Warm Swedish buildings

This week I went to Stockholm to learn about Kungsbrohusen Office Building – and to experience for myself if this building is really as comfortable and user-friendly as it sounds. For two nights I stayed in the Kungsbron hotel which is a small hotel inside this building – and it seems like the owners of the hotel are very proud of being located in this energy efficient building as there is a lot of information in every room about how sustainable the building is.

The Kungbronhusen Office Building is a 13-storey property in the centre of Stockholm, near the Stockholm Central Station.


Both the Central Station and the Office Building are owned by Jernhusen company.


Jerhunsen wanted to prove that it is possible to built a sustainable office building using available of the market materials and mature technologies rather than fancy but risky innovations.
The objective of the project is to create a development where the environment and energy-efficiency are central considerations.
Building’s branding is about being ‘green’: the office space is let to the companies that want to boost their image as environmentally-friendly. All the tenants in the building are supported the expert who helps to adapt the organizations and minimize their impact on the environment. The building is advertised as being ‘eco-smart’, which includes three characteristics:
- Eco-smart building: The building with energy efficient façade and environmentally adapted materials, combined with other innovative solutions that lead to three environmental certifications.
- Eco-everyday: Services and technical solutions that enable users to operate in an eco-friendly way.
- Eco-location; The building’s proximity to public transport makes travelling and transports easier and contributes to lower CO2 emissions.



The users of the building are encouraged to minimize the environmental impact of their daily activities. Building users are offered coordinated framework agreements for cleaning services, servicing of office machinery and waste management. The building is also provided with secure bicycle storage area with a compressor pump and tools available for bicycle repairs, as well as dressing rooms and showers.
Another intersting part of the building is a ‘green button’: This button is pressed at the end of the working day to ensure that all standby functions such as computers, screens and other lighting are switched off.
An important part of the project is the building’s energy-efficient frontage, which controls the amount of sunlight allowed into the internal space and creates a balance so that the interior is neither too hot nor too cold.


One of the interesting features of the building is that every hour the Swedish meteorological centre automatically sends a detailed weather forecast direct to Kungsbrohuset via the GSM network. This means that the heat supply to Kungsbrohuset will be increased several hours before a drop in temperature occurs. By doing this, building’s heat regulating system is put to optimal use.
The largest part of the heating is provided by GSHP, with some part of the heating provided by body heat! Approximately 200,000 people pass through nearby Stockholm Central Station every day. These people, along with the various restaurants and cafés in the station, produce a large amount of excess heat. Instead of letting this heat goes to waste, it now being used for heating. Kungsbrohuset building. The technology is not new and is similar to the principles of Canadian wells. The heat generated by human activity is recovered by the ventilation system and then sent away from the station in its water tanks. Heated by this hot air, the water is sent to the second building through a heat exchanger, which allows the building to save up to 20% of its energy consumption. To complete the loop, the cooled water is returned to the station to optimize its temperature control.
Jerhusen is planning to build some more office buldings around the train station in the nearset future and they also have similar projects in other cities in Sweden.



Does this mean that this kind of projects are easy to replicate and can be widely used in the UK? We will talk about it in our workshop in early February – and if you are intersted, contac tme on k.chmutina@lboro.ac.uk .

Carbon dioxide emissions show record jump

Professor Chris Rapley (UCL Earth Sciences) comments on new figures detailing the rapid increase in carbon emissions.

Find out more in the Guardian...

£30 million announced for community green schemes and public sector energy efficiency

Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has today announced funding of £10 million for local community energy projects, and a £20 million boost to the existing public sector energy efficiency loan scheme. Chris Huhne said:
"This is great news for the public sector. Not only do we need to encourage energy efficiency in our schools, hospitals and universities, we also need to get green energy generation and energy efficiency into our communities. That's why we are also making £10million available for communities to help spur an energy revolution at a local level."

The new £10 million Local Energy Assessment Fund, managed by a number of community networks and administered by the Energy Saving Trust, will be run as a competition, with the chance for around 200 community organisations to get to grips with energy efficiency and renewable energy generation. Organisations including parish councils, voluntary associations, development trusts and faith groups are all eligible to apply.

Visit the DECC Website for the full press release

UCL Environment Institute Debate on Canadian Oil Sands

The Canadian Oil Sands – an Environment Institute Debate

When: 6pm – 7.30pm Monday 12^th December 2011 with wine reception afterwards

Where: UCL Archaeology Institute, Lecture Theatre G06 (in Gordon Square)

The development of the Canadian oil sands in northern Alberta is a highly controversial topic that has raised important issues about energy security, decarbonisation, environmental degradation and international trade in energy. This Environment Institute Debate will examine these and other issues. It offers an opportunity to hear the Chair of the Royal Society of Canada present the report of its expert panel on the environmental and health impacts of Canada’s oil sands industry, and to hear reactions from a UCL expert panel. There will be ample time for questions and comments from the floor.

Chair:

Professor Yvonne Rydin, Director of the UCL Environment Institute

Panel:

Professor Steven Hrudey, FRSC and Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta

Professor Paul Ekins, Professor in Energy and Environment Policy, UCL Energy Institute

Professor Catherine Redgwell, Professor of International Law, Faculty of Laws, UCL

Professor Peter Sammonds, Professor of Geophysics, Director of UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction

2012 CLUES Conference - Initial Announcement

　

Energy in the Locality: a day‐conference to explore local energy case studies in urban and rural locations

8 May 2012, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1

The Energy in the Locality Conference will be held at University College London on 8 May 2012. A detailed Conference Call will be issued in January 2012.

Many current research projects on energy systems are using urban and rural case studies to explore a variety of research questions. The conference will provide an opportunity to hear results from local case studies on different aspects of energy systems, and to reflect on the theoretical and methodological implications of using case studies to understand such systems.

A key-note address will be provided by Professor Patrick Devine-Wright of Exeter University. Thereafter the conference will be structured into three streams:

Ø  The Theory and Methodology of Case Study Research: the theoretical and methodological foundations of local case study research in relation to energy studies;

Ø  Results from Urban and Rural Energy Case Studies: overviews of research findings from projects based on urban and/or rural energy case studies; and

Ø  A Case Study Circus: short presentations focusing on ‘one-offs’ innovative local energy case studies.

In addition, there will be a Poster Session where delegates can view summaries of research projects during refreshment periods.

Abstract submissions will take the form of:

Ø  an abstract of up to 250 words for papers for ‘Theory and Methodology’ or ‘Results’ sessions,  and/or

Ø  a brief outline of up to 50 words for the ‘Case Study Circus’ or the’ Poster Session’.

Contact details:

Dr. Catalina Turcu Catalina.Turcu@ucl.ac.uk

New energy tools out there

Went to a very interesting meeting organized by Government Foresight this morning looking at joining up data and tools available on energy, including local energy. On the day that the Government's new Carbon Plan is launched (http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/tackling/carbon_plan/carbon_plan.aspx) it seems apposite to be noting some interesting new resources out there or soon to be out there:

1) CSE will be launching their zoomable national heat map early in 2012 which uses Google maps as a very accessible base: http://www.cse.org.uk/news/view/1458

2) CSE also have a fabulous resource for community planning available at http://www.planlocal.org.uk/

3) DECC have their Community Energy Online resource at http://ceo.decc.gov.uk/

4) DECC are also relaunching their 2050 Pathways, which now include cost data and visualisations at home, city and country level that react to the parameters chosen when playing around with the pathways calculator: http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/tackling/2050/2050.aspx

5) EST is hosting the Housing Energy Efficiency Database at http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Professional-resources/Existing-Housing/Homes-Energy-Efficiency-Database; working is ongoing on one that incorporates non-domestic data

6) Finally, CSE has DEC data available to download at www.cse.org.uk/data

Happy browsing!

Yvonne Rydin

Berlin's approach to Refurbishment: Energy saving partnership

Couple of weeks ago I went to Berlin to learn more Berlin Energy Saving Partnership.
I met up with Ms Susanne Berger from Berlin Energy Agency, which is responsible for the implementation of the partnership and also with Mr Klaus Ritcher from one of the ESCOs carrying out the implementation of energy efficiency measures.
Berlin energy saving partnership was first introduced by the State of Berlin in 1995. The reason for developing BESP was to reach Germany’s ambitious climate protection objectives, as well as to reduce energy costs. Its basic principle is simple: a private specialized energy service company (the contractor) brings its know-how and financials means into the project. The responsibility of the contractor is to ensure that by making adequate investments, the energy savings can be guaranteed. Both partners then share cost reductions and profits are also shared between the client and the contractor – while energy consumption is reduced.
Under the current BESP, among refurbished buildings there are school, kindergartens, office buildings, swimming pools, theatre, universities and other municipal buildings. All together around 1,400 buildings have being refurbished with the total CO2 reduction of approximately 69,600 t/a. One of the first refurbished buildings was Berlin City Hall.



The refurbishments have been performed by 17 contractors, and the guaranteed savings were achieved in all contracts. On average the guaranteed savings are around 26% of baseline energy consumption, with the highest energy savings resulted in 35% savings!
Interesting, replacement of the windows and insulation are not a part of the programme - implemented energy efficiency measures include refurbishment of heating and illumination, energy management and what is very important user motivation. I found the last measure – user motivation – particularly interesting: it is a requirement for the contractor to teach the building users about energy savings, and by the end user they do not mean buildings manager. If the building under refurbishment is a kindergarten, then the contractor talks to children as well!
This model has proved to be a success in Berlin and is now widely replicated in other European countries, such as Slovenia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Romania, as well as in China, Chile and other countries. It also expands in Germany and there are plans for implementing “Berlin Energy Saving Partnership Plus” where more expensive measures such as building insulation and window replacement will be performed.
More about this progamme will be presented as a part of our workshop on 27th of January – and we will also look at its potential to be implemented in the UK.

CLUES workshop

On November 23rd 2011 we successfully held our first innovative international case studies workshop on seawater heating systems - more details on this to follow. We would like to thank all those attended for heir valuable contribution and very interesting and informative presentations and discussions.

In the next couple of months we are organizing other workshops.

Our second workshop “New ways of financing renewable energy: an example of Morris Model, New Jersey, USA” is on 8th December 2011, 13.00-18.00, at the UCL as well. The aim of the workshop is to introduce a new approach to financing PV and to discuss its potential to be implemented in the UK, as well as to share the experiences of those who already worked with this innovative approach. Attendees expected at the workshop include a representative of the Morris County, USA; representatives of the UK government, academics and other interested parties.

We are also planning a workshop on “Performance Contracting and Retrofit: an example of Berlin’s success” on 27th of January (location tbc). The aim of the workshop ids to introduce a new way of financing retrofit of commercial buildings and to share the experience of Berlin Energy Saving Partnership, as well as to discuss its potential to be implemented in the UK. Attendees expected at the workshop include representatives of the Berlin Energy Agency, representatives of the UK government and those interested in building retrofit.

All the workshops are free, but places are limited, so if you are interested please contact Dr Ksenia Chmutina on k.chmutina@lboro.ac.uk.

The experience of KfW - a German Bank - in the Reduction of Energy Use in and CO2 emissions from Buildings

UCL and LSE have recently launched a joint report regarding the lessons that the UK could learn from the experience of KfW, a part publicly owned German Bank, in the reduction of energy use in and CO2 emisions from the built environment. For more information please go to
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/1111/111109-Lessons-from-German-bank-cut-energy-bills-UK-homeowners?dm_i=UAA,LHOP,3YPFC4,1QR43,1 and to this complimentary presentation http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/textonly/LSEhousing/Events/Cutting%20Carbon%20Costs/Paul_Ekins.pdf.

Catalina Turcu, UCL
14 Nov 2011

How to heat your house using seawater

I’ve just got back from the Hague - home of the seawater district heating project. I spent three sunny days there talking to people involved in this project - engineers, managers, civil servants, and even had a very exciting technical visit and saw for myself how the seawater heating plant works.


The sea water heating plant is part of the city’s plan to use more sustainable energy and is one of the steps being taken towards making the Hague ‘climate by 2050. Today seawater heating system provides 750 houses in the area of Duindorp with heating and hot water; and it is planned to connect further 300 houses to this system. As Mr Henk Heijkers from the City of the Hague Sustainability Department put it, “my dream is that the whole Scheveningen Harbour area gets fantastic new buildings with the new Duindorp all connected on seawater energy”. Duindorp is a new housing estate area along the North Sea Coast built to replace 1100 old energy inefficient houses that used to be small former fishermen family houses built between 1915 and 1931.


The concept of seawater heating system is innovative but simple: it consists of a seawater central supply unit with a heat exchanger and heat pump unit that uses the nearby sea as a temperature source. The technologies involved are not new, but it is the way they were combines that attracts attention: it is an innovation that allows constructing a very efficient system for making seawater or surface water the source of energy for heating homes as well as heating water – and not only during a warmer season.


The idea of a sustainable heating system was proposed by the housing corporation Vestia – it is now an owner of the seawater heating system. However, it took some time to find the most suitable system: for a few months government authorities, housing corporation, engineering consultancy and utility companies were involved in a process of brainstorming and discussion. Eventually, Mr Paul Stoelinga from Deerns came up with the idea of combining a heat exchanger, a central heat pump and small water pumps in the homes. In summer, the heat exchanger feeds heated water to local grid, drawing enough heat from the seawater to cover residents' need. In winter, the job is taken over by the central screw ammonia heat plant. This allows ensuring that throughout the year residents of the Duindorp houses get indoor comfort and tap water at the right temperature.
While in the Hague, I had a tour around the central unit located near the harbour. This small warehouse-looking building contains both the central heat exchanger and heat pump. Smaller individual heat pumps are installed in each home for further heating.



The overall efficiency of the heat generation process with this system is more than 50% better than with conventional high-efficiency boilers, while the cost to the residents is no higher. Moreover, it results in a 50% reduction in CO2 emissions.
Similar system can be installed pretty much anywhere in the world close to the body of water and it would even be cheaper in case of fresh water, because there’s no need to protect the heat pump, heat exchanger and water pumps against salt corrosion. So why not use it in the UK?

The Great Divide between academics and practitioners

On 3 and 4 October I attended the UK Energy Research Centre’s workshop on Local Energy Governance, at St. Hugh’s College in Oxford. Day one focused on research approaches, overlaps and synergies (Catalina will blog about this shortly), while day two revolved around the relationship between academia en practitioners / community groups. It is probably appropriate to note here that the term practitioner was contested by the practitioners present at the workshop, and perhaps rightly so, judging by the diversity of backgrounds. Some ‘practitioners’ also publish research (e.g. Consumer Focus, Forum for the Future) - perhaps non-academics would have been a more appropriate term?

During the day a number of themes were brought to the fore, including the perception that academic research usually only finds what practitioners already know, and that academic research is too slow, partly due to funding becoming available too late. Furthermore, funding was perceived to be too project-focused and is often not available to the many spin-offs generated by many successful projects. Another issue was that academic reports often aren’t digestible for practitioners, and that reports and case studies are available in such quantities and variety of places, that for practitioners such as community groups they often are of little value.

Another big issue that was discussed was the uneven relationship between academics and practitioners: practitioners often don’t get enough out of participating in research projects (something to keep in mind in our own case study work!). This, however, could be addressed by cooperation in the research design phase. If this isn’t possible, then perhaps academics should give something back to the practitioners, like sharing certain academic skills, for example by giving a workshop on how to do a good questionnaire/survey. Practitioners should not have too low expectations when contacted by academics for the dreaded ‘hour of your time’ – why not ask for something tangible in return rather than simply deciding on a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ when asked to participate?

Overall, there was a sense of lack of involvement of practitioners / community groups and a disconnect between what they need to know and what academia is researching. In other words, there needs to be more of a dialogue between both groups. Suggestions to achieve this link-up even included ‘adopt a local authority’, and speed dating to link up the right research needs with the right academics. On this point, a very interesting attempt to bridge this gap has already been made by the Grassroots Innovations blog, where practitioners are called on to get in touch with their research suggestions and ideas. Let’s hope this will prove useful in building on the issues discussed!

Cities of the Future?

Highlights from the CITIES Performance Conference, London, 6-7 October

On the 6^th of October I went to the CITIES Performance Conference organised by Buro Happold, EDGE Debate and the Italian, Dutch and Danish Embassies in London. The day was dedicated to some interesting and (sometimes) controversial presentations on cities and their future. Whether you agree or not with some of the stuff shown there is not for me to decide. However, the day made me thing that that architectural practice has come a long way in the 10 years I left the profession! 

2011 Residential complex ALER (Milan) by Mario Cucinella Architects

This project aims to renovate and extend a social housing estate in Milan. It plans to upgrade the energy efficiency of the existing towers, provide new uses and district heating in the basement and built new student accommodation on the roofs. We have had ‘walkways in the sky’, we’ll have now ‘villages in the sky’! No flooding worries and, I am sure, those pioneers/ students will find innovative low carbon ways of transport ‘from’ and ‘to’ their flats.

Photos - Copyright Mario Cucinella Architects

2008 The Rotating Tower (Dubai of course!) by David Ficher

This is world’s first ‘building in motion’, exclusively powered by renewable energy (solar and wind)!!! It has a highly engineered and computerised internal structure which allows each floor to move independently. The Dubai’s tower will reach 80 floors: the top 10 floors will be used for luxury ‘villa’ style apartments, below which a further 35 floors of accommodation, then the 15 floors below will comprise an extravagant hotel and the lowest 20 floors used as retail space – there is also a ‘Ferrari lift’ which allow each occupant to take his/her Ferrari to his door on the 70+ floor! The Rotating Tower design uses photovoltaic cells and wind turbine technology to collect enough energy to power itself. The cells which will be placed on the top surface of each floor will be 15% open to the sun’s rays on all 80 floors for the full day helping to power the building. Hmmm! 

Photos - Copyright Dynamic Architecture/ David Fisher

For a provocative (if not scary) movie go to http://www.dynamicarchitecture.net/

Catalina Turcu, UCL

07 October 2011

Energy and People Conference in Oxford

The Environmental Change Unit at Oxford and UKERC Meeting Place organised an excellent conference 20-21 September. It kicked of with an illuminating and very funny opening lecture by Elizabeth Shove on different ways of conceptualising energy and people: attitudes/behaviour/choice (ABC) or systems of provision and infrastructure or social practices - no prizes for guessing she favoured the latter although her main message was to be aware of your theoretisation and argue for it. Amongst the multiple workshops, I chose the communities and energy one for the first day. We heard about a new complexity based project from Leeds, the work of the HCA and (an impromptu but excellent mini-talk) the PACE scheme from USA which is the model for the UK Green Deal (but coming out of the private not the public sector). There was a reality check about energy crises in Ghana and environmental justice and energy in the UK, details of the UNLOC project from Surry and some interesting ideas on reflexive governance from Denmark. But the community theme did not seem to be where the core interests of this conference lay. Despite Elizabeth Shove's opening cautionary words about the ABC approach, the behavioural theme raised the most interest in the workshops I attended. The one on energy behaviour in non-domestic buildings and in urban development was very lively with talks on the role of investors, tenants, lawyers and letting agents in shaping this behaviour (ECI), identification of different pathways in zero-carbon housebuilding (Manchester) and the impact of Green Building Councils worldwide (Maastricht). The Green Gauge Trust provided warnings about the lack of capacity in the refurb market and ECI identified that this market was worth £28 b.p.a. of which about 45% could be oriented towards low carbon retrofit, an interesting figure to ponder.

From the Planning Research Conference

Energy was not a big theme at the Planning Research Conference recently held at University of Birmingham, but there were a couple of papers of interest. The EPSRC CALEBRE project was highlighted. This looks at retroffiting 'hard to treat' housing stock and one conclusion was strongly emphasised: the lack of skills in the UK SME sector. Loss of insulation at service entry points was often exacerbated by retrofitting and poor installation of energy saving equipment sometimes led to higher energy consumption. Their research showed that consumers are worried about poor workmanship and on this basis they are right! One way forward is for local authorities or NGOs to work on a neighbourhood or street basis and monitor work standards as part of their procurement role.
Another interesting paper came from Germany and looked at cooperatives. Apparently two new energy cooperatives were opening every month in Germany last year. These organisations have climate protection written into their founding charters and can be used for a variety of urban development projects. One advantage is that such cooperatives can access finance, both public and private. An example can be found at www.moeckernkiez.de.

Devolution to cities. Could this be the answer to urban energy decentralisation?

Today, it has been announced that England's biggest cities will be able to bid for powers from central government to boost economic growth, after a series of amendmends to the Localism Bill received cross-party support in the House of Lords. This would pave the way for cities to have greater control over policy areas such as economic growth, housing and planning and regeneration. Cities would also be free to pool resources across functioning economic areas. It seems that cities will be able to bid for freedom to set their own distinctive policies and when they will come up with innovative proposals for doing things differently, the central government will devolve the powers cities need to implement them. Could this be the answer to a more successful and extensive decentralisation of urban energy systems? And how about smaller-scale cities and towns?

Catalina Turcu, UCL
14 September 2011

ARUP Scenarios: Renewables 'could provide 35% of energy capacity by 2020'

A new report by Arup for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) suggests there is huge potential to expand the use of renewable energy technology across the country.

The research looks at three scenarios for the future operation of renewables – low, medium and high – based on the maximum capacity that could be built per year between now and 2030.

The study looks at a range of technologies including wind, solar, hydro, biomass, geothermal and energy from waste, but does not highlight the benefits of one particular renewable technology.

Arup said that it will be up to government, industry and the public to decide how to overcome the barriers to greater use including planning issues and the costs of connection to the grid.

The study provides a detailed picture of generation costs and deployment potential for a wide range of technologies.

Catalina Turcu, UCL
17 June 2011

2011 NESS Part 1 – The 10th Nordic Environmental Social Science Conference, Stockholm

Climate change and the story of two planets

Two planets meet in outer space. One is a beautiful blue marble planet, while the other is a very sad planet, in a poor shape.  The beautiful blue planet asks the other:

-          What ‘on Earth’ has happened to you?

The other says wearily:

-          I’ve got Homo Sapiens!

The beautiful blue marble planet answers back:

-          Don’t worry it will pass quickly!

by Johan Rockstrom, Stockholm Resilience Centre and Stockholm Environment Institute

Catalina Turcu, UCL

17 June 2011

Carbon Capture and Storage event at UCL

You might be interested in the following:

IEEP in collaboration with the Energy Research Centre in the
Netherlands, Cambridge University, the Tyndall Centre, the Fraunhofer
Institute, and CIEMAT are organizing a workshop investigating the public
perception of carbon capture and storage. The conference will be held at the University College of London on June 23rd . For more information, please see:
www.communicationnearco2.eu
or contact Richard Foulsham on:
t. +44 (0)207 679 1511
e. r.foulsham@ucl.ac.uk

Yvonne Rydin

Bavarian Renewables!

Just back from one week holiday to Bavaria, in Germany! I was really impressed by the amount of solar panels (both PV and thermal) pepper-potted in the Bavarian landscape - they were everywhere and sometimes covering HUGE areas!!! - on houses, sheds or temporary roofs, everywhere! Almost every house in certain towns had solar panels on them - and in considerable quantities - and they all FED IN! We also came across two or three really big solar farms (near Wurzburg and Nurnberg from what I remember), big plastic containers for biofuels (usually adjacent to bigger farms) and many wind turbines. However, I couldn't notice the same 'activity' in bigger towns or cities. It seemed to me that the 'renewables deployment' was considerably more advanced in rural and semi-urban areas than in urban areas. Why?

The farmer we stayed with explained that the government has very strong financial incentives in place for solar energy generation: the unit of generated solar electricity was almost double the price of traditional energy. In addition, farmers were offered a 20-year deal during which the 'double' price was fixed and on average the first 10 years paid for the investment while the next 10 made a healthy profit for the farmer. He thought (and this is interesting for the CLUES project) that it is more difficult to make it profitable or apply the same scale of deployment to urban areas where roofs were smaller and more compact, or it might prove difficult to agree a deal in multi-occupancy buildings (where more than one household lived under the same roof) where homeowners had to agree a common ground. He also told us that the wind turbines were mainly the enterprise of energy companies and were somehow unpopular with the general public because of altering the landscape (heard it before!) and that many farms were generating biofuel!

Catalina Turcu, UCL
6 June 2011

Researcher Wanted in Energy Case Study Development

A Researcher is required to work on the CLUES: CHALLENGING LOCK-IN THROUGH URBAN ENERGY SYSTEMS project at Loughborough University.

The post involves investigating the potential for local urban energy schemes to contribute to the UK’s long term carbon reduction targets to 2050 and the development of innovative urban energy case studies incorporating learning from Europe and further afield.

Experience in case study development and handling large and complex qualitative and quantitative datasets and paper writing is essential. Experience of organising and carrying out workshops, state of the art reviews and interviewing is desirable. You will have a good first degree in engineering, social sciences, business studies, geography or environment (other disciplines may also be acceptable).

Further information at:

http://jobs.lboro.ac.uk/index.php?page=Details&id=1422

http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/ACQ231/research-associate-in-energy-case-study-development/

Closing Date for applications: Thursday 09 June 2011

For an informal discussion please contact Dr Chris Goodier at C.I.Goodier@lboro.ac.uk, +44(0)1509 222623, Department of Civil and Building Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 3TU.