CES News

Teaching Pupils About Carbon Emissions by Looking at Music's Carbon Footprint

RESOLVE PhD researcher, Catherine Bottrill, participated in BBC Teachers TV series 'How Science Works' for 12-14 years old. The programme looks at how the music industry is reducing its carbon footprint. The show hooks around The First Step research Catherine did for Julie's Bicycle, a non-profit organisation helping music businesses to act on climate change, that scoped the annual greenhouse gas emissions of the UK music industry across the recording and live performance sector. Catherine visits the O2 Indigo Club to learn about venue energy use when Master Shortie, an up and coming artist, performs at the venue. Then Catherine goes to Julie's Restaurant to discuss with music industry leaders involved in Julie's Bicycle to discuss the findings of the research and what the industry is doing to reduce emissions.

Awards to CES Staff

Award to Professor Matthew Leach, Director of the Centre for Environmental Strategy (CES), who together with co-authors, have been awarded the IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution Premium for their paper "Intermittent renewable generation and the cost of maintaining power system reliability". The award will be presented to Professor Leach by Christopher Snowden, incoming President of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, at its Awards Ceremony at Lord's Cricket Ground on 25 November 2009.

Award to Dr Lucia Elghali and Emeritus Professor Roland Clift who have won the Manby Prize for their paper "Decision Support Methodology for Complex Contexts". The award is given by the Institution of Civil Engineers and will be awarded on 23 October 2009.

The "Greening of Management"

CES Research Fellow receives Learner of the Year Award

CES and RESOLVE Research Fellow Dr Shane Fudge has been awarded the "Surrey Learner of the Year Award" by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE). Shane was presented with the award, sponsored by Surrey Lifelong Learning Partnership, at a ceremony on 13th May 2009, having been nominated by Fran Handrick Associates.

At 29 whilst working as a kitchen porter, a chance encounter with a taxi driver prompted Shane to think what else he could do with his life. 15 years later he has a first class honours degree in Sociology, completed a PhD, is a Research Fellow at the University of Surrey.

Labelled a daydreamer at school and in a family where education wasn't important he was unable to read at the age of seven. He left school at 15 and worked in factories and laboured alongside his father on building sites because he didn't think he could do any better.

Shane explains, "Pushing past these barriers has been tremendously fulfilling and has encouraged a sense of self worth I previously lacked".

His message is that perseverance and determination pays off and he would love to encourage more people to discover the joy of education and where it can take you.

Surrey Professor elected to Academy of Social Sciences

Professor Tim Jackson has been appointed to the Academy of Social Sciences in recognition of his contribution to social science and sustainability. Tim is Professor of Sustainable Development at Surrey and Director of the ESRC Research group on Lifestyles, Values and Environment (RESOLVE). RESOLVE is a unique initiative at the forefront of research on the relationship between lifestyles and sustainability. It involves 4 Surrey Departments across 2 Faculties and around 30 researchers, students and academics.

The Academy's mission is to promote social sciences in the United Kingdom for the public benefit. It is composed of learned societies and individual academicians. The academicians are all distinguished scholars and practitioners from academia, public and private sectors. This appointment comes in recognition of Prof Jackson's international contribution to social science research on sustainability - in particular in the area of sustainable consumption and lifestyles.

Not surprisingly, Prof Jackson has been set to work for the Academy already and is part of a team working on the 'Consequences of Reduced Consumption'. This work will build on Tim's experience leading the UK Sustainable Development Commission's 'Redefining Prosperity' study. Reports from both studies will be published later this year.

'A Road Less Travelled - Reflections on an Uncompleted Journey'

New Scientist - Special report: Why politicians dare not limit economic growth, by Professor Tim Jackson

Cooking up a storm: new FCRN food climate report

The Food Climate Research Network today publishes its fifth report entitled: Cooking up a storm: Food, greenhouse gas emissions and our changing climate.

This report sets out what we know about the food system's contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Taking a life cycle perspective, it looks at how these emissions arise, both by life cycle stage (from plough to plate to bin) and by food type. It then explores the flip side of the coin: the global impact of a changing climate on how we grow, distribute, produce and consume food. We follow this with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of and challenges for the life cycle analysis methodology upon which the report has drawn.

The next part of the study explores the mitigation options. We look both at what food GHG reductions might be achieved through the use of cleaner technologies and better management and at what changes in behaviour are needed. Arguing that both are essential, we very approximately calculate what level of food emission reductions could be achieved through a combination of technological and behavioural change. This leads to a discussion of the relationship between the goals of food GHG reduction and improved nutritional wellbeing: we ask how far these two goals are compatible both at the UK and global levels. The penultimate section examines the policy context, highlighting what actions are being taken at the UK, EU and international levels to tackle food-GHG emissions. Finally, we offer our conclusions and recommendations, the key one being that the UK Government should commit to achieving a 70% or more absolute reduction in food-related GHGemissions by 2050 and should set out how it intends to achieve these cuts.

New Scientist cover article: Looming water crisis simply a management problem, by Dr Jonathan Chenoweth

Free Book Download - Managing the New Frontiers: An Introduction to the Fundamentals

Managing the New Frontiers by Jonathan T. Scott reveals how companies around the world are reducing their energy and material expenses by up to 90%, increasing sales by 40% or more, and raising productivity 20% or more - with little or no capital investment - while watching their costs, waste, and carbon emissions drop like a stone. Details are given as to how change management, conflict, team dynamics, objectives, motivational techniques, and a host of other management issues relate to the successful implementation of efficiency, sustainability, and waste reduction.

Using a compelling mix of case studies, practical application tools, and the input of several of the world's leading authorities Managing the New Frontiers is being hailed by students, practitioners, and educators alike as refreshingly clear, easy-to-read, and a truly valuable resource.

Professor Roland Clift appointed as a Vice-President of Environmental Protection UK

IChemE's HANSON MEDAL FOR 2007

IChemE's Hanson Medal for 2007 has been awarded to Professor Roland Clift and Dr Yacob Mulugetta for their article: "A plea for common sense (and biomass)" which was published in The Chemical Engineer, October 2007. The award was presented to the authors at the Institution's Annual General Meeting in May 2008.

NEXT GENERATION OF LOW CARBON ENERGY SOLUTIONS GETS UNDERWAY

Moves towards a low carbon society are a step closer with the announcement by EPSRC and energy company E.ON UK of the first grant to be awarded under the £10 million low carbon university research programme.

The consortium of universities to which the £2.1 million grant has been awarded include the University of Bath, Imperial College London, University of Surrey, Loughborough University, Policy Studies Institute, University of Strathclyde, University of East Anglia, and the University of Leeds.

The project, entitled 'Transition pathways to a low carbon economy', will explore how the UK is to achieve its aim of a low carbon society, including what the future energy mix of the UK might look like.

The £10 million fund is open to all UK universities who wish to research the next generation of low carbon energy solutions.

Professor Matthew Leach said: "The UK Government has set strong long term targets for tackling climate change, which will require changes in the types of energy technologies installed, in the fuels used and greater efforts at energy efficiency. There is plenty of analysis of what might need to be in place to meet those targets in, say, 2050, but very little understanding of the practical impacts of, and barriers to, the 'pathways' that the country needs to follow to get from our current position to a low carbon future. The consortium comprises leading engineers, social scientists and policy analysts who will investigate what changes are needed at all levels of the energy system: from how the large energy utilities might evolve to how householders might be interacting with smart meters and rooftop solar energy."

John Bateman, research and development programme manager at E.ON UK said, "We're really excited about what we can achieve by bringing together industry experts with some of the UK's leading energy researchers.

"We firmly believe that research and development projects such as this will help change the way we use energy, and protect our climate, long into the future."

The five-year programme of work under the partnership was developed with support from four partner universities that already have expertise in low carbon research - Loughborough University, University of Nottingham, University of Birmingham and Imperial College, London.