Unlocking Low Carbon Potential

Completed

Energy Efficiency(Industry)

Basic and strategic applied research
Applied Research and Development

SOCIAL SCIENCES (Business and Management Studies)
PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Physics)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Architecture and the Built Environment)

Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Environmental dimensions)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Consumer attitudes and behaviour)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Technology acceptance)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Other sociological economical and environmental impact of energy)

Mr J Aylen
Manchester Business School
University of Manchester

Ms J Evans
Fac of Eng Science & Built Env
London South Bank University

Dr S Shackley
School of Geosciences
University of Edinburgh

Standard

EPSRC

01 October 2005

31 July 2009

46 months

£818,926

Management & business studies

North West; London; Scotland

Energy Research Capacity

Mr J Aylen, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester
Ms J Evans, Fac of Eng Science & Built Env, London South Bank University
Dr S Shackley, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh

Project Contact, Hygrade
Project Contact, Northern Foods Plc
Project Contact, Green Alliance
Project Contact, CompAir UK Ltd
Project Contact, Baxi Group Ltd
Project Contact, Unilever Plc

Many industries use energy in inefficient ways, producing unnecessary carbon emissions. The food industry is one such industry, using significant amounts of energy for cooking, refrigeration and pumping. Technologies exist which could greatly reduce the use of energy, but which appear not to be widely used. Research suggests that the major barriers to employment of these technologies are mainly organizational, social, psychological rather than technological. The project will first survey the stock of capital in these energy intensive industries to determine the windows of opportunity for new energy saving investment. The research will then use an action research approach, combined with limited technological support, to work in participation with organization members at all levels to discover the barriers to adopting these stalled technologies, and the practices which could be used to enable them to be more widely taken up. The outputs should have profound impact on organisations and governments attempting to align themselves to a low carbon trajectory.

01/01/07