FLEXIBILITY MATERIALS TRANSPORT BUILDINGS The Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions DIGITAL Nick Eyre POLICY May 2018
The Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS): What is it? A research centre funded by the Energy Programme of UK Research and Innovation for the period April 2018 to March 2023, with a budget of £19.5 million. A distributed centre, involving thirteen UK universities, with an HQ at University of Oxford. A mandate to undertake whole system research focussing on energy demand and to act as a ‘hub’ for the UK energy demand research community.
A UK Centre for Research on Energy Demand: Why? Energy system context: Systemic change to low/zero carbon over a few decades; Security and affordability remain social and political priorities; Changes in energy demand will be critical to delivery, but this is under-recognised in much public discourse. UK Research and Innovation landscape context: EUED Phase 1 Centres provide a strong base of research; Some deficiencies in coherence and therefore the impact of the RCUK EUED Programme; Increasing complexity in the energy research and innovation landscape.
The Centre’s Aims • to develop and deliver internationally leading research, focussing on energy demand; • to secure impact for UK energy demand research in businesses and policymaking; • to champion the importance of energy demand, as part of the strategy for transition to a secure and affordable low carbon energy system.
Our Ambition • In research: a transformational programme; • In impact: ensuring that high quality research (by ourselves and others) is taken up by businesses and policymakers; • In public discourse: opinion formers and the media show greater attention to energy demand issues.
Centre Structure and Governance
Research Programme Design Criteria Criteria for selection of research themes: Sufficiently comprehensive to be an effective ‘hub’ for the UK energy demand research community; Sufficiently focussed to allow for exciting and innovative research. Criteria for selection of research topics Further – going beyond currently cost effective technologies and minor behavioural changes; Faster – increasing the pace of innovation, and using more ambitious policy intervention; Flexibly – adding fuel switching and demand response to the demand reduction agenda.
Themes Decarbonising heat challenge Transport Buildings Materials Digital Flexibility Policy
Year 1 Integrating Project: Energy Demand Change in the Clean Growth Strategy (Lead: Eyre, Oxford) Strategic Area Lead Theme Business and Industry Efficiency Materials Improving Our Homes Buildings Low Carbon Transport Transport Clean, Smart, Flexible Power Flexibility • Research Questions: How will the ambitious energy demand aims be delivered? What social and technical changes? And what are the innovation and policy implications? • Key outputs: an academic review paper and policy briefing.
Theme 1: Buildings (Oreszczyn, UCL) • 1.1: Assessing the co-benefits of energy efficiency • Health, comfort, peak power control • 1.2: Future disrupters of building energy use • Real-time performance-based building energy certificates; DSM as a power reduction service • 1.3: Modelling future pathways for energy use in buildings • Data improvement, 3D simulation model development and applications, with a focus on improved time granularity.
Theme 2: Transport and Mobility (Anable, Leeds) • 2.1: Targeting high demand • Characterising high energy users; understanding long distance transport • 2.2: Flexing transport demand • Understanding the flexibility of passenger mobility; a quantified model of flexibility • 2.3: Accelerating deployment • Governance of mobility change; the Commission on Travel Demand
Theme 3: Materials and Products (Barrett, Leeds) • 3.1: Industrial energy demand and energy efficiency • Systematic review of options; improved projections; international comparison and benchmarking • 3.2: Resource productivity and the circular economy • Whole life mitigation options; national metrics of resource productivity; case study on construction resource productivity. • 3.3: Industrial strategy and energy productivity • Improved model of energy as a factor of production; better representation in models of mitigation options; assessing implications for UK industrial strategy
Theme 4: Flexibility (Torriti, Reading) • 4.1: Defining, conceptualising and measuring flexibility • Historical review and future assessment of demand flexibility; measurement of electricity flexibility; conceptualising flexibility • 4.2: Intervening to enhance flexibility • Understanding user practices with flexible technologies; time dependent price elasticities; institutional rhythms and flexibility.
Theme 5: Digital Society (Foxon/Sorrell, Sussex) • 5.1: ICT and energy productivity • Systematic review of the ICT energy demand relationship; econometric analysis of historical data; scenarios of future relationships • 5.2: Business models and the digital economy • Digital platforms for the sharing economy; ICT-enabled energy service business models • 5.3: Smart systems and user practices • Smart meters; autonomous vehicles; smart homes; tele-working
Theme 6: Policy and Governance (Fawcett, Oxford) • 6.1: Policies for reducing demand further • Policy for deep refurbishment; policy to increase citizen engagement • 6.2: Multi-level governance • Devolved policy-making in the UK; drivers of local government engagement with energy demand • 6.3: Asymmetry in supply and demand policy • Policy asymmetry in market design; understanding the political drivers of policy asymmetry; distributed ledgers as a disrupter or retail markets.
Challenge 1- Decarbonisation of Heat (Lowe, UCL) • WP1: Systematic review of costs, performance, uncertainties and synergies of key technologies for production, networks, storage and use. • WP2: Improvement of system models for analysis of ‘energy system architecture’. • WP3: Social, regulatory and governance implications • WP4: Integration, liaison and communication
Year 4 and 5 Cross Theme Activity • Co-create integrating research with stakeholders. • Link common strands across the themes, e.g. related to innovation, investment, costs and benefits to answer questions such as: • What are the implications for scale of investment? Where? And by whom? • Who might be the winners and losers? • How might innovation be incentivised? • What are the implications for policy design?
Co-ordination Node • Administration, coordination and knowledge exchange activities of the Centre. • Critical to the hub function. • Full Communications and Engagement plan to be developed by month 6, based on stakeholder mapping. • Current plan is that it consists of the Director, Centre Manager, 2 x Knowledge Exchange posts, 0.5 Communications Officer, full-time administration support.
Pathways to Impact: Audiences and Partners • Our partners and audiences: • Key partners - innovative businesses, large and small; • Key partners - policymakers and influencers; • Other audiences - NGOs, communities and civil society. • With key partners we will: • Co-create research questions and approaches; • Undertake innovative research; • Exchange knowledge directly, e.g. via meetings and briefings. • Other audiences will be addressed through: • Website, newsletter and social media; • Non-academic publications and conferences; • Briefings and events for the media.
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