• Energy Research
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Nuclear fission is currently internationally recognised as a key low carbon energy source, vital in the fight against global warming, which has stimulated much interest and recent investment. For example, RCUK's energy programme has identified nuclear fission as an essential part of the "trinity" of future fuel options for the UK, alongside renewables and clean coal. However, nuclear energy is controversial, with heartfelt opinion both for and against, and there is a real requirement to make it cleaner and greener. Large international programmes of work are needed to deliver safe, reliable, economic and sustainable nuclear energy on the scale required in both the short and long term, through Gen III+ & Gen IV reactor systems. A pressing worldwide need is the development of specific spent fuel reprocessing technology suitable for these new reactors (as well as for dealing with legacy waste fuel from old reactors). The REFINE programme will assemble a multidisciplinary team across five partner universities and NNL, the UK's national nuclear laboratory to address this fuel reprocessing issue. The consortium will carry out a materials research programme to deliver fuel reprocessing by developing materials electrosynthesis through direct oxide reduction and selective electrodissolution and electroplating from molten salt systems. Developing, optimising and controlling these processes will provide methods for, and a fundamental understanding of, how best to reprocess nuclear fuel. This is in addition to the development of techniques for new molten salt systems, new sensing and analysis technologies and the establishment of the kinetics and mechanisms by which molten salt processes occur. This will facilitate rapid process development and optimization, as well as the generation of applications in related areas. A key output of the programme will be the training and development of the multidisciplinary UK researchers required to make possible clean nuclear energy and generate complementary scientific and technological breakthroughs.

The UK has an ambitious and legally-binding target to reduce its carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 (relative to a 1990 baseline) as part of its commitment to limit its contribution to climate change. Achieving this target will require significant changes in how the UK sources its energy; reducing the use of fossil fuels and increasing the use of a mix of renewable technologies such as wind, solar, tidal and hydropower. The UK currently generates about 1.5% of its electricity from hydroelectric schemes, and although further large-scale development potential is limited, there is scope for exploiting small-scale and micro-hydropower resources (DECC, 2013). However, the potential impacts of such development on the environment and its stakeholders must be evaluated and minimised where possible. This NERC Policy Placement at the Environment Agency will gain a detailed understanding of the different areas of potential concern associated with the development of low head hydropower schemes through consulting with a wide range of stakeholders initiated by a project launch workshop event. External stakeholders may include representatives from rivers user groups (e.g. the Angling Trust, Canal & River Trust, Inland Waterways Association, National Association of Boat Owners, the British Canoe Union and the Ramblers Association), environmental bodies (e.g. Rivers Trusts, Wildlife Trusts, the RSPB, Natural England, English Heritage, Environment Agency, DEFRA), energy organisations (the National Grid, DECC), and the British Hydropower Association. The understanding gained through consultation with stakeholders will be used to inform a life-cycle analysis that compares the environmental impacts of low-head hydropower schemes against all other forms of electricity generation across a comprehensive list of factors (global warming potential, land footprint, water footprint, abiotic depletion potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, aquatic ecotoxicity potential), including those factors identified through consultation with stakeholders. Systematic and transparent data and literature searches will be used, as recommended in Dr Bilotta's recent open-access publications co-authored by Defra's Chief Scientific Advisor (Bilotta et al., 2014a;b), to ensure that the findings of the life-cycle analysis are traceable and can be updated in light of improvements in the technologies which can occur rapidly. This comparative life-cycle analysis will enable stakeholders and policy-makers to make a better informed decision about the relative merits and drawbacks of different forms of electricity generation on their respective areas of concern. The project will also identify specific design and siting aspects of low head hydropower schemes that are associated with the most and the least environmental impacts, through collating and statistically-analysing existing monitoring data collected routinely in England and Wales as good practice (Environment Agency, 2014), before and after installation of hydropower facilities. This analysis will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and used, where appropriate, to update the good practice guidelines on hydropower development (Environment Agency, 2014). Ultimately, these guidelines will be used to optimise the design of future hydropower schemes in England and Wales, to minimise their impact and maximise their environmental and social sustainability. References: Bilotta, G. S., Milner, A. M., & Boyd, I. (2014a). On the use of systematic reviews to inform environmental policies. Environmental Science & Policy, 42, 67-77. Bilotta, G. S., Milner, A. M., & Boyd, I. L. (2014b). Quality assessment tools for evidence from environmental science. Environmental Evidence, 3(1), 1-14. DECC (2013) https://www.gov.uk/harnessing-hydroelectric-power Environment Agency (2014) https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hydropower-schemes-guidelines-and-applying-for-permission

Nuclear fission is currently internationally recognised as a key low carbon energy source, vital in the fight against global warming, which has stimulated much interest and recent investment. For example, RCUK's energy programme has identified nuclear fission as an essential part of the "trinity" of future fuel options for the UK, alongside renewables and clean coal. However, nuclear energy is controversial, with heartfelt opinion both for and against, and there is a real requirement to make it cleaner and greener. Large international programmes of work are needed to deliver safe, reliable, economic and sustainable nuclear energy on the scale required in both the short and long term, through Gen III+ & Gen IV reactor systems. A pressing worldwide need is the development of specific spent fuel reprocessing technology suitable for these new reactors (as well as for dealing with legacy waste fuel from old reactors). The REFINE programme will assemble a multidisciplinary team across five partner universities and NNL, the UK's national nuclear laboratory to address this fuel reprocessing issue. The consortium will carry out a materials research programme to deliver fuel reprocessing by developing materials electrosynthesis through direct oxide reduction and selective electrodissolution and electroplating from molten salt systems. Developing, optimising and controlling these processes will provide methods for, and a fundamental understanding of, how best to reprocess nuclear fuel. This is in addition to the development of techniques for new molten salt systems, new sensing and analysis technologies and the establishment of the kinetics and mechanisms by which molten salt processes occur. This will facilitate rapid process development and optimization, as well as the generation of applications in related areas. A key output of the programme will be the training and development of the multidisciplinary UK researchers required to make possible clean nuclear energy and generate complementary scientific and technological breakthroughs.

The research we propose will address the challenge of thermal energy service delivery in rural areas of developing countries, where it is projected that more than 2.6 billion people could remain without service in 2030. The research will study the existing experience in providing thermal energy for cooking, space heating and sanitation using different approaches. The research will study a particular business model called "fee-for-service" (where users pay for the energy service delivered) and different energy delivery options to provide thermal energy in rural places. The fee-for service approach relies on the delivery of a service by a private provider against a small monthly fee. The private provider makes the investment and the end-users can benefit of a service without having to pay large sum up-front. This is of particular importance in rural areas where people cannot afford to pay for a Solar Water Heater. The fee-for-service approach has been quite successfully used for the dissemination of Solar Home Systems (and also LPG) in a number of African countries. This research will build the conditions to replicate this to the sector of thermal energy services. This research will study applicable energy conversion and end-use application technologies, analyse institutional arrangements, develop business and enterprise models which needs to be implemented to promote thermal energy services in rural areas developing countries The research will analyse the respective role of government and private partners to form Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) models for energy services like thermal energy in rural areas. It will study innovative financing models that are relevant to the issue. All these components are linked and contribute to the sustainability of the model. Based on these extensive research the description of a sustainable model for thermal energy services will be developed as a generic Public-Private-Partnership model. Scholarly publications and reports will be written on the research findings to address the research gap in this area. The fee-for service thermal energy service model will be used to influence the implementation of a rural energy pilot project in Lesotho and support will be provided by the team of researchers to the government of Lesotho during implementation. Lessons will be drawn from the implementation and possibility for replication will have been explored in a second developing country -Kenya.

The UK has a world class reputation for design and manufacture of space based technologies. A new National Space Academy has been launched this year to help boost the size and quality of the UK's science and engineering expertise. The proposal supports strongly The UK Space Directory, an organisation of eight groups representing and supporting the UK space community and including the Technology Strategy Board that state "the UK Space Industry has come together to propose an ambitious 20 year strategy to capture 10% of the global space market, £40 billion, by 2030 and in doing so create 100,000 UK jobs". The UK houses some of the leading companies in space applications such as; Inmarsat, Rolls Royce, Logica, Vega Space, Astrium, Qioptiq Space Technology and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited. The latter two companies strongly back the research detailed within this proposal and have both provided satements of support. This proposal seeks to offer an alternative PV technology for large area arrays and to be the first to report thin film cadmium telluride (CdTe) deposited directly onto toughened cerium-doped microsheet glass (CMG), explicitly targeting a significant increase in specific power by a step-change reduction of system weight. The Qioptiq Space Technology CMG microsheet glass is optimised to match the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of gallium arsenide (GaAs) based space solar cells. With the CdTe CTE almost identical to that of GaAs the choice of CMG is ideal for the prevention of delamination under the severe thermal gradients to which space PV is exposed. This adventurous approach, using the CMG as both the radiation barrier and substrate, will be proven by characterisation of 5 x 5 cm2 deposited devices and finally scaled to 10 x 20 cm2 on the Centre for Solar Energy Research (CSER) pilot metalorganic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) system. This proposal has the content and vision to make a significant contribution to the UK's flourishing space industry. Key to the success of the project will be the dissemination and pathways to impact of the research outcomes; this will be ensured through regular reporting to and feedback from a steering group of potential exploiters-Industrial experts and through targeted press releases. This proposal offers UK research the chance to impact the space PV market either through licencing of the arising IP and more excitingly in the current economic climate through manufacture of the final product.

Nuclear fission is currently internationally recognised as a key low carbon energy source, vital in the fight against global warming, which has stimulated much interest and recent investment. For example, RCUK's energy programme has identified nuclear fission as an essential part of the "trinity" of future fuel options for the UK, alongside renewables and clean coal. However, nuclear energy is controversial, with heartfelt opinion both for and against, and there is a real requirement to make it cleaner and greener. Large international programmes of work are needed to deliver safe, reliable, economic and sustainable nuclear energy on the scale required in both the short and long term, through Gen III+ & Gen IV reactor systems. A pressing worldwide need is the development of specific spent fuel reprocessing technology suitable for these new reactors (as well as for dealing with legacy waste fuel from old reactors). The REFINE programme will assemble a multidisciplinary team across five partner universities and NNL, the UK's national nuclear laboratory to address this fuel reprocessing issue. The consortium will carry out a materials research programme to deliver fuel reprocessing by developing materials electrosynthesis through direct oxide reduction and selective electrodissolution and electroplating from molten salt systems. Developing, optimising and controlling these processes will provide methods for, and a fundamental understanding of, how best to reprocess nuclear fuel. This is in addition to the development of techniques for new molten salt systems, new sensing and analysis technologies and the establishment of the kinetics and mechanisms by which molten salt processes occur. This will facilitate rapid process development and optimization, as well as the generation of applications in related areas. A key output of the programme will be the training and development of the multidisciplinary UK researchers required to make possible clean nuclear energy and generate complementary scientific and technological breakthroughs.

Globally, humanity faces profound challenges in meeting increasing energy demand in the face of climate change and peak oil. The development and application of small-scale technologies for energy conversion and energy efficiency is an essential component amongst the collection of strategies that will be necessary to confront these challenges. Technological progress in this field is swift with new development promising leaps in cost reduction, efficiency and in flexibility of application. However, regardless of technical efficiency, new technologies will only make a difference as long as they are successfully integrated into people's living environments. First generation PV is well established as part of low carbon energy strategies, most notably in highly developed states like Germany and Japan. Its application is now extending rapidly as efficiencies improve and costs come down as a result of government support. Nevertheless, PV has vast unrealised potential, as a relatively efficient means of generating electricity which can be utilised in a far wider range of situations than competing technologies like wind, water or biomass. PV is therefore uniquely disruptive in its potential to eventually enable most consumers of energy to become producers of energy. The realisation of this potential will require significant further reductions in cost along with a massive increase manufacturing volumes. Two emerging technologies that promise such low cost and high volume, at relatively high and steadily improving power efficiency are organic photovoltaics (OPV) (Dresden based spin out Heliatek recently report power conversion efficiency of 7.7%) and the luminescent solar concentrator (LSC), where manufacturing methods employing low cost raw materials and roll-to-roll or high-speed sheet deposition are the focus of significant effort.We will use a participatory approach that involves architects, engineers, residents and facilitators as well as social and physical scientists to research next generation photovoltaic devices and systems for deployment into two different case study locations. These locations will social housing projects operated by Sheffield City Council and urban high-rise buildings in Bangladesh. These locations present users with not only cultural differences but differences of energy infrastructure, norms of energy use, radical differences in built environment and tenure. The project will address factors that potentially limit the uptake of low cost next generation PV in these (and other) locations. Factors that are critical when step reductions in cost for these next generation technologies have to be balanced against a reduction in intrinsic stability of organic materials when compared to their inorganic counter part. These are: firstly, the role of lifetime and reliability and how replacement and maintenance fit socially into a low cost PV solution; secondly, the social 'advantage' of such technology in terms of aesthetics & form given the ability to engineer flexible and differently coloured PV devices using organic materials; and finally, the effectiveness of complete PV power conversion systems and how to make the most of social advantages while preserving technical requirements. Critical to the proposed programme of work is to position these challenges within packages of social science research, in such a way that the development of our scientific and technical thinking can feed from this work and develop in a recursive manner.

China's rapid economic growth has created a series of pressures which has forced the country to engage more closely with a number of low and middle income countries. First, China's growth has depleted scarce domestic resources and so part of its 'Going Out Strategy' encourages overseas investment to access natural resources such as energy and minerals. Secondly, as some sectors of the Chinese market become relatively saturated large state-owned enterprises aim to internationalise and acquire new markets. Thirdly, China's rapid technological advances -such as in energy and information technology- have made it possible to expand overseas. These three drivers - resource access, new markets, technological advances - come together in the hydropower sector where China is the pre-eminent global player in major dam projects usually supported by Chinese state finance. The aim of the proposed project is to provide the first systematic and comparative analysis of the social, economic, environmental and political impacts of Chinese dam projects in low and middle income countries that will inform corporate behaviour in the UK and China and shape emerging national and international policy responses. The project will involve detailed empirical research in Ghana, Nigeria, Cambodia and Malaysia, which represent different facets of China's hydropower in the global South. This research aims to address four key issues: (a) Coordination of Chinese investment strategies vis-à-vis low and middle income countries; (b) impacts on local social and environmental conditions in recipient countries; (c) effects on local and regional governance; and (d) implications for both UK firms and OECD aid programmes. To address these key issues we adopt an interdisciplinary, multi-method approach which reflects the international scope of these complex interconnections. We will conduct 4 case studies in Africa and Asia where Chinese hydropower activity is most intense. The selected case study sites are the Kamchay Dam in Cambodia, the Bakun Dam in Malaysia (Borneo), the Bui Dam in Ghana, and the Zamfara Dam in Nigeria. We will conduct a wide range of in-depths interviews with Chinese firms, financiers, policy-makers, African/Asian policy-makers, Asian/African communities, NGOs, UK firms and international aid organisations and evaluate project documentation, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies and firm strategies. The expected outcomes will be (a) the first systematic study of Chinese hydropower projects as part of a wider concern with China's growing role in the developing world and its implications for UK firms and OECD donors; (b) a truly inter-disciplinary theoretical and methodological approach which combines human geography, development studies, environmental sciences, and politics; and (c) the generation of new theory in the area of critical development studies and political ecology, particularly around the implications of 'South-South' relations of resource control.

The aim of this technical feasibility project is research the feasibility of applying proven technology, performance management and efficiency principles from the aerospace sector to the solar energy sector through prototyping of advanced predictive analytics leveraging the technical and market innovations provided by the Internet of Things (IoT). The study will have a stakeholder group of solar companies.

Reports concerning dwindling reserves of fossil fuels and concerns over fuel security are frequent news headlines. The rising costs of fuel are a daily reminder of the challenges faced by a global society with ever increasing energy demands. In this context it is perhaps surprising that so many of the renewable energy supplies available to us, namely, sunlight, winds and waves, remain largely untapped resources. This is mainly due to the challenges that exist in converting these energy forms into fuels from which energy can be released 'on demand' when we wish to play computer games, drive a car and so on. However, during plant photosynthesis fuels are made naturally from the energy in sunlight. Light absorption by the green chlorophyll pigments generates an energised electron that is directed, along chains of metal centres, to catalysts that make sugars. These sugars fuel us, and all animals, when their energy is released following digestion of a meal. However, using farmed plants to produce biofuels is controversial as agriculture is also required to feed the world. As a consequence, and inspired by natural processes, we propose to build a system for artificial photosynthesis. In essence, we wish to place tiny solar-panels on microbes in order to harness sunlight to drive the production of hydrogen - a fuel from which the technologies to release energy on demand are well-advanced. We will use dyes and semi-conductor particles as mechanically and chemically robust materials to capture the energy in sunlight and generate energised electrons. We will couple these particles to biology's version of conducting wires. These wires are made from heme proteins that span membranes that provide Nature's solution to compartmentalising water-filled chambers (i.e., the inside of the bacterium). The heme-wires are produced naturally by 'rock-breathing' microorganisms and after these wires have transferred the energised electrons across the membrane they will drive enzyme catalysis to produce hydrogen Our novel bio-mimetic photocatalysts will establish new principles for the design of homogeneous photocatalysts with spatially segregated sites for fuel-evolution and the supply of electrons that is needed to sustain this process. We imagine that our photocatalysts will proove versatile and that with slight modification they will be able to harness solar energy for the manufacture of drugs and fine chemicals.