Author: ciemap01admin

Kate Scott wins Piers Sellers Prize for Climate Change Research

The first winners of the Piers Sellers Prizes for outstanding research in climate science have been announced.

In honour of Dr Sellers’ work as a renowned climate scientist and in raising public awareness of global warming, the Priestley Centre has created two annual prizes in his name to recognise outstanding research in the field.

The Piers Sellers Prize for ‘Exceptional PhD Research’ is designed to reward and encourage current University of Leeds PhD students for undertaking excellent research to better understand or address climate change. The second prize, for ‘World leading contribution to solution-focused climate research’, is open to all researchers world-wide at any stage of their career.

The first winner of the Piers Sellers Prize for ‘Exceptional PhD Research’ is Kate Scott from the University’s School of Earth and Environment.

In her research, Scott seeks to understand how environmental policies, consumption-side measures and industrial policies can be used to best effect in mitigating climate change. Her research has been integrated into assessments of evidence by the Committee on Climate Change (an independent body that reports to Parliament on progress made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions) and has been presented to various Government departments.

The Piers Sellers Prize for ‘World leading contribution to solution-focused climate research’ is awarded to Dr Joeri Rogelj, a research scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Austria. Both Prizes were awarded at the official launch of the Priestley Centre by Sir Alan Langlands.

Dr Rogelj’s research examines workable mitigation solutions and the effects of staying below different global temperature targets.  He was the only researcher before the United Nation’s climate change talks held in Paris in late 2015 – the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) conference – to be actively publishing on how to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C.  His work played a central role in forming the evidence base behind the Paris Agreement.

Read more about the Piers Sellers Prizes.

Industrial Energy Use and Carbon Emissions Reduction: A UK Perspective

Geoff Hammond and Jonathan Norman have published a new paper in WIREs Energy and Environment. Read the full paper here: Industrial energy use and carbon emissions reduction

Abstract

Progress in reducing industrial energy demand and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is evaluated with a focus is on the situation in the United Kingdom (UK), although the lessons learned are applicable across much of the industrialized world. The UK industrial sector is complex, because it may be viewed as consisting of some 350 separate combinations of subsectors, devices and technologies.
Various energy analysis and carbon accounting techniques applicable to industry are described and assessed. The contributions of the energy-intensive (EI) and nonenergy-intensive (NEI) industrial subsectors over recent decades are evaluated with the aid of decomposition analysis. An observed drop in aggregate energy intensity over this timescale was driven by different effects: energy efficiency improvements; structural change; and fuel switching. Finally, detailed case studies drawn from the Cement subsector and that associated with Food and Drink are examined; representing the EI and NEI subsectors, respectively.
Currently available technologies will lead to further, short-term energy and CO2 emissions savings in manufacturing, but the prospects for the commercial exploitation of innovative technologies by mid-21st century are far more speculative. There are a number of nontechnological barriers to the take-up of such technologies going forward. Consequently, the transition pathways to a low carbon future in UK industry by 2050 will exhibit large uncertainties. The attainment of significant falls in carbon emissions over this period depends critically on the adoption of a limited number of key technologies [e.g., carbon capture and storage (CCS), energy efficiency techniques, and bioenergy], alongside a decarbonization of the electricity supply.

CIE-MAP Stakeholder Workshop at the RSA

On Thursday 12th May CIE-MAP hosted a Stakeholder Workshop at the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce).

This event was attended by a broad range of guests, including researchers, policy makers, government officials, and heads of industry.

The event was comprised of a series of presentations and panel discussions on a variety of topics, including:

  • Industrial Energy and Resource Consumption
  • Material Efficiency Strategies and New Business Opportunities
  • The role of the Construction Sector in delivering Material Efficiency
  • The role of the public in achieving Material Efficiency Strategies

View the presentations here:

John Barrett – Introduction to CIE-MAP

Geoff Hammond – Industrial Decarbonisation Opportunities

Kate Scott – The Contribution of Resource Consumption to the 5th Carbon Budget

Tim Cooper – How can material efficiency strategies be adopted by industry and create new business opportunities

Jannik Giesekam – What is the role of the construction sector and the National Infrastructure Plan in delivering material efficiency

Nick Pidgeon – Opportunities and Barriers to Achieving Transitions in UK Energy and Materials Use The Role of Publics, Society and Decision-Makers

You can also visit EUED’s storify site here for a full run through of the day.

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Individual upcycling in the UK: Insights for scaling up towards sustainable development

Kyungeun Sung presented her paper in the Symposium on Sustainable Development Research at Universities in the UK (Manchester) on 6th of April. The paper will be published as a book chapter in W. Filho (Eds), Sustainable Development Research at Universities in the United Kingdom, London: Springer, by end of this year.

See the presentation file here: http://www.slideshare.net/skesung/individual-upcycling-in-the-uk-insights-for-scaling-up-towards-sustainable-development

Kyungeun Sung leads Upcycling Practitioners’ Workshop

Kyungeun Sung organised the upcycling practitioners’ workshop with 12 practitioners at SOAS University of London on 9th of March. Professor Rebecca Earley from the University of the Arts London and Jamie Billing from Plymouth College of Art gave keynote speeches.

See the workshop presentation and stimuli here.

Professor Tim Cooper contributes to article on product lifetimes

Professor Tim Cooper contributed to an article in the Daily Mail about product lifetimes and planned obsolescence. Read the article here:

Here’s proof today’s gadgets really are DESIGNED to go wrong

Lorraine Fisher, Daily Mail, Tuesday 19th April

Jonathan Norman publishes in Resources, Conservation & Recycling

Jonathan Norman has published a new paper in Resources, Conservation & Recycling. Read the paper here.

Abstract

The steel industry is the world’s largest industrial source of CO2 emissions. Recent UK economic policies have led to reduced domestic steel production giving an apparent reduction in national emissions. However, demand for goods made from steel has not reduced. Emissions have thus been transferred not reduced and implementation of UK climate policies may in future expand this ‘carbon leakage.’ This paper explores how future UK demand for goods made from steel might be supplied while satisfying national climate policies, and how this will influence global CO2 emissions. Current flows and stocks of steel are estimated from existing databases. Evidence from other developed economies suggests that per capita stocks are tending towards a saturation level so future demand is forecast from population growth and the expected rate of replacement of a stable stock. The carbon intensities of five different steel-making routes are used to predict the allowed scale of future domestic steel production within the industrial emissions allowances set in four energy pathways defined by the UK Government. The remaining requirement for steel must be sourced offshore and the associated emissions are predicted, to give an estimate of the global emissions arising from final demand in the UK. The results show that current UK climate strategy may have a limited effect in reducing the CO2 emissions of the global steel industry, unless the UK shifts towards producing more of its own steel products with domestic secondary steel-making. This option would also increase the security of UK supply and support an expansion of UK manufacturing.