Energy and the Environment in the Mediterranean Sea - Summer Programme

The programme highlights the impacts and vulnerability of the Mediterranean energy system in the face of the inevitable climate change in the region. It also shows how development options in key sectors/resources can, in the long run, strongly impact energy demand.

Learning Outcomes and Goals
The concept of the Mediterranean Sea and surrounding countries becoming a new Energy Hub will be analyzed and discussed. In particular, the prospects of Greece developing as an oil/gas producing country will be considered and the possibilities of gas/oil produced by other Mediterranean countries such as Egypt, Lebanon, Israel and Cyprus to be transferred to Europe through Greece will be explored. Furthermore, the prospects of pipelines transferring Russian gas to Europe through Turkey in addition to the existing routes from Russia through Ukraine will be evaluated and advantages/ disadvantages will be analyzed. The role of Greece as a country with the potential of becoming a major solar and wind energy producer, due to the prevailing winds and high rate of sun exposure throughout the year, will be considered and the principles of the technological developments required to allow Greece to emerge as a leader in renewable energy sources in Europe will be presented and discussed. Furthermore, issues associated with air and water pollution within the Mediterranean Sea will be considered in view of the emerging environmental regulations approved globally as part of the Paris Agreement (COP21).

Programme Highlights
Good understanding of the prospects of the Mediterranean countries developing as producers of gas/oil for transportation and distribution to European Union parallel to the already available Russian gas/oil serving through pipelines most European countries as part of existing agreements. Improved understanding of the fundamentals of gas/oil exploration and the principal technologies available for efficient solar and wind energy projects which are necessary in order to achieve the global target of preventing the temperature of our planet increasing more than 2 deg within this century.

Site visits (out-of-class experiences that supplement lectures as an integral part of the programme) :
Solar and wind parks already functioning near the City of Athens as well as oil refineries and the existing liquified natural gas regasification facility.

Duration (in days): 8 (2 weeks)
June 24 – July 7, 2018
Number of instructional hours: 3-4 hours/day (24 – 32 hours in total)