Dr. Dhakal’s teaching encompasses energy and climate related area with more focus on policy and management. At AIT, he has developed several new courses (ED86.04 Energy and GHG Emissions Accounting and Modelling in Cities; ED86.09 Energy Systems, Economics and Policy;ED72.46 Carbon Markets and Carbon Finance; ED82.08 Economics of Climate Change) and he continues to teach few other other existing courses in energy economics and policy arena. The list of courses taught by Dr. Dhakal are below.
- ED86.04 Energy and GHG Emissions Accounting and Modelling in Cities (3 credits) – (Fall/August semester 2020 onwards). This course aims at imparting knowledge on past, present and future energy use in cities and the options available for the sustainable energy transition in cities through analytical, accounting and modelling approaches. Energy use and emission diagnosis, hot-spots identification, and options and pathways for the future are the focus of this course.
- ED86.09 Energy Systems, Economics and Policy (3 credits) – (Spring/January semester 2021 onwards, co-teaching with Dr. JG Singh and Prof. Weerakorn Ongsakul). This course is intended to provide fundamental understanding of energy system and emerging issues in energy access, technologies, economics, market and policies for students. The course is aimed to provide broader knowledge that surrounds energy transition. Key systems covered here are power system, rural and urban energy systems. The course is designed to accommodate students from all disciplines to develop a common knowledge base.
- ED82.08 Economics of Climate Change (2 credits)– (Spring/January semester 2017-2020). The objective of this course is to provide a sound understanding of the economics of climate change from multiple viewpoints needed for graduate students specializing in climate change. These viewpoints span from the economic underpinnings of global climate agreements and global costs and benefits as key tenants of climate policy to the cost-benefits analysis as a tool for analyzing projects and policy instruments. The course also provides ample efforts to make students aware of the limitations of the economic approach, valuation difficulties, uncertainly of impacts and other ambiguities which are inherent in the climate change.
- ED72.13 Development and Evaluation of Energy Projects (3 credits) (Fall/August semester, 2014-2019): Understanding the project cycle is important because of lumpy nature of most energy projects and their wide socio-economic and environmental impacts. Its importance has increased in the era of deregulated and privatized energy industries, and in view of global concern about sustainable development of energy projects. In this context, the objective of this course is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the concepts and methodologies for project identification, project preparation, project’s economics and financial evaluation and project financing.
- ED72.30: Energy, Environment and Climate Change: Issues & Strategies (2 credits)- (Fall/August semester 2012-2019, coteaching with Prof. S. Kumar): This course aims at exposing the students to issues related to climate change (currently a matter of significant global concern) as well as to technological and policy options to mitigate greenhouse gases (GHG). It is also aimed at equipping the students to understand clearly the links between energy use, sustainable development and environmental impacts at local, regional (transboundary) and global levels as well as technology and policy options to address energy related local and regional environmental problems.
- ED72.25 Energy-Economy Modeling and Policy Analysis (3 credits): (Spring/January semester, 2013-2020). Economy and energy sector has close bidirectional linkages. Understanding this linkage and an ability to evaluate implications of various policies and actions to energy and economics outcomes are key elements of public policy. Models that link energy and economic systems facilitate this. Therefore, the objective is this course is to impact knowledge to students on prevailing energy-economy models, modelling approaches and techniques. The course also focusses on model applications in areas such as energy and climate policy evaluation, scenario analysis, technology assessment and energy security analysis.
- ED72.26 Environmental Policy and Management of Energy Systems (2 credits) – (Fall/August semester, 2012-2016): Environmental implications of the energy system have remained a key concern for energy development, operation and use. This has influenced the choice of energy technologies, the choice of energy resources, related markets, energy prices and regulations. In contemporary world, environmental consideration is an integral part of the energy discussions. Since energy resources are abundant, how to improve energy access to all at a reasonable price without damaging environment is a key policy objective in energy planning. This course will prepare students to understand the different type of energy and environmental policies and policy instruments linked with various options in energy system planning together with their application and evaluation in real world.
- ED72.46 Carbon Markets and Carbon Finance (3 credits): (Fall/August semester, 2014-2019). In last decade, carbon market and carbon finance have emerged as a means to shoulder the costs of mitigation and adaptation. Several carbon markets and carbon finance schemes have been set up and are functioning at various levels. These markets and finances are different from other conventional markets and finances due to its own context, operating environment, principle and modus operandi. These markets and finances are expected to grow in the post-2015 world. This course will prepare students to understand and handle carbon market and financing issues in governments, private sector, public and international financial institutions, and the UN and bilateral organizations. The objective of this course is to provide a solid foundation on carbon market and carbon finance to students from a multiple perspectives.