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Achievement of energy security and the UK's 2020 carbon targets economy depends upon a mix of new offshore oil and gas and renewable energy developments, but concern that seismic survey and construction noise could pose an unacceptable risk to marine mammals threatens to delay these plans.
University of Aberdeen ecologists, under the direction of Paul Thompson, have developed long-term studies of marine mammal population dynamics that now underpin frameworks for assessing and mitigating the impacts of such developments on marine mammals in EU protected areas.
The specific impact on commerce and the environment is that this assessment process has been adopted by industry within their consent applications. As a result of academic consultancy in industry, planning decisions have been informed by the research, and the management of environmental risks has changed. This has reduced the consenting risk for industry and provided an assessment framework that allows regulators to ensure that they are implementing current government policy within international legal frameworks for environmental protection.
Dr Lusseau's work at the University of Aberdeen into the impact of man's activities on wild animals has led to changes in public and environmental policies in several nations as well as changes in international policies. He developed insights as well as modelling approaches to understand the consequences of human disturbances on the viability of animal populations.
The Aberdeen work has led to a change in the way the environmental impact of a range of industries — including tourism, marine renewable energy and oil & gas — is assessed. Lusseau developed best approaches to manage the disruptions of animal behaviour that those activities created to ensure that those disturbances do not endanger the viability of wild animal populations.
Specifically this research resulted in impact that influenced international policy development and international planning processes. It also informed planning decisions and changed the way environmental risks and hazards are managed in the UK, USA, and New Zealand, and informed changes in legislations and regulations in the USA, UK and New Zealand.
The International Centre for Island Technology (ICIT) based at Heriot-Watt University's Orkney campus is a multi-disciplinary research team whose focus for over a decade has been research into the socio-economic and environmental barriers to the development of marine renewable energy, particularly in the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters (PFOW) area and its establishment as a Marine Energy park. This has enabled 1.2GW of marine energy leases by the Crown Estates including an estimated £3billion of related capital investment, as well as the establishment of the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), which continues to maintain its impact on the development of marine renewable energy.
Research at the International Centre for Island Technology at Heriot-Watt University has led to a substantial boost to Orkney with £8.8m in Gross Value Added to the local economy, with the creation of 119 jobs (Biggar Economics, 2012) through a dozen spin-out companies.
Conservation of migratory bird species is an inherently international endeavour, because the fate of these species depends upon the actions of nations throughout their migratory ranges.
Research into migratory wading bird populations by Jennifer Gill and colleagues at UEA has had the following impacts:
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 University of Southampton's research into micro-wind turbines — small-scale devices for generating electricity at the point of use — has been instrumental in the shift away from turbines mounted on buildings in urban areas to more productive pole-mounted devices in the countryside. It has informed public understanding of the potential and limitations of micro-wind power, and helped inject a new realism into the process of micro-wind power generation, forcing manufacturers to retreat from claims that could not be met. The research has been used to help set government subsidy levels for micro-wind power, and as a basis for modelling projections of future energy.
Research on the status, distribution and ecology of sea turtles at the University of Exeter has driven national and international conservation policy, engaged millions of people worldwide and raised substantial funding for conservation. Governments including the UK, Cayman Islands, Cyprus and Gabon have used this research in making legislation and multi-million pound management decisions. Development of open-access animal tracking tools has facilitated a global network of over 135 countries, with more than 300 projects tracking thousands of animals from 118 species. The ability to adopt tracked animals online has attracted millions of visitors and raised funding for conservation projects world-wide.
Researchers at the University of St Andrews have changed the way environmental monitoring and impact assessment data are collected and analysed, particularly in the marine environment. We have developed new statistical models of wildlife population dynamics that, for example, form the basis for population assessment of most of the world's grey seals, allowing the UK and Canadian governments to implement effective management of the populations. Other research carried out by us has led to reformulation of the recommended standard statistical practice for impact assessment in the UK marine renewables industry, enabling marine regulators such as Marine Scotland to make better-informed licensing decisions concerning large-scale offshore renewable energy developments.
The research resulted in primary legislation and provided government with the evidence used when implementing the measures set out within legislation. Specifically, this concerned:
This work, together with connected public outreach, was awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize in 2011 for excellence in research supporting better governance of the ocean.
Examples are provided of significant impact by the Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Flow Analysis (CMMFA) upon the Marine Renewables and Offshore Wind communities. In particular, CMMFA informed the design of a novel wave energy converter being commercialised for connection to the national grid. CMMFA has also contributed to a study of the design parameters for an offshore wind power station as part of a larger interdisciplinary collaborative research effort. This work responds to and informs the RCUK Energy Programme via underpinning research, capacity building and provision of trained personnel thus enacting UK Government Energy Policy.