23rd June 2009, Edinburgh
UK Energy Research Centre
ƒ
Part of the UK Research Council’s Energy Programme,
supported by NERC, ESRC and EPSRC
ƒ
UKERC aims to promote cohesion within the overall
UK energy research effort
ƒ
Acts as bridge between researchers, businesses,
policymakers and the international energy research
community.
ƒ
UKERC’s own research programme is interdisciplinary,
drawing on engineering, economics and the
environmental and social sciences.
ƒ
A distributed centre, bringing together researchers
from research institutions across the UK
UKERC Phase II
ƒ UKERC was established in 2004
ƒ Phase II started in May 2009
ƒ Basic Research Challenge has changed….
ƒ what are the options for achieving a secure lowcarbon energy system in 2050? (Phase I)
ƒ how can we make the transition to a secure and
low-carbon energy system? (Phase II)
ƒ Three distinct research challenges
ƒ Decarbonising the energy sector
ƒ Managing environmental impacts
ƒ Enhancing energy security and resilience
UKERC II research themes
ƒ how can ambitious energy policy goals can
be achieved?
ƒ emphasis on medium-term: bridge between
2020 and 2050
ƒ explicitly international
ƒ modelling the global energy system
ƒ reflecting interdependences in global markets
ƒ Bigger contribution from (and presence of)
social and environmental sciences
UKERC II Research Fund
ƒ Aims
ƒ to bring a wider range of researchers and
disciplines into UKERC’s research programme
ƒ to allow the programme to respond to new
research priorities or external developments.
ƒ ~40% of the research funding (£4.5m), to
be bid competitively
ƒ Targeted / themed annual calls for
proposals
ƒ First call to be announced in early July 2009
Back to Phase I –
UKERC Energy 2050
The UKERC Energy 2050 project shows how the
UK can move towards a low-carbon energy
system over the next forty years
The project focuses on the two primary goals of
UK energy policy – achieving an 80% reduction
in carbon emissions by 2050, and ensuring that
energy is delivered reliably
Energy 2050 Research Groups
Future Sources
of Energy
Environmental Sustainability
Demand Reduction
Energy Infrastructure and
Supply
Research Register and
Energy Data Centre
UKERC Headquarters
Energy Systems
and Modelling
Energy 2050 ‘Core’ Scenarios
Resilience
REF
Reference
Low Carbon
(“firm and funded”
policies as of EWP 2007)
LC
“Low carbon”
R
“Resilient”
LCR
“Low carbon resilient”
UKERC Energy 2050 workstreams
ƒ pathways to a low carbon energy system
ƒ technology acceleration
ƒ energy security and resilience
ƒ lifestyles and behaviour
ƒ socio-environmental sensitivities
ƒ global energy markets
ƒ de-centralised energy systems
UKERC Energy 2050 workstreams
ƒ pathways to a low carbon energy system
ƒ technology acceleration
ƒ energy security and resilience
ƒ lifestyles and behaviour
ƒ socio-environmental sensitivities
ƒ global energy markets
ƒ de-centralised energy systems
The broad approach
ƒ explore the choices and trade-offs we face if the
primary energy policy goals – CO2 reduction
and security - are to be met
ƒ different research themes collaborate in
working groups
ƒ making use of a range of system-level, network
and sectoral modelling tools (e.g. MARKAL)
ƒ use of insights from dedicated research themes
to inform and interpret high-level modelling
ƒ ‘Real world’ use and interpretation of modelling