Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS)
CREDS was a research centre established in 2018 which ran until 2023. CREDS is now closed. Their research demonstrated how reductions in energy use are essential for the transition to a fair, zero-carbon society.
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Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2018-11-18 - 2018-11-30
Rights: Rights not recorded
Peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading could help address grid management challenges in a decentralizing electricity system, as well as provide other social and environmental benefits. Many existing and proposed trading schemes are enabled by blockchain, a distributed ledger technology (DLT) relying on cryptographic proof of ownership rather than human intermediaries to establish energy transactions. This study used an online survey experiment (n = 2064) to investigate how consumer demand for blockchain-enabled peer-to-peer energy trading schemes in the United Kingdom varies depending on how the consumer proposition is designed and communicated. The analysis provides some evidence of a preference for schemes offering to meet a higher proportion of participants energy needs and for those operating at the city/region (as compared to national or neighbourhood) level. People were more likely to say they would participate when the scheme was framed as being run by their local council, followed by an energy supplier, community energy organization, and social media company. Anonymity was the most valued DLT characteristic and mentioning blockchains association with Bitcoin led to a substantial decrease in intended uptake. We highlight a range of important questions and implications suggested by these findings for the introduction and operation of P2P trading schemes.
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 1850-01-01 - 2019-12-31
Rights: Rights not recorded
To better understand the processes of digitalisation, dematerialisation and decarbonisation, this paper examines the relationship between energy and information for the global economy since 1850. It presents the long run trends in energy intensity and communication intensity, as a proxy for total information intensity. The evidence suggests that, relative to GDP, global economic production has been reducing energy and increasing information use since 1913. The analysis indicates that it initially required little information to replace energy in production and that the ability to substitute away from energy and towards information has been declining. The result implies that the global economy is now reducing energy and increasing information at a substitution rate of 0.2 kB per kWh of conserved energy or 0.8 GB per tonne of carbon dioxide mitigated. As the price ratio of energy to information is currently higher than this marginal rate of substitution, there are incentives to further substitute information for energy. However, one conclusion is that (without the long run escalation of carbon prices) substitution away from energy and towards information is likely to cease within the next few decades and, beyond that, digitalisation will play a declining role in the decarbonisation process.
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2010-01-01 - 2021-07-15
Rights: Rights not recorded
We set out to study how the promise of green 5G is produced and circulated. We conducted an analysis of a UK-focused corpus of documents that represent key sites through which the promise of green 5G is produced, circulated and challenged. By the promise of green 5G we refer to an emerging, overarching, dominant expectation that 5G will produce positive environmental sustainability benefits of various kinds. We employed an analytical approach informed by the sociology of expectations and the concept of technoscientific promises. We asked: what are the particular contents of this promise (i.e. the more specific promises and expectations it is built upon), how do enactors seek to boost its legitimacy and credibility, what activities are involved in its production and circulation and what are its present-day material effects, does the promise exclude or overlook alternative options, and is it challenged? We pursued these aims and questions through a document analysis of a diverse corpus (n=260) comprised of UK newspaper articles and newswire results, and reports and webpage content from industry, standardisation bodies and research consortia.
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2018-04-01 - 2023-12-31
Rights: Licensed data (restrictions may apply)
Automated vehicles (AVs) may represent the most profound technological change in road transport since the rise of vehicle mass production, with reductions in energy demand being one of the many anticipated benefits. This project has explored expectations regarding the potential energy-saving benefits of AVs among two groups 'professionals' and the general public. The project has used a Delphi study design. The Delphi method offers an exploratory, flexible and iterative technique to obtain insights into what futures might look like when uncertainty is large. This is the case with AVs as much remains unclear if and when fully autonomous vehicles will be introduced on the UK roads and how automation may interact with electrification and a possible shift away from individual ownership towards forms of shared ownership and use. Delphi studies typically consist of several rounds of surveys that are increasingly conducted online in which participants receive feedback between rounds and can adapt their responses and views based on that feedback. Two separate Delphi studies, each consisting of three rounds, were conducted sequentially in 2019-2020. Delphi studies have traditionally been used to build consensus among participants but this often marginalises more radical imaginings of the future and may underappreciate controversies around future developments. This project has, therefore adopted a dissensus-oriented Delphi, which cultivates divergence of views and is particularly appropriate for emergent topics such as the expected effects on transport and energy of vehicle automation.
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2022-04-01 - 2022-05-09
Rights: Licensed data (restrictions may apply)
The FAIR project explored the causes and links between fuel poverty and transport poverty in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It collected interview data to draw up policy recommendations designed to limit the impacts of double energy vulnerability in the transition to a more sustainable future. Tens of millions of households across Europe struggle to afford adequate electricity and heating services and reliable transportation, while recent high fuel prices could lead to an increase in excess winter deaths. Tackling energy and transport poverty is thus of paramount policy importance. Here, we document the drivers and lived experiences of energy and transport poverty in the United Kingdom based on expert interviews. We find a set of policies that resonate with expert planners, implying they have a level of political and social acceptability that other measures may be lacking, notably: mandatory landlord energy efficiency upgrades, increasing the extent of financial assistance to households, cheaper (or even free) bus and train fares and restarting and expanding bus services. We buttress these findings with further suggestions for energy and transport system redesign that better meets emerging principles of energy and social justice.
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2018-03-31 - 2023-12-31
Rights: Rights not recorded
This data collection includes a User Guide and the anonymised transcripts of 30 semi-structured interviews of #60-90 minutes each, with 31 high household energy consumers, about their homes, appliances, infrastructures, vehicles, and everyday life and travel practices that generate household (domestic and travel-related) energy demand. It also includes the anonymised transcripts of 4 3-hour deliberatively workshops of ~8 public participants and 2 facilitators, one recruited from the interviewees, and the others recruited to represent different levels of domestic and travel-related energy consumption, held to discuss the validity, fairness, effectively and acceptability of four broad policy approaches to reduce (particularly high levels of) household energy consumption: Rationing; Economic (Dis)Incentives; Structural Change; and Behaviour Change
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2022-06-01 - 2023-02-28
Rights: Licensed data (restrictions may apply)
The current energy, climate and cost of living crises have affected peoples' wellbeing, their health, employment and finances showing significant inequalities across population groups and regions. These kinds of challenges entail technological innovation while shifting energy consumption patterns. Yet, the UK transition to Net Zero requires greater transformative change at institutional, infrastructural, sectorial and social levels. Building on Multi Criteria Mapping and survey methods, this paper investigates how citizens value energy demand reduction options for communities' wellbeing and identifies multiple social, economic, and environmental 'co-benefits', often discounted in policy making. While arguing that energy demand mitigation options can improve citizens' living conditions and quality of life while diminishing energy use and GHG emissions, the paper challenges the adoption of approaches based on conventional economic models to deliver Net Zero. The analysis of two UK-based case studies discloses that citizens prioritise fairness including environmental intergenerational concerns and value restrictions on individuals' lifestyle choices. The paper calls for better incorporation of citizens' values in policy on energy demand reduction.
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2018-01-01 - 2023-12-31
Rights: Rights not recorded
Interviews with actors concerned with local transport decarbonisation in the UK, including challenges related to finance, governance arrangements, and public support. Data were collected using a series of 54 interviews, spread equally across three case study sites: 18 Nottingham, 18 Leeds, and 18 Oxford. Of those, 12 of the Nottingham interviews, all 18 of the Leeds interviews, and 8 of the Oxford interviews are shared in this data deposit (the rest did not give permission for their data to be deposited). The interviews were designed to reveal different local perspectives on areas recent attempts to decarbonise their transport system. The initial introduction to each participant was facilitated by pre-existing professional contacts, after which subsequent participants were identified by snowballing (i.e. feedback from interview participants) in combination with criteria-specific identification (i.e. from a review of published local authority documents
Publisher: CREDS
Period: 2011-01-01 - 2020-12-31
Rights: Open Data Commons Attribution License (ODC-By)
The Place-based Carbon Calculator (PBCC) is a free tool which estimates the per-person carbon footprint for every Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) in England. LSOAs are small statistical areas with a population of about 1,500 - 3,000. Includes data on housing, transport and other consumption emissions. Bulk download data and further information about the data sets are available at https://www.carbon.place/data/.
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2011-01-01 - 2024-01-31
Rights: Open Access
This data collections consists of data and documentation produced to examine the spatial and social differences in people's lack of access to adequate energy and transport services in the United Kingdom (UK). The work responds to the need for developing a differentiated understanding of both the drivers and expressions of this 'double energy vulnerability', while seeking to integrate and analyse relevant information from all four UK nations. Using a variety of statistically representative census and survey datasets, the project developed a series of multi-dimensional indices to map transport- and energy-related injustices. This was followed by a cluster analysis to examine broad-level geographical patterns, and a Geographically Weighted Regression model to explore the spatial variation of vulnerabilities related to contingencies such as income, ethnicity and housing. The work corroborates the results of previous qualitative studies, and research within selected UK nations, while revealing a number of unexpected territorial clusters and underpinnings of infrastructural injustice.
Projects
GRN: EP/R035288/1
Period: 2018-04-01 - 2023-12-31
Funding Source: EPSRC
This proposal responds to a call from the Research Councils for a national Centre on energy demand research, building on the work of the existing six End Use Energy Demand Centres, for which funding ends in April 2018.Energy demand reduction is a UK success story, with a 15% fall in final energy consumption since 2004. Major further reductions are possible and will be needed, as part of a transformation of the energy system to low carbon, to deliver the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UK carbon budgets. Moreover, a low carbon energy system will be increasingly reliant upon inflexible and variable electricity generation, and therefore demand will also need to become more flexible. In short, changes in energy demand reduction will need to go further and faster, and demand will need to become more flexible.These challenges have far-reaching implications for technology, business models, social practices and policy. Our vision is for energy demand research in the UK to rise to these challenges. The Centre's ambition is to lead whole systems work on energy demand in the UK, collaborating with a wider community both at home and internationally. We aim to deliver globally leading research on energy demand, to secure much greater impact for energy demand research and to champion the importance of energy demand for delivering environmental, social and economic goals.Our research programme is inter-disciplinary, recognising that technical and social change are inter-dependent and co-evolve. It is organised into six Themes. Three of these address specific issues in the major sectors of energy use, namely: buildings, transport and industry. The remaining three address more cross-cutting issues that drive changing patterns of demand, namely the potential for increased flexibility, the impact of digital technologies, and energy policy and governance.Each Theme has a research programme that has been developed with key stakeholders and will provide the capacity for the Centre to inform debate, deliver impact and share knowledge in its specific area of work. The Themes will also undertake collaborative work, with our first joint task being to assess the role of energy demand in delivering the objectives of the UK Government's Clean Growth Plan.The Centre will also include Challenges that respond to cross-thematic questions for UK energy demand. These will mostly be developed in consultation over the early years of the Centre, and therefore only one is included in the initial plan: on the decarbonisation of heat.The Centre will function as a national focus for inter-disciplinary research on energy demand. In doing this it will need to respond to a rapidly evolving energy landscape. It will therefore retain 25% of its funds to allocate during the lifetime of the Centre through a transparent governance process. These funds will support further challenges and a 'Flexible Fund', which will be used to support research on emerging researchquestions, in particular through support for early career researchers.We are working closely with key stakeholders in business and policy to design our research programme and we plan detailed knowledge exchange activities to ensure that the work of the UK energy demand research community has broader societal impact.
Publications
Author(s): Norman, J., Barrett, J., Garvey, A., Taylor, P., Goodwin, J., Gibbs, M., German, R. and Garland, L.
Published: 2020-05-01
Publisher: CREDS
Recent legislation commits the UK to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. In order to achieve that goal, good quality data will be needed to implement this transformation and inform credible decision-making. This report explores whether the existing publicly available data can meet these new challenges.
Author(s): Higginson, S. and Jenkinson, K.
Published: 2021-01-01
Publisher: CREDS
CREDS is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), both part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Following from UKRI's commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), these issues have been taken seriously in CREDS from the beginning. The CREDS EDI strategy was developed within the first six months of the centre, in collaboration with CREDS staff. It is closely linked to our work to support and develop Early Career Researchers (ECRs). The CREDS EDI Annual Report, reporting progress on the EDI plan, was published in 2020. This was followed by a survey of all CREDS staff, inviting their responses on recruitment and the lived experience of EDI issues within CREDS. The results of this survey are being analysed and inform what is submitted here. The full report will be written up and published on our website in due course.
Author(s): Marsden, G., Anable, J., Docherty, I., Brown, L.
Published: 2021-03-24
Publisher: CREDS
Covid-19 has forced countries around the world to make massive adaptations to the normal way of life to reduce the risk of the spread of the virus. This briefing sets out new insights into how people's travel patterns have adapted over time and why. It draws on national data sources and a major panel survey of over 6000 people conducted in July and December 2020. It calls for a major realignment of investment and policy to ensure that we do not return to the overcrowded, congested, polluting and unhealthy transport system that people had come to accept as inevitable.
Author(s): The CREDS Team
Published: 2019-07-01
Publisher: CREDS
Author(s): Garvey, A. and Taylor, P.
Published: 2020-12-09
Publisher: CREDS
UK industrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must fall by more than 90% over the next 30 years to reach net zero GHG emissions targets by 2050. Current industrial decarbonisation policies fall far short of what is required and so there is an urgent need to consider the design and implementation of new policies to deliver wide-scale and rapid reductions in industrial emissions. We propose that:policy must address multiple challenges to decarbonisation and go beyond an overarching carbon reduction mechanism.there is no 'policy panacea' and policy solutions need to be flexible and adapt over time.a number of principles should guide effective policy design (co-ordinated, lean, consistent, and phased). Action to cut industrial GHG emissions must be taken quickly, and there are many uncertainties about the policy interventions that will work best. This research will help to inform decision makers about the policy areas that merit further consideration and scrutiny
Author(s): Eyre, N., Anable, J., Barrett, J., Fawcett, T., Foxon, T., Oreszczyn, T. and Webb, J.
Published: 2019-01-01
Publisher: CREDS
Author(s): Lowe, R. and Oreszczyn, T.
Published: 2020-11-26
Publisher: CREDS
The problem of decarbonising heating in buildings has been studied for more than 20 years,1 but there is still no settled consensus on strategy or choice of technology. There is consensus that the problem requires analysis of the whole energy system. While there is currently much interest in the conversion of the gas grid to hydrogen as a route to heat decarbonisation, recent literature based on whole system analysis appears to indicate that heat pumps are likely to offer the cheapest decarbonisation option overall. Each new installation would achieve an immediate factor-of-three reduction in emissions, with the promise of close-to-zero emissions by 2030, as a consequence of a process that now appears unstoppable - the decarbonisation of electricity generation. Although many dwellings would also benefit from additional insulation to increase health and comfort, the overall role of insulation in reducing emissions due to heating in the UK is likely to be secondary. High levels of insulation are not essential to the deployment of heat pumps and are only likely to be cost effective in easy-to-treat properties. But technology choice is not an either-or question. Combinations of technology, such as hybrid heat pumps, and deployment of large heat pumps in district heating systems, offer obvious advantages. And even though the role of hydrogen as a vector for supplying heat to individual homes appears limited on overall cost grounds, hydrogen or hydrogen-derived fuels are likely to play a strategic role in providing backup for the electricity grid at multiple levels, in particular, for the very long-term energy storage that will be needed from about 2040. Sifting through the multiple combinations and configurations of technologies that are, and will become available over the coming 30 years will be an on-going activity. In this context, a key recent development is an understanding that technology selection has to involve an appreciation of the overall architecture of the energy system.
Author(s): Killip, G., Fawcett, T., Jofeh, C., Owen, A.M., Topouzi, M. and Wade, F.
Published: 2021-07-01
Publisher: CREDS
I welcome the collaboration between colleagues in CREDS and the FMB that has produced this report. Co-producing research reports and recommendations with expert organisations such as the FMB is an important way for CREDS to ensure that our research is grounded in real world problems and has impact in the wider world. The report provides analysis and evidence-backed proposals about how to reduce energy use and carbon emissions from UK homes. It provides an important contribution to enabling the UK to meet its net zero carbon goals, as well as to delivering high-quality jobs and better homes and living conditions for their occupants.
Author(s): Eyre, N and Downing, C.
Published: 2019-12-01
Publisher: CREDS
This is CREDS first annual report and covers an 18-month period from April 2018 to September 2019. CREDS was announced on 26th March 2018, with a start date of 1st April 2018. This very short notice inevitably meant that research, administrative and knowledge exchange staff were not all in place on Day 1. However, staff from five of the six preceding End Use Energy Demand (EUED) Centres are involved in CREDS, and some of the research themes have benefitted from the researchers and activities undertaken by the EUED Centres continuing into CREDS. CREDS was formally launched at a well-attended event in London, jointly designed with EUED Centres to showcase their work on 20th September 2018.
Author(s): Downing, C.
Published: 2020-12-01
Publisher: CREDS
The Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS) was established as part of the UKRI Energy Programme in April 2018 and has been running for 2.5 years, with funding of £19.5M over 5 years from EPSRC and ESRC. Its mission is to make the UK a leader in understanding the changes in energy demand needed for the transition to a secure and affordable, low carbon energy system. We are now a team of over 140 people based in 24 UK organisations. The aims of the Centre are:to develop and deliver internationally leading research, focused on energy demand;to secure impact for UK energy demand research in businesses and policymaking; andto champion the importance of energy demand. This is CREDS' second annual report covering the period from October 2019 to September 2020.
Author(s): Downing, C. and Eyre, N.
Published: 2021-12-01
Publisher: CREDS
The Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS) was established as part of the UKRI Energy Programme in April 2018 and has been running for 3.5 years, with funding of £19.5M over 5 years from EPSRC and ESRC. Its mission is to make the UK a leader in understanding the changes in energy demand needed for the transition to a secure and affordable net-zero society. We are now a team of over 140 people based in 26 UK organisations. The aims of the Centre are:to develop and deliver internationally leading research, focused on energy demandto secure impact for UK energy demand research in businesses and policymaking, andto champion the importance of energy demand. This is CREDS' third annual report covering the period from October 2020 to September 2021. T
Author(s): Downing, C., Eyre, N. and Harris, H.
Published: 2022-12-01
Publisher: CREDS
The Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS) was established as part of the UKRI Energy Programme in April 2018 and has been running for 4.5 years, with funding of £19.5M over 5 years from EPSRC and ESRC. Its mission is to make the UK a leader in understanding the changes in energy demand needed for the transition to a secure and affordable, net-zero society. We are a team of over 140 people based in 24 UK organisations. The aims of the Centre are:to develop and deliver internationally leading research, focused on energy demandto secure impact for UK energy demand research in businesses and policymaking, andto champion the importance of energy demand. This is CREDS' fourth annual report covering the period from October 2021 to September 2022.
Author(s): Topouzi, M., Mallaburn, P. and Fawcett, T.
Published: 2023-11-01
Publisher: CREDS
The shift towards hybrid working-from-home practices is seen by the authors as a great opportunity to introduce a novel financial mechanism, the Retrofit Salary Sacrifice (RSS) scheme that will help increase homeowners' awareness and uptake of retrofit works to improve their home-office environments. This novel approach is to encourage household-level retrofitting in order to reduce carbon emissions and lower energy costs (Figure 1). It is a tax-efficient incentive for home-owning employees to improve their properties, using the model of successful existing salary sacrifice schemes for the purchase of bicycles and EVs. This approach has a catalytic role for able-to pay salaried homeowners to directly benefit from more attractive and affordable finance for retrofit projects, the prospect of lower energy bills in the long term, and a more comfortable working environment. Additionally, employers gain an extra benefit to offer their workforce, as well as a route to addressing Scope 1–3 of their direct and indirect carbon emissions.
Author(s): Smith, C., van der Horst, D., Lane, M. & Tingey, M.
Published: 2021-06-01
Publisher: CREDS
This CREDS working paper aims to identify and understand diversity in sub-national ambitions on climate action across the UK. Comparative analysis between sub-national governments helps to provide insights into the drivers and mechanisms by which geographically bounded institutions and actors, including partnerships between Local Authorities, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), and the Private Sector, may manage to innovate and pursue climate action ambitions at local and regional scales - even if the central government is less ambitious in that respect. Empirically we undertake a desk study that analyses existing documentation on the City Deals, a UK government initiative which was co-developed with local and regional institutions and actors that (at least partially) expressed particular sub-national visions and ambitions. We focus on the City Deals initiative because it provides a suitable basis for comparative analysis in that central government had a set approach to striking these 'deals' but left room for local and regional institutions and actors to negotiate distinctive plans for their respective areas.
Author(s): Smith, C., van der Horst, D., Lane, M. & Tingey, M.
Published: 2021-06-01
Publisher: CREDS
Despite the existence of national and international climate targets and agreements, there is widespread recognition of climate action inertia; many central governments - particularly those from the Global North - are struggling to transition their economies away from fossil fuels to the extent, and at the pace that was agreed during the Paris Accord negotiations. In the United Kingdom, the government's own advisors have criticised the inadequate headway made by successive ruling parties and coalitions. Within this context, attention is increasingly turning to subnational institutions and actors (particularly local government) and the potential roles which they could play in driving climate action at local and regional levels. Shining a light on local climate action can help us to understand the scope for innovation and leadership in climate action, the emergence of place-based opportunities and the various barriers and challenges that local and regional actors face. From a practical point of view, the underlying rationale for research in this domain, is to learn from local initiatives and to help share that learning across actor communities and local to central government, so that good practice in climate action can be replicated and scaled up, thus accelerating the low carbon transition.
Author(s): Cairns, S.
Published: 2019-09-01
Publisher: CREDS
In brief, the primary argument made is that, if the Government wishes to improve the sustainability of UK tourism, then, given the importance of travel to overall tourism emissions (S2), and the lack of technological solutions (see Annex A), it will have to address the growth in air travel by UK residents and manage demand. In the first instance, this should involve scrapping its policy of airport expansion (S5), with the use of taxes or other fiscal measures to achieve further behaviour change (S7), rather than offsets (S8). By encouraging UK residents to take more holidays at home and/or improving the attractiveness of UK holiday destinations (and associated sustainable access options), the UK economy is likely to benefit (see Annex B) and the opportunities for those on lower incomes (many of whom do not take overseas holidays) are likely to improve (S6). Over ten years of research indicates that the general public does not consider an international holiday to be necessary to achieving an acceptable standard of CREDS Consultation 005 September 2019 2 living, negating arguments that flying is now seen as 'essential' for quality of life (S6).
Author(s): Martiskainen, M., Dearnley, E., Eyre, N. and Jenkinson, K.
Published: 2019-09-01
Publisher: CREDS
CREDS responds to consultations and calls for evidence from government, agencies and businesses, providing insight and expertise to decision-makers. This response was created for a call for evidence from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The consultation ran from July- September 2019. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/fuel-poverty-strategy-for-england. CREDS provided evidence to questions 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11/12, 13, 17/18, and 23/24.
Author(s): Oreszczyn, T., Lowe, R., Eyre, N., Ruyssevelt, P. and Huebner, G.
Published: 2020-02-01
Publisher: CREDS
Author(s): Anable, J. and Marsden, G.
Published: 2019-10-01
Publisher: CREDS
Overall the strategy lacks any commentary about electric vehicles (EVs) or e-bikes or really about cycling infrastructure at all. It also lacks provision for car sharing or bike sharing and both of these are major omissions. The next version of the plan needs to include the resources to implement the measures proposed with clear links to how the charging for road use or emissions reductions and parking is paying for the new measures. It also needs to be made clear how this plan is addressing the real problem around Oxford, which is the green belt and the massive, unconnected new housing developments. The strategy as currently set out, considers travel by car to be bad and by other modes to be OK. In a recent report about Shared Mobility, CREDS sets out how authorities need to have a clear plan for the way they are going to provide access to shared cars (car clubs) or shared bikes and also how they will treat sharing of lifts. The document states that an estimated 220,000 vehicle miles are driven in and around the city by around 45,000 vehicles every morning rush hour, emitting around 50 tonnes of CO2. The plan aims to reduce that by 25%. It seems implausible that all of this would transfer to bus and so by ignoring lift sharing the plan is missing a major trick.
Author(s): Garvey, A., Norman, J. and Barrett, J.
Published: 2019-10-01
Publisher: CREDS
The focus of this response is on how the UK food system can be brought in line with net zero emission commitments, whilst also delivering key public goods. This aligns with the work of the CREDS Materials and Products theme on identifying remaining mitigation options for reducing energy demand in industry, and exploring the embodied energy and emissions implications of the use of materials and products throughout the supply chain. It also relates to work considering what level of demand reduction and resource efficiency is compatible with achieving net zero in 2050. The theme also works to develop governance approaches to realise this potential.
Author(s): Snodin, H., Torriti, J. and Yunusov, T.
Published: 2019-05-01
Publisher: CREDS
This document is a report for citizens advice by CAG consultants, in association with Timur Yunusov and Jacopo Torriti.
In December 2018 Ofgem launched a Significant Code Review (SCR) looking at access and forward-looking charging arrangements. Amongst other things it is seeking to clarify "access rights and choices for small users".
Ofgem is considering the concept of minimum "core access" in its proposals. "Core access" (if it can be defined) is an amount of capacity that cannot readily be flexed and that provides for consumers' basic needs. Capacity-based (or time of use energy-based) charging might mirror this concept by considering an affordable level of "core access"
Citizens Advice is participating in the SCR and has commissioned this work to better understand the concept of core access, and understand what it means for consumers. Citizens Advice posed three key questions for this research:
In the same order, we address these questions through:
The evidence points to a basic core capacity of around 2-3kW, characteristic of low income consumers. However, this research simply looks at current capacity usage, and has not examined the factors contributing to capacity use. Further work is required to understand whether low income consumers are using enough electricity to meet their basic needs - it is possible that the 2-3kW figure reflects suppressed demand.
This report contains an executive summary, and is divided into the following sections:- Introduction
- Literature Review
- Deriving capacity limits
- Implementation
- Conclusions and further work
Author(s): Anable, J. and Marsden, G.
Published: 2021-09-01
Publisher: CREDS
The analysis presented in this report was funded by the Department for Transport. The analysis draws on data collected as part of a wider study funded by UK Research and Innovation and a range of governmental partners. Full details can be found on the Covid19-Transas website with further information about the wider project and our data. The views expressed in the report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the funders.
Author(s): Norman, J., Garvey, A. and Barrett, J.
Published: 2019-11-01
Publisher: CREDS
The evidence given below is largely drawn from a recent (and ongoing) assessment of the opportunities for energy efficiency, fuel switching and material demand reduction within the UK steel sector. Additional information is also provided related to previous work by the authors on material efficiency. The work has been conducted as part of the Materials and Products theme of the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS). In the near future the work will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal and will be available as a final version. The authors are happy to discuss the contents of the response further if this is helpful.
Author(s): Cass, N., Lucas, K., Adeel, M., Anable, J., Buchs, M., Lovelace, R., Morgan, M. and Mullen, C.
Published: 2022-02-01
Publisher: CREDS
This report is based on the findings of a research project at the University of Leeds looking at the consumption patterns of high-end and excessive consumption in households in the UK, to understand the reasons for high energy use and the structural, social, cultural and economic influences on these behaviours Data is taken from the Living Costs and Food Survey (2009 and 2001–2018 flight data), National Travel Survey
Author(s): Anable, J., Lokesh, K., Marsden, G., Walker, R., McCulloch, S., and Jenkinson, K.
Published: 2020-08-28
Publisher: LGA & CREDS
In order to reach a zero emission transport system it is necessary to transition from a largely fossil fuel powered fleet to a fleet powered by energy sources created from zero emission energy. For the car and light van markets the transition is predominantly going to be through electrification, with electricity provided from an increasingly low carbon grid mix.
Author(s): Campbell, M., Marsden, G., Walker, R., McCulloch, S., Jenkinson, K., and Anable, J.
Published: 2020-08-28
Publisher: LGA & CREDS
There have always been compelling arguments to improve the way we manage parking as part of a balanced transport strategy, but the management of parking must change because of the climate emergency. The Department for Transport estimates that, if left unchecked, the number of cars owned in the UK might grow by 10 to 13 million over the next three decades. That would be 40 to 50 per cent more cars on our streets which, if parked nose to tail, would run five to six times the length of the UK.1 What would our communities look like if this future came to pass? There are already many areas where there are too many cars for the space available.
Author(s): Marsden, G., Anable, J., Lokesh, K., Walker, R., McCulloch, S. and Jenkinson, K.
Published: 2020-08-28
Publisher: LGA & CREDS
This briefing note sets out the framework within which councils can begin to deliver ambitious action plans. It explains some of the key issues surrounding carbon targets and budgets, and what levels of emission reductions are necessary to be consistent with the Paris Agreement. This briefing is also part of a series, commissioned by the Local Government Association, which sets out what actions will be most effective for local government in the transport sector.
Author(s): Lokesh, K., Marsden, G., Walker, R., Anable, J., McCulloch, S., and Jenkinson, K.
Published: 2020-08-28
Publisher: LGA & CREDS
Cycling needs to play a much bigger part in everyday travel if rapid progress to a zero carbon transport system is to be achieved. Analysis suggests that cycling will need to increase from the current 2 per cent of all UK trips to between 6 per cent and 8 per cent.1 This is challenging but not impossible. Consistent investment and prioritisation have delivered a cycling mode share of over 25 per cent of all trips in some European cities. In England, some councils have already developed a strong local cycling culture, but progress is uneven.
Author(s): Walker, R., Campbell, M., Marsden, G., Anable, J., McCulloch, S. and Jenkinson, K.
Published: 2020-08-28
Publisher: LGA & CREDS
Buses are a critical part of transport decarbonisation strategies for councils across England. In 2018, buses carried 5 per cent of all trips; analysis of ambitious but balanced pathways to a zero-carbon transport system suggests this needs to increase to around 10 per cent of all trips by 2050.1 To achieve this uptake, progress must be part of early local decarbonisation strategies. Dependent on loading, buses are the most space-efficient road passenger vehicle. They are already a low carbon mode of transport and by transitioning the fleet to low and ultra low emission vehicles, buses quickly become even more carbon efficient.
Author(s): Campbell, M., Walker, R., Marsden, G., McCulloch, S., Jenkinson, K., and Anable, J.
Published: 2020-08-28
Publisher: LGA & CREDS
For the UK to reach its goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, all councils need to take rapid action to decarbonise their transport systems. This will include action to support people to make their journeys by more carbon and space-efficient modes (such as walking, cycling, public transport and ride-sharing), and to support the take-up of zero tailpipe emission vehicles, for those journeys that will continue to require a motor vehicle. However, shifting modes of travel is only part of the toolkit available to councils: transport can also be decarbonised by reducing the distances people have to travel, and the number of trips they have to make.
Author(s): Lokesh, K., Anable, J., Marsden, G., Walker, R., McCulloch, S. and Jenkinson, K.
Published: 2020-08-28
Publisher: LGA & CREDS
Supporting people to travel less is an essential part of every council's decarbonisation strategy. Even with rapid adoption of electric vehicles and major mode shift, the pace of change required to meet the UK's carbon budget means that reductions of at least 20 per cent in car miles travelled per person (as a driver or passenger) will be required by 2030.1 Travelling more has always been seen to be a marker of economic growth. However, we have been travelling less per person over the last two decades. Councils need to feel confident in talking about, and planning for, travelling less.
Author(s): Crawley, C., Johnson, C., Calver, P. and Fell, M.J.
Published: 2021-04-21
Publisher: CREDS
According to the Climate Change Committee we could be using almost twice as much electricity in 2050 as today, and most of this will be from renewable sources. These changes are partly due to increased demand as transport and much of heating become powered by electricity and partly due to needing to move away from fossil fuel based generation. Matching demand with renewable supply from variable sources like wind power will likely mean that electricity demand will have to be moved around in time and decreased during periods when the system cannot provide it. This is known as demand response. It is almost certain that households will have a role to play in demand response, and various trials and commercial schemes have been implemented in recent years to ascertain how successful it could be. As all of this gets underway, we ask: what is the best way to implement domestic demand response on a large scale and how can less well-off households be factored in fairly?
Author(s): Cairns, S. and Anable, J.
Published: 2021-09-01
Publisher: CREDS
Key pointsThe range of scenarios modelled is too limited. Scenarios should be included in which emissions reduce from 2019 onwards and a wider range of policy options are considered (Q2).Inclusion of policies restricting airport expansion and increasing ticket taxation are essential in order to make a difference quickly. Policies to support alternatives and to encourage transition within the aviation industry could also be valuable (Q10).More frequent review than every 5 years, and focusing on years closer than 2050 are both important (Q3, Q4).Providing carbon information about flights to consumers will be much less effective if the overall policy framework is one of growth and expansion (Q13, Q14).It is urgent to address non-CO2 emissions, and expert advice should be sought on the potential for focused demand management measures - i.e. restricting the categories of flight that have the greatest negative climate impact as a result of non-CO2 impacts (Q15).
Author(s): Torriti, J., Shove, E., Fell, M. and Ramirez-Mendiola, J. L.
Published: 2023-10-01
Publisher: CREDS
We welcome the interest in developing a better understanding of what is needed in order to unlock domestic consumers' engagement in energy demand flexibility, as well as enable consumers to transition from passive billpayers to active, flexible energy consumers. This fundamental shift in the role of domestic consumers will not come without significant challenges. Nevertheless, it is essential that such challenges are surmounted if we are to tap into the vast demand flexibility potential that the domestic sector can offer.
Author(s): Torriti, J., Lo Piano, S., Lorincz, M.J., Ramirez-Mendiola, J.L., Smith, S. and Yunusov, T.
Published: 2020-09-01
Publisher: CREDS
CREDS research into this area aims to conceptualise the introduction of flexible technologies, new pricing regimes and the transformation of social-temporal orders within a single frame. In our response we outline new opportunities in terms of non-DSO flexibility services, including the implications of introducing 'core capacity' and interfaces that allow non-DSO flexibility markets to flourish and describe how differing DER types should be subject to different baselining methodologies as opposed to a simple one-size fits all approach. In the context of residential flexibility, we generally agree with the position that engaging residential flexibility is critical. Further research linking the timing of activities to electricity demand will be key to any intervention aimed at increasing residential flexibility.
Author(s): Bennett, G., Hamilton, I., Liddiard, R., Lowe, R., Mallaburn, P., Oreszczyn, T., Ruyssevelt, P. and Wingfield, J.
Published: 2018-10-01
Publisher: CREDS
EPCs will grow in importance as the policy environment moves to a more performance-based approach, as is happening with MEES and the aspiration to move the housing stock to EPC Grade C. Linking EPC performance to the provision of finance, debt and subsidy will put EPCs in the spotlight and increase the legal exposure of the process generating them. However there is clear and compelling evidence of significant and widespread issues around the reliability, accuracy and precision of EPCs. We have seen major discrepancies operating on a number of levels in the EPC data: between different assessors, between different classes of property, between assessments on the same property, between different EPC assessment regimes. There is also clear real-world evidence that EPCs may not reflect the actual performance of the building even when occupant behaviour is discounted. This is most clear in non-domestic buildings where average in-use performance bears little relation to EPC rating. This observation is less marked in household ratings, but it is still a major concern. Making the EPC process more transparent will go a long way to addressing these problems by allowing energy users and researchers to question discrepancies and help improve the process. Cloning is a case in point: this is a perfectly sensible approach for similar properties but the process needs to be opened up to scrutiny. Gaming of the system is another area that needs to be addressed.
Author(s): Fawcett, T., Hampton, S. and Mallaburn, P.
Published: 2019-05-01
Publisher: CREDS & UKERC
We welcome the idea of offering more policy support to SMEs to enable them to take up more energy efficiency opportunities, to the benefit of their enterprises, the economy as a whole and the environment. Researchers have previously argued that there is not enough policy focus on SMEs (Banks et al, 2012, Hampton and Fawcett, 2017) and this consultation is valuable as part of a wider process of policy development. This response covers general issues about design of policy for energy efficiency improvement in SMEs, and offers specific evidence on Option 2: a business energy efficiency obligation. We take the view that there is not enough information on the scale and scope of the proposed scheme to come down strongly in favour of Option 1, 2 or 3. However, we note that Option 2 has a strong and successful record across many countries, and there is considerable well documented evidence on how and why Energy Efficiency Obligation policies for business can work.
Author(s): Brocklehurst, F., Bennett, G., Boardman, B., Eyre, N., Fawcett, T., Lo Piano, S., Smith, S. and Torriti, J.
Published: 2020-09-01
Publisher: CREDS
The three major options for the UK to increasing energy savings from products are: 1. enhanced enforcement of the existing regulations (described briefly below; as detailed in responses to call for evidence section 4, Strengthening UK market surveillance) 2. using existing regulations as a basis for additional UK-specific policy action (described briefly below; as detailed in responses to call for evidence section 5, Exploring other policy levers) 3. developing UK-specific regulations. The expense, complexity and time taken to fully realise savings from these options increases markedly moving down the list. In addition, there are considerable risks to UK consumers and manufacturers in moving away from EU standards (option 3), as shown in the table below. Therefore, CREDS would strongly recommend fully exploiting the savings potential of options 1 and 2 before considering option 3.
Author(s): Johnson, C., van der Waal, E., Schneiders, A., Rebmann, A. and Folmer, E.
Published: 2021-03-01
Publisher: CREDS
CREDS was established in 2018 with a vision to make the UK a leader in understanding the changes in energy demand needed for the transition to a secure and affordable zero-carbon energy system. Working with researchers, businesses and policymakers, our work addresses a broad range of energy demand issues. CREDS is funded by UKRI. CREDS responds to consultations and calls for evidence from government, agencies and businesses, providing insight and expertise to decision-makers.
Author(s): Crawley, J. and Higginson, S.
Published: 2020-06-01
Publisher: CREDS
The CREDS EDI Plan exists because we recognise that the energy research community is insufficiently diverse, for example the CREDS consortium is 70% male. The aim of the plan is therefore "to foster an inclusive culture within the Centre, which promotes equality, values diversity and maintains a working and social environment in which the rights and dignity of all our staff, students, partners and stakeholders are respected." The Plan was developed by the CREDS EDI Working Group, agreed by the CREDS Executive in April 2019 and then published on the CREDS website. The Plan consists of a number of actions under different headings, against which this reports progress so far (as of Spring 2020).
Author(s): Higginson, S. and Huebner, G.
Published: 2020-06-01
Publisher: CREDS
CREDS is a UKRI Energy Programme focused on the critical role of energy demand in reducing carbon emissions and achieving the UK's net-zero carbon ambitions. As part its funding from UKRI, CREDS has a Flexible Fund to fill research gaps and develop research capacity. The call for Early Career Researcher-led projects was the largest single use of the Flexible Fund, with £1M (at 80% FEC) being allocated to it. As this call was for Early Career Researchers, additional support mechanisms were put in place during the call itself and a comprehensive programme of feedback has followed the call. In order to assess the effectiveness of this, a thorough evaluation was conducted looking at the call itself, its process and various aspects of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) involved in the call. This report outlines the results. The evaluation concludes that the call was basically successful, well-run and well received. The support offered was, for the most part, enthusiastically taken up and well regarded. The qualification criteria for being an ECR, of not having held a grant as PI in excess of 100 K, alongside allowing people on non-permanent contracts to apply, were important in encouraging applicants who are not normally eligible. It is also clear that more funding for ECRs would be very welcome, potentially increasing the diversity of our research community. Based on the success of our programme, ECR funding represents a small risk from a public investment point of view.
Author(s): Baresic, D., Rehmatulla, N., de la Fuente, S. and Smith, T.
Published: 2021-09-01
Publisher: CREDS, DUKFT & UMAS
Operational measures in shipping can be implemented at scale in the short to medium term and specific national policies can be used to promote their uptake.Mid/long-term adoption of zero carbon marine fuels (i.e. ammonia) is paramount for shipping to decarbonize: policies which provide financial support for pilots, RD&D, support niche shipping segments as test beds and limit long term usage of transitional fuels are favoured.Wind assisted technologies (WAT) have a good potential to reduce ship emissions and could benefit from additional financial support.The UK has many sites which are favourable for early adoption of zero carbon marine fuels: policies which promote their growth, take local conditions into account and include strategies for multiple industries have the highest potential for success.UK should be a proactive player at the IMO supporting development of an ambitious shipping decarbonization plan.ICAO's CORSIA has many aspects which could be looked at for inspiration when developing similar measures for shipping.Revenue recycling when using carbon pricing for shipping could be considered as a policy option.
Author(s): Cass, N., Anable, J., Lucas, K., Adeel, M., Buchs, M., Lovelace, R., Morgan, M. and Mullen, C.
Published: 2022-02-01
Publisher: CREDS
This submission is based on our project on High Energy Consumers funded by the Centre for Research on Energy Demand Solutions1. The project investigated the potential for reduction of high-end domestic and travel-related (henceforth ''household') energy consumption to contribute to decarbonisation. Summary: We confirm known drivers of high household energy consuming behaviour as home heating, car use and frequent flying. We identify that these and other energy consuming behaviours are normalised in high consuming households and are driven by social norms and expectations rather than behaviourist understandings of discrete, rational choices primarily based on information and attitudes. We provide evidence that deliberation reveals that even high consumers believe that strong government action is required to limit some choices and make others more viable, to achieve behaviour change that has not manifested voluntarily. We therefore advise that government investment in low carbon alternatives and restriction of high consumption infrastructures and devices is necessary to achieve behaviour change in line with Net Zero targets.
Author(s): Shove, E.
Published: 2018-09-01
Publisher: CREDS
The DEMAND Centre - Dynamics of Energy, Mobility and Demand - (www.demand.ac.uk) ran a two day workshop on the topic of Flexibility - designed as a contribution to the new CREDS -Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (www.creds.ac.uk). During the workshop, we discussed papers by the authors listed below. Get in touch with them individually if you would like to know more about what they wrote. This note is an attempt to organize and represent some of the discussion that arose, and to generate more.
Author(s): Cairns, S.
Published: 2020-07-01
Publisher: CREDS
This submission is based on preliminary thinking in relation to a forthcoming research project in this area (EPSRC grant EP/S030700/1: 'Innovative Light ELEctric Vehicles for Active and Digital TravEl (ELEVATE): reducing mobility-related energy demand and carbon emissions'). This project is due to start later in the year, and will include both literature review work and primary research which are relevant to the questions asked in this review.
Author(s): Lowe, R.
Published: 2020-07-01
Publisher: CREDS
The overarching theme of our response is to welcome the proposal by BEIS to act in this space. Structural features of the UK heat market make decarbonising heat in UK buildings a significant challenge, and programmes of support for new low/zero carbon heat technologies and supply chains unavoidable. Such structural features include:the near-monopoly of natural gas for heat in UK buildings;the availability of highly developed gas boiler technologies;the comparative weakness of supply chains for alternative heating technologies;the fact that gas sold into the domestic market is exempt from carbon pricing and is subject to VAT at a significantly lower rate than other forms of energy for heating;long-standing, cross-party political scepticism with respect to the role of regulation in the UK economy. We note that other policy developments including the development of a new UK Emissions Trading System will begin to address some of the above, but that the goal of harmonising taxation on domestic gas and electricity will almost certainly prove elusive. If this were to be the case we would continue to see a situation in policies to support low carbon heat were at variance with energy pricing policy. The consultation document makes clear that the package of measures considered is specifically designed as a successor to the current Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme, and will sit alongside a wider range of measures to improve energy efficiency and support the move to low carbon heating which will be supported through the Home Upgrade Grant, Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, and Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund commitments
Author(s): Cairns, S. and Buchs, M.
Published: 2021-06-01
Publisher: CREDS
This submission provides some brief thoughts on three issues raised in this consultation. These are: 1) Should the domestic rate of APD be reduced, and what would be the environmental impacts? (Q1, 7, 8, 10 and 15) 2) What would be the environmental impact of changing the banding system for APD on international air travel? (Q20) 3) Are there alternative tax measures which could further align the aviation tax framework with government's environmental objectives? (Q25)
Author(s): Barnes, J.
Published: 2023-01-01
Publisher: CREDS
Heat pumps are a critical technology for reducing carbon emissions associated with residential heating. Accumulated knowledge suggests a coordinated approach is required to accelerate deployment. In this project we undertook a rapid socio- technical, whole-systems analysis of the state of residential heat pump diffusion in the UK. The results were then fed into three deliberative workshops with stakeholders across policy, practice and academia. Each workshop employed a decision theatre methodology - a novel approach designed to foster deliberation between multiple stakeholders on complex societal issues - and resulted in participants making decisions about what is required to accelerate heat pump deployment in the UK. Analysis of these results showed clear agreement on five areas for change. The common priorities identified across the three workshops are detailed in the table below.
Author(s): Eyre, N.
Published: 2024-10-01
Publisher: CREDS
This is the written evidence from the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS) to the Committee's inquiry into 'Heating our Homes'. CREDS was established in 2018 as UK Research and Innovation's hub investment in energy demand research. Over the last 5 years, we have established a large evidence base, now structured it to provide easy access to non-academic stakeholders. In this document we address the questions raised by the Committee to which our research is relevant. Inevitably this involves some loss of detail and nuance on complex issues. We would be happy to supplement this with oral evidence.
Author(s): Barrett, M. and Gallo Cassarino, T.
Published: 2021-11-01
Publisher: CREDS
Hydrogen produced from natural gas with steam methane reforming coupled with carbon capture and sequestration (SMRCCS) is proposed as fuel for consumer heating and cooking systems. This paper presents estimates of the energy losses and methane and carbon dioxide emission and global warming across the whole gas to hydrogen heat supply chain - from production to consumer. Processed natural gas is typically about 95% methane which is a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential (GWP) such that, with 20 year and 100 year GWP horizons, about 4% and 8% leakage respectively will cause as much global warming as the carbon dioxide formed when burning the methane. Data on gas emissions and SMRCCS costs and performance are sparse and wide ranging and this presents a major problem in accurately appraising the possible role of hydrogen from methane. The survey indicates emissions between 50 and 200 gCO2eq per unit of heat (kWhth) for SMRCCS H2 heat depending on leakage and GWP time horizon assumed. The second part of the paper reviews gas supply pricing and security and presents a cost minimised configuration of a SMRCCS hydrogen heating system derived with a simple model. Uncertainty in SMRCCS greenhouse gas emissions coupled with a net zero emission target and the long term issue of the physical and economic security of natural gas supply, bear on the potential advantages of SMRCCS as compared to other options, such as heating with renewable electricity driving consumer or district heating heat pumps.
Author(s): Anable, J.
Published: 2021-02-01
Publisher: CREDS
Author(s): Garvey, A. and Taylor, P.
Published: 2020-12-01
Publisher: CREDS
UK industrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must fall by more than 90% over the next 30 years to be consistent with an economy-wide target for net zero GHG emissions by 2050. The impact of current industrial decarbonisation policies is far below what is required for this level of ambition. There is therefore an urgent need to consider how new policies might be designed and implemented to deliver wide-scale and rapid reductions in industrial emissions. To help inform their recommendations for a 6th Carbon Budget, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) asked the University of Leeds to undertake independent research to evaluate which policies (and combinations of policies) would enable industrial decarbonisation in line with the UK's net zero target, without inducing carbon leakage. The research has focused on policies applicable to the manufacturing sector, but with some consideration also given to the policies required to decarbonise the Fossil Fuel Production and Supply and Non-Road Mobile Machinery sectors. In this report we:Conduct a comprehensive review of existing policies;Identify future policy mechanisms that address key challenges in decarbonising industry;Explore how combinations of policies might work together strategically in the form of 'policy packages' and how these packages might evolve over the period to 2050;Evaluate a series of illustrative policy packages, and consider any complementary policies required to minimise carbon leakage and deliver 'just' industrial decarbonisation
Author(s): Liddiard, R., Azhari, R., Ruyssevelt, P.A. and Janda, K.
Published: 2021-06-01
Publisher: CREDS
This document is a response to the above consultation by the Building Stock Laboratory of the UCL Energy Institute (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/energy/research/energy-and buildings/building-stock-laboratory). We broadly welcome the initiative, by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), to bring about a new operational energy benchmarking scheme for the commercial and industrial building sectors. We do, however, offer a number of observations pertinent to the topic. Most of these observations concern definitions. For example, what precisely is meant by 'building' or 'site' in the proposed framework? The non-domestic sector (the combination of commercial, industrial and public buildings) operates within 'premises', or in legal terms 'hereditaments'. These are not necessarily whole buildings and sometimes not even buildings at all. We also question the validity of the application of an arbitrary 1000 m2 threshold for the application of any energy benchmark. This is due to the varied nature of the non-domestic building stock: both in its activities and the buildings/premises it occupies.
Author(s): Anable, J., Brown, L., Docherty, I. and Marsden, G.
Published: 2022-03-01
Publisher: CREDS
The pandemic has had a major impact on how we all live our lives. As we learn to live with Covid-19 without restrictions on how we travel and where we work, we face difficult questions. Society demonstrated enormous capacity to adapt, including to varying restrictions on travel, and many people were able to reorganise daily life to travel less. Some of this came at great cost, such as the inability to attend funerals or the postponement of weddings. Some changes were, in effect, massive accelerations to trends that were already apparent, such as working and shopping remotely. Almost two years on from the initial lockdown, the economy has recovered to pre-Covid-19 levels, yet across society we are still travelling less than before the pandemic. This report, drawing on a combination of national datasets and insights from a ground breaking longitudinal survey in 10 areas of the UK, asks what have we learnt, and where do we go next?
Author(s): Brown, D., Jaccarini, C., Foxon, T., Mininni, G., Copeland, C., Brisbois, M.C., Stack- Maddox, S., Aguirre Martinez, B. and Lacey-Barnacle, M.
Published: 2023-12-01
Publisher: CREDS
In this report, we outline a transformative plan for how local and regional action could help to achieve the UK's net-zero climate goals, whilst providing economic, social and environmental benefits to citizens - Local Green New Deals. The report argues that local and combined authorities should be given new powers and funding, and create new institutions to deliver measures that would help to reduce energy usage (or demand). It also provides evidence that these measures would be viewed favourably by the majority of citizens. We focus on two contrasting regions, Greater Brighton and North of Tyne - both having recently put forward progressive programmes for local environmental and social action, but with very different local governance arrangements.
Author(s): Dicks, J., McGovern, M., Pollitt, H., Downing, C. and Eyre,N.
Published: 2021-11-01
Publisher: CREDS
During the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Government policy has tried to achieve the twin goals of saving lives and maintaining the economy. It is estimated that the full lockdown in spring 2019 resulted in lowering global greenhouse gas emissions by 8%. The UK needs to reduce its emissions by an average of 6% every year to meet the Sixth Carbon Budget goal. Full lockdown is clearly not a viable approach to meeting climate targets. Instead, the increasingly urgent goal of carbon emissions reduction will need to part of the post-Covid recovery economy and this will involve significantly more rapid technical and societal change than has been seen to date. This report sets out findings from research on the investments and policies that will be required to generate jobs and economic activity and to support the levelling up agenda in the short-term and set us on track to meet the long-term Net Zero target in a socially inclusive and fair way. The study uses the Cambridge Econometrics E3ME model to project the macro-economic impacts of a post-Covid green economic recovery package. E3ME is most often used for scenario analysis, evaluating the impacts of an input shock to a reference/baseline scenario. By comparing outcomes in different scenarios against those in a 'business-as-usual' baseline scenario, it is possible to assess the economic, social and environmental impacts of changes in policies and/or economic assumptions. The baseline forecast in this study is constructed from official published economic and energy-sector projections and adjusted to account for the expected impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic - this is referred to as the 'brown' scenario.
Author(s): Lane, M.
Published: 2021-10-27
Publisher: CREDS
The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government has announced sweeping reforms to the planning system in England. Re-energised by the need to 'build back better' following COVID-19, the well-established myth that it is planning permission that is primarily responsible for stagnating the delivery of new housing in the UK, has re-emerged. Seemingly immune to evidence of over a million plots of land currently standing empty despite being granted planning approval, the narrative here is that government bureaucracy (rather than chronic market failure) is the problem. Not only at risk of undermining democracy by circumventing important checks and balances, this myth is more than ideological fiction; it is in direct opposition to reality. In light of recent research carried out by academics at the University of Edinburgh, here we discuss the implications of this for our strive to deliver better quality, more sustainable and energy-efficient homes.
Author(s): Mallaburn, P.
Published: 2022-11-09
Publisher: CREDS
Domestic retrofit is a particularly complex climate policy challenge, with many interconnected barriers: behavioural and technical, cost and affordability and supply side capacity and skills. There is no shortage of advice on how to tackle the problem, with recent reports from E3G and the Construction Leadership Council being the most comprehensive. The government's Energy Security and Heat and Buildings Strategies set out the range of policy options that the government is considering.
Author(s): Williams, L.
Published: 2022-02-28
Publisher: CREDS
Author(s): Eyre, N and Fawcett, T.
Published: 2020-05-11
Publisher: CREDS
Energy demand reduction has been a key part of the UK's progress to date in climate mitigation. All future scenarios compliant with the UK's international commitments and national legislation indicate that energy demand reduction will continue to be a critical component. Despite its acknowledged importance, there are contested approaches to energy demand reduction policy. In particular, there is interest in behavioural economics (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008), that emphasises 'nudge interventions' (Halpern, 2015). Based on a broader range of research on energy use, this paper critiques that approach with respect to effectiveness in the context of major energy transitions. We argue for a more pluralist approach, using a range of disciplinary insights and pointing towards a wider and more ambitious set of policy instruments.
Author(s): Stevens, I., Garvey, A., Barrett, J. and Norman, J.
Published: 2022-03-10
Publisher: CREDS
A recent study by CREDS researchers at the University of Leeds (Garvey et al., 2022), investigating how to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in the steel sector, found that:Technological solutions alone will not be enough to reach net-zero; material efficiency will also be necessary. Our analysis suggests that radical retrofit combined with action on material efficiency could contribute to achieving the Climate Change Committee's (CCC) further ambition steel sector carbon budget.Of the technological solutions, we found that retrofit could have the most potential in the short term, followed by new best practice efficiency technology, fuel shifts, and the implementation of novel technologies in the long term, depending on the availability of breakthrough technologies. Under some scenarios, carbon capture and storage (CCS) may be required, but material efficiency can offer the potential to reduce the need for reliance on such technology.Early action in the implementation of measures is required for more significant emissions reductions. To achieve this, a clear vision in the form of sectoral budgets and government leadership is necessary
Author(s): Jenkinson, K., Eyre, N and Barrett, J.
Published: 2021-10-06
Publisher: CREDS
Reducing the UK's overall energy demand provides a necessary and major contribution to net-zero emissions by 2050 as part of a comprehensive climate plan, with many associated benefits that would improve quality of life for all. Cutting energy use could:deliver around half of UK emissions' reduction by 2050;enhance quality of life, with significant co-benefits that align with other policy objectives (health, biodiversity, affordable warmth);reduce the risks and costs associated with relying on untested, undeveloped technical solutions in energy supply and engineered carbon dioxide removal (CDR, sometimes called geo-engineering).A low energy demand strategy could be at the heart of a fair, affordable and healthy route to net-zero. New research from CREDS (Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions) suggests that it will be difficult and expensive to meet the UK's net-zero target without measures to reduce demand for energy
Author(s): Chiu, L.F. and Lowe, R.
Published: 2020-01-01
Publisher: CREDS
The core aim of the CREDS Heat Theme has been to explore strategies for decarbonisation of heat in the UK, within an overarching Energy System Architecture Framework. Our initial findings suggest that existing energy system models are inadequate to handle multiple policy goals and that this undermines their usefulness for exploring strategies for energy system decarbonisation. The heavy emphasis placed by the energy research community on achieving net-zero sits uncomfortably with the multiplicity and emergent nature of other system objectives. This makes envisioning possible future energy system options and negotiating a feasible pathway towards a successful energy transition difficult. Our finding that different Energy System stakeholders hold divergent opinions on available technologies and strategies for decarbonisation reflects this. Our most recent piece of work, System Shocks, Response, and Recovery (HCC_C-19) sought to engage with disadvantaged communities, professionals and expert system stakeholders to explore the aftermath and implications of the COVID Pandemic, the Energy Price Shock and the impending economic crisis. In this document we set out policy recommendations based on engagement with more than 200 participants, in a variety of settings, in this programme.
Author(s): Garvey, A., Norman, J. and Barrett, J.
Published: 2022-01-10
Publisher: CREDS
Our demand for food drives greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions throughout the food supply chain including from agriculture, food processing and transportation. In the UK this demand is projected to grow towards 2050 as a function of high current levels of demand and population growth.Agriculture and land use accounts for 11% of the UK's territorial GHG emissions. Our research shows that imported food adds 20 MtCO2e to the UK's food footprint: equivalent to around half the emissions from domestic production. Thus, action to reduce demand in UK food-related emissions would have an impact at a global scale
Author(s): Marsden, G., Anable, J., Docherty, I., Brown, L.
Published: 2021-03-01
Publisher: CREDS
Covid-19 has forced countries around the world to make massive adaptations to the normal way of life to reduce the risk of the spread of the virus. This briefing sets out new insights into how people's travel patterns have adapted over time and why. It draws on national data sources and a major panel survey of over 6000 people conducted in July and December 2020. It calls for a major realignment of investment and policy to ensure that we do not return to the overcrowded, congested, polluting and unhealthy transport system that people had come to accept as inevitable.
Author(s): Norman, J., Barrett, J., Betts-Davies, S., Carr-Whitworth, R., Garvey, A., Giesekam, J., James, K. and Styles, R.
Published: 2021-03-01
Publisher: CREDS
Energy is required to transform raw materials into products. The majority of this energy is provided by fossil fuels and therefore contributes to climate change. Energy demand continues to rise globally, which means that additional renewable energy is used to meet this increase in demand. At this global level renewable energy supply increased by 81 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) in 2017 (IEA, 2019). However, in the same period, energy demand grew by 328 Mtoe (2.3% more than the previous year) (IEA, 2019). The demand for materials and products forms an important part of this increase and, according to the International Energy Agency, global industrial energy demand is forecast to continue increasing (IEA, 2020). At the domestic level it initially appears that the UK is moving in the opposite direction to the global trend with significant declines in industrial energy in the recent past; industrial energy demand has halved over the past 40 years (BEIS, 2020). However, as the UK has shifted to become an increasingly service based economy, the materials required to satisfy UK consumption have not declined; they are increasingly imported from elsewhere (University of Leeds and Defra, 2020). This partially explains why the energy demand of UK industry has halved in the past 40 years while industrial energy demand has not. The reality is that the industrial energy demand needed to satisfy UK consumption has remained relatively unchanged for the past 40 years (Barrett et al, 2018).
Author(s): Marsden, G.
Published: 2023-05-01
Publisher: CREDS
This report shows that pathways which achieve the Government's aims on electrification could still be consistent with the CCC's Balanced Pathway if a 20% reduction in road traffic levels were also to be achieved by 2030 relative to current plans. The policy goal in Scotland is for an absolute reduction in car kilometres of 20% by 2030, although progress against the goal is yet to be substantially realised. Such an outcome cannot be wished for; it needs to be made to come about. In 2021, the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS) published a series of scenarios, referred to as Positive Low Energy Futures (PLEF). The PLEF transport report set out alternative pathways which could save energy and carbon but still allow society to flourish (Brand et al., 2021). Pathways with reductions in car mileage will require a step change in funding and delivery of alternatives to car travel which are not currently being planned for. However, every year that passes with a business as usual transport delivery mindset, reduces the potential to shift to such pathways.
Author(s): Wade, F., Webb, J., Killip, G. and Jenkinson, K.
Published: 2021-06-01
Publisher: CREDS
We are pleased that the draft strategy aims to be comprehensive, and brings together strands of work from across the Scottish Government, setting out the many policy areas that will need to work together to deliver net-zero. CREDS strongly supports the continued focus on energy efficiency at the heart of policy to achieve net-zero. Energy efficiency will be needed to minimise demand on the energy supply and distribution system, and brings multiple benefits to low-income households, such as lower energy bills and improved comfort levels. We welcome the Strategy's acknowledgement that there is no single solution to the provision of net-zero heat in buildings, and that there will need to be a combination of policy levers and programmes to ensure a just transition.
Author(s): Marsden, G., Anable, J., Bray, J., Seagriff, E. and Spurling, N.
Published: 2019-09-01
Publisher: CREDS
The report sets out 20 recommendations which will support the evidence base around shared mobility, deliver more meaningful innovation trials and deliver a step change in the policy framework and incentives which sit around sharing mobility. Some policies are simple, such as making Highways England, whose networks carry around 32% of car miles each year, responsible for first monitoring vehicle occupancy and then facilitating a growth in it. There are significant network management as well as carbon benefits to be had. Others are more complex such as addressing the incentive system around multiple vehicles in a household or how to cross-subsidise greater provision of shared mobility in rural areas. There is no 'one-size fits all' approach but there are some actions which will have universal benefits such as redoubling efforts to reduce business miles driven in older private cars and to use the fleet assets of the public sector to reduce wastage and open up greater opportunities for shared access. This report comes with two clear warnings which make the adoption of policies to support sharing yet more important. First, we see potential headwinds of lower motoring costs for many, due to electrification. This creates a real risk that transport will continue to become less shared. In the absence of any corrective policies, this will lead to substantial traffic growth according to the Department for Transport's (DfT) own forecasts. Second, such growth risks being compounded by the adoption of increasingly automated vehicles. Early estimates by the DfT suggest that in a shared model, such innovations could reduce future traffic growth to just 5% by 2050. In a more individualised model the growth could be as much as 55%. In essence, unless we deliver on sharing, our creative capacity for transport innovation could simply support the delivery of a more individualised transport system which creates higher demand futures
Author(s): Eyre, N and Killip, G. (eds)
Published: 2019-07-01
Publisher: CREDS
Shifting the focus: energy demand in a net-zero carbon UK is CREDS' first major publication. It builds on research undertaken by members of the CREDS consortium over many years to address the question "What can changes in energy demand contribute to the transition to a secure and affordable UK energy system that is compatible with net-zero carbon emissions?". It examines the most recent comprehensive statement of UK Government Energy policy - the Clean Growth Strategy. Drawing on expertise in the CREDS consortium across the buildings, transport, industry and electricity sectors, the report sets out a vision for the role of energy demand changes and develops detailed recommendations for action.
Author(s): CREDS
Published: 2019-08-01
Publisher: CREDS
The Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS) works with researchers, businesses and policymakers to support the transition to a low-carbon energy system. This summary provides a quick look at our first major report, which takes the Government's most recent statement on energy transition, the Clean Growth Strategy (CGS), as a starting point and draws on current knowledge from the UK energy demand research community. Building on the comprehensive, quantitative analysis by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), we agree that major improvements in energy productivity in businesses, transport and homes are crucial to achieving the CGS goal of accelerating the pace of clean growth: this requires attention to the technical, social and institutional factors that drive energy demand. A much stronger focus on energy demand solutions is needed to address the greater action implied by a net-zero carbon target, and we set out recommendations on the policy changes required to deliver the energy-use related goals of the CGS.
Author(s): Crawley, J., Higginson, S., Moore, G. and Eyre, N.
Published: 2023-10-04
Publisher: CREDS
Fifty experts representing heat pump manufacturers, electricity distribution and transmission, energy suppliers, trade associations, government, consultancy and academia contributed to a day of discussion aiming to answer the following question: In 2035 we plan to have a decarbonised electricity system, which will require demand flexibility to keep system costs down. What will be the role of heat pumps in providing that flexibility? This document summarises the outcomes of the 9 group discussions which took place on the day. The first five topics below relate to the role of heat pumps. The final topic highlights supporting elements which will need to be in place for heat pumps to carry out this role.
Author(s): Eyre, N., Oreszczyn, T., Anable, J., Barrett, J. and Torriti, J.
Published: 2018-12-01
Publisher: CREDS
Author(s): Dellaccio, O., Dicks, J., McGovern, M. and Stenning, J.
Published: 2022-10-01
Publisher: CREDS
A key challenge associated with the transition to net-zero is how to fairly spread the costs and benefits of policies used to achieve decarbonisation across all aspects of society. A so called 'just' transition can be achieved if, at the same time as reducing emissions across the economy, all people, places and communities are supported, benefits from the transition are fairly shared and no-one is 'left behind'. This report explores whether new inequalities may emerge, or existing inequalities worsen within UK society, because of policies designed to transition the UK to a net-zero economy and society. It specifically considers the vulnerability of different types of representative households to fuel and transport poverty as a result of three different policy approaches to achieving net-zero.
Author(s): Eyre, N. and Oreszczyn, T.
Published: 2022-08-20
Publisher: CREDS
The UK faces an energy affordability crisis and possibly an energy security crisis. Improving energy efficiency and reducing energy demand are key parts of the solution to these, as well as to achieving longer term zero-carbon goals. Energy affordability is now a critical problem for many households. Without more action on fuel poverty, more people will die due to cold homes this winter. Very large numbers of households will face difficult decisions about home heating. The measures recently announced focus on supporting incomes rather than longer term reductions in dependence on fossil fuels. Improving home energy efficiency and supporting low income households both need urgent attention. Saving energy can also contribute to reducing the risk of physical shortages of energy, and therefore a strategy for reducing energy demand should form part of any energy security strategy. The key measures that can be achieved quickly are reducing internal temperatures in over-heated buildings and reducing car fuel use. Energy security is a public good, so Government has the central role in addressing it. Most people and organisations can contribute, but the households most affected by the affordability challenge can contribute the least. The energy saving measures needed for a transition to net-zero emissions cannot be delivered in their entirety on the timescales needed to resolve an immediate crisis. However, the crisis is an additional reason to begin a planned long-term approach to demand reduction, not to avoid it.
Author(s): Barrett, J., Pye, S., Betts-Davies, S., Eyre, N., Broad, O., Price, J., Norman, J., Anable, J., Bennett, G., Brand, C., Carr-Whitworth, R., Marsden, G., Oreszczyn, T., Giesekam, J., Garvey, A., Ruyssevelt, P. and Scott, K.
Published: 2021-10-01
Publisher: CREDS
Without energy demand reduction we will not achieve the UK's Sixth Carbon Budget target in 2035 of 78% below 1990 levels, or our 2050 net-zero target. The UK Government has yet to define how energy demand will contribute to achieving our climate ambitions. Given the evidence presented in this report, it is imperative that the UK Government outline a detailed strategy and supporting policies to enable energy demand reduction to fulfil its necessary role in achieving rapid emissions reductions in the UK. The limited government focus on energy demand has mostly been on improving technology efficiency with little attention to the other mechanisms that involve reducing the need for energy service demands. Reducing energy demand to the extent, and at the speed, that is needed requires both an acceleration in energy efficiency improvement and shifts in the consumption patterns of products and services, travel and diets to avoid the consumption of energy services. None of our Low Energy Demand (LED) scenarios compromise our quality of life. Instead, they seek to enhance it with numerous co-benefits associated with healthier diets, active living, clean air, safe communities, warm homes, rebalancing work and driving down inequality. All this is possible while halving the UK's energy demand
Author(s): Norman, J., Scott, S. and Giesekam, J. 2021.
Published: 2021-10-01
Publisher: CREDS
Resource efficiency and energy efficiency were both considered for reducing energy demand for the production of materials and products. Resource efficiency strategies reduce the required output of materials and products. Energy efficiency strategies reduce the energy demand to produce each unit of output. Additionally changes in construction demand are an important driver of material production and associated energy demand.
Author(s): Garvey, A. and Norman, J.
Published: 2021-10-01
Publisher: CREDS
This study, undertaken by the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS), provides the most comprehensive assessment to date of the role of reducing energy demand to meet the UK's net-zero climate target. The study brings together 18 energy demand modelling experts from within CREDS to provide extensive detail on the possibilities to reduce energy demand in every sector. These sectoral reductions in energy demand are brought together into a whole-system modelling approach, to understand the potential contribution of energy demand reduction to support climate action in the UK.
Author(s): Brand, C., Anable, J. and Marsden, G.
Published: 2021-10-01
Publisher: CREDS
The primary focus of UK policy has been to change the vehicle fleet from petrol and diesel, first to ultra low emission vehicles (ULEVs), and then to zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs)1 , primarily through electrification. A lack of progress with heavy goods vehicles and aviation persists, but the unexpected change is the increase in new car energy consumption and CO2 (SMMT, 2018). Switching from diesel accounts for a small proportion of this increase; the main culprit is a continued swing towards larger passenger cars, particularly Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV), which use about 15% more energy than their hatchback or sedan equivalents. Electric vehicles accounted for 8.8% of sales in 2020 (up from 2.5% in 2019) (SMMT, 2020), with two out of five sold being plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). PHEVs have shown to perform little better in terms of energy use and carbon emissions than the most efficient conventional ICE vehicles in real world conditions, as they have been shown to operate in electric mode for only a third of the miles travelled (Plötz et al, 2018a; Plötz et al, 2018b; Plötz et al, 2020). This gap between declared vehicle performance and real-world results prevails across all vehicle types and technologies.
Author(s): Eyre, N.
Published: 2023-01-16
Publisher: CREDS
In 2001 an academic study "Socio-technical networks and the sad case of the condensing boiler" (Banks 2001), identified the very low uptake of condensing boilers, despite their apparent cost effectiveness. By 2006, almost every gas boiler installed in the UK was condensing. The market was transformed. This note sets out how that change happened.
Author(s): Simcock, N., Jenkins, K., Mattioli, G., Lacey-Barnacle, M., Bouzarovski, S. and Martiskainen, M.
Published: 2020-06-11
Publisher: CREDS
This briefing highlights the groups of people that academic research has identified as vulnerable to experiencing fuel poverty and transport poverty. Fuel and transport poverty are distributed across the UK, although the groups affected in each place can vary and the characteristics can be different depending on the location and make up of households.
Author(s): Philips, I., Anable, J. and Chatterton, T.
Published: 2020-05-18
Publisher: CREDS
Summary A recent study carried out by CREDS researchers at the University of Leeds has found that:Electrically-assisted bicycles (e-bikes), if used to replace car travel, have the capability to cut car carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in England by up to 50% (about 30 million tonnes per year),The greatest opportunities are in rural and sub-urban settings: city dwellers already have many low-carbon travel options, so the greatest impact would be on encouraging use outside urban areas,There is scope for e-bikes to help people who are most affected by rising transport costs.
Data
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2010-01-01 - 2021-07-15
Rights: Rights not recorded
We set out to study how the promise of green 5G is produced and circulated. We conducted an analysis of a UK-focused corpus of documents that represent key sites through which the promise of green 5G is produced, circulated and challenged. By the promise of green 5G we refer to an emerging, overarching, dominant expectation that 5G will produce positive environmental sustainability benefits of various kinds. We employed an analytical approach informed by the sociology of expectations and the concept of technoscientific promises. We asked: what are the particular contents of this promise (i.e. the more specific promises and expectations it is built upon), how do enactors seek to boost its legitimacy and credibility, what activities are involved in its production and circulation and what are its present-day material effects, does the promise exclude or overlook alternative options, and is it challenged? We pursued these aims and questions through a document analysis of a diverse corpus (n=260) comprised of UK newspaper articles and newswire results, and reports and webpage content from industry, standardisation bodies and research consortia.
Projects
No Projects in this collection have been classified with this energy category
Publications
Author(s): Lowe, R. and Oreszczyn, T.
Published: 2020-11-26
Publisher: CREDS
The problem of decarbonising heating in buildings has been studied for more than 20 years,1 but there is still no settled consensus on strategy or choice of technology. There is consensus that the problem requires analysis of the whole energy system. While there is currently much interest in the conversion of the gas grid to hydrogen as a route to heat decarbonisation, recent literature based on whole system analysis appears to indicate that heat pumps are likely to offer the cheapest decarbonisation option overall. Each new installation would achieve an immediate factor-of-three reduction in emissions, with the promise of close-to-zero emissions by 2030, as a consequence of a process that now appears unstoppable - the decarbonisation of electricity generation. Although many dwellings would also benefit from additional insulation to increase health and comfort, the overall role of insulation in reducing emissions due to heating in the UK is likely to be secondary. High levels of insulation are not essential to the deployment of heat pumps and are only likely to be cost effective in easy-to-treat properties. But technology choice is not an either-or question. Combinations of technology, such as hybrid heat pumps, and deployment of large heat pumps in district heating systems, offer obvious advantages. And even though the role of hydrogen as a vector for supplying heat to individual homes appears limited on overall cost grounds, hydrogen or hydrogen-derived fuels are likely to play a strategic role in providing backup for the electricity grid at multiple levels, in particular, for the very long-term energy storage that will be needed from about 2040. Sifting through the multiple combinations and configurations of technologies that are, and will become available over the coming 30 years will be an on-going activity. In this context, a key recent development is an understanding that technology selection has to involve an appreciation of the overall architecture of the energy system.
Author(s): Oreszczyn, T., Lowe, R., Eyre, N., Ruyssevelt, P. and Huebner, G.
Published: 2020-02-01
Publisher: CREDS
Author(s): Crawley, C., Johnson, C., Calver, P. and Fell, M.J.
Published: 2021-04-21
Publisher: CREDS
According to the Climate Change Committee we could be using almost twice as much electricity in 2050 as today, and most of this will be from renewable sources. These changes are partly due to increased demand as transport and much of heating become powered by electricity and partly due to needing to move away from fossil fuel based generation. Matching demand with renewable supply from variable sources like wind power will likely mean that electricity demand will have to be moved around in time and decreased during periods when the system cannot provide it. This is known as demand response. It is almost certain that households will have a role to play in demand response, and various trials and commercial schemes have been implemented in recent years to ascertain how successful it could be. As all of this gets underway, we ask: what is the best way to implement domestic demand response on a large scale and how can less well-off households be factored in fairly?
Author(s): Bennett, G., Hamilton, I., Liddiard, R., Lowe, R., Mallaburn, P., Oreszczyn, T., Ruyssevelt, P. and Wingfield, J.
Published: 2018-10-01
Publisher: CREDS
EPCs will grow in importance as the policy environment moves to a more performance-based approach, as is happening with MEES and the aspiration to move the housing stock to EPC Grade C. Linking EPC performance to the provision of finance, debt and subsidy will put EPCs in the spotlight and increase the legal exposure of the process generating them. However there is clear and compelling evidence of significant and widespread issues around the reliability, accuracy and precision of EPCs. We have seen major discrepancies operating on a number of levels in the EPC data: between different assessors, between different classes of property, between assessments on the same property, between different EPC assessment regimes. There is also clear real-world evidence that EPCs may not reflect the actual performance of the building even when occupant behaviour is discounted. This is most clear in non-domestic buildings where average in-use performance bears little relation to EPC rating. This observation is less marked in household ratings, but it is still a major concern. Making the EPC process more transparent will go a long way to addressing these problems by allowing energy users and researchers to question discrepancies and help improve the process. Cloning is a case in point: this is a perfectly sensible approach for similar properties but the process needs to be opened up to scrutiny. Gaming of the system is another area that needs to be addressed.
Author(s): Cass, N., Anable, J., Lucas, K., Adeel, M., Buchs, M., Lovelace, R., Morgan, M. and Mullen, C.
Published: 2022-02-01
Publisher: CREDS
This submission is based on our project on High Energy Consumers funded by the Centre for Research on Energy Demand Solutions1. The project investigated the potential for reduction of high-end domestic and travel-related (henceforth ''household') energy consumption to contribute to decarbonisation. Summary: We confirm known drivers of high household energy consuming behaviour as home heating, car use and frequent flying. We identify that these and other energy consuming behaviours are normalised in high consuming households and are driven by social norms and expectations rather than behaviourist understandings of discrete, rational choices primarily based on information and attitudes. We provide evidence that deliberation reveals that even high consumers believe that strong government action is required to limit some choices and make others more viable, to achieve behaviour change that has not manifested voluntarily. We therefore advise that government investment in low carbon alternatives and restriction of high consumption infrastructures and devices is necessary to achieve behaviour change in line with Net Zero targets.
Author(s): Eyre, N.
Published: 2024-10-01
Publisher: CREDS
This is the written evidence from the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS) to the Committee's inquiry into 'Heating our Homes'. CREDS was established in 2018 as UK Research and Innovation's hub investment in energy demand research. Over the last 5 years, we have established a large evidence base, now structured it to provide easy access to non-academic stakeholders. In this document we address the questions raised by the Committee to which our research is relevant. Inevitably this involves some loss of detail and nuance on complex issues. We would be happy to supplement this with oral evidence.
Author(s): Lane, M.
Published: 2021-10-27
Publisher: CREDS
The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government has announced sweeping reforms to the planning system in England. Re-energised by the need to 'build back better' following COVID-19, the well-established myth that it is planning permission that is primarily responsible for stagnating the delivery of new housing in the UK, has re-emerged. Seemingly immune to evidence of over a million plots of land currently standing empty despite being granted planning approval, the narrative here is that government bureaucracy (rather than chronic market failure) is the problem. Not only at risk of undermining democracy by circumventing important checks and balances, this myth is more than ideological fiction; it is in direct opposition to reality. In light of recent research carried out by academics at the University of Edinburgh, here we discuss the implications of this for our strive to deliver better quality, more sustainable and energy-efficient homes.
Author(s): Mallaburn, P.
Published: 2022-11-09
Publisher: CREDS
Domestic retrofit is a particularly complex climate policy challenge, with many interconnected barriers: behavioural and technical, cost and affordability and supply side capacity and skills. There is no shortage of advice on how to tackle the problem, with recent reports from E3G and the Construction Leadership Council being the most comprehensive. The government's Energy Security and Heat and Buildings Strategies set out the range of policy options that the government is considering.
Author(s): Eyre, N and Fawcett, T.
Published: 2020-05-11
Publisher: CREDS
Energy demand reduction has been a key part of the UK's progress to date in climate mitigation. All future scenarios compliant with the UK's international commitments and national legislation indicate that energy demand reduction will continue to be a critical component. Despite its acknowledged importance, there are contested approaches to energy demand reduction policy. In particular, there is interest in behavioural economics (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008), that emphasises 'nudge interventions' (Halpern, 2015). Based on a broader range of research on energy use, this paper critiques that approach with respect to effectiveness in the context of major energy transitions. We argue for a more pluralist approach, using a range of disciplinary insights and pointing towards a wider and more ambitious set of policy instruments.
Author(s): Jenkinson, K., Eyre, N and Barrett, J.
Published: 2021-10-06
Publisher: CREDS
Reducing the UK's overall energy demand provides a necessary and major contribution to net-zero emissions by 2050 as part of a comprehensive climate plan, with many associated benefits that would improve quality of life for all. Cutting energy use could:deliver around half of UK emissions' reduction by 2050;enhance quality of life, with significant co-benefits that align with other policy objectives (health, biodiversity, affordable warmth);reduce the risks and costs associated with relying on untested, undeveloped technical solutions in energy supply and engineered carbon dioxide removal (CDR, sometimes called geo-engineering).A low energy demand strategy could be at the heart of a fair, affordable and healthy route to net-zero. New research from CREDS (Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions) suggests that it will be difficult and expensive to meet the UK's net-zero target without measures to reduce demand for energy
Author(s): Chiu, L.F. and Lowe, R.
Published: 2020-01-01
Publisher: CREDS
The core aim of the CREDS Heat Theme has been to explore strategies for decarbonisation of heat in the UK, within an overarching Energy System Architecture Framework. Our initial findings suggest that existing energy system models are inadequate to handle multiple policy goals and that this undermines their usefulness for exploring strategies for energy system decarbonisation. The heavy emphasis placed by the energy research community on achieving net-zero sits uncomfortably with the multiplicity and emergent nature of other system objectives. This makes envisioning possible future energy system options and negotiating a feasible pathway towards a successful energy transition difficult. Our finding that different Energy System stakeholders hold divergent opinions on available technologies and strategies for decarbonisation reflects this. Our most recent piece of work, System Shocks, Response, and Recovery (HCC_C-19) sought to engage with disadvantaged communities, professionals and expert system stakeholders to explore the aftermath and implications of the COVID Pandemic, the Energy Price Shock and the impending economic crisis. In this document we set out policy recommendations based on engagement with more than 200 participants, in a variety of settings, in this programme.
Author(s): Marsden, G., Anable, J., Docherty, I., Brown, L.
Published: 2021-03-01
Publisher: CREDS
Covid-19 has forced countries around the world to make massive adaptations to the normal way of life to reduce the risk of the spread of the virus. This briefing sets out new insights into how people's travel patterns have adapted over time and why. It draws on national data sources and a major panel survey of over 6000 people conducted in July and December 2020. It calls for a major realignment of investment and policy to ensure that we do not return to the overcrowded, congested, polluting and unhealthy transport system that people had come to accept as inevitable.
Author(s): Norman, J., Barrett, J., Betts-Davies, S., Carr-Whitworth, R., Garvey, A., Giesekam, J., James, K. and Styles, R.
Published: 2021-03-01
Publisher: CREDS
Energy is required to transform raw materials into products. The majority of this energy is provided by fossil fuels and therefore contributes to climate change. Energy demand continues to rise globally, which means that additional renewable energy is used to meet this increase in demand. At this global level renewable energy supply increased by 81 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) in 2017 (IEA, 2019). However, in the same period, energy demand grew by 328 Mtoe (2.3% more than the previous year) (IEA, 2019). The demand for materials and products forms an important part of this increase and, according to the International Energy Agency, global industrial energy demand is forecast to continue increasing (IEA, 2020). At the domestic level it initially appears that the UK is moving in the opposite direction to the global trend with significant declines in industrial energy in the recent past; industrial energy demand has halved over the past 40 years (BEIS, 2020). However, as the UK has shifted to become an increasingly service based economy, the materials required to satisfy UK consumption have not declined; they are increasingly imported from elsewhere (University of Leeds and Defra, 2020). This partially explains why the energy demand of UK industry has halved in the past 40 years while industrial energy demand has not. The reality is that the industrial energy demand needed to satisfy UK consumption has remained relatively unchanged for the past 40 years (Barrett et al, 2018).
Author(s): Wade, F., Webb, J., Killip, G. and Jenkinson, K.
Published: 2021-06-01
Publisher: CREDS
We are pleased that the draft strategy aims to be comprehensive, and brings together strands of work from across the Scottish Government, setting out the many policy areas that will need to work together to deliver net-zero. CREDS strongly supports the continued focus on energy efficiency at the heart of policy to achieve net-zero. Energy efficiency will be needed to minimise demand on the energy supply and distribution system, and brings multiple benefits to low-income households, such as lower energy bills and improved comfort levels. We welcome the Strategy's acknowledgement that there is no single solution to the provision of net-zero heat in buildings, and that there will need to be a combination of policy levers and programmes to ensure a just transition.
Author(s): Eyre, N and Killip, G. (eds)
Published: 2019-07-01
Publisher: CREDS
Shifting the focus: energy demand in a net-zero carbon UK is CREDS' first major publication. It builds on research undertaken by members of the CREDS consortium over many years to address the question "What can changes in energy demand contribute to the transition to a secure and affordable UK energy system that is compatible with net-zero carbon emissions?". It examines the most recent comprehensive statement of UK Government Energy policy - the Clean Growth Strategy. Drawing on expertise in the CREDS consortium across the buildings, transport, industry and electricity sectors, the report sets out a vision for the role of energy demand changes and develops detailed recommendations for action.
Author(s): CREDS
Published: 2019-08-01
Publisher: CREDS
The Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS) works with researchers, businesses and policymakers to support the transition to a low-carbon energy system. This summary provides a quick look at our first major report, which takes the Government's most recent statement on energy transition, the Clean Growth Strategy (CGS), as a starting point and draws on current knowledge from the UK energy demand research community. Building on the comprehensive, quantitative analysis by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), we agree that major improvements in energy productivity in businesses, transport and homes are crucial to achieving the CGS goal of accelerating the pace of clean growth: this requires attention to the technical, social and institutional factors that drive energy demand. A much stronger focus on energy demand solutions is needed to address the greater action implied by a net-zero carbon target, and we set out recommendations on the policy changes required to deliver the energy-use related goals of the CGS.
Author(s): Eyre, N., Oreszczyn, T., Anable, J., Barrett, J. and Torriti, J.
Published: 2018-12-01
Publisher: CREDS
Author(s): Barrett, J., Pye, S., Betts-Davies, S., Eyre, N., Broad, O., Price, J., Norman, J., Anable, J., Bennett, G., Brand, C., Carr-Whitworth, R., Marsden, G., Oreszczyn, T., Giesekam, J., Garvey, A., Ruyssevelt, P. and Scott, K.
Published: 2021-10-01
Publisher: CREDS
Without energy demand reduction we will not achieve the UK's Sixth Carbon Budget target in 2035 of 78% below 1990 levels, or our 2050 net-zero target. The UK Government has yet to define how energy demand will contribute to achieving our climate ambitions. Given the evidence presented in this report, it is imperative that the UK Government outline a detailed strategy and supporting policies to enable energy demand reduction to fulfil its necessary role in achieving rapid emissions reductions in the UK. The limited government focus on energy demand has mostly been on improving technology efficiency with little attention to the other mechanisms that involve reducing the need for energy service demands. Reducing energy demand to the extent, and at the speed, that is needed requires both an acceleration in energy efficiency improvement and shifts in the consumption patterns of products and services, travel and diets to avoid the consumption of energy services. None of our Low Energy Demand (LED) scenarios compromise our quality of life. Instead, they seek to enhance it with numerous co-benefits associated with healthier diets, active living, clean air, safe communities, warm homes, rebalancing work and driving down inequality. All this is possible while halving the UK's energy demand
Author(s): Norman, J., Scott, S. and Giesekam, J. 2021.
Published: 2021-10-01
Publisher: CREDS
Resource efficiency and energy efficiency were both considered for reducing energy demand for the production of materials and products. Resource efficiency strategies reduce the required output of materials and products. Energy efficiency strategies reduce the energy demand to produce each unit of output. Additionally changes in construction demand are an important driver of material production and associated energy demand.
Author(s): Garvey, A. and Norman, J.
Published: 2021-10-01
Publisher: CREDS
This study, undertaken by the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS), provides the most comprehensive assessment to date of the role of reducing energy demand to meet the UK's net-zero climate target. The study brings together 18 energy demand modelling experts from within CREDS to provide extensive detail on the possibilities to reduce energy demand in every sector. These sectoral reductions in energy demand are brought together into a whole-system modelling approach, to understand the potential contribution of energy demand reduction to support climate action in the UK.
Author(s): Brand, C., Anable, J. and Marsden, G.
Published: 2021-10-01
Publisher: CREDS
The primary focus of UK policy has been to change the vehicle fleet from petrol and diesel, first to ultra low emission vehicles (ULEVs), and then to zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs)1 , primarily through electrification. A lack of progress with heavy goods vehicles and aviation persists, but the unexpected change is the increase in new car energy consumption and CO2 (SMMT, 2018). Switching from diesel accounts for a small proportion of this increase; the main culprit is a continued swing towards larger passenger cars, particularly Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV), which use about 15% more energy than their hatchback or sedan equivalents. Electric vehicles accounted for 8.8% of sales in 2020 (up from 2.5% in 2019) (SMMT, 2020), with two out of five sold being plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). PHEVs have shown to perform little better in terms of energy use and carbon emissions than the most efficient conventional ICE vehicles in real world conditions, as they have been shown to operate in electric mode for only a third of the miles travelled (Plötz et al, 2018a; Plötz et al, 2018b; Plötz et al, 2020). This gap between declared vehicle performance and real-world results prevails across all vehicle types and technologies.
Data
No Data in this collection has been classified with this energy category
Projects
GRN: EP/R035288/1
Period: 2018-04-01 - 2023-12-31
Funding Source: EPSRC
This proposal responds to a call from the Research Councils for a national Centre on energy demand research, building on the work of the existing six End Use Energy Demand Centres, for which funding ends in April 2018.Energy demand reduction is a UK success story, with a 15% fall in final energy consumption since 2004. Major further reductions are possible and will be needed, as part of a transformation of the energy system to low carbon, to deliver the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UK carbon budgets. Moreover, a low carbon energy system will be increasingly reliant upon inflexible and variable electricity generation, and therefore demand will also need to become more flexible. In short, changes in energy demand reduction will need to go further and faster, and demand will need to become more flexible.These challenges have far-reaching implications for technology, business models, social practices and policy. Our vision is for energy demand research in the UK to rise to these challenges. The Centre's ambition is to lead whole systems work on energy demand in the UK, collaborating with a wider community both at home and internationally. We aim to deliver globally leading research on energy demand, to secure much greater impact for energy demand research and to champion the importance of energy demand for delivering environmental, social and economic goals.Our research programme is inter-disciplinary, recognising that technical and social change are inter-dependent and co-evolve. It is organised into six Themes. Three of these address specific issues in the major sectors of energy use, namely: buildings, transport and industry. The remaining three address more cross-cutting issues that drive changing patterns of demand, namely the potential for increased flexibility, the impact of digital technologies, and energy policy and governance.Each Theme has a research programme that has been developed with key stakeholders and will provide the capacity for the Centre to inform debate, deliver impact and share knowledge in its specific area of work. The Themes will also undertake collaborative work, with our first joint task being to assess the role of energy demand in delivering the objectives of the UK Government's Clean Growth Plan.The Centre will also include Challenges that respond to cross-thematic questions for UK energy demand. These will mostly be developed in consultation over the early years of the Centre, and therefore only one is included in the initial plan: on the decarbonisation of heat.The Centre will function as a national focus for inter-disciplinary research on energy demand. In doing this it will need to respond to a rapidly evolving energy landscape. It will therefore retain 25% of its funds to allocate during the lifetime of the Centre through a transparent governance process. These funds will support further challenges and a 'Flexible Fund', which will be used to support research on emerging researchquestions, in particular through support for early career researchers.We are working closely with key stakeholders in business and policy to design our research programme and we plan detailed knowledge exchange activities to ensure that the work of the UK energy demand research community has broader societal impact.
Publications
Author(s): Garvey, A. and Taylor, P.
Published: 2020-12-09
Publisher: CREDS
UK industrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must fall by more than 90% over the next 30 years to reach net zero GHG emissions targets by 2050. Current industrial decarbonisation policies fall far short of what is required and so there is an urgent need to consider the design and implementation of new policies to deliver wide-scale and rapid reductions in industrial emissions. We propose that:policy must address multiple challenges to decarbonisation and go beyond an overarching carbon reduction mechanism.there is no 'policy panacea' and policy solutions need to be flexible and adapt over time.a number of principles should guide effective policy design (co-ordinated, lean, consistent, and phased). Action to cut industrial GHG emissions must be taken quickly, and there are many uncertainties about the policy interventions that will work best. This research will help to inform decision makers about the policy areas that merit further consideration and scrutiny
Author(s): Garvey, A., Norman, J. and Barrett, J.
Published: 2019-10-01
Publisher: CREDS
The focus of this response is on how the UK food system can be brought in line with net zero emission commitments, whilst also delivering key public goods. This aligns with the work of the CREDS Materials and Products theme on identifying remaining mitigation options for reducing energy demand in industry, and exploring the embodied energy and emissions implications of the use of materials and products throughout the supply chain. It also relates to work considering what level of demand reduction and resource efficiency is compatible with achieving net zero in 2050. The theme also works to develop governance approaches to realise this potential.
Author(s): Norman, J., Garvey, A. and Barrett, J.
Published: 2019-11-01
Publisher: CREDS
The evidence given below is largely drawn from a recent (and ongoing) assessment of the opportunities for energy efficiency, fuel switching and material demand reduction within the UK steel sector. Additional information is also provided related to previous work by the authors on material efficiency. The work has been conducted as part of the Materials and Products theme of the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS). In the near future the work will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal and will be available as a final version. The authors are happy to discuss the contents of the response further if this is helpful.
Author(s): Fawcett, T., Hampton, S. and Mallaburn, P.
Published: 2019-05-01
Publisher: CREDS & UKERC
We welcome the idea of offering more policy support to SMEs to enable them to take up more energy efficiency opportunities, to the benefit of their enterprises, the economy as a whole and the environment. Researchers have previously argued that there is not enough policy focus on SMEs (Banks et al, 2012, Hampton and Fawcett, 2017) and this consultation is valuable as part of a wider process of policy development. This response covers general issues about design of policy for energy efficiency improvement in SMEs, and offers specific evidence on Option 2: a business energy efficiency obligation. We take the view that there is not enough information on the scale and scope of the proposed scheme to come down strongly in favour of Option 1, 2 or 3. However, we note that Option 2 has a strong and successful record across many countries, and there is considerable well documented evidence on how and why Energy Efficiency Obligation policies for business can work.
Author(s): Garvey, A. and Taylor, P.
Published: 2020-12-01
Publisher: CREDS
UK industrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must fall by more than 90% over the next 30 years to be consistent with an economy-wide target for net zero GHG emissions by 2050. The impact of current industrial decarbonisation policies is far below what is required for this level of ambition. There is therefore an urgent need to consider how new policies might be designed and implemented to deliver wide-scale and rapid reductions in industrial emissions. To help inform their recommendations for a 6th Carbon Budget, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) asked the University of Leeds to undertake independent research to evaluate which policies (and combinations of policies) would enable industrial decarbonisation in line with the UK's net zero target, without inducing carbon leakage. The research has focused on policies applicable to the manufacturing sector, but with some consideration also given to the policies required to decarbonise the Fossil Fuel Production and Supply and Non-Road Mobile Machinery sectors. In this report we:Conduct a comprehensive review of existing policies;Identify future policy mechanisms that address key challenges in decarbonising industry;Explore how combinations of policies might work together strategically in the form of 'policy packages' and how these packages might evolve over the period to 2050;Evaluate a series of illustrative policy packages, and consider any complementary policies required to minimise carbon leakage and deliver 'just' industrial decarbonisation
Author(s): Stevens, I., Garvey, A., Barrett, J. and Norman, J.
Published: 2022-03-10
Publisher: CREDS
A recent study by CREDS researchers at the University of Leeds (Garvey et al., 2022), investigating how to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in the steel sector, found that:Technological solutions alone will not be enough to reach net-zero; material efficiency will also be necessary. Our analysis suggests that radical retrofit combined with action on material efficiency could contribute to achieving the Climate Change Committee's (CCC) further ambition steel sector carbon budget.Of the technological solutions, we found that retrofit could have the most potential in the short term, followed by new best practice efficiency technology, fuel shifts, and the implementation of novel technologies in the long term, depending on the availability of breakthrough technologies. Under some scenarios, carbon capture and storage (CCS) may be required, but material efficiency can offer the potential to reduce the need for reliance on such technology.Early action in the implementation of measures is required for more significant emissions reductions. To achieve this, a clear vision in the form of sectoral budgets and government leadership is necessary
Data
Publisher: CREDS
Period: 2011-01-01 - 2020-12-31
Rights: Open Data Commons Attribution License (ODC-By)
The Place-based Carbon Calculator (PBCC) is a free tool which estimates the per-person carbon footprint for every Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) in England. LSOAs are small statistical areas with a population of about 1,500 - 3,000. Includes data on housing, transport and other consumption emissions. Bulk download data and further information about the data sets are available at https://www.carbon.place/data/.
Projects
GRN: EP/R035288/1
Period: 2018-04-01 - 2023-12-31
Funding Source: EPSRC
This proposal responds to a call from the Research Councils for a national Centre on energy demand research, building on the work of the existing six End Use Energy Demand Centres, for which funding ends in April 2018.Energy demand reduction is a UK success story, with a 15% fall in final energy consumption since 2004. Major further reductions are possible and will be needed, as part of a transformation of the energy system to low carbon, to deliver the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UK carbon budgets. Moreover, a low carbon energy system will be increasingly reliant upon inflexible and variable electricity generation, and therefore demand will also need to become more flexible. In short, changes in energy demand reduction will need to go further and faster, and demand will need to become more flexible.These challenges have far-reaching implications for technology, business models, social practices and policy. Our vision is for energy demand research in the UK to rise to these challenges. The Centre's ambition is to lead whole systems work on energy demand in the UK, collaborating with a wider community both at home and internationally. We aim to deliver globally leading research on energy demand, to secure much greater impact for energy demand research and to champion the importance of energy demand for delivering environmental, social and economic goals.Our research programme is inter-disciplinary, recognising that technical and social change are inter-dependent and co-evolve. It is organised into six Themes. Three of these address specific issues in the major sectors of energy use, namely: buildings, transport and industry. The remaining three address more cross-cutting issues that drive changing patterns of demand, namely the potential for increased flexibility, the impact of digital technologies, and energy policy and governance.Each Theme has a research programme that has been developed with key stakeholders and will provide the capacity for the Centre to inform debate, deliver impact and share knowledge in its specific area of work. The Themes will also undertake collaborative work, with our first joint task being to assess the role of energy demand in delivering the objectives of the UK Government's Clean Growth Plan.The Centre will also include Challenges that respond to cross-thematic questions for UK energy demand. These will mostly be developed in consultation over the early years of the Centre, and therefore only one is included in the initial plan: on the decarbonisation of heat.The Centre will function as a national focus for inter-disciplinary research on energy demand. In doing this it will need to respond to a rapidly evolving energy landscape. It will therefore retain 25% of its funds to allocate during the lifetime of the Centre through a transparent governance process. These funds will support further challenges and a 'Flexible Fund', which will be used to support research on emerging researchquestions, in particular through support for early career researchers.We are working closely with key stakeholders in business and policy to design our research programme and we plan detailed knowledge exchange activities to ensure that the work of the UK energy demand research community has broader societal impact.
Publications
Author(s): Killip, G., Fawcett, T., Jofeh, C., Owen, A.M., Topouzi, M. and Wade, F.
Published: 2021-07-01
Publisher: CREDS
I welcome the collaboration between colleagues in CREDS and the FMB that has produced this report. Co-producing research reports and recommendations with expert organisations such as the FMB is an important way for CREDS to ensure that our research is grounded in real world problems and has impact in the wider world. The report provides analysis and evidence-backed proposals about how to reduce energy use and carbon emissions from UK homes. It provides an important contribution to enabling the UK to meet its net zero carbon goals, as well as to delivering high-quality jobs and better homes and living conditions for their occupants.
Author(s): Torriti, J., Shove, E., Fell, M. and Ramirez-Mendiola, J. L.
Published: 2023-10-01
Publisher: CREDS
We welcome the interest in developing a better understanding of what is needed in order to unlock domestic consumers' engagement in energy demand flexibility, as well as enable consumers to transition from passive billpayers to active, flexible energy consumers. This fundamental shift in the role of domestic consumers will not come without significant challenges. Nevertheless, it is essential that such challenges are surmounted if we are to tap into the vast demand flexibility potential that the domestic sector can offer.
Author(s): Fawcett, T., Hampton, S. and Mallaburn, P.
Published: 2019-05-01
Publisher: CREDS & UKERC
We welcome the idea of offering more policy support to SMEs to enable them to take up more energy efficiency opportunities, to the benefit of their enterprises, the economy as a whole and the environment. Researchers have previously argued that there is not enough policy focus on SMEs (Banks et al, 2012, Hampton and Fawcett, 2017) and this consultation is valuable as part of a wider process of policy development. This response covers general issues about design of policy for energy efficiency improvement in SMEs, and offers specific evidence on Option 2: a business energy efficiency obligation. We take the view that there is not enough information on the scale and scope of the proposed scheme to come down strongly in favour of Option 1, 2 or 3. However, we note that Option 2 has a strong and successful record across many countries, and there is considerable well documented evidence on how and why Energy Efficiency Obligation policies for business can work.
Author(s): Liddiard, R., Azhari, R., Ruyssevelt, P.A. and Janda, K.
Published: 2021-06-01
Publisher: CREDS
This document is a response to the above consultation by the Building Stock Laboratory of the UCL Energy Institute (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/energy/research/energy-and buildings/building-stock-laboratory). We broadly welcome the initiative, by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), to bring about a new operational energy benchmarking scheme for the commercial and industrial building sectors. We do, however, offer a number of observations pertinent to the topic. Most of these observations concern definitions. For example, what precisely is meant by 'building' or 'site' in the proposed framework? The non-domestic sector (the combination of commercial, industrial and public buildings) operates within 'premises', or in legal terms 'hereditaments'. These are not necessarily whole buildings and sometimes not even buildings at all. We also question the validity of the application of an arbitrary 1000 m2 threshold for the application of any energy benchmark. This is due to the varied nature of the non-domestic building stock: both in its activities and the buildings/premises it occupies.
Data
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2018-04-01 - 2023-12-31
Rights: Licensed data (restrictions may apply)
Automated vehicles (AVs) may represent the most profound technological change in road transport since the rise of vehicle mass production, with reductions in energy demand being one of the many anticipated benefits. This project has explored expectations regarding the potential energy-saving benefits of AVs among two groups 'professionals' and the general public. The project has used a Delphi study design. The Delphi method offers an exploratory, flexible and iterative technique to obtain insights into what futures might look like when uncertainty is large. This is the case with AVs as much remains unclear if and when fully autonomous vehicles will be introduced on the UK roads and how automation may interact with electrification and a possible shift away from individual ownership towards forms of shared ownership and use. Delphi studies typically consist of several rounds of surveys that are increasingly conducted online in which participants receive feedback between rounds and can adapt their responses and views based on that feedback. Two separate Delphi studies, each consisting of three rounds, were conducted sequentially in 2019-2020. Delphi studies have traditionally been used to build consensus among participants but this often marginalises more radical imaginings of the future and may underappreciate controversies around future developments. This project has, therefore adopted a dissensus-oriented Delphi, which cultivates divergence of views and is particularly appropriate for emergent topics such as the expected effects on transport and energy of vehicle automation.
Projects
GRN: EP/R035288/1
Period: 2018-04-01 - 2023-12-31
Funding Source: EPSRC
This proposal responds to a call from the Research Councils for a national Centre on energy demand research, building on the work of the existing six End Use Energy Demand Centres, for which funding ends in April 2018.Energy demand reduction is a UK success story, with a 15% fall in final energy consumption since 2004. Major further reductions are possible and will be needed, as part of a transformation of the energy system to low carbon, to deliver the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UK carbon budgets. Moreover, a low carbon energy system will be increasingly reliant upon inflexible and variable electricity generation, and therefore demand will also need to become more flexible. In short, changes in energy demand reduction will need to go further and faster, and demand will need to become more flexible.These challenges have far-reaching implications for technology, business models, social practices and policy. Our vision is for energy demand research in the UK to rise to these challenges. The Centre's ambition is to lead whole systems work on energy demand in the UK, collaborating with a wider community both at home and internationally. We aim to deliver globally leading research on energy demand, to secure much greater impact for energy demand research and to champion the importance of energy demand for delivering environmental, social and economic goals.Our research programme is inter-disciplinary, recognising that technical and social change are inter-dependent and co-evolve. It is organised into six Themes. Three of these address specific issues in the major sectors of energy use, namely: buildings, transport and industry. The remaining three address more cross-cutting issues that drive changing patterns of demand, namely the potential for increased flexibility, the impact of digital technologies, and energy policy and governance.Each Theme has a research programme that has been developed with key stakeholders and will provide the capacity for the Centre to inform debate, deliver impact and share knowledge in its specific area of work. The Themes will also undertake collaborative work, with our first joint task being to assess the role of energy demand in delivering the objectives of the UK Government's Clean Growth Plan.The Centre will also include Challenges that respond to cross-thematic questions for UK energy demand. These will mostly be developed in consultation over the early years of the Centre, and therefore only one is included in the initial plan: on the decarbonisation of heat.The Centre will function as a national focus for inter-disciplinary research on energy demand. In doing this it will need to respond to a rapidly evolving energy landscape. It will therefore retain 25% of its funds to allocate during the lifetime of the Centre through a transparent governance process. These funds will support further challenges and a 'Flexible Fund', which will be used to support research on emerging researchquestions, in particular through support for early career researchers.We are working closely with key stakeholders in business and policy to design our research programme and we plan detailed knowledge exchange activities to ensure that the work of the UK energy demand research community has broader societal impact.
Publications
Author(s): Marsden, G., Anable, J., Docherty, I., Brown, L.
Published: 2021-03-24
Publisher: CREDS
Covid-19 has forced countries around the world to make massive adaptations to the normal way of life to reduce the risk of the spread of the virus. This briefing sets out new insights into how people's travel patterns have adapted over time and why. It draws on national data sources and a major panel survey of over 6000 people conducted in July and December 2020. It calls for a major realignment of investment and policy to ensure that we do not return to the overcrowded, congested, polluting and unhealthy transport system that people had come to accept as inevitable.
Author(s): Cairns, S.
Published: 2019-09-01
Publisher: CREDS
In brief, the primary argument made is that, if the Government wishes to improve the sustainability of UK tourism, then, given the importance of travel to overall tourism emissions (S2), and the lack of technological solutions (see Annex A), it will have to address the growth in air travel by UK residents and manage demand. In the first instance, this should involve scrapping its policy of airport expansion (S5), with the use of taxes or other fiscal measures to achieve further behaviour change (S7), rather than offsets (S8). By encouraging UK residents to take more holidays at home and/or improving the attractiveness of UK holiday destinations (and associated sustainable access options), the UK economy is likely to benefit (see Annex B) and the opportunities for those on lower incomes (many of whom do not take overseas holidays) are likely to improve (S6). Over ten years of research indicates that the general public does not consider an international holiday to be necessary to achieving an acceptable standard of CREDS Consultation 005 September 2019 2 living, negating arguments that flying is now seen as 'essential' for quality of life (S6).
Author(s): Anable, J. and Marsden, G.
Published: 2019-10-01
Publisher: CREDS
Overall the strategy lacks any commentary about electric vehicles (EVs) or e-bikes or really about cycling infrastructure at all. It also lacks provision for car sharing or bike sharing and both of these are major omissions. The next version of the plan needs to include the resources to implement the measures proposed with clear links to how the charging for road use or emissions reductions and parking is paying for the new measures. It also needs to be made clear how this plan is addressing the real problem around Oxford, which is the green belt and the massive, unconnected new housing developments. The strategy as currently set out, considers travel by car to be bad and by other modes to be OK. In a recent report about Shared Mobility, CREDS sets out how authorities need to have a clear plan for the way they are going to provide access to shared cars (car clubs) or shared bikes and also how they will treat sharing of lifts. The document states that an estimated 220,000 vehicle miles are driven in and around the city by around 45,000 vehicles every morning rush hour, emitting around 50 tonnes of CO2. The plan aims to reduce that by 25%. It seems implausible that all of this would transfer to bus and so by ignoring lift sharing the plan is missing a major trick.
Author(s): Garvey, A., Norman, J. and Barrett, J.
Published: 2019-10-01
Publisher: CREDS
The focus of this response is on how the UK food system can be brought in line with net zero emission commitments, whilst also delivering key public goods. This aligns with the work of the CREDS Materials and Products theme on identifying remaining mitigation options for reducing energy demand in industry, and exploring the embodied energy and emissions implications of the use of materials and products throughout the supply chain. It also relates to work considering what level of demand reduction and resource efficiency is compatible with achieving net zero in 2050. The theme also works to develop governance approaches to realise this potential.
Author(s): Anable, J. and Marsden, G.
Published: 2021-09-01
Publisher: CREDS
The analysis presented in this report was funded by the Department for Transport. The analysis draws on data collected as part of a wider study funded by UK Research and Innovation and a range of governmental partners. Full details can be found on the Covid19-Transas website with further information about the wider project and our data. The views expressed in the report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the funders.
Author(s): Anable, J., Lokesh, K., Marsden, G., Walker, R., McCulloch, S., and Jenkinson, K.
Published: 2020-08-28
Publisher: LGA & CREDS
In order to reach a zero emission transport system it is necessary to transition from a largely fossil fuel powered fleet to a fleet powered by energy sources created from zero emission energy. For the car and light van markets the transition is predominantly going to be through electrification, with electricity provided from an increasingly low carbon grid mix.
Author(s): Campbell, M., Marsden, G., Walker, R., McCulloch, S., Jenkinson, K., and Anable, J.
Published: 2020-08-28
Publisher: LGA & CREDS
There have always been compelling arguments to improve the way we manage parking as part of a balanced transport strategy, but the management of parking must change because of the climate emergency. The Department for Transport estimates that, if left unchecked, the number of cars owned in the UK might grow by 10 to 13 million over the next three decades. That would be 40 to 50 per cent more cars on our streets which, if parked nose to tail, would run five to six times the length of the UK.1 What would our communities look like if this future came to pass? There are already many areas where there are too many cars for the space available.
Author(s): Marsden, G., Anable, J., Lokesh, K., Walker, R., McCulloch, S. and Jenkinson, K.
Published: 2020-08-28
Publisher: LGA & CREDS
This briefing note sets out the framework within which councils can begin to deliver ambitious action plans. It explains some of the key issues surrounding carbon targets and budgets, and what levels of emission reductions are necessary to be consistent with the Paris Agreement. This briefing is also part of a series, commissioned by the Local Government Association, which sets out what actions will be most effective for local government in the transport sector.
Author(s): Lokesh, K., Marsden, G., Walker, R., Anable, J., McCulloch, S., and Jenkinson, K.
Published: 2020-08-28
Publisher: LGA & CREDS
Cycling needs to play a much bigger part in everyday travel if rapid progress to a zero carbon transport system is to be achieved. Analysis suggests that cycling will need to increase from the current 2 per cent of all UK trips to between 6 per cent and 8 per cent.1 This is challenging but not impossible. Consistent investment and prioritisation have delivered a cycling mode share of over 25 per cent of all trips in some European cities. In England, some councils have already developed a strong local cycling culture, but progress is uneven.
Author(s): Walker, R., Campbell, M., Marsden, G., Anable, J., McCulloch, S. and Jenkinson, K.
Published: 2020-08-28
Publisher: LGA & CREDS
Buses are a critical part of transport decarbonisation strategies for councils across England. In 2018, buses carried 5 per cent of all trips; analysis of ambitious but balanced pathways to a zero-carbon transport system suggests this needs to increase to around 10 per cent of all trips by 2050.1 To achieve this uptake, progress must be part of early local decarbonisation strategies. Dependent on loading, buses are the most space-efficient road passenger vehicle. They are already a low carbon mode of transport and by transitioning the fleet to low and ultra low emission vehicles, buses quickly become even more carbon efficient.
Author(s): Campbell, M., Walker, R., Marsden, G., McCulloch, S., Jenkinson, K., and Anable, J.
Published: 2020-08-28
Publisher: LGA & CREDS
For the UK to reach its goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, all councils need to take rapid action to decarbonise their transport systems. This will include action to support people to make their journeys by more carbon and space-efficient modes (such as walking, cycling, public transport and ride-sharing), and to support the take-up of zero tailpipe emission vehicles, for those journeys that will continue to require a motor vehicle. However, shifting modes of travel is only part of the toolkit available to councils: transport can also be decarbonised by reducing the distances people have to travel, and the number of trips they have to make.
Author(s): Lokesh, K., Anable, J., Marsden, G., Walker, R., McCulloch, S. and Jenkinson, K.
Published: 2020-08-28
Publisher: LGA & CREDS
Supporting people to travel less is an essential part of every council's decarbonisation strategy. Even with rapid adoption of electric vehicles and major mode shift, the pace of change required to meet the UK's carbon budget means that reductions of at least 20 per cent in car miles travelled per person (as a driver or passenger) will be required by 2030.1 Travelling more has always been seen to be a marker of economic growth. However, we have been travelling less per person over the last two decades. Councils need to feel confident in talking about, and planning for, travelling less.
Author(s): Cairns, S. and Anable, J.
Published: 2021-09-01
Publisher: CREDS
Key pointsThe range of scenarios modelled is too limited. Scenarios should be included in which emissions reduce from 2019 onwards and a wider range of policy options are considered (Q2).Inclusion of policies restricting airport expansion and increasing ticket taxation are essential in order to make a difference quickly. Policies to support alternatives and to encourage transition within the aviation industry could also be valuable (Q10).More frequent review than every 5 years, and focusing on years closer than 2050 are both important (Q3, Q4).Providing carbon information about flights to consumers will be much less effective if the overall policy framework is one of growth and expansion (Q13, Q14).It is urgent to address non-CO2 emissions, and expert advice should be sought on the potential for focused demand management measures - i.e. restricting the categories of flight that have the greatest negative climate impact as a result of non-CO2 impacts (Q15).
Author(s): Baresic, D., Rehmatulla, N., de la Fuente, S. and Smith, T.
Published: 2021-09-01
Publisher: CREDS, DUKFT & UMAS
Operational measures in shipping can be implemented at scale in the short to medium term and specific national policies can be used to promote their uptake.Mid/long-term adoption of zero carbon marine fuels (i.e. ammonia) is paramount for shipping to decarbonize: policies which provide financial support for pilots, RD&D, support niche shipping segments as test beds and limit long term usage of transitional fuels are favoured.Wind assisted technologies (WAT) have a good potential to reduce ship emissions and could benefit from additional financial support.The UK has many sites which are favourable for early adoption of zero carbon marine fuels: policies which promote their growth, take local conditions into account and include strategies for multiple industries have the highest potential for success.UK should be a proactive player at the IMO supporting development of an ambitious shipping decarbonization plan.ICAO's CORSIA has many aspects which could be looked at for inspiration when developing similar measures for shipping.Revenue recycling when using carbon pricing for shipping could be considered as a policy option.
Author(s): Cairns, S.
Published: 2020-07-01
Publisher: CREDS
This submission is based on preliminary thinking in relation to a forthcoming research project in this area (EPSRC grant EP/S030700/1: 'Innovative Light ELEctric Vehicles for Active and Digital TravEl (ELEVATE): reducing mobility-related energy demand and carbon emissions'). This project is due to start later in the year, and will include both literature review work and primary research which are relevant to the questions asked in this review.
Author(s): Cairns, S. and Buchs, M.
Published: 2021-06-01
Publisher: CREDS
This submission provides some brief thoughts on three issues raised in this consultation. These are: 1) Should the domestic rate of APD be reduced, and what would be the environmental impacts? (Q1, 7, 8, 10 and 15) 2) What would be the environmental impact of changing the banding system for APD on international air travel? (Q20) 3) Are there alternative tax measures which could further align the aviation tax framework with government's environmental objectives? (Q25)
Author(s): Anable, J.
Published: 2021-02-01
Publisher: CREDS
Author(s): Anable, J., Brown, L., Docherty, I. and Marsden, G.
Published: 2022-03-01
Publisher: CREDS
The pandemic has had a major impact on how we all live our lives. As we learn to live with Covid-19 without restrictions on how we travel and where we work, we face difficult questions. Society demonstrated enormous capacity to adapt, including to varying restrictions on travel, and many people were able to reorganise daily life to travel less. Some of this came at great cost, such as the inability to attend funerals or the postponement of weddings. Some changes were, in effect, massive accelerations to trends that were already apparent, such as working and shopping remotely. Almost two years on from the initial lockdown, the economy has recovered to pre-Covid-19 levels, yet across society we are still travelling less than before the pandemic. This report, drawing on a combination of national datasets and insights from a ground breaking longitudinal survey in 10 areas of the UK, asks what have we learnt, and where do we go next?
Author(s): Garvey, A., Norman, J. and Barrett, J.
Published: 2022-01-10
Publisher: CREDS
Our demand for food drives greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions throughout the food supply chain including from agriculture, food processing and transportation. In the UK this demand is projected to grow towards 2050 as a function of high current levels of demand and population growth.Agriculture and land use accounts for 11% of the UK's territorial GHG emissions. Our research shows that imported food adds 20 MtCO2e to the UK's food footprint: equivalent to around half the emissions from domestic production. Thus, action to reduce demand in UK food-related emissions would have an impact at a global scale
Author(s): Marsden, G.
Published: 2023-05-01
Publisher: CREDS
This report shows that pathways which achieve the Government's aims on electrification could still be consistent with the CCC's Balanced Pathway if a 20% reduction in road traffic levels were also to be achieved by 2030 relative to current plans. The policy goal in Scotland is for an absolute reduction in car kilometres of 20% by 2030, although progress against the goal is yet to be substantially realised. Such an outcome cannot be wished for; it needs to be made to come about. In 2021, the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS) published a series of scenarios, referred to as Positive Low Energy Futures (PLEF). The PLEF transport report set out alternative pathways which could save energy and carbon but still allow society to flourish (Brand et al., 2021). Pathways with reductions in car mileage will require a step change in funding and delivery of alternatives to car travel which are not currently being planned for. However, every year that passes with a business as usual transport delivery mindset, reduces the potential to shift to such pathways.
Author(s): Marsden, G., Anable, J., Bray, J., Seagriff, E. and Spurling, N.
Published: 2019-09-01
Publisher: CREDS
The report sets out 20 recommendations which will support the evidence base around shared mobility, deliver more meaningful innovation trials and deliver a step change in the policy framework and incentives which sit around sharing mobility. Some policies are simple, such as making Highways England, whose networks carry around 32% of car miles each year, responsible for first monitoring vehicle occupancy and then facilitating a growth in it. There are significant network management as well as carbon benefits to be had. Others are more complex such as addressing the incentive system around multiple vehicles in a household or how to cross-subsidise greater provision of shared mobility in rural areas. There is no 'one-size fits all' approach but there are some actions which will have universal benefits such as redoubling efforts to reduce business miles driven in older private cars and to use the fleet assets of the public sector to reduce wastage and open up greater opportunities for shared access. This report comes with two clear warnings which make the adoption of policies to support sharing yet more important. First, we see potential headwinds of lower motoring costs for many, due to electrification. This creates a real risk that transport will continue to become less shared. In the absence of any corrective policies, this will lead to substantial traffic growth according to the Department for Transport's (DfT) own forecasts. Second, such growth risks being compounded by the adoption of increasingly automated vehicles. Early estimates by the DfT suggest that in a shared model, such innovations could reduce future traffic growth to just 5% by 2050. In a more individualised model the growth could be as much as 55%. In essence, unless we deliver on sharing, our creative capacity for transport innovation could simply support the delivery of a more individualised transport system which creates higher demand futures
Author(s): Philips, I., Anable, J. and Chatterton, T.
Published: 2020-05-18
Publisher: CREDS
Summary A recent study carried out by CREDS researchers at the University of Leeds has found that:Electrically-assisted bicycles (e-bikes), if used to replace car travel, have the capability to cut car carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in England by up to 50% (about 30 million tonnes per year),The greatest opportunities are in rural and sub-urban settings: city dwellers already have many low-carbon travel options, so the greatest impact would be on encouraging use outside urban areas,There is scope for e-bikes to help people who are most affected by rising transport costs.
Data
No Data in this collection has been classified with this energy category
Projects
No Projects in this collection have been classified with this energy category
Publications
Author(s): Topouzi, M., Mallaburn, P. and Fawcett, T.
Published: 2023-11-01
Publisher: CREDS
The shift towards hybrid working-from-home practices is seen by the authors as a great opportunity to introduce a novel financial mechanism, the Retrofit Salary Sacrifice (RSS) scheme that will help increase homeowners' awareness and uptake of retrofit works to improve their home-office environments. This novel approach is to encourage household-level retrofitting in order to reduce carbon emissions and lower energy costs (Figure 1). It is a tax-efficient incentive for home-owning employees to improve their properties, using the model of successful existing salary sacrifice schemes for the purchase of bicycles and EVs. This approach has a catalytic role for able-to pay salaried homeowners to directly benefit from more attractive and affordable finance for retrofit projects, the prospect of lower energy bills in the long term, and a more comfortable working environment. Additionally, employers gain an extra benefit to offer their workforce, as well as a route to addressing Scope 1–3 of their direct and indirect carbon emissions.
Data
No Data in this collection has been classified with this energy category
Projects
No Projects in this collection have been classified with this energy category
Publications
Author(s): Eyre, N.
Published: 2023-01-16
Publisher: CREDS
In 2001 an academic study "Socio-technical networks and the sad case of the condensing boiler" (Banks 2001), identified the very low uptake of condensing boilers, despite their apparent cost effectiveness. By 2006, almost every gas boiler installed in the UK was condensing. The market was transformed. This note sets out how that change happened.
Data
No Data in this collection has been classified with this energy category
Projects
No Projects in this collection have been classified with this energy category
Publications
Author(s): Garvey, A. and Taylor, P.
Published: 2020-12-09
Publisher: CREDS
UK industrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must fall by more than 90% over the next 30 years to reach net zero GHG emissions targets by 2050. Current industrial decarbonisation policies fall far short of what is required and so there is an urgent need to consider the design and implementation of new policies to deliver wide-scale and rapid reductions in industrial emissions. We propose that:policy must address multiple challenges to decarbonisation and go beyond an overarching carbon reduction mechanism.there is no 'policy panacea' and policy solutions need to be flexible and adapt over time.a number of principles should guide effective policy design (co-ordinated, lean, consistent, and phased). Action to cut industrial GHG emissions must be taken quickly, and there are many uncertainties about the policy interventions that will work best. This research will help to inform decision makers about the policy areas that merit further consideration and scrutiny
Data
No Data in this collection has been classified with this energy category
Projects
No Projects in this collection have been classified with this energy category
Publications
Data
No Data in this collection has been classified with this energy category
Projects
No Projects in this collection have been classified with this energy category
Publications
Author(s): Barnes, J.
Published: 2023-01-01
Publisher: CREDS
Heat pumps are a critical technology for reducing carbon emissions associated with residential heating. Accumulated knowledge suggests a coordinated approach is required to accelerate deployment. In this project we undertook a rapid socio- technical, whole-systems analysis of the state of residential heat pump diffusion in the UK. The results were then fed into three deliberative workshops with stakeholders across policy, practice and academia. Each workshop employed a decision theatre methodology - a novel approach designed to foster deliberation between multiple stakeholders on complex societal issues - and resulted in participants making decisions about what is required to accelerate heat pump deployment in the UK. Analysis of these results showed clear agreement on five areas for change. The common priorities identified across the three workshops are detailed in the table below.
Data
No Data in this collection has been classified with this energy category
Projects
No Projects in this collection have been classified with this energy category
Publications
Author(s): Barrett, M. and Gallo Cassarino, T.
Published: 2021-11-01
Publisher: CREDS
Hydrogen produced from natural gas with steam methane reforming coupled with carbon capture and sequestration (SMRCCS) is proposed as fuel for consumer heating and cooking systems. This paper presents estimates of the energy losses and methane and carbon dioxide emission and global warming across the whole gas to hydrogen heat supply chain - from production to consumer. Processed natural gas is typically about 95% methane which is a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential (GWP) such that, with 20 year and 100 year GWP horizons, about 4% and 8% leakage respectively will cause as much global warming as the carbon dioxide formed when burning the methane. Data on gas emissions and SMRCCS costs and performance are sparse and wide ranging and this presents a major problem in accurately appraising the possible role of hydrogen from methane. The survey indicates emissions between 50 and 200 gCO2eq per unit of heat (kWhth) for SMRCCS H2 heat depending on leakage and GWP time horizon assumed. The second part of the paper reviews gas supply pricing and security and presents a cost minimised configuration of a SMRCCS hydrogen heating system derived with a simple model. Uncertainty in SMRCCS greenhouse gas emissions coupled with a net zero emission target and the long term issue of the physical and economic security of natural gas supply, bear on the potential advantages of SMRCCS as compared to other options, such as heating with renewable electricity driving consumer or district heating heat pumps.
Data
No Data in this collection has been classified with this energy category
Projects
No Projects in this collection have been classified with this energy category
Publications
Author(s): Torriti, J., Lo Piano, S., Lorincz, M.J., Ramirez-Mendiola, J.L., Smith, S. and Yunusov, T.
Published: 2020-09-01
Publisher: CREDS
CREDS research into this area aims to conceptualise the introduction of flexible technologies, new pricing regimes and the transformation of social-temporal orders within a single frame. In our response we outline new opportunities in terms of non-DSO flexibility services, including the implications of introducing 'core capacity' and interfaces that allow non-DSO flexibility markets to flourish and describe how differing DER types should be subject to different baselining methodologies as opposed to a simple one-size fits all approach. In the context of residential flexibility, we generally agree with the position that engaging residential flexibility is critical. Further research linking the timing of activities to electricity demand will be key to any intervention aimed at increasing residential flexibility.
Author(s): Johnson, C., van der Waal, E., Schneiders, A., Rebmann, A. and Folmer, E.
Published: 2021-03-01
Publisher: CREDS
CREDS was established in 2018 with a vision to make the UK a leader in understanding the changes in energy demand needed for the transition to a secure and affordable zero-carbon energy system. Working with researchers, businesses and policymakers, our work addresses a broad range of energy demand issues. CREDS is funded by UKRI. CREDS responds to consultations and calls for evidence from government, agencies and businesses, providing insight and expertise to decision-makers.
Data
No Data in this collection has been classified with this energy category
Projects
No Projects in this collection have been classified with this energy category
Publications
Author(s): Snodin, H., Torriti, J. and Yunusov, T.
Published: 2019-05-01
Publisher: CREDS
This document is a report for citizens advice by CAG consultants, in association with Timur Yunusov and Jacopo Torriti.
In December 2018 Ofgem launched a Significant Code Review (SCR) looking at access and forward-looking charging arrangements. Amongst other things it is seeking to clarify "access rights and choices for small users".
Ofgem is considering the concept of minimum "core access" in its proposals. "Core access" (if it can be defined) is an amount of capacity that cannot readily be flexed and that provides for consumers' basic needs. Capacity-based (or time of use energy-based) charging might mirror this concept by considering an affordable level of "core access"
Citizens Advice is participating in the SCR and has commissioned this work to better understand the concept of core access, and understand what it means for consumers. Citizens Advice posed three key questions for this research:
In the same order, we address these questions through:
The evidence points to a basic core capacity of around 2-3kW, characteristic of low income consumers. However, this research simply looks at current capacity usage, and has not examined the factors contributing to capacity use. Further work is required to understand whether low income consumers are using enough electricity to meet their basic needs - it is possible that the 2-3kW figure reflects suppressed demand.
This report contains an executive summary, and is divided into the following sections:- Introduction
- Literature Review
- Deriving capacity limits
- Implementation
- Conclusions and further work
Data
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2010-01-01 - 2021-07-15
Rights: Rights not recorded
We set out to study how the promise of green 5G is produced and circulated. We conducted an analysis of a UK-focused corpus of documents that represent key sites through which the promise of green 5G is produced, circulated and challenged. By the promise of green 5G we refer to an emerging, overarching, dominant expectation that 5G will produce positive environmental sustainability benefits of various kinds. We employed an analytical approach informed by the sociology of expectations and the concept of technoscientific promises. We asked: what are the particular contents of this promise (i.e. the more specific promises and expectations it is built upon), how do enactors seek to boost its legitimacy and credibility, what activities are involved in its production and circulation and what are its present-day material effects, does the promise exclude or overlook alternative options, and is it challenged? We pursued these aims and questions through a document analysis of a diverse corpus (n=260) comprised of UK newspaper articles and newswire results, and reports and webpage content from industry, standardisation bodies and research consortia.
Projects
No Projects in this collection have been classified with this energy category
Publications
Author(s): Williams, L.
Published: 2022-02-28
Publisher: CREDS
Author(s): Stevens, I., Garvey, A., Barrett, J. and Norman, J.
Published: 2022-03-10
Publisher: CREDS
A recent study by CREDS researchers at the University of Leeds (Garvey et al., 2022), investigating how to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in the steel sector, found that:Technological solutions alone will not be enough to reach net-zero; material efficiency will also be necessary. Our analysis suggests that radical retrofit combined with action on material efficiency could contribute to achieving the Climate Change Committee's (CCC) further ambition steel sector carbon budget.Of the technological solutions, we found that retrofit could have the most potential in the short term, followed by new best practice efficiency technology, fuel shifts, and the implementation of novel technologies in the long term, depending on the availability of breakthrough technologies. Under some scenarios, carbon capture and storage (CCS) may be required, but material efficiency can offer the potential to reduce the need for reliance on such technology.Early action in the implementation of measures is required for more significant emissions reductions. To achieve this, a clear vision in the form of sectoral budgets and government leadership is necessary
Data
No Data in this collection has been classified with this energy category
Projects
No Projects in this collection have been classified with this energy category
Publications
Author(s): The CREDS Team
Published: 2019-07-01
Publisher: CREDS
Author(s): Shove, E.
Published: 2018-09-01
Publisher: CREDS
The DEMAND Centre - Dynamics of Energy, Mobility and Demand - (www.demand.ac.uk) ran a two day workshop on the topic of Flexibility - designed as a contribution to the new CREDS -Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (www.creds.ac.uk). During the workshop, we discussed papers by the authors listed below. Get in touch with them individually if you would like to know more about what they wrote. This note is an attempt to organize and represent some of the discussion that arose, and to generate more.
Author(s): Barrett, M. and Gallo Cassarino, T.
Published: 2021-11-01
Publisher: CREDS
Hydrogen produced from natural gas with steam methane reforming coupled with carbon capture and sequestration (SMRCCS) is proposed as fuel for consumer heating and cooking systems. This paper presents estimates of the energy losses and methane and carbon dioxide emission and global warming across the whole gas to hydrogen heat supply chain - from production to consumer. Processed natural gas is typically about 95% methane which is a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential (GWP) such that, with 20 year and 100 year GWP horizons, about 4% and 8% leakage respectively will cause as much global warming as the carbon dioxide formed when burning the methane. Data on gas emissions and SMRCCS costs and performance are sparse and wide ranging and this presents a major problem in accurately appraising the possible role of hydrogen from methane. The survey indicates emissions between 50 and 200 gCO2eq per unit of heat (kWhth) for SMRCCS H2 heat depending on leakage and GWP time horizon assumed. The second part of the paper reviews gas supply pricing and security and presents a cost minimised configuration of a SMRCCS hydrogen heating system derived with a simple model. Uncertainty in SMRCCS greenhouse gas emissions coupled with a net zero emission target and the long term issue of the physical and economic security of natural gas supply, bear on the potential advantages of SMRCCS as compared to other options, such as heating with renewable electricity driving consumer or district heating heat pumps.
Author(s): Brown, D., Jaccarini, C., Foxon, T., Mininni, G., Copeland, C., Brisbois, M.C., Stack- Maddox, S., Aguirre Martinez, B. and Lacey-Barnacle, M.
Published: 2023-12-01
Publisher: CREDS
In this report, we outline a transformative plan for how local and regional action could help to achieve the UK's net-zero climate goals, whilst providing economic, social and environmental benefits to citizens - Local Green New Deals. The report argues that local and combined authorities should be given new powers and funding, and create new institutions to deliver measures that would help to reduce energy usage (or demand). It also provides evidence that these measures would be viewed favourably by the majority of citizens. We focus on two contrasting regions, Greater Brighton and North of Tyne - both having recently put forward progressive programmes for local environmental and social action, but with very different local governance arrangements.
Author(s): Chiu, L.F. and Lowe, R.
Published: 2020-01-01
Publisher: CREDS
The core aim of the CREDS Heat Theme has been to explore strategies for decarbonisation of heat in the UK, within an overarching Energy System Architecture Framework. Our initial findings suggest that existing energy system models are inadequate to handle multiple policy goals and that this undermines their usefulness for exploring strategies for energy system decarbonisation. The heavy emphasis placed by the energy research community on achieving net-zero sits uncomfortably with the multiplicity and emergent nature of other system objectives. This makes envisioning possible future energy system options and negotiating a feasible pathway towards a successful energy transition difficult. Our finding that different Energy System stakeholders hold divergent opinions on available technologies and strategies for decarbonisation reflects this. Our most recent piece of work, System Shocks, Response, and Recovery (HCC_C-19) sought to engage with disadvantaged communities, professionals and expert system stakeholders to explore the aftermath and implications of the COVID Pandemic, the Energy Price Shock and the impending economic crisis. In this document we set out policy recommendations based on engagement with more than 200 participants, in a variety of settings, in this programme.
Author(s): Eyre, N and Killip, G. (eds)
Published: 2019-07-01
Publisher: CREDS
Shifting the focus: energy demand in a net-zero carbon UK is CREDS' first major publication. It builds on research undertaken by members of the CREDS consortium over many years to address the question "What can changes in energy demand contribute to the transition to a secure and affordable UK energy system that is compatible with net-zero carbon emissions?". It examines the most recent comprehensive statement of UK Government Energy policy - the Clean Growth Strategy. Drawing on expertise in the CREDS consortium across the buildings, transport, industry and electricity sectors, the report sets out a vision for the role of energy demand changes and develops detailed recommendations for action.
Author(s): CREDS
Published: 2019-08-01
Publisher: CREDS
The Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS) works with researchers, businesses and policymakers to support the transition to a low-carbon energy system. This summary provides a quick look at our first major report, which takes the Government's most recent statement on energy transition, the Clean Growth Strategy (CGS), as a starting point and draws on current knowledge from the UK energy demand research community. Building on the comprehensive, quantitative analysis by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), we agree that major improvements in energy productivity in businesses, transport and homes are crucial to achieving the CGS goal of accelerating the pace of clean growth: this requires attention to the technical, social and institutional factors that drive energy demand. A much stronger focus on energy demand solutions is needed to address the greater action implied by a net-zero carbon target, and we set out recommendations on the policy changes required to deliver the energy-use related goals of the CGS.
Author(s): Crawley, J., Higginson, S., Moore, G. and Eyre, N.
Published: 2023-10-04
Publisher: CREDS
Fifty experts representing heat pump manufacturers, electricity distribution and transmission, energy suppliers, trade associations, government, consultancy and academia contributed to a day of discussion aiming to answer the following question: In 2035 we plan to have a decarbonised electricity system, which will require demand flexibility to keep system costs down. What will be the role of heat pumps in providing that flexibility? This document summarises the outcomes of the 9 group discussions which took place on the day. The first five topics below relate to the role of heat pumps. The final topic highlights supporting elements which will need to be in place for heat pumps to carry out this role.
Data
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2018-11-18 - 2018-11-30
Rights: Rights not recorded
Peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading could help address grid management challenges in a decentralizing electricity system, as well as provide other social and environmental benefits. Many existing and proposed trading schemes are enabled by blockchain, a distributed ledger technology (DLT) relying on cryptographic proof of ownership rather than human intermediaries to establish energy transactions. This study used an online survey experiment (n = 2064) to investigate how consumer demand for blockchain-enabled peer-to-peer energy trading schemes in the United Kingdom varies depending on how the consumer proposition is designed and communicated. The analysis provides some evidence of a preference for schemes offering to meet a higher proportion of participants energy needs and for those operating at the city/region (as compared to national or neighbourhood) level. People were more likely to say they would participate when the scheme was framed as being run by their local council, followed by an energy supplier, community energy organization, and social media company. Anonymity was the most valued DLT characteristic and mentioning blockchains association with Bitcoin led to a substantial decrease in intended uptake. We highlight a range of important questions and implications suggested by these findings for the introduction and operation of P2P trading schemes.
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 1850-01-01 - 2019-12-31
Rights: Rights not recorded
To better understand the processes of digitalisation, dematerialisation and decarbonisation, this paper examines the relationship between energy and information for the global economy since 1850. It presents the long run trends in energy intensity and communication intensity, as a proxy for total information intensity. The evidence suggests that, relative to GDP, global economic production has been reducing energy and increasing information use since 1913. The analysis indicates that it initially required little information to replace energy in production and that the ability to substitute away from energy and towards information has been declining. The result implies that the global economy is now reducing energy and increasing information at a substitution rate of 0.2 kB per kWh of conserved energy or 0.8 GB per tonne of carbon dioxide mitigated. As the price ratio of energy to information is currently higher than this marginal rate of substitution, there are incentives to further substitute information for energy. However, one conclusion is that (without the long run escalation of carbon prices) substitution away from energy and towards information is likely to cease within the next few decades and, beyond that, digitalisation will play a declining role in the decarbonisation process.
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2022-04-01 - 2022-05-09
Rights: Licensed data (restrictions may apply)
The FAIR project explored the causes and links between fuel poverty and transport poverty in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It collected interview data to draw up policy recommendations designed to limit the impacts of double energy vulnerability in the transition to a more sustainable future. Tens of millions of households across Europe struggle to afford adequate electricity and heating services and reliable transportation, while recent high fuel prices could lead to an increase in excess winter deaths. Tackling energy and transport poverty is thus of paramount policy importance. Here, we document the drivers and lived experiences of energy and transport poverty in the United Kingdom based on expert interviews. We find a set of policies that resonate with expert planners, implying they have a level of political and social acceptability that other measures may be lacking, notably: mandatory landlord energy efficiency upgrades, increasing the extent of financial assistance to households, cheaper (or even free) bus and train fares and restarting and expanding bus services. We buttress these findings with further suggestions for energy and transport system redesign that better meets emerging principles of energy and social justice.
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2018-03-31 - 2023-12-31
Rights: Rights not recorded
This data collection includes a User Guide and the anonymised transcripts of 30 semi-structured interviews of #60-90 minutes each, with 31 high household energy consumers, about their homes, appliances, infrastructures, vehicles, and everyday life and travel practices that generate household (domestic and travel-related) energy demand. It also includes the anonymised transcripts of 4 3-hour deliberatively workshops of ~8 public participants and 2 facilitators, one recruited from the interviewees, and the others recruited to represent different levels of domestic and travel-related energy consumption, held to discuss the validity, fairness, effectively and acceptability of four broad policy approaches to reduce (particularly high levels of) household energy consumption: Rationing; Economic (Dis)Incentives; Structural Change; and Behaviour Change
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2022-06-01 - 2023-02-28
Rights: Licensed data (restrictions may apply)
The current energy, climate and cost of living crises have affected peoples' wellbeing, their health, employment and finances showing significant inequalities across population groups and regions. These kinds of challenges entail technological innovation while shifting energy consumption patterns. Yet, the UK transition to Net Zero requires greater transformative change at institutional, infrastructural, sectorial and social levels. Building on Multi Criteria Mapping and survey methods, this paper investigates how citizens value energy demand reduction options for communities' wellbeing and identifies multiple social, economic, and environmental 'co-benefits', often discounted in policy making. While arguing that energy demand mitigation options can improve citizens' living conditions and quality of life while diminishing energy use and GHG emissions, the paper challenges the adoption of approaches based on conventional economic models to deliver Net Zero. The analysis of two UK-based case studies discloses that citizens prioritise fairness including environmental intergenerational concerns and value restrictions on individuals' lifestyle choices. The paper calls for better incorporation of citizens' values in policy on energy demand reduction.
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2018-01-01 - 2023-12-31
Rights: Rights not recorded
Interviews with actors concerned with local transport decarbonisation in the UK, including challenges related to finance, governance arrangements, and public support. Data were collected using a series of 54 interviews, spread equally across three case study sites: 18 Nottingham, 18 Leeds, and 18 Oxford. Of those, 12 of the Nottingham interviews, all 18 of the Leeds interviews, and 8 of the Oxford interviews are shared in this data deposit (the rest did not give permission for their data to be deposited). The interviews were designed to reveal different local perspectives on areas recent attempts to decarbonise their transport system. The initial introduction to each participant was facilitated by pre-existing professional contacts, after which subsequent participants were identified by snowballing (i.e. feedback from interview participants) in combination with criteria-specific identification (i.e. from a review of published local authority documents
Publisher: CREDS
Period: 2011-01-01 - 2020-12-31
Rights: Open Data Commons Attribution License (ODC-By)
The Place-based Carbon Calculator (PBCC) is a free tool which estimates the per-person carbon footprint for every Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) in England. LSOAs are small statistical areas with a population of about 1,500 - 3,000. Includes data on housing, transport and other consumption emissions. Bulk download data and further information about the data sets are available at https://www.carbon.place/data/.
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2011-01-01 - 2024-01-31
Rights: Open Access
This data collections consists of data and documentation produced to examine the spatial and social differences in people's lack of access to adequate energy and transport services in the United Kingdom (UK). The work responds to the need for developing a differentiated understanding of both the drivers and expressions of this 'double energy vulnerability', while seeking to integrate and analyse relevant information from all four UK nations. Using a variety of statistically representative census and survey datasets, the project developed a series of multi-dimensional indices to map transport- and energy-related injustices. This was followed by a cluster analysis to examine broad-level geographical patterns, and a Geographically Weighted Regression model to explore the spatial variation of vulnerabilities related to contingencies such as income, ethnicity and housing. The work corroborates the results of previous qualitative studies, and research within selected UK nations, while revealing a number of unexpected territorial clusters and underpinnings of infrastructural injustice.
Projects
No Projects in this collection have been classified with this energy category
Publications
Author(s): Garvey, A. and Taylor, P.
Published: 2020-12-09
Publisher: CREDS
UK industrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must fall by more than 90% over the next 30 years to reach net zero GHG emissions targets by 2050. Current industrial decarbonisation policies fall far short of what is required and so there is an urgent need to consider the design and implementation of new policies to deliver wide-scale and rapid reductions in industrial emissions. We propose that:policy must address multiple challenges to decarbonisation and go beyond an overarching carbon reduction mechanism.there is no 'policy panacea' and policy solutions need to be flexible and adapt over time.a number of principles should guide effective policy design (co-ordinated, lean, consistent, and phased). Action to cut industrial GHG emissions must be taken quickly, and there are many uncertainties about the policy interventions that will work best. This research will help to inform decision makers about the policy areas that merit further consideration and scrutiny
Author(s): Smith, C., van der Horst, D., Lane, M. & Tingey, M.
Published: 2021-06-01
Publisher: CREDS
This CREDS working paper aims to identify and understand diversity in sub-national ambitions on climate action across the UK. Comparative analysis between sub-national governments helps to provide insights into the drivers and mechanisms by which geographically bounded institutions and actors, including partnerships between Local Authorities, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), and the Private Sector, may manage to innovate and pursue climate action ambitions at local and regional scales - even if the central government is less ambitious in that respect. Empirically we undertake a desk study that analyses existing documentation on the City Deals, a UK government initiative which was co-developed with local and regional institutions and actors that (at least partially) expressed particular sub-national visions and ambitions. We focus on the City Deals initiative because it provides a suitable basis for comparative analysis in that central government had a set approach to striking these 'deals' but left room for local and regional institutions and actors to negotiate distinctive plans for their respective areas.
Author(s): Smith, C., van der Horst, D., Lane, M. & Tingey, M.
Published: 2021-06-01
Publisher: CREDS
Despite the existence of national and international climate targets and agreements, there is widespread recognition of climate action inertia; many central governments - particularly those from the Global North - are struggling to transition their economies away from fossil fuels to the extent, and at the pace that was agreed during the Paris Accord negotiations. In the United Kingdom, the government's own advisors have criticised the inadequate headway made by successive ruling parties and coalitions. Within this context, attention is increasingly turning to subnational institutions and actors (particularly local government) and the potential roles which they could play in driving climate action at local and regional levels. Shining a light on local climate action can help us to understand the scope for innovation and leadership in climate action, the emergence of place-based opportunities and the various barriers and challenges that local and regional actors face. From a practical point of view, the underlying rationale for research in this domain, is to learn from local initiatives and to help share that learning across actor communities and local to central government, so that good practice in climate action can be replicated and scaled up, thus accelerating the low carbon transition.
Author(s): Brocklehurst, F., Bennett, G., Boardman, B., Eyre, N., Fawcett, T., Lo Piano, S., Smith, S. and Torriti, J.
Published: 2020-09-01
Publisher: CREDS
The three major options for the UK to increasing energy savings from products are: 1. enhanced enforcement of the existing regulations (described briefly below; as detailed in responses to call for evidence section 4, Strengthening UK market surveillance) 2. using existing regulations as a basis for additional UK-specific policy action (described briefly below; as detailed in responses to call for evidence section 5, Exploring other policy levers) 3. developing UK-specific regulations. The expense, complexity and time taken to fully realise savings from these options increases markedly moving down the list. In addition, there are considerable risks to UK consumers and manufacturers in moving away from EU standards (option 3), as shown in the table below. Therefore, CREDS would strongly recommend fully exploiting the savings potential of options 1 and 2 before considering option 3.
Author(s): Barnes, J.
Published: 2023-01-01
Publisher: CREDS
Heat pumps are a critical technology for reducing carbon emissions associated with residential heating. Accumulated knowledge suggests a coordinated approach is required to accelerate deployment. In this project we undertook a rapid socio- technical, whole-systems analysis of the state of residential heat pump diffusion in the UK. The results were then fed into three deliberative workshops with stakeholders across policy, practice and academia. Each workshop employed a decision theatre methodology - a novel approach designed to foster deliberation between multiple stakeholders on complex societal issues - and resulted in participants making decisions about what is required to accelerate heat pump deployment in the UK. Analysis of these results showed clear agreement on five areas for change. The common priorities identified across the three workshops are detailed in the table below.
Author(s): Anable, J., Brown, L., Docherty, I. and Marsden, G.
Published: 2022-03-01
Publisher: CREDS
The pandemic has had a major impact on how we all live our lives. As we learn to live with Covid-19 without restrictions on how we travel and where we work, we face difficult questions. Society demonstrated enormous capacity to adapt, including to varying restrictions on travel, and many people were able to reorganise daily life to travel less. Some of this came at great cost, such as the inability to attend funerals or the postponement of weddings. Some changes were, in effect, massive accelerations to trends that were already apparent, such as working and shopping remotely. Almost two years on from the initial lockdown, the economy has recovered to pre-Covid-19 levels, yet across society we are still travelling less than before the pandemic. This report, drawing on a combination of national datasets and insights from a ground breaking longitudinal survey in 10 areas of the UK, asks what have we learnt, and where do we go next?
Author(s): Jenkinson, K., Eyre, N and Barrett, J.
Published: 2021-10-06
Publisher: CREDS
Reducing the UK's overall energy demand provides a necessary and major contribution to net-zero emissions by 2050 as part of a comprehensive climate plan, with many associated benefits that would improve quality of life for all. Cutting energy use could:deliver around half of UK emissions' reduction by 2050;enhance quality of life, with significant co-benefits that align with other policy objectives (health, biodiversity, affordable warmth);reduce the risks and costs associated with relying on untested, undeveloped technical solutions in energy supply and engineered carbon dioxide removal (CDR, sometimes called geo-engineering).A low energy demand strategy could be at the heart of a fair, affordable and healthy route to net-zero. New research from CREDS (Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions) suggests that it will be difficult and expensive to meet the UK's net-zero target without measures to reduce demand for energy
Author(s): Chiu, L.F. and Lowe, R.
Published: 2020-01-01
Publisher: CREDS
The core aim of the CREDS Heat Theme has been to explore strategies for decarbonisation of heat in the UK, within an overarching Energy System Architecture Framework. Our initial findings suggest that existing energy system models are inadequate to handle multiple policy goals and that this undermines their usefulness for exploring strategies for energy system decarbonisation. The heavy emphasis placed by the energy research community on achieving net-zero sits uncomfortably with the multiplicity and emergent nature of other system objectives. This makes envisioning possible future energy system options and negotiating a feasible pathway towards a successful energy transition difficult. Our finding that different Energy System stakeholders hold divergent opinions on available technologies and strategies for decarbonisation reflects this. Our most recent piece of work, System Shocks, Response, and Recovery (HCC_C-19) sought to engage with disadvantaged communities, professionals and expert system stakeholders to explore the aftermath and implications of the COVID Pandemic, the Energy Price Shock and the impending economic crisis. In this document we set out policy recommendations based on engagement with more than 200 participants, in a variety of settings, in this programme.
Author(s): Dellaccio, O., Dicks, J., McGovern, M. and Stenning, J.
Published: 2022-10-01
Publisher: CREDS
A key challenge associated with the transition to net-zero is how to fairly spread the costs and benefits of policies used to achieve decarbonisation across all aspects of society. A so called 'just' transition can be achieved if, at the same time as reducing emissions across the economy, all people, places and communities are supported, benefits from the transition are fairly shared and no-one is 'left behind'. This report explores whether new inequalities may emerge, or existing inequalities worsen within UK society, because of policies designed to transition the UK to a net-zero economy and society. It specifically considers the vulnerability of different types of representative households to fuel and transport poverty as a result of three different policy approaches to achieving net-zero.
Data
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2018-11-18 - 2018-11-30
Rights: Rights not recorded
Peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading could help address grid management challenges in a decentralizing electricity system, as well as provide other social and environmental benefits. Many existing and proposed trading schemes are enabled by blockchain, a distributed ledger technology (DLT) relying on cryptographic proof of ownership rather than human intermediaries to establish energy transactions. This study used an online survey experiment (n = 2064) to investigate how consumer demand for blockchain-enabled peer-to-peer energy trading schemes in the United Kingdom varies depending on how the consumer proposition is designed and communicated. The analysis provides some evidence of a preference for schemes offering to meet a higher proportion of participants energy needs and for those operating at the city/region (as compared to national or neighbourhood) level. People were more likely to say they would participate when the scheme was framed as being run by their local council, followed by an energy supplier, community energy organization, and social media company. Anonymity was the most valued DLT characteristic and mentioning blockchains association with Bitcoin led to a substantial decrease in intended uptake. We highlight a range of important questions and implications suggested by these findings for the introduction and operation of P2P trading schemes.
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 1850-01-01 - 2019-12-31
Rights: Rights not recorded
To better understand the processes of digitalisation, dematerialisation and decarbonisation, this paper examines the relationship between energy and information for the global economy since 1850. It presents the long run trends in energy intensity and communication intensity, as a proxy for total information intensity. The evidence suggests that, relative to GDP, global economic production has been reducing energy and increasing information use since 1913. The analysis indicates that it initially required little information to replace energy in production and that the ability to substitute away from energy and towards information has been declining. The result implies that the global economy is now reducing energy and increasing information at a substitution rate of 0.2 kB per kWh of conserved energy or 0.8 GB per tonne of carbon dioxide mitigated. As the price ratio of energy to information is currently higher than this marginal rate of substitution, there are incentives to further substitute information for energy. However, one conclusion is that (without the long run escalation of carbon prices) substitution away from energy and towards information is likely to cease within the next few decades and, beyond that, digitalisation will play a declining role in the decarbonisation process.
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2018-03-31 - 2023-12-31
Rights: Rights not recorded
This data collection includes a User Guide and the anonymised transcripts of 30 semi-structured interviews of #60-90 minutes each, with 31 high household energy consumers, about their homes, appliances, infrastructures, vehicles, and everyday life and travel practices that generate household (domestic and travel-related) energy demand. It also includes the anonymised transcripts of 4 3-hour deliberatively workshops of ~8 public participants and 2 facilitators, one recruited from the interviewees, and the others recruited to represent different levels of domestic and travel-related energy consumption, held to discuss the validity, fairness, effectively and acceptability of four broad policy approaches to reduce (particularly high levels of) household energy consumption: Rationing; Economic (Dis)Incentives; Structural Change; and Behaviour Change
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2018-01-01 - 2023-12-31
Rights: Rights not recorded
Interviews with actors concerned with local transport decarbonisation in the UK, including challenges related to finance, governance arrangements, and public support. Data were collected using a series of 54 interviews, spread equally across three case study sites: 18 Nottingham, 18 Leeds, and 18 Oxford. Of those, 12 of the Nottingham interviews, all 18 of the Leeds interviews, and 8 of the Oxford interviews are shared in this data deposit (the rest did not give permission for their data to be deposited). The interviews were designed to reveal different local perspectives on areas recent attempts to decarbonise their transport system. The initial introduction to each participant was facilitated by pre-existing professional contacts, after which subsequent participants were identified by snowballing (i.e. feedback from interview participants) in combination with criteria-specific identification (i.e. from a review of published local authority documents
Projects
No Projects in this collection have been classified with this energy category
Publications
Author(s): Higginson, S. and Jenkinson, K.
Published: 2021-01-01
Publisher: CREDS
CREDS is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), both part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Following from UKRI's commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), these issues have been taken seriously in CREDS from the beginning. The CREDS EDI strategy was developed within the first six months of the centre, in collaboration with CREDS staff. It is closely linked to our work to support and develop Early Career Researchers (ECRs). The CREDS EDI Annual Report, reporting progress on the EDI plan, was published in 2020. This was followed by a survey of all CREDS staff, inviting their responses on recruitment and the lived experience of EDI issues within CREDS. The results of this survey are being analysed and inform what is submitted here. The full report will be written up and published on our website in due course.
Author(s): Lowe, R. and Oreszczyn, T.
Published: 2020-11-26
Publisher: CREDS
The problem of decarbonising heating in buildings has been studied for more than 20 years,1 but there is still no settled consensus on strategy or choice of technology. There is consensus that the problem requires analysis of the whole energy system. While there is currently much interest in the conversion of the gas grid to hydrogen as a route to heat decarbonisation, recent literature based on whole system analysis appears to indicate that heat pumps are likely to offer the cheapest decarbonisation option overall. Each new installation would achieve an immediate factor-of-three reduction in emissions, with the promise of close-to-zero emissions by 2030, as a consequence of a process that now appears unstoppable - the decarbonisation of electricity generation. Although many dwellings would also benefit from additional insulation to increase health and comfort, the overall role of insulation in reducing emissions due to heating in the UK is likely to be secondary. High levels of insulation are not essential to the deployment of heat pumps and are only likely to be cost effective in easy-to-treat properties. But technology choice is not an either-or question. Combinations of technology, such as hybrid heat pumps, and deployment of large heat pumps in district heating systems, offer obvious advantages. And even though the role of hydrogen as a vector for supplying heat to individual homes appears limited on overall cost grounds, hydrogen or hydrogen-derived fuels are likely to play a strategic role in providing backup for the electricity grid at multiple levels, in particular, for the very long-term energy storage that will be needed from about 2040. Sifting through the multiple combinations and configurations of technologies that are, and will become available over the coming 30 years will be an on-going activity. In this context, a key recent development is an understanding that technology selection has to involve an appreciation of the overall architecture of the energy system.
Author(s): Cairns, S.
Published: 2019-09-01
Publisher: CREDS
In brief, the primary argument made is that, if the Government wishes to improve the sustainability of UK tourism, then, given the importance of travel to overall tourism emissions (S2), and the lack of technological solutions (see Annex A), it will have to address the growth in air travel by UK residents and manage demand. In the first instance, this should involve scrapping its policy of airport expansion (S5), with the use of taxes or other fiscal measures to achieve further behaviour change (S7), rather than offsets (S8). By encouraging UK residents to take more holidays at home and/or improving the attractiveness of UK holiday destinations (and associated sustainable access options), the UK economy is likely to benefit (see Annex B) and the opportunities for those on lower incomes (many of whom do not take overseas holidays) are likely to improve (S6). Over ten years of research indicates that the general public does not consider an international holiday to be necessary to achieving an acceptable standard of CREDS Consultation 005 September 2019 2 living, negating arguments that flying is now seen as 'essential' for quality of life (S6).
Author(s): Martiskainen, M., Dearnley, E., Eyre, N. and Jenkinson, K.
Published: 2019-09-01
Publisher: CREDS
CREDS responds to consultations and calls for evidence from government, agencies and businesses, providing insight and expertise to decision-makers. This response was created for a call for evidence from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The consultation ran from July- September 2019. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/fuel-poverty-strategy-for-england. CREDS provided evidence to questions 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11/12, 13, 17/18, and 23/24.
Author(s): Snodin, H., Torriti, J. and Yunusov, T.
Published: 2019-05-01
Publisher: CREDS
This document is a report for citizens advice by CAG consultants, in association with Timur Yunusov and Jacopo Torriti.
In December 2018 Ofgem launched a Significant Code Review (SCR) looking at access and forward-looking charging arrangements. Amongst other things it is seeking to clarify "access rights and choices for small users".
Ofgem is considering the concept of minimum "core access" in its proposals. "Core access" (if it can be defined) is an amount of capacity that cannot readily be flexed and that provides for consumers' basic needs. Capacity-based (or time of use energy-based) charging might mirror this concept by considering an affordable level of "core access"
Citizens Advice is participating in the SCR and has commissioned this work to better understand the concept of core access, and understand what it means for consumers. Citizens Advice posed three key questions for this research:
In the same order, we address these questions through:
The evidence points to a basic core capacity of around 2-3kW, characteristic of low income consumers. However, this research simply looks at current capacity usage, and has not examined the factors contributing to capacity use. Further work is required to understand whether low income consumers are using enough electricity to meet their basic needs - it is possible that the 2-3kW figure reflects suppressed demand.
This report contains an executive summary, and is divided into the following sections:- Introduction
- Literature Review
- Deriving capacity limits
- Implementation
- Conclusions and further work
Author(s): Cass, N., Lucas, K., Adeel, M., Anable, J., Buchs, M., Lovelace, R., Morgan, M. and Mullen, C.
Published: 2022-02-01
Publisher: CREDS
This report is based on the findings of a research project at the University of Leeds looking at the consumption patterns of high-end and excessive consumption in households in the UK, to understand the reasons for high energy use and the structural, social, cultural and economic influences on these behaviours Data is taken from the Living Costs and Food Survey (2009 and 2001–2018 flight data), National Travel Survey
Author(s): Crawley, J. and Higginson, S.
Published: 2020-06-01
Publisher: CREDS
The CREDS EDI Plan exists because we recognise that the energy research community is insufficiently diverse, for example the CREDS consortium is 70% male. The aim of the plan is therefore "to foster an inclusive culture within the Centre, which promotes equality, values diversity and maintains a working and social environment in which the rights and dignity of all our staff, students, partners and stakeholders are respected." The Plan was developed by the CREDS EDI Working Group, agreed by the CREDS Executive in April 2019 and then published on the CREDS website. The Plan consists of a number of actions under different headings, against which this reports progress so far (as of Spring 2020).
Author(s): Higginson, S. and Huebner, G.
Published: 2020-06-01
Publisher: CREDS
CREDS is a UKRI Energy Programme focused on the critical role of energy demand in reducing carbon emissions and achieving the UK's net-zero carbon ambitions. As part its funding from UKRI, CREDS has a Flexible Fund to fill research gaps and develop research capacity. The call for Early Career Researcher-led projects was the largest single use of the Flexible Fund, with £1M (at 80% FEC) being allocated to it. As this call was for Early Career Researchers, additional support mechanisms were put in place during the call itself and a comprehensive programme of feedback has followed the call. In order to assess the effectiveness of this, a thorough evaluation was conducted looking at the call itself, its process and various aspects of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) involved in the call. This report outlines the results. The evaluation concludes that the call was basically successful, well-run and well received. The support offered was, for the most part, enthusiastically taken up and well regarded. The qualification criteria for being an ECR, of not having held a grant as PI in excess of 100 K, alongside allowing people on non-permanent contracts to apply, were important in encouraging applicants who are not normally eligible. It is also clear that more funding for ECRs would be very welcome, potentially increasing the diversity of our research community. Based on the success of our programme, ECR funding represents a small risk from a public investment point of view.
Author(s): Cass, N., Anable, J., Lucas, K., Adeel, M., Buchs, M., Lovelace, R., Morgan, M. and Mullen, C.
Published: 2022-02-01
Publisher: CREDS
This submission is based on our project on High Energy Consumers funded by the Centre for Research on Energy Demand Solutions1. The project investigated the potential for reduction of high-end domestic and travel-related (henceforth ''household') energy consumption to contribute to decarbonisation. Summary: We confirm known drivers of high household energy consuming behaviour as home heating, car use and frequent flying. We identify that these and other energy consuming behaviours are normalised in high consuming households and are driven by social norms and expectations rather than behaviourist understandings of discrete, rational choices primarily based on information and attitudes. We provide evidence that deliberation reveals that even high consumers believe that strong government action is required to limit some choices and make others more viable, to achieve behaviour change that has not manifested voluntarily. We therefore advise that government investment in low carbon alternatives and restriction of high consumption infrastructures and devices is necessary to achieve behaviour change in line with Net Zero targets.
Author(s): Marsden, G., Anable, J., Docherty, I., Brown, L.
Published: 2021-03-01
Publisher: CREDS
Covid-19 has forced countries around the world to make massive adaptations to the normal way of life to reduce the risk of the spread of the virus. This briefing sets out new insights into how people's travel patterns have adapted over time and why. It draws on national data sources and a major panel survey of over 6000 people conducted in July and December 2020. It calls for a major realignment of investment and policy to ensure that we do not return to the overcrowded, congested, polluting and unhealthy transport system that people had come to accept as inevitable.
Author(s): Simcock, N., Jenkins, K., Mattioli, G., Lacey-Barnacle, M., Bouzarovski, S. and Martiskainen, M.
Published: 2020-06-11
Publisher: CREDS
This briefing highlights the groups of people that academic research has identified as vulnerable to experiencing fuel poverty and transport poverty. Fuel and transport poverty are distributed across the UK, although the groups affected in each place can vary and the characteristics can be different depending on the location and make up of households.
Data
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2018-11-18 - 2018-11-30
Rights: Rights not recorded
Peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading could help address grid management challenges in a decentralizing electricity system, as well as provide other social and environmental benefits. Many existing and proposed trading schemes are enabled by blockchain, a distributed ledger technology (DLT) relying on cryptographic proof of ownership rather than human intermediaries to establish energy transactions. This study used an online survey experiment (n = 2064) to investigate how consumer demand for blockchain-enabled peer-to-peer energy trading schemes in the United Kingdom varies depending on how the consumer proposition is designed and communicated. The analysis provides some evidence of a preference for schemes offering to meet a higher proportion of participants energy needs and for those operating at the city/region (as compared to national or neighbourhood) level. People were more likely to say they would participate when the scheme was framed as being run by their local council, followed by an energy supplier, community energy organization, and social media company. Anonymity was the most valued DLT characteristic and mentioning blockchains association with Bitcoin led to a substantial decrease in intended uptake. We highlight a range of important questions and implications suggested by these findings for the introduction and operation of P2P trading schemes.
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2018-01-01 - 2023-12-31
Rights: Rights not recorded
Interviews with actors concerned with local transport decarbonisation in the UK, including challenges related to finance, governance arrangements, and public support. Data were collected using a series of 54 interviews, spread equally across three case study sites: 18 Nottingham, 18 Leeds, and 18 Oxford. Of those, 12 of the Nottingham interviews, all 18 of the Leeds interviews, and 8 of the Oxford interviews are shared in this data deposit (the rest did not give permission for their data to be deposited). The interviews were designed to reveal different local perspectives on areas recent attempts to decarbonise their transport system. The initial introduction to each participant was facilitated by pre-existing professional contacts, after which subsequent participants were identified by snowballing (i.e. feedback from interview participants) in combination with criteria-specific identification (i.e. from a review of published local authority documents
Publisher: UKDS
Period: 2011-01-01 - 2024-01-31
Rights: Open Access
This data collections consists of data and documentation produced to examine the spatial and social differences in people's lack of access to adequate energy and transport services in the United Kingdom (UK). The work responds to the need for developing a differentiated understanding of both the drivers and expressions of this 'double energy vulnerability', while seeking to integrate and analyse relevant information from all four UK nations. Using a variety of statistically representative census and survey datasets, the project developed a series of multi-dimensional indices to map transport- and energy-related injustices. This was followed by a cluster analysis to examine broad-level geographical patterns, and a Geographically Weighted Regression model to explore the spatial variation of vulnerabilities related to contingencies such as income, ethnicity and housing. The work corroborates the results of previous qualitative studies, and research within selected UK nations, while revealing a number of unexpected territorial clusters and underpinnings of infrastructural injustice.
Projects
No Projects in this collection have been classified with this energy category
Publications
Author(s): Eyre, N., Anable, J., Barrett, J., Fawcett, T., Foxon, T., Oreszczyn, T. and Webb, J.
Published: 2019-01-01
Publisher: CREDS
Author(s): Topouzi, M., Mallaburn, P. and Fawcett, T.
Published: 2023-11-01
Publisher: CREDS
The shift towards hybrid working-from-home practices is seen by the authors as a great opportunity to introduce a novel financial mechanism, the Retrofit Salary Sacrifice (RSS) scheme that will help increase homeowners' awareness and uptake of retrofit works to improve their home-office environments. This novel approach is to encourage household-level retrofitting in order to reduce carbon emissions and lower energy costs (Figure 1). It is a tax-efficient incentive for home-owning employees to improve their properties, using the model of successful existing salary sacrifice schemes for the purchase of bicycles and EVs. This approach has a catalytic role for able-to pay salaried homeowners to directly benefit from more attractive and affordable finance for retrofit projects, the prospect of lower energy bills in the long term, and a more comfortable working environment. Additionally, employers gain an extra benefit to offer their workforce, as well as a route to addressing Scope 1–3 of their direct and indirect carbon emissions.
Author(s): Snodin, H., Torriti, J. and Yunusov, T.
Published: 2019-05-01
Publisher: CREDS
This document is a report for citizens advice by CAG consultants, in association with Timur Yunusov and Jacopo Torriti.
In December 2018 Ofgem launched a Significant Code Review (SCR) looking at access and forward-looking charging arrangements. Amongst other things it is seeking to clarify "access rights and choices for small users".
Ofgem is considering the concept of minimum "core access" in its proposals. "Core access" (if it can be defined) is an amount of capacity that cannot readily be flexed and that provides for consumers' basic needs. Capacity-based (or time of use energy-based) charging might mirror this concept by considering an affordable level of "core access"
Citizens Advice is participating in the SCR and has commissioned this work to better understand the concept of core access, and understand what it means for consumers. Citizens Advice posed three key questions for this research:
In the same order, we address these questions through:
The evidence points to a basic core capacity of around 2-3kW, characteristic of low income consumers. However, this research simply looks at current capacity usage, and has not examined the factors contributing to capacity use. Further work is required to understand whether low income consumers are using enough electricity to meet their basic needs - it is possible that the 2-3kW figure reflects suppressed demand.
This report contains an executive summary, and is divided into the following sections:- Introduction
- Literature Review
- Deriving capacity limits
- Implementation
- Conclusions and further work
Author(s): Cass, N., Lucas, K., Adeel, M., Anable, J., Buchs, M., Lovelace, R., Morgan, M. and Mullen, C.
Published: 2022-02-01
Publisher: CREDS
This report is based on the findings of a research project at the University of Leeds looking at the consumption patterns of high-end and excessive consumption in households in the UK, to understand the reasons for high energy use and the structural, social, cultural and economic influences on these behaviours Data is taken from the Living Costs and Food Survey (2009 and 2001–2018 flight data), National Travel Survey
Author(s): Lowe, R.
Published: 2020-07-01
Publisher: CREDS
The overarching theme of our response is to welcome the proposal by BEIS to act in this space. Structural features of the UK heat market make decarbonising heat in UK buildings a significant challenge, and programmes of support for new low/zero carbon heat technologies and supply chains unavoidable. Such structural features include:the near-monopoly of natural gas for heat in UK buildings;the availability of highly developed gas boiler technologies;the comparative weakness of supply chains for alternative heating technologies;the fact that gas sold into the domestic market is exempt from carbon pricing and is subject to VAT at a significantly lower rate than other forms of energy for heating;long-standing, cross-party political scepticism with respect to the role of regulation in the UK economy. We note that other policy developments including the development of a new UK Emissions Trading System will begin to address some of the above, but that the goal of harmonising taxation on domestic gas and electricity will almost certainly prove elusive. If this were to be the case we would continue to see a situation in policies to support low carbon heat were at variance with energy pricing policy. The consultation document makes clear that the package of measures considered is specifically designed as a successor to the current Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme, and will sit alongside a wider range of measures to improve energy efficiency and support the move to low carbon heating which will be supported through the Home Upgrade Grant, Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, and Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund commitments
Author(s): Cairns, S. and Buchs, M.
Published: 2021-06-01
Publisher: CREDS
This submission provides some brief thoughts on three issues raised in this consultation. These are: 1) Should the domestic rate of APD be reduced, and what would be the environmental impacts? (Q1, 7, 8, 10 and 15) 2) What would be the environmental impact of changing the banding system for APD on international air travel? (Q20) 3) Are there alternative tax measures which could further align the aviation tax framework with government's environmental objectives? (Q25)
Author(s): Barnes, J.
Published: 2023-01-01
Publisher: CREDS
Heat pumps are a critical technology for reducing carbon emissions associated with residential heating. Accumulated knowledge suggests a coordinated approach is required to accelerate deployment. In this project we undertook a rapid socio- technical, whole-systems analysis of the state of residential heat pump diffusion in the UK. The results were then fed into three deliberative workshops with stakeholders across policy, practice and academia. Each workshop employed a decision theatre methodology - a novel approach designed to foster deliberation between multiple stakeholders on complex societal issues - and resulted in participants making decisions about what is required to accelerate heat pump deployment in the UK. Analysis of these results showed clear agreement on five areas for change. The common priorities identified across the three workshops are detailed in the table below.
Author(s): Barrett, M. and Gallo Cassarino, T.
Published: 2021-11-01
Publisher: CREDS
Hydrogen produced from natural gas with steam methane reforming coupled with carbon capture and sequestration (SMRCCS) is proposed as fuel for consumer heating and cooking systems. This paper presents estimates of the energy losses and methane and carbon dioxide emission and global warming across the whole gas to hydrogen heat supply chain - from production to consumer. Processed natural gas is typically about 95% methane which is a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential (GWP) such that, with 20 year and 100 year GWP horizons, about 4% and 8% leakage respectively will cause as much global warming as the carbon dioxide formed when burning the methane. Data on gas emissions and SMRCCS costs and performance are sparse and wide ranging and this presents a major problem in accurately appraising the possible role of hydrogen from methane. The survey indicates emissions between 50 and 200 gCO2eq per unit of heat (kWhth) for SMRCCS H2 heat depending on leakage and GWP time horizon assumed. The second part of the paper reviews gas supply pricing and security and presents a cost minimised configuration of a SMRCCS hydrogen heating system derived with a simple model. Uncertainty in SMRCCS greenhouse gas emissions coupled with a net zero emission target and the long term issue of the physical and economic security of natural gas supply, bear on the potential advantages of SMRCCS as compared to other options, such as heating with renewable electricity driving consumer or district heating heat pumps.
Author(s): Brown, D., Jaccarini, C., Foxon, T., Mininni, G., Copeland, C., Brisbois, M.C., Stack- Maddox, S., Aguirre Martinez, B. and Lacey-Barnacle, M.
Published: 2023-12-01
Publisher: CREDS
In this report, we outline a transformative plan for how local and regional action could help to achieve the UK's net-zero climate goals, whilst providing economic, social and environmental benefits to citizens - Local Green New Deals. The report argues that local and combined authorities should be given new powers and funding, and create new institutions to deliver measures that would help to reduce energy usage (or demand). It also provides evidence that these measures would be viewed favourably by the majority of citizens. We focus on two contrasting regions, Greater Brighton and North of Tyne - both having recently put forward progressive programmes for local environmental and social action, but with very different local governance arrangements.
Author(s): Dicks, J., McGovern, M., Pollitt, H., Downing, C. and Eyre,N.
Published: 2021-11-01
Publisher: CREDS
During the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Government policy has tried to achieve the twin goals of saving lives and maintaining the economy. It is estimated that the full lockdown in spring 2019 resulted in lowering global greenhouse gas emissions by 8%. The UK needs to reduce its emissions by an average of 6% every year to meet the Sixth Carbon Budget goal. Full lockdown is clearly not a viable approach to meeting climate targets. Instead, the increasingly urgent goal of carbon emissions reduction will need to part of the post-Covid recovery economy and this will involve significantly more rapid technical and societal change than has been seen to date. This report sets out findings from research on the investments and policies that will be required to generate jobs and economic activity and to support the levelling up agenda in the short-term and set us on track to meet the long-term Net Zero target in a socially inclusive and fair way. The study uses the Cambridge Econometrics E3ME model to project the macro-economic impacts of a post-Covid green economic recovery package. E3ME is most often used for scenario analysis, evaluating the impacts of an input shock to a reference/baseline scenario. By comparing outcomes in different scenarios against those in a 'business-as-usual' baseline scenario, it is possible to assess the economic, social and environmental impacts of changes in policies and/or economic assumptions. The baseline forecast in this study is constructed from official published economic and energy-sector projections and adjusted to account for the expected impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic - this is referred to as the 'brown' scenario.
Author(s): Garvey, A., Norman, J. and Barrett, J.
Published: 2022-01-10
Publisher: CREDS
Our demand for food drives greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions throughout the food supply chain including from agriculture, food processing and transportation. In the UK this demand is projected to grow towards 2050 as a function of high current levels of demand and population growth.Agriculture and land use accounts for 11% of the UK's territorial GHG emissions. Our research shows that imported food adds 20 MtCO2e to the UK's food footprint: equivalent to around half the emissions from domestic production. Thus, action to reduce demand in UK food-related emissions would have an impact at a global scale
Author(s): Eyre, N., Oreszczyn, T., Anable, J., Barrett, J. and Torriti, J.
Published: 2018-12-01
Publisher: CREDS
Author(s): Eyre, N. and Oreszczyn, T.
Published: 2022-08-20
Publisher: CREDS
The UK faces an energy affordability crisis and possibly an energy security crisis. Improving energy efficiency and reducing energy demand are key parts of the solution to these, as well as to achieving longer term zero-carbon goals. Energy affordability is now a critical problem for many households. Without more action on fuel poverty, more people will die due to cold homes this winter. Very large numbers of households will face difficult decisions about home heating. The measures recently announced focus on supporting incomes rather than longer term reductions in dependence on fossil fuels. Improving home energy efficiency and supporting low income households both need urgent attention. Saving energy can also contribute to reducing the risk of physical shortages of energy, and therefore a strategy for reducing energy demand should form part of any energy security strategy. The key measures that can be achieved quickly are reducing internal temperatures in over-heated buildings and reducing car fuel use. Energy security is a public good, so Government has the central role in addressing it. Most people and organisations can contribute, but the households most affected by the affordability challenge can contribute the least. The energy saving measures needed for a transition to net-zero emissions cannot be delivered in their entirety on the timescales needed to resolve an immediate crisis. However, the crisis is an additional reason to begin a planned long-term approach to demand reduction, not to avoid it.
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Publications
Author(s): Norman, J., Barrett, J., Garvey, A., Taylor, P., Goodwin, J., Gibbs, M., German, R. and Garland, L.
Published: 2020-05-01
Publisher: CREDS
Recent legislation commits the UK to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. In order to achieve that goal, good quality data will be needed to implement this transformation and inform credible decision-making. This report explores whether the existing publicly available data can meet these new challenges.
Author(s): Eyre, N and Downing, C.
Published: 2019-12-01
Publisher: CREDS
This is CREDS first annual report and covers an 18-month period from April 2018 to September 2019. CREDS was announced on 26th March 2018, with a start date of 1st April 2018. This very short notice inevitably meant that research, administrative and knowledge exchange staff were not all in place on Day 1. However, staff from five of the six preceding End Use Energy Demand (EUED) Centres are involved in CREDS, and some of the research themes have benefitted from the researchers and activities undertaken by the EUED Centres continuing into CREDS. CREDS was formally launched at a well-attended event in London, jointly designed with EUED Centres to showcase their work on 20th September 2018.
Author(s): Downing, C.
Published: 2020-12-01
Publisher: CREDS
The Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS) was established as part of the UKRI Energy Programme in April 2018 and has been running for 2.5 years, with funding of £19.5M over 5 years from EPSRC and ESRC. Its mission is to make the UK a leader in understanding the changes in energy demand needed for the transition to a secure and affordable, low carbon energy system. We are now a team of over 140 people based in 24 UK organisations. The aims of the Centre are:to develop and deliver internationally leading research, focused on energy demand;to secure impact for UK energy demand research in businesses and policymaking; andto champion the importance of energy demand. This is CREDS' second annual report covering the period from October 2019 to September 2020.
Author(s): Downing, C. and Eyre, N.
Published: 2021-12-01
Publisher: CREDS
The Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS) was established as part of the UKRI Energy Programme in April 2018 and has been running for 3.5 years, with funding of £19.5M over 5 years from EPSRC and ESRC. Its mission is to make the UK a leader in understanding the changes in energy demand needed for the transition to a secure and affordable net-zero society. We are now a team of over 140 people based in 26 UK organisations. The aims of the Centre are:to develop and deliver internationally leading research, focused on energy demandto secure impact for UK energy demand research in businesses and policymaking, andto champion the importance of energy demand. This is CREDS' third annual report covering the period from October 2020 to September 2021. T
Author(s): Downing, C., Eyre, N. and Harris, H.
Published: 2022-12-01
Publisher: CREDS
The Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS) was established as part of the UKRI Energy Programme in April 2018 and has been running for 4.5 years, with funding of £19.5M over 5 years from EPSRC and ESRC. Its mission is to make the UK a leader in understanding the changes in energy demand needed for the transition to a secure and affordable, net-zero society. We are a team of over 140 people based in 24 UK organisations. The aims of the Centre are:to develop and deliver internationally leading research, focused on energy demandto secure impact for UK energy demand research in businesses and policymaking, andto champion the importance of energy demand. This is CREDS' fourth annual report covering the period from October 2021 to September 2022.
Author(s): Crawley, C., Johnson, C., Calver, P. and Fell, M.J.
Published: 2021-04-21
Publisher: CREDS
According to the Climate Change Committee we could be using almost twice as much electricity in 2050 as today, and most of this will be from renewable sources. These changes are partly due to increased demand as transport and much of heating become powered by electricity and partly due to needing to move away from fossil fuel based generation. Matching demand with renewable supply from variable sources like wind power will likely mean that electricity demand will have to be moved around in time and decreased during periods when the system cannot provide it. This is known as demand response. It is almost certain that households will have a role to play in demand response, and various trials and commercial schemes have been implemented in recent years to ascertain how successful it could be. As all of this gets underway, we ask: what is the best way to implement domestic demand response on a large scale and how can less well-off households be factored in fairly?
