Overview
Hosted at Glasgow Caledonian University, join for an evening lecture on 1 November and afternoon workshop on 2 November to explore the challenges involved with reducing energy demand and the potential engineering solutions to achieve this.
The evening presentation on 1 November will be available to join either in person at Glasgow Caledonian University or via the online stream.
The afternoon workshop on 2 November will only be available to attend in person.
Both events are free to attend.
1 November 2021 presentations:
The Energy Hierarchy, Ian Arbon
Everyone is now familiar with the Paris Agreement’s ambitions for ‘net zero’ greenhouse gas emissions by 2050; however, we are also becoming increasingly aware (as highlighted by the UK Royal Family and the recent Earthshot Prize) that merely continuing to talk about the problems, instead of taking the necessary actions, will merely exacerbate the problem, not provide viable solutions. In this lecture, Ian Arbon draws from his decades of experience in sustainable development, renewable energy and climate change mitigation/ adaptation to present IMechE’s ‘Energy Hierarchy’ as a powerful and practical tool to approach and actually achieve energy sustainability goals.
The Energy Hierarchy was developed by IMechE in the early 2000s and formalised as a Policy Statement in 2009, since when it has been embraced by numerous institutions and universities around the world. Had it been adopted by the UK Government a decade ago, UK energy policy would be much more robust and it is far more likely that the 2020 targets would have been reached. The Energy Hierarchy was updated and relaunched in 2020.
While recognising the continuing need to develop new and improved supply-side technologies, these, on their own, cannot achieve the step change that will be required to meet the 2050 ‘net zero’ goals. By prioritising energy demand reduction, energy efficiency and personal behaviour change, the Energy Hierarchy provides clear priorities for actions to reduce and eliminate unsustainable energy use and wastage. In particular, Ian suggests ways in which we can all help bring about climate change mitigation, rather than simply wait for Governments and MNCs to take the limited measures they have so far proposed.
The ’21 for 21’ climate actions campaign, Dr Keith Baker
Dr Keith Baker FRSA is a Researcher in Fuel Poverty and Energy Policy at GCU's Built Environment Asset Management Centre, a Co-founder of the Energy Poverty Research initiative, and a member of Common Weal's Energy Working Group. Keith will discuss the background behind the '21 for 21' climate actions campaign, which was launched in July of this year with a joint statement from the three organisations which was backed by Douglas Chapman MP and a number of IPCC authors, as well as the partnership's work on proposals for a Scottish public energy company, an energy development agency, and lobbying for meaningful reforms to energy performance certificates. You can find the 21 for 21 statement and EPRi's website here.
2 November Workshop:
As will have been made clear from the previous evening's talks, priority should be given to energy demand reduction over sustainable energy supply, because this results in minimum environmental impact and depletion of scarce resource. However, how is this prioritisation to be enacted in practice? Increasingly it is recognised that technical solutions must be accompanied by lifestyle and behaviour changes if we are to meet our environmental targets, and engineers have to address all of these in combination. There are also commercial considerations to be taken into account in deciding on measures, for example when renewable energy supply has a lower cost than energy efficiency measures. There is untapped potential in converting the ideas that come from universities into commercial propositions and good practice, to facilitate widespread adoption. Ian Arbon and Rupert Blackstone have extensive experience in the engineering delivery of sustainable energy solutions, and will work with attendees on making best use of the potential links between universities and commercial organisations to maximise the chance of good new ideas to be practically applied and make the difference they deserve to make. This will include a review of how new sustainable energy ideas can be assessed and filtered to ensure resource is focused on what is likely to be viable in a commercial context.