Energy Decarbonization Pathways and Tools
A four-week online course that explores the fundamental principles, mathematical concepts, and interconnections driving global clean energy transitions.
Created by â
Zach Birnholz
Clean Energy Senior Specialist at Con Edison
Intermediate level
Prior experience in finance reporting recommended but not required
Flexible schedule
Learn according to your schedule with fully asynchronous learning
4 weeks / 4 hours per week
Expected commitment. We will help keep yourself accountable with timely check-ins
Certificate & Office-hours
NewCertificate and office-hour meetings with course creator and other learners
Course overview
This course will delve into the foundational principles and terminology of clean energy transitions and will equip you with essential quantitative tools required to play a role in these transitions.
The course begins by examining the fundamental need to electrify everything, providing examples for organizations across sectors. Youâll learn how the grid works and what policies, regulations, and behaviors best support a clean and resilient grid. Along the way, we will demystify the many units used across the energy sector, including megawatts, joules, British thermal units, kilowatt-hours, amps, and volts.
You will then learn how to use quantitative techniques to help you make impactful data-driven energy decisions. We will also dig into various obstacles and opportunities that often come up in clean energy transitions. Youâll synthesize these learnings by creating an energy action plan relevant to your profession.
You will leave with the systems thinking skills to make informed energy decisions that are beneficial for business, the grid, and the climate while building a network of like-minded peers in the space.
Skills you will learn
Analyze energy scenarios
Calculate opportunities, costs, and impacts related to clean energy transitions
Identify decarbonization potential
Uncover high-impact pathways to decarbonize energy systems
Detect transition constraints
Identify bottlenecks in the clean energy transition value chain
Systems thinking
Apply an overlapping system lens to understand the interconnectedness of policy, justice, technology, labor, and markets in any clean energy transition
Who is this course for?
Business professionals targeting clean energy
Product managers, software engineers, sales professionals, consultants, and others targeting, or are newly in, clean energy careers.
Professionals who oversee energy usage
Energy analysts, energy specialists, energy consultants, sustainability managers, and others who help manage a companyâs energy consumption, impacts, and costs.
Traditional energy policy and regulatory specialists
Government relations specialists, energy policy advisors, energy regulatory consultants, energy compliance officers, and others seeking to navigate the clean energy landscape.
Course syllabus
Clean energy landscape and energy lingo refresher
Readings/viewings: Energy forms, currencies, and units, global energy context, current trends with renewables, quantitative energy analysis skills.
Electrification and the grid
Readings/viewings: The case to electrify everything, opportunities and challenges with scaling the smart grid, the role of batteries, quantitative tools for power sector planning.
Assignment: Assessment of your personal energy context as a tool for understanding energy impact areas and addressing energy misinformation.
Energy solutions across sectors
Readings/viewings: EVs and decarbonizing long-haul transport, heat pumps and other options for buildings, cleaning up industry: steel, cement, fertilizers, and plastics, applying a systems lens.
Energy policy and finance
Readings/viewings: Policy, regulation, and market design for enabling energy transitions, nuts and bolts of electricity rates and economics, politics and justice in energy (including equitable policies and supply chains), optional in-depth clean energy case studies
Assignment: Design an energy action plan for your workplace
Demand Response as a Lever in Clean Electrical Grids
Join us for insightful discussions on demand response and how it enhances grid reliability by transforming energy users into active participants. Explore how individuals and industries adapt their energy consumption to meet grid needs, reduce emissions, and support the transition to a cleaner energy future.
You won't learn alone
Join monthly live office hours with the course creator and fellow learners.
- Ask your questions live
- Get direct feedback from the instructor
- Connect with peers taking the course with you
- Learn from others' questions
- Get access to the recording if you miss it
- Keep lifetime access
What you get with with this course
Free office-hours
Join monthly live sessions with the course creator and peers taking the same course.
Global community
Join our global community of 5k+ professionals from 80+ countries with 200+ expert mentors
Live events & workshops
Attend immersive events and practical workshops with top climate voices and peers
15% off other courses
As a learner, you get 15% off for all other courses on Terra.do. Including our cohort-based courses.
AI-assisted learningBeta
Cutting-edge AI-assisted learning experience with personilzed pathways and more.
What learners say about this course
Erin Hemenway
"Energy Decarbonization Pathways and Tools is a practical and manageable course for busy people who may only be able to spare a few hours per week. The course is focused on a very practical area where nearly anyone can take what they've learned and start making positive changes in energy consumption in their own lives"
Energy Decarbonization Pathways and Tools graduate (USA)
Divyesh Tyagi
"If you are starting out and want to get inducted into climate change a wonderful set of mentors, trainers, content and community is waiting for you here at Terra.do."
Consultant at ReHive (India)
Meet the course creator
Zach Birnholz is dedicated to moving the needle on climate change by directly addressing its #1 contributor: our emissions from energy use. In his work in the distributed energy resources (DER) sector, he has enabled clean, demand-side assets to displace hundreds of megawatts of fossil fuel-generated power by enrolling large energy users such as Walmart into grid operatorsâ demand response programs. He holds a Masterâs in Environmental Science and Engineering from Stanford University and, early in the COVID-19 pandemic, was on the team that turned Stanfordâs introductory computer science class into a free online Python course for over 10,000 students (and 1,000 small-group instructors). Zach is also an instructor for Terra.doâs Learning for Action course.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Who will benefit most from this course?
Q: What does lifetime access mean?
Q: Can I connect with other learners or the instructor?
Q: Is the course material up to date?
Q: How is the Terra.do experience different compared to others?
Q: Will this course help me find a climate job?
Q: What is the format of the course?
Q: What happens if I miss the live office hours?
Q: Can I expense this through my employer?
Take this course
Energy Decarbonization Pathways and Tools
One-time purchase. Lifetime access. Free live office hours.
Learn the skills and find the community to work on climate
Take expert-led courses, join a global network, and work on real climate solutions.
Carbon Dioxide Removal, Capture, and Geoengineering
In this course, youâll explore the science, technology, and policy behind carbon dioxide removal (CDR), from forests to direct air...
Mastering Corporate Climate Reporting
Four-week course covering climate-related financial disclosures and reporting requirements that have increasingly become mandatory in markets across the world.
Economics of Climate Change
This course provides a deep dive into the economic dimensions of climate change, exploring both theoretical foundations and real-world applications....
Carbon Removal Technologies and Risks
A four-week online deep-dive into the carbon dioxide removal (CDR) portfolio, covering advantages, challenges, and risks of currently pursued approaches...
Fundamentals of Climate Science
Learn to measure and compare the climate impacts of different greenhouse gases, clear up misconceptions about emissions, and understand whatâs...
Soil Health and Regenerative Farming
This two-week course gets you up to speed on soil health and the critical role it plays in addressing climate...
