The lesson aims at giving students an overview on energy productivity. Dr Hobbs, together with others researchers of the KAPSARC, addresses this topic answering simple questions: what is energy productivity and why does it matter. He puts this topic into the context of global climate change and economic discussions to answer these apparently simple questions.
Energy productivity has changed over time and has been strongly linked to the efficiency of usages in a country and its economic structure. Students will explore this process through a couple of examples that use a method called decomposition. Finally, this lesson tackles also the drivers of embodied energy in trade and in particular the role played by specialization. It analyses what it is going on in terms of energy productivity as well as energy efficiency, comparing developed and developing countries. It also aims at explaining students how to approach climate change discussion.
