CONFERENCE INTERNATIONAL ENERGY RESEARCH CENTRE
FUEL FOR THOUGHT
Professor Tony Day, director of the International Energy Research Centre (IERC), reports on a lively annual conference that raised some bold ideas on energy use and generation in the 21st century
T
his year’s IERC conference was a coming of age. Taking its theme as ‘Integrated energy in the 21st century’, it brought together speakers, from
industry, policy and academia. It also gave us the opportunity to take the temperature of the audience, to encourage frank and lively dialogue, and to gain a greater understanding of energy issues from their perspective. The conference took place in Dublin and
was aligned with the European SET Plan Conference, the focus of which was to help formulate a strategic energy technology plan for the European Union. Speakers included Joan MacNaughton and James Wilde of UK organisations the Energy Institute and the Carbon Trust and, from industry, David Parekh of United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) and Jorge Arinez of General Motors. In her address, MacNaughton, president of
the Energy Institute, called for much stronger action on energy efficiency, describing it as the one policy area that pushed all the buttons for the ‘energy trilemma’ of security, affordability and emissions reduction. She warned that, policies can have unintended consequences, and options need to be rigorously assessed to ensure the right things are done in the right way. She called on governments to better understand investment requirements. ‘What is needed from all energy professionals is a strong narrative both on why we need to drive energy efficiencies and on the best approaches on a general level and, where appropriate, on a detailed level. This needs to be underpinned by a good research base, such as the IERC,’ she said. Parekh, vice-president research and
director of UTRC, spoke on the need to drive improvements in the energy use of buildings. He pointed out that, when asked about heavy carbon users, people often focus on transport and aviation. But aviation is only responsible for two per cent of our total world energy use and transport as a whole is at 27%, whereas
26 CIBSE Journal September 2013
IERC member representatives from Alcatel Lucent, Bilfinger, Bord Gais Energy, Bord Gais Networks, General Motors, I2E2, UTRC
of the impact they will have on carbon savings and economic benefit for the UK. Key to its methodology is leveraging the private sector and tailoring interventions to the specific market barriers that each technology faces. Wilde gave the example of the Carbon
buildings represent nearly 40% – and if factories are included, 67%. Parekh argued
that there was realistic potential to achieve 10- 20% improvement on energy use in existing buildings through retrofitting, and 50-70% in new-builds. If we achieved that, he added, ‘it would be the equivalent of taking every car, bus and train off the road worldwide’. The key challenge, he said, was not creating
an energy-efficient building, but doing so scalably and affordably, so it could be replicated across markets, sectors and the globe. Parekh stressed the importance of thinking
about the life cycle of a building and the value of integrating factors such as the building’s operation, weather conditions, utilities, pricing and peak power demands. He said we should reconsider how people were taught to design, and how to ensure that the design intent was preserved. What’s built needed to be commissioned properly and the design values needed to persist throughout the life cycle, even through eventual retrofits. Wilde, director of innovation and policy
at the Carbon Trust, whose role it is to help businesses, governments and the public sector to accelerate the move to a low-carbon economy, took a close look at funding. He highlighted the Carbon Trust’s approach to new technologies, scrutinising them in terms
Trust’s US$5m partnership with General Electric, in which the trust scouts early-stage technology companies. This reduces the transaction costs for large corporates and helps innovators gain access to large companies. For more cautious start-ups, the trust finds ways to protect their intellectual property to create a mutually beneficial relationship. The conference concluded with a debate
on the relative merits of energy efficiency and renewable technologies. John Killey of CitiGroup and Steven Fawkes of Day One Energy argued for greater focus to be placed on energy efficiency, while Brian Mark of Mott MacDonald and Jim Gannon of RPS Group made the case for supply-side measures. Both sides’ arguments ignited strong participation from the floor. After a vote, the pro-energy-efficiency camp appeared to have carried the day, but right at the end a third option was proposed: that public money should be used for renewable energy, while the private sector should invest more heavily in energy efficiency, which is seen to be more cost-effective. This was strongly supported, and for us it ensured that our most successful conference to date ended on a high. CJ
THE INTERNATIONAL ENERGY RESEARCH CENTRE is based in Cork and provides transformative energy research solutions relevant to business needs. Areas of research focus include building energy management, energy efficient lighting, energy harvesting and storage, integrated energy systems, business models for energy efficiency, ICT networks for home, industry and smart grid systems and behaviour change
www.cibsejournal.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76