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Research carried out by the University of Southampton has directly influenced the practice and behaviour of households, business, industry and government agencies. It has:
This case study describes interdisciplinary impacts developed from research of the Sustainable Energy theme. They examine conversion of energy from alternative sources; from power generation using pyrolysis or biomass burners to energy harvesting of waste heat from electronic components. In all cases the aim is clear: to develop systems that make sustainable energy production a reality. This has important impacts in advancing efficiency and reliability in renewable energy technologies. Importantly, through a number of externally funded projects, this group's members have directly influenced local, national and international companies and governmental bodies. In some cases influencing decisions and having direct impact on efficiency, value from investment and even on balance sheets. In summary, they have conducted numerous energy audits, produced a minimum of 6 best practice case studies, influenced the renewable strategies of at least 52 countries, regions or industries and are recognised as the centre for biomass fuel quality assessment.
This case study describes the national and international impact of research undertaken by Professor Chao, as part of an EU funded Framework 7 project, Digital Environment Home Energy Management Systems (DEHEMS). The project has improved existing household energy monitoring, tackling the issues of global warming and CO2 emission reduction in the domestic sector. The research has directly contributed to the development of a product called EnergyHive, subsequently marketed by Small to Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) Hildebrand Ltd, who was the industrial partner in the DEHEMS consortium. The research has delivered the following:
Beneficiaries of the research and the subsequent impact include: a commercial business, domestic energy consumers, UK and international energy companies and local authorities.
Accelerated Carbonation Technology (ACT) is an innovative solution to several key environmental issues - CO2 emissions to the atmosphere, sustainable use of resources and the reliance on use of virgin stone for construction. ACT rapidly stabilises industrial waste recycling it into valuable aggregate, thereby reducing the amount going to landfill. ACT simultaneously captures the greenhouse gas CO2, via the rapid production of carbonate, which solidifies the waste into a hardened product. ACT has been commercialised through two spin-out companies leading to the first commercial production of carbon negative concrete blocks, taking hazardous waste from the bottom to the top of the waste hierarchy.
The work described here has impacted on European policy and standards concerning energy efficiency in Building Services.
The impact arises from two Welsh School of Architecture led and European Commission funded projects, HARMONAC (focussed on inspection of air-conditioning systems) and iSERV (focussed on automatic system monitoring and feedback). These pan-European projects demonstrate achieved energy savings of up to 33% of total building electricity use in individual buildings, and potential savings up to €60Bn. These projects demonstrably impacted the recast European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) and the revision of EU Standards (European Committee for Standardisation (CEN)).
Carbon8 Systems (C8S) was founded on joint research between UCL and the University of Greenwich. The company has since developed a technology known as Accelerated Carbonation, which helps to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by using carbon dioxide gas to treat waste materials and form artificial aggregate. In January 2013, C8S completed the first commercial plant for treating municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) fly ashes, designed to produce 1,000 tonnes per day of aggregate. Masonry products company Lignacite has also benefited commercially. It has used C8S's aggregate to develop an award-winning building block that captures more carbon dioxide than is emitted during its manufacture. Carbon8 Systems and its offshoot company Carbon8 Aggregates currently employ 11 people.
Anaerobic-aerobic sequencing biological wastewater treatment systems (AASB) developed at Newcastle University transformed waste treatment in the personal care product industry by significantly reducing energy use in waste processing. AASB produces high quality effluents, produces biogas, and use up to 68% less energy than traditional approaches. A full-scale AASB treatment plant was built by L'Oreal in 2012 in Suzhou (China), which since start-up has reduced sludge production by 20%, CO2 emissions by 28%, and chemical use by 30%. The Suzhou AASB system won the Corporate Water Stewardship Award at the 2013 Global Water Summit and further systems are under construction at factories in China, France and Indonesia.
Dr David Toke's research at the University of Birmingham has contributed to policy made by governments in the UK and EU, and the work and policy of environmentally concerned NGOs. Renewable Energy is a crucial aspect of EU and UK sustainable energy strategies and feed-in tariffs have now become the preferred method of incentivising renewable energy in the UK. Toke made a major contribution to generating this change through his proactive dissemination of research on feed-in tariffs and the publication of a key public policy report, at a time when little was known about this type of policy instrument.
His research has stimulated debate among industry professionals and events organised by him have provided a forum where the industry and NGOs can develop an evidence-based dialogue. Through using popular media to disseminate his research findings, Toke has provided a source for greater public understanding of the related issues, and in particular has challenged the decisions of government. In a broader sense, his research has contributed to improving governmental and financial support for renewable energies in the UK and thus environmental sustainability.
Refrigeration alone accounts for 30-60% of the total energy consumption of retail food stores and 15-20% of carbon footprint of retail food chains in the UK. Since 2001, Prof Tassou and his research team at Brunel have been conducting research on combined heat and power (CHP), tri- generation (simultaneous production of electrical power, heat and refrigeration) and CO2 refrigeration systems for food retail applications. With their 25 industrial partners, these technologies were quickly exploited by large retail food stores such as Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury's and Tesco. Since 2010, Marks and Spencer has reduced its carbon emissions from refrigeration and air conditioning by 60% from the 2006/7 baseline, saving over £4 million. 160 Sainsbury's stores have the new CO2 refrigeration system as of 2013 and they plan to have it installed in all 250 stores by 2014, saving over 70,000 tonnes of carbon footprint, equivalent to a financial saving of £3.6 million. They also provided training for the CO2 refrigeration system to 200 refrigeration service engineers in 2012. Tesco claims that using the CHP and the CO2 refrigeration system in its first `environmental store' has reduced 70% of its overall carbon footprint since its opening in 2009, of which a third comes from the CHP plant and a fifth from the new refrigeration system.
The impacts from over 20 years bioenergy research at Aston University, have been through influence and support for businesses to generate and use environmentally advantageous sources of power, fuels and chemicals. Pilot scale systems that exploit pyrolysis and gasification of biomass residues and renewable feed-stocks are operational. The EU, UK and local governments have developed policies with the Unit's advice on the potential of bioenergy for power generation and waste reduction. Technical and business advice have been provided, a new company formed, investments made in new business directions by SMEs and large multinational companies. This has generated new employment opportunities in consultancy, design and manufacture of systems, social and environmental benefits, along with greater public awareness.