Course syllabus for Energy, Matter, Code: Systems design for sustainable innovation

Course syllabus adopted 2026-02-20 by Head of Programme (or corresponding).

Overview

  • Swedish nameEnergy, Matter, Code: Systemdesign för hållbar innovation
  • CodeTRA430
  • Credits7.5 Credits
  • OwnerTRACKS
  • Education cycleSecond-cycle
  • DepartmentTRACKS
  • GradingTH - Pass with distinction (5), Pass with credit (4), Pass (3), Fail

Course round 1

  • Teaching language

    English

  • Application code

    97111

  • Minimum participants

    8

  • Open for exchange students

    Yes

Credit distribution

Module
Sp1
Sp2
Sp3
Sp4
Summer
Not Sp
Examination dates
0124 Project 7.5 c
Grading: TH		3.7 c3.8 c

In programmes

Examiner

Eligibility

General entry requirements for Master's level (second cycle)

Specific entry requirements

Applicants need to have 90 ECTS at the time for application.
English 6/B.

Course specific prerequisites

In addition to the general requirements for studying at an advanced level at Chalmers, any necessary subject- or project-specific prerequisite competencies (if applicable) must be fulfilled. Alternatively, students must acquire the necessary competencies during the course. The examiner will formulate and check these prerequisite competencies.

Aim

The intensive, interdisciplinary course is built around the three foundational strategic pillars of 21st-century engineering and sustainable development: Energy, Matter, and Code.

The primary goal is to equip students and practitioners with the methodology of integrative design—a whole-system optimisation approach—to achieve radical leaps in resource efficiency and transformative innovation. This methodology optimises systems like buildings, vehicles, factories, equipment, and processes as whole systems for multiple benefits, making the efficiency resource significantly larger and cheaper than currently supposed.

Students will learn to break down traditional disciplinary silos and apply systemic thinking across the mobility, built environment, and industrial sectors. By mastering the synthesis of these three elements, participants will gain a new toolset for confronting global challenges and delivering disruptive, multi-benefit solutions that are simultaneously profitable, resource-efficient, and sustainable.

This course provides a platform to work and solve challenging, cross-disciplinary, authentic problems from different stakeholders in society, such as the academy, industry, or public institutions.

Course-specific aim:
  • To master the methodology of Integrative Design—a whole-system optimisation approach—to achieve radical leaps in resource efficiency and disruptive, profitable innovation across the built environment, mobility, and industrial sectors.
  • To equip students with the strategic frameworks and technical knowledge required for the three foundational pillars: Energy(efficient, electric, and renewable systems), Matter (circular economy and resource innovation), and Code (digitalisation and systemic control).
  • To teach the optimisation of whole systems to capture multiple benefits, significantly increasing returns and profitability from single efficiency expenditures.
  • To promote networking and collaboration among Chalmers students with shared interests across different disciplines and connect them with the instructors and their professional networks.

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)

General learning outcomes for Tracks courses:
  • Critically and creatively identify and/or formulate advanced systems' problems, lead and participate in the development of new products, processes and systems using a holistic approach by following an integrative design process.
  • Show insights about and deal with the impact of architecture and/or engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental and societal context.
  • Orally and in writing explain and discuss information, problems, methods, design/development processes and solutions.
Course-specific learning outcomes: 
  • Integrative Design Mastery: Apply the whole-system optimisation approach (Integrative Design) to analyse and redesign complex systems (buildings, mobility, industry) for radical resource efficiency and superior performance.
  • Energy Systems: Evaluate and design for maximal energy efficiency and electrification, including systems like high-performance buildings, industrial heat recovery, and sustainable mobility energy structures (e.g., V2G, minimised charging losses).
  • Matter & Circularity: Apply principles of the circular economy, including Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), dematerialisation, and industrial symbiosis, to optimise material use, reduce waste streams, and lower embodied carbon.
  • Digitalisation & Control: Utilise digital tools, data, and intelligent systems (such as IoT, AI/ML, and Digital Twins) to model, simulate, and dynamically manage resource consumption in complex engineered environments.
  • Systems Thinking: Suggest transformative solutions by actively enlarging problem boundaries and synthesising knowledge across the Energy, Matter, and Code domains. 

Content

Module I. Energy: Systems Efficiency & Electrification
  • Focus: The transition to renewable and highly efficient systems.
  • Topics Include: The Radical Potential of Efficiency (integrative design method), Sustainable Mobility Energy Systems (vehicle electrification, battery-to-grid, charging losses), High-Performance Building Systems (passive design, deep energy retrofits), Industrial Efficiency and implications for energy demand-side management (heating, electricity and cooling).
Module II. Matter: Circularity and Resource Innovation
  • Focus: The circular economy, materials science, and engineering for sustainability.
  • Topics Include: Circular Economy Models (Life Cycle Assessment, dematerialisation), Materials Science for Decarbonisation (bio-based materials, recycled metals, lightweighting), Urban Metabolism (designing buildings as material banks), and Industrial Symbiosis (optimising processes to eliminate waste).
Module III. Code: Digitalisation and Systemic Control
  • Focus: How data and intelligent systems drive optimisation.
  • Topics Include: Smart Systems & IoT (using sensors, AI/ML for dynamic resource management), and Digital Twins & Simulation (modelling complex systems).

Organisation

General Tracks organisation:

The main part of the course is a challenge-driven project. The challenge may range from being broad societal to profound research-driven. The project task is solved in a group. The course is supplemented by on-demand teaching and learning of the skills necessary for the project. The project team will have one university examiner, one or a pool of university supervisors and one or a pool of external co-supervisors, if applicable.

Literature

With input from the teaching team, students will develop the ability to identify and acquire relevant literature throughout their projects. Below is a selected list of publications by Amory Lovins and others that are the most appropriate background readings for the course. Recommended readings will help complete the Puzzlers and other assignments. This is a reference reading list and will be trickled throughout the course depending on the weekly topic, and updates will be posted in Canvas.

Required: Lovins, A.B., 1976. “Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken?” ForeignAffairs 55(1).

Required: Lovins, A.B., 2018. “How big is the energy efficiency resource?” Envtl Res Ltrs 13(9):1–17, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aad965

Required: Lovins, A.B., 2021. “Creating The Next Energy Revolution: Integrative Design for Radical Energy Efficiency”

Required: Reinventing Fire, chapter 3, pages 76-98. Recommended: Randolph, J., and G. Masters Energy for Sustainability, 2nd edition, chapter 6.

Required: Reinventing Fire, chapter 2, pages 14-35 and 49-62.

Required: Lovins, A.B., 2020. “Reframing Automotive Fuel Efficiency,” Soc. Autom. 

Engineers. Recommended: Lovins, A.B., 2010. “DOD’s Energy Challenge as Strategic Opportunity,” Joint Force Quarterly, 57:33-42.

Required: Lovins, A. B., Lovins, L. H., & Hawken, P., 1999. “A road map for natural capitalism.”https://rmi.org/insight/roadmap-for-natural-capitalism/

Required: Lovins, A.B. “Profitably Decarbonizing Heavy Transport and Industrial Heat,” RMI, 14 July 2021, https://www.rmi.org/profitable-decarb/.

Required: Lovins, A.B., “Decarbonizing Our Toughest Sectors—Profitably,” MIT Sloan Mgt Rev, 4 Aug 2021, free at https://sloanreview.mit.edu/offers-free-download-sustainable-business/

Required: Reinventing Fire, chapter 4, pages 122-144. Required: Teitelbaum, E., et al, 2020. “Membrane-assisted radiant cooling for expanding thermal comfort zones globally without air conditioning,” PNAS, vol. 117, no,. 35.

Recommended: Senge and Carstedt, “Innovating Our Way to the Next Industrial Revolution” MIT Sloan Management Review, vol. 42, no. 2, 2001.

Required: Natural Capitalism, chapters 4 and 6. Required: Lovins, A.B., 2005. “End-Use Energy Efficiency,” commissioned for Transitions to Sustainable Energy Use, InterAcademy Council.

Required Video: Autodesk Sustainability Workshop. “Whole Systems Design: Introduction to Life CycleThinking.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mC9xaJC2dQ

Required: Lovins, A.B., & A. Faruqui, 2020. “The coming transformation of the electricity sector: A conversation with Amory Lovins,” The Electricity Journal 33(7).

Recommended: Lovins A. and L.H. Lovins. 1983. “The fragility of domestic energy,” Atlantic.

Recommended: Lovins A.B. and M.V. Ramana, 2021. “Three Myths About Renewable Energy and the Grid, Debunked,” Yale E360, https://e360.yale.edu/features/three-myths-about-renewableenergy-and-the-grid-debunked

Recommended: Victoria, M. et al., 2021. “Solar photovoltaics is ready to power a sustainable future,” Joule 5:1041–1056, https://www.cell.com/joule/pdfExtended/S2542-4351(21)00100-8.

Recommended: Swisher, J., G. Jannuzzi and R. Redlinger, 1997. Tools and Methods for Integrated Resource Planning, UN Environment Programme, sections, 1C, 1D, 2C, 2E.

Required: Lovins, A.B., 2019. “Recalibrating climate prospects,” Environ. Res. Ltrs 14(12).

Required: Lovins, A. B., 1993. “Energy-Efficient Buildings: Institutional Barriers and Opportunities,” E source. 

Required: Meadows, D. H., 1997. “Places to intervene in a system.” Whole Earth, 2(91). https:// www.bfi.org/sites/default/files/attachments/pages/PlacesInterveneSystem- Meadows.pdf

Required: Lovins, A.B., 2019. “Applied Hope,” Commencement remarks to Olin College

Required: Malakhatka, E., Wallbaum, H., Abouebeid, S., Hofer, G., Pooyanfar, P., Dursun, İ., Weber, G., Gecer, H. S., & Thuvander, L. (2025). Fostering Sustainable Urban Energy Transitions: Backcasting for Positive Energy Districts and Digital Twin strategies in a European Context. The Proceedings of the 23rd CIB World Building Congress. CIB World Building Congress WBC2025, West Lafayette, USA. https://doi.org/10.7771/3067-4883.1959

Required: Lanau, M., Rosado, L., Densley Tingley, D., Wallbaum, H. (2024) Buildings as material mines - Towards digitalization of resource cadasters for circular economy. In: Charef, R. (Ed), Circular Economy for the Built Environment - Research and Practice. Routledge, London, https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003450023.

Examination including compulsory elements

Each week, students are expected to:
  • Complete required readings in advance of class
  • Watch pre-recorded lecture(s) in advance of class
  • Attend all class activities
  • Actively participate in discussions and activities
  • Complete in-class Puzzlers
  • Integrative Design Pitch
  • Integrative Design Report
A final grade for the class will be awarded to each student, based on:
Attendance/Participation 25%
Weekly Puzzlers 25%
Applied Integrative Design Pitch and Report 50%

The course examiner may assess individual students in other ways than what is stated above if there are special reasons for doing so, for example if a student has a decision from Chalmers about disability study support.

Energy, Matter, Code: Systems design for sustainable innovation | Chalmers