EfS

Master's degree in Energy for Sustainability

The Master's in Energy for Sustainability at the University of Coimbra (MESUC) aims at developing its students' abilities to contribute to interdisciplinary interventions in areas such as the efficient use of energy, centralized or decentralized energy production, or the distribution of energy, always under a sustainable development perspective. Students that earn an MSc through this program have developed competences in the technological domains associated to these areas, as well as  the domains of economics and the environment;  they acquired capacities to analyze systems and their interrelations; they are able to develop projects and tackle complex problems concerning the energy-environment binomial, addressing topics such as the evaluation of systems' sustainability, using life-cycle models, materials flow analysis, geographical information systems, market economics analyzes, or market regulation mechanisms.

Applications to the MESUC program

Students can submit their application online using UC's web service, following the link https://inforestudante.uc.pt/nonio/security/candidaturas.do (for the version in English please click on the respective flag).

Applications calendar 2012:

Candidates to the MESUC program should have a degree in the area of Economics, Management, Engineering, Natural sciences, or Architecture. The selection process follows the regulations of FCTUC and FEUC.

The selection criteria are the following:

1. Academic and professional curriculum;
2. Motivation and probability of succeeding;
3. Duration of the formation at the University of Coimbra;

The tuition fee and the number of vacancies are annually established by the UC Senate. For the edition starting in 2011, the tuition fee is 1600 EUR in the first year and 800 EUR in the third semester (second year); the number of candidates to admit is 25.

Aspects of the program's functioning

The most nuclear courses of the program have classes scheduled for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Classes are located at Polo II of the University of Coimbra and at the Faculty of Economics.

Most classes are entirely taught in English whenever there exists collaboration with MIT faculty or the presence of non-Portuguese speaking students warrants it.

Program Structure

The program structure for MESUC is organized in three semesters, corresponding to 90 ECTS credits. During the first two semesters each student obtains 48 ECTS credits from elective courses worth 3 or 6 ECTS credits each, according to course availability and the chosen area of specialization, plus 6 ECTS credits from an Applied Research Project (to be performed on the 2nd Semester). Preparatory work for an MSc Dissertation (reading, planning, delimiting a theme) starts on the 2nd semester, and the Dissertation is expected to be completed by the end of the 3rd semester.

Successful completion of the courses provided on the first two semesters confers a post-graduation specialized course Diploma of Advanced Studies in Energy for Sustainability, in case the student does not wish to submit an MSc Dissertation.

The MESUC program offers three specialization areas plus a common kernel of general courses. The areas of specialization address energy sustainability at different levels:

• a macro-scale perspective, provided by the area of Energy Systems and Policy.
• a medium-scale perspective, provided by the area of Buildings and Urban Environment
• a medium-scale perspective, provided by the area of Indoor Climate and Comfort

Energy Systems and Policy

• In this area, courses are offered to allow students to master topics related with energy and environmental economics, energy markets in various forms of organization and regulation, efficient use of energy and overcoming market barriers, organization of transportation systems for sustainability, among other topics.

Buildings and Urban Environment

• This area builds competences for designing and analyzing urban-scale systems, both under a perspective of space organization, at the crossroads of criteria related to the sustainable use of natural resources, functionality, and fruition, and the under a perspective of buildings as complex systems, addressing conception and operation in a context of efficiency, as well as human comfort and health.

Indoor Climate and Comfort

• Besides studying the design and operation of Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, this area soughs to improve competences in topics such as analysis of comfort, simulation of energy in buildings, computational analysis of fluid dynamics, or the influence of the buildings' opaque envelope on comfort.
• The publication of the EU Directive EPBD (Energy Performance of Buildings Directive) has induced national laws and regulations concerning the certification of buildings and the monitoring of their consumptions. This new reality demands for an increase of the number of professionals with specialized technical education in the areas of HVAC in European countries, justifying the creation of this specialization area in the MESUC program.

The list of courses and the prerequisites for each specialization area are presented HERE.

Faculty from UC involved in the EfS Doctoral Program are affiliated with the Faculty of Economics and five departments from the Faculty of Science and Technology  – Architecture, Civil Engineering, Computers and Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Chemical Engineering.