- Current section: Introduction
- Learning outcomes
- 1 1 Why sustainable energy matters
- 2 2 Definitions: energy, sustainability and the future
- 3 3 Present energy sources and sustainability
- 4 4 Renewable energy sources
- 5 5 Energy services and efficiency improvement
- 6 6 Energy in a sustainable future
- Acknowledgements
from The Open University
Alternatively you can skip the navigation by pressing 'Enter'.
Get Started menu item
What's On menu item
TV
-
Friday 24th May
- 12:01am, Eden, Secrets Of Our Living Planet: Magical Forest
- 12:05am, BBC Four, Timewatch: Last Day of WW1
- 11:00am, Eden, Life In Cold Blood
- 11:00am, Eden, Life In Cold Blood
- 3:00pm, Eden, Life In Cold Blood
- 3:00pm, Eden, Life In Cold Blood
- 8:00pm, Eden, Life In Cold Blood
- 8:00pm, Eden, Life In Cold Blood
- Saturday 25th May
Radio
- Friday 24th May
- Sunday 26th May
- Monday 27th May
-
Friday 24th May
An introduction to sustainable energy
The search for sustainable energy will dominate the twenty-first century. This unit...
The search for sustainable energy will dominate the twenty-first century. This unit provides an introductory overview of the present energy systems and takes a brief look at where the world may find energy in the future – cleaner use of fossil fuels or renewable energy sources?
When you have completed this unit you should:
- have an understanding and awareness of the importance of sustainable energy;
- have an overview of the main sources of renewable energy.
- Duration: 3 hours
- Published on: Tuesday 26th July 2011
- Level: Introductory
- Posted under: Environmental Science
Contents
An introduction to sustainable energy
Introduction

The search for sustainable energy will dominate the twenty-first century. This unit provides an introductory overview of the present energy systems and takes a brief look at where the world may find energy in the future – cleaner use of fossil fuels or renewable energy sources?
This unit is from our archive and is an adapted extract from Energy for a sustainable future (T206) which is no longer taught by The Open University. If you want to study formally with us, you may wish to explore other courses we offer in this subject area [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .
Archive content
This is an extract from an Open University course which is no longer available to new students. If you found this interesting you could explore more free Environmental Science course units or view the range of currently available OU Environmental Science courses.
Other pages You might like

Try: Reducing your ecological footprint
Concerned about your impact on the environment? Interested in learning how to shape a...

Try: Finding information in information...
The internet provides a world of information, but how do you find what you are looking...

Study: Certificate of Higher Education in...
This certificate combines aspects of science, technology and social science to explore...

Try: Environment: LA River
Who killed the river that runs through Los Angeles? Did you even know there was a river?...

Try: Earth's physical resources: petroleum
The discovery of of the world's first major underground oilfield in Pennsylvania, USA in...

Study: Practical environmental science
Explore the natural world through practical activities ranging from the use of...

Try: World in transition: Migration and Trade
What does it mean to be poor, or an immigrant? What form should Aid take? This album...

Try: Social issues and GM crops
The genetic manipulation of plants and animals and their use in agriculture is one of the...

Study: Environment: sharing a dynamic planet
Gain an understanding of today’s challenging environmental issues by exploring key...

Try: Environment: journeys through a...
Genetically, mountain gorillas are amongst our closest living relatives, and also one of...

Try: Energy resources: Wind energy
Wind energy was the fastest growing power source at the starts of the 21st century, yet...

Study: Cell biology
Cell biology explores the origins of cells and the generation of cell diversity, as well...
Comments
Be the first to post a comment
Copyright & revisions
Copyright information
- Creative-Commons: The Open University is proud to release this free course under a Creative Commons licence. However, any third-party materials featured within it are used with permission and are not ours to give away. These materials are not subject to the Creative Commons licence. See terms and conditions. Full details can be found in the Acknowledgements section.
Feeds
If you enjoyed this, why not follow a feed to find out when we have new things like it? Choose an RSS feed from the list below. (Don't know what to do with RSS feeds?)
Remember, you can also make your own, personal feed by combining tags from around OpenLearn.
Alternative Formats
Tags, Ratings and Social Bookmarking
Page Tags
Sign in or create a free account to add tags to your personal tag cloud using:
Have you tried our free courses?
Free stuff to your door
Living with Poverty
OU TV & Radio
-
Life In Cold BloodEden
Saturday 0:01 -
Life In Cold BloodEden
Saturday 0:01 -
Bang Goes The Theory s6 in fullEden
Saturday 9:00 -
History Of ScotlandBBC Two
Saturday 10:00 -
Secrets Of Our Living Planet: Emerald BandEden
Saturday 17:00
Views
Votes
Comments
Tags
- climate change (373)
- business (277)
- diaries (194)
- bottom line (169)
- food (168)
- Rough Science (162)
- BBC Two (145)
- internet (145)
- BBC Radio 4 (141)
- BBC (134)
- listings (121)
- Scotland (121)
- points for debate (120)
- Creative Climate (116)
- Bang goes the Theory (116)
- children (116)
- English Civil War (115)
- astronomy (108)
- Thinking Allowed (105)
- religion (98)
- marketing (94)
- 20th century (94)
- Charles I (93)
- communication (92)
- evolution (91)
- sustainability (89)
- research (88)
- architecture (85)
- energy (83)
- Charles Darwin (78)
OpenLearn Links
Copyrighted imageCredit: Background image Lucian Milasan | Dreamstime.com 

