Past events

Major long-run global energy trends are raising serious questions about the persistent intensity of UK Government attachments to civil nuclear power. In particular, queries emerge in the UK as elsewhere about the role of military nuclear interests. With hitherto undeclared dependencies between civil and military nuclear programmes increasingly openly discussed elsewhere, defence policy documents in the UK offercrucial substantive evidence. [...]

This talk presents conceptual work about ‘energy sufficiency’, carried out with Sarah Darby (Environmental Change Institute). It forms part of a wider European-level exploration of what energy sufficiency means, how it is distinct from energy efficiency, and how it might be implemented within policy. We develop a definition of ‘energy service sufficiency’, and consider how this relates to the sustainable [...]

This talk will provide an overview of research in the Williams group into new catalyst development both for synthesis of polymers and for fuels, such as methanol. CO2 is a famously recalcitrant molecule and very difficult to efficiently transform into useful materials. The opportunity is to discover how to use CO2 as a raw material both to make chemicals, thereby [...]

This project is led by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks along with EDF Energy, Nuuve, Open Utility, Origami Energy, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire County Council, The Low Carbon Hub C.I.C. and the University of Oxford Project LEO will show how the very latest in energy innovation can be put together to provide cheaper, cleaner energy for users. LEO [...]

Ambitious climate goals require large-scale CO2 emissions reductions and removal from the atmosphere. Utilising CO2 to produce economically valuable products might reduce the net costs of emission reductions and removals. This talk assesses the potential scale and cost of ten different utilisation pathways. We will consider pathways using CO2 in construction, chemicals and fuels, which have significant potential to reduce [...]

The role of localised generation and supply of energy is attracting considerable interest both in the UK and internationally. Local energy systems are a key focus in the UK’s Industrial Strategy and the Prospering from the Energy Revolution programme. They are considered to facilitate faster decarbonisation than large scale systems, while providing welfare and economic benefits alongside industrial renewal.  Localised systems [...]

Workshop #4 | Workshop on assessing risks from radioactive legacy sites and how to better present uncertain information. The objective of the workshop is to discuss the risk assessment process as applied to radioactively contaminated legacy sites and how to better present the assessment findings and associated uncertainties to stakeholders.  The workshop will show how the risk assessment process has been [...]

From where does Oxford University source its electricity? How is it reducing its carbon emissions?What are its building standards? When will it become carbon neutral? What are its transport plans? All these questions and more will be covered by the University’s Head of Environmental Sustainability, Harriet Waters. Speaker Harriet Waters is Head of Environmental Sustainability at the University of Oxford, a position she [...]

The global photovoltaics industry is the biggest it has ever been. In many parts of the world, solar power is already more competitive than fossil fuels. Aggressive forecasts predict the industry will double in the next three years and again the following three years. By 2024, installed capacity could have reached 400 GW. This talk will look at the current [...]

Transport is almost entirely (99.9%) powered by internal combustion engines (ICEs) burning petroleum-derived liquid fuels (95%) and the global demand for transport energy is large and is increasing. The alternatives to ICEs and conventional fuels start from a very low base and face significant environmental and other barriers to fast and unrestrained growth. For instance, there is speculation that transport [...]