Past events

Has your electricity bill gone down in the last few years? Do you know why? This talk explains some of the reasons and ponders the effect of Brexit. Speaker Brenda Boardman’s main research focus is on energy efficiency and the way that energy is used in British homes, particularly by low-income households, i.e. fuel poverty. She considers the economic, social and technical [...]

Bioenergy is arguably the oldest form of energy provision known to man and yet, in recent years it has also become one of the most controversial and contested forms of energy provision. Doubts have been cast on the ability of bioenergy systems to actually deliver real carbon reductions and concerns raised about wider impacts, including land-use and food-fuel tensions. In this [...]

This seminar examines diverging energy efficiency policy commitments, instruments and financing in England and Scotland, consequent on UK devolved government. Drawing on institutional theory, it analyses the political dynamics associated with the mix of relevant powers, and the scope for interpretative flexibility to enable differential policy formation. Differing political-economic commitments in UK Conservative-led, and Scottish SNP-led, governments have sustained a [...]

The International Energy Agency predicts that 10 air conditioners will be sold every second from here to 2030 – with long-lasting consequences for our energy consumption and the planet. Often considered as a side-show to research and policy covering heating; cooling is potentially the most significant opportunity we have to moderate the trajectory of energy demand. This talk will provide [...]

The slides for this event are not available.  Instead, McKinsey have offered two reports that relate to the research discussed in this presentation. The GEP Reference Case THe EU net-zero report   Energy systems around the world are going through rapid transitions that affect many aspects of our lives. The continuation and acceleration of these shifts will bring important changes to the way we [...]

The presentation is available on YouTube. You can watch and listen to it here.   Net Zero and beyond: creating a carbon storage market Since the early 1700’s, industrial societies have continually borrowed fossil carbon from the earth and funded a lavish lifestyle by overspending on their carbon credit card. Lack of repayment now results in penalties ranging from forest fires, hurricanes, [...]

The presentation is available on YouTube. You can watch and listen to it here.   Towards just transitions to low-carbon mobility The need to rapidly move away from fossil fuels in transport is now commonly accepted. The myriad initiatives by governments, the private and third sectors and citizens, to transition to low-carbon mobility are now underway across the globe. One outcome of [...]

The presentation is available on YouTube. You can watch and listen to it here.  Energy access and off-grid electrification in sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Opportunities Over 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa currently lack reliable and affordable access to energy and the achievement of SDG 7 by 2030 – Universal Access to Energy – seems currently out of reach. Rural electrification [...]

The presentation is available on YouTube. You can watch and listen to it here. ‘The road to net-zero:what we need to get right’. The UK has a legally binding target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050. Achieving this bold aim will transform the UK economy and society as a whole. In this talk, Juliet Davenport will explore [...]