Navigating Energy History course

Learn more about workers, communities, environmental impact and climate change

Navigating Energy History is a new massive open online course (MOOC) designed by energy historian Dr Ewan Gibbs and based around his research into the transformation of Britain's energy economy from the perspective of workers, community and government policy.

A view of the chimneys and buildings of the Grangemouth refining and petrochemical works and Longannet power station on the shores of the River Forth. Image credit: StaraBlazkova, published on Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Falkirk_industry_area.JPG with a GNU_Free_Documentation_License

The course is fully online and unfolds over four weeks on the Future Learn platform although learners can complete the course at their own pace, either more quickly or slowly than the suggested timetable. No prior knowledge is required. Learning takes place across a variety of mediums, through videos and images, reading and completing relevant tasks.

We’ll explore themes including the scale of Britain’s coal mining industry and its demise in recent decades; the hopes and fears around nuclear power; what it’s like to work in an offshore oilrig; who owns and controls our energy; and the meaning of the transition towards renewables.

The course is structured as follows:

  1. Energy In History
  2. Energy Workers
  3. Who Does Energy Belong To?
  4. Environmentalism and Just Transitions

Interested in learning more?

Explore the course on the FutureLearn website

Logo with the words 'Future Learn' in black and a staircase of several steps in vivid dark pink

Picture credit: Grangemouth refining and petrochemical works and Longannet power station by StaraBlazkova, published on Wikimedia Commons, 2007