector.

From its roots in the notion of “sustainable development” within the United Nations Agenda 2030, to the more pragmatic aspects of “sustainable solutions” in the onshore wind sector, sustainability is explained through videos and quizzes to learn in a flexible and interactive way a simple and at the same time ambitious concept.

Falck Renewables: Sustainability at the core

You can access the course absolutely free of charge and completely online.

The course materials will still be available to all registered users, even after the closing of the edition.

Further editions of this course will be activated each academic year.

Prerequisites

No prerequisite knowledge is required.

Discussion forum

Forum section is available. The Forum is designed to allow students to exchange opinions and discuss open questions.

Quizzes and scores

The course is organized into different weeks and modules. In the first two weeks, you will find different quizzes to check your understanding. The final grade for the course will be calculated based on your performance in all the quizzes submitted.

Certificate of Accomplishment

The Certificate of Accomplishment will be released to anyone who successfully completed the course by answering correctly to at least 60% of the questions by the end of the edition. You will be able to download the Certificate of Accomplishment directly on the website.

Once you have successfully passed the course, you can request the Certificate of Accomplishment without waiting for the end of the edition.

The Certificate of Accomplishment does not confer any academic credit, grade or degree.

FAQ

For further information, see FAQ page.

Course Faculty

Alessandro Costa

Alessandro Costa

He is responsible for sustainability at Falck Renewables SpA, an international “pure play” in the renewable energies sector. He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Science at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (I), where he is appointed as subject expert in environmental econometrics. More recently, he has become a member of Wind Europe Sustainability Working Group. He chairs C+3C Systems and Strategies, a strategic consulting practice in the fields of energy, sustainability, and infrastructure. Previously, he extensively served in China at the Sino-Italian Cooperation Programme (SICP) for Environmental Protection. He started-up and co-directed the Europe-China Clean Energy Centre, promoted by the European Commission and the National Energy Administration of China. He started-up and directed the Enel Foundation, devoted to research, capacity building and dissemination in the fields of energy, socioeconomics, sustainable development and innovation.

He is a member of the World Energy Council’s Studies Committee, a senior advisor for sustainable development at the Europe-China Municipal Development Commission, a member of the advisory board of the European Institute for Urban Comparative Research. He forms part of the editorial board of the Journal of Sustainability Research (Quingres).

Fabio Riva

Fabio Riva

Fabio Riva is Adjunct professor of “Sustainable Development” at Politecnico di Milano and Energy consultant at CESI spa.

He graduated with honours in Energy Engineering – Energy for Development at Politecnico di Milano, and he got the PhD in Energy and Nuclear Science and Technology at the Department of Energy with a thesis titled “Modelling endogenous complexities in rural electrification: on the local dynamics of growth and the planning of off-grid systems”. He has worked as an energy researcher at the UNESCO Chair in Energy for Sustainable Development from 2014 to 2019 and he has been one of the co-founders of the Sustainable Energy System Analysis and Modelling (SESAM) group. His research mainly dealt with the following topics: sustainable rural energy planning; energy optimisation; modelling energy demand dynamics for remote and rural area of the world; appropriate technologies assessment; impact evaluation of energy systems in the cooperation field. He is an expert in System Dynamics-based modelling for energy and sustainability planning. His applications are especially focused on the analysis of rural short- and long-term electricity demand dynamics, with integrations in off-grid energy optimisation tools. He collaborated in different EU, national, and private funded projects on the topic of energy access for sustainable development and capacity building in the energy sector. He was also teaching assistant at Politecnico di Milano of the thermodynamic course “Fisica Tecnica” for the degree programme in energy and aerospace engineering at Politecnico di Milano, and also a lecturer in the "Engineering and Cooperation for Development" course at Politecnico di Milano.

Monica Airoldi

Monica Airoldi

She is part of the Communication and Sustainability Division of Falck Renewables SpA.

She holds a degree in Linguistic and Cultural Mediation Sciences at the University of Milan and a Master 2 in Sociology at the University Aix-Marseille.

She started her professional career at the Milan Chamber of Arbitration where she oversaw international promotion and activities.

Subsequently, she worked several years in France as project manager of EU-funded cooperation projects aimed at investment promotion and know-how transfer between companies and business support organizations from Europe and the MENA area (www.euromedinvest.eu). In 2018 she has succeeded the executive course in Energy Management at MIP - Politecnico di Milano School of Management.

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  1. Classes Start

    Mar 08, 2020
  2. Classes End

    Feb 14, 2021
  3. Length

    3 Weeks
  4. Estimated Effort

    1-2 hours/week
  5. Language

    English
  6. Course Number

    SUSTEN101
  7. MOOCs For Professionals
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