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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.
Research undertaken on energy policy and sustainability by Prof. Mitchell and the Energy Policy Group (EPG) within Geography at Exeter, has had a major influence on the development and reform of UK, EU and global energy policy. This research has informed policy advice to the UK government on the fundamental re-setting of electricity market reforms and underpinned a number of major policy reports e.g., the 2008 `EU's Target for Renewable Energy' report; the 2010 `Future of Britain's Electricity Networks' report; the 2011 `Electricity Market Reform' report; the 2012 `Draft Energy Bill'; and the 2012 DECC Energy Security Strategy Report. Research by the EPG has also led to numerous engagements with key stakeholders in the energy industry that have influenced policies, procedures and practices, and been used to inform public debate on energy policy.
This research has demonstrated the shortcomings of recent changes to UK Government energy efficiency policy, and developed thinking about alternatives, in order to enable governments to provide an effective system of incentives for energy efficiency improvement. Such a system would allow energy sector decarbonisation at a lower cost than with supply side strategies alone. The analysis and concept have both had an impact. In the UK, the team of researchers have secured support from major environmental NGOs, have been included in a UK Government policy consultation, leading to the tabling of an amendment to the 2012 Energy Bill. Internationally, the team's research continues to influence leading policy analysts, including the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The research led by Dr Convery and Dr Weatherall with other staff members within the unit represents a diverse body of work around the practicalities, implications and uptake of land management to mitigate climate change, particularly through application of biomass based renewable energies and also through carbon sequestration. The group have influenced practitioners (particularly within the forestry and farming sectors), community groups developing renewable energy projects, small to medium enterprises (SMEs) involved in renewable energies, and other non-governmental stakeholder organisations, such as the Lake District National Park.
Since 2007, Edinburgh researchers have played an important role in increasing the use of local, context-specific knowledge in the assessment of technological sustainability and efficiency in the bioenergy and solar sectors in East Africa and South Asia. This has taken the following forms:
Financial engineering and optimisation provide both power companies and consumers with better decision support in deregulated energy sectors. UCL research has delivered the following benefits to decision makers: (i) a clearer understanding of the role of statistical analysis in imputing missing data on wind speeds and (ii) reduction in energy costs by optimised scheduling of energy technologies. Other benefits have been (i) investment in follow-up research projects by industrial companies and (ii) knowledge transfer via workshops.
The impact is in the ERPE design of protocols which are subsequently used for evaluation and comparison of the performance of tidal energy converter designs. Researchers within the UK Centre for Marine Energy Research (UKCMER) at ERPE have led much of the fundamental and applied research that has supported the commercialisation of tidal energy technologies through the establishment of new international test standards and protocols.
ERPE researchers have regularly provided evidence which has influenced policy change in marine energy development in the UK and internationally with many ERPE graduating PhD's, subsequently employed in the marine energy sector.
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)).
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.
The University of Southampton's pioneering research into energy harvesting has produced proven economic impacts together with impacts on public policy and international standards. Perpetuum, a spin-out from Southampton employing 10 people locally, has attracted £9.6 million in venture capital and developed the world's leading vibration energy harvester. Perpetuum's harvesters are enabling the deployment of zero maintenance, battery-free wireless systems in the rail industry where the technology has revolutionised bearing monitoring. This has enabled, for the first time, real-time monitoring of rolling stock, leading to cost savings, improved reliability, efficiency and safety. Their systems have been deployed on 200 trains across the UK (Southeastern) and Sweden (SJ AB). Southampton's research has driven wider industrial uptake of the technology and Perpetuum's is also the only energy harvester approved for use with the worlds leading suppliers of wireless condition monitoring equipment (GE Bentley Nevada, National Instruments and Emerson). Promotion of the technology has led to a £1.25 million TSB competition on energy harvesting and Southampton researchers are assisting in the development of international standards and increasing public awareness of the technology.