People and energy


Carbon targets cannot be met without understanding how energy demand is created. So how do people fit into the whole energy system, asks James O’Toole.


In order to achieve ambitious national and international targets for the reduction of greenhouse gases and mitigation of climate change, a sea change is needed in the way we all use energy in the coming decades. Many researchers focus on the technical challenges of different types of energy provision from the supply side, including gas, electric, nuclear, wind, wave and solar, as well as on increased energy efficiency. However, greater knowledge of how and why people use energy is an essential element to inform far- reaching changes. To this end, the Research Councils UK Energy Programme is funding research into future energy needs and how to meet the UK’s carbon emission targets. As part of a £30 million programme, running from 2013 to 2018, work is being carried out at six End Use Energy Demand (EUED) Centres which include more than 200 researchers from 25 institutions. Strong links with industry and policymakers are also in place. The Centres are multi-disciplinary and equally focused on social and physical sciences/engineering. They aim to provide deeper understanding of the way energy is used in the UK to influence policy, industry and the general public to adapt to meet carbon targets (see ‘Meet the research centres’)


Efficiency versus demand


Researchers are keen for public debate to make the key distinction between energy efficiency and energy demand. For example, a more energy-efficient car that costs less to run may actually lead to people driving the car more, leading to no net reduction in energy used. This ‘rebound’ effect is equally observable with household appliances and electronic devices.


The Centre on Innovation and Energy Demand (CIED), has carried out extensive work in this area. Researchers here use a ‘socio-technical’ approach to look at the impact of new technologies, such as heat pumps; social arrangements, including car sharing; and modes of behaviour, say, cycling, on reducing energy demand. Critically, the Centre also explores why innovations that look good on paper are not taken up in the real world, and what policy mechanisms and incentives can accelerate their adoption.


Understanding demand


But what is demand? Discussions of how much we drive and how appliances are used


Meet the research centres The End Use Energy Demand Centres consist of the six key centres below:


n Centre for Energy Epidemiology n Centre for Sustainable Energy Use in Food Chains n Centre on Innovation and Energy Demand n Dynamics of Energy, Mobility and Demand n Interdisciplinary Centre for Storage, Transformation and Upgrading of Thermal Energy


Energy epidemiology


The Centre for Energy Epidemiology links data from energy companies with data about buildings and people from other sources to build a clearer picture of how people use energy, and whether taking certain energy saving actions is effective. Importantly, with the ongoing rollout of Smart Meters across the UK, we potentially have much more fine- grained and comprehensive data to work with, when concerns over data protection and data gathering techniques are worked out. This data should help us gain richer and deeper insights into what’s happening now, and into which policies and technologies are successful.


Consumer insights


People aside, businesses often make decisions based on what they think the consumer wants, but are they always correct? For example, many supermarkets are reluctant to introduce doors on chiller cabinets to save energy because consumers will be turned off and go elsewhere. However, as we have seen with the 5p carrier bag charge, the London Congestion Charge and


raise the question of how patterns of energy demand become ‘normal’ and how this changes over time.


DEMAND - Dynamics of Energy, Mobility and Demand - is a research centre funded by the RCUK Energy Programme, with support from ECLEER (EDF R&D), Transport for London and the International Energy Agency. The centre started work in May 2013 and will continue until 2018.


Researchers at the centre focus on how energy is used as part of practices that are socially shared. For example, driving to the gym to exercise is a practice that has become normal for many people, but it is sustained by various forms of energy use, including energy used by the car as well as in the gym building in terms of lighting and air conditioning. Such practices cannot be seen as individual ‘behaviour’ as this framing neglects the fact that what we do is embedded in infrastructures, systems of provision and wider meanings, and societal norms. Given this, DEMAND researchers start from the perspective that energy is not used for its own sake but in the course of carrying out social practices at home, work and in moving around. These practices, and what are seen as normal ways of living, are constantly evolving along with the development of technologies and infrastructures. Consequently, when planning for future energy use we should be clear that social practices will continue to change and that there is therefore scope to steer these processes of change towards lower energy ways of living.


Tracking food life cycles


The Centre for Sustainable Energy Use in Food Chains (CSEF), looks at the food chain as a whole and how energy is used from farming and food production to waste disposal via supermarkets, restaurants and factories. Taking this approach allows a greater understanding of overall energy use by a specific product, rather than just in production, transportation or storage.


Heating and cooling


Meanwhile, the Interdisciplinary Centre for Storage, Transformation and Upgrading of Thermal Energy (i-STUTE), is developing technology to offer more efficient heating and cooling. Researchers here also look at the economics, policy and behaviour of reducing energy demand.


For example, what makes business models for introducing energy efficient products into the market successful or not? And in a home energy market where switching is becoming more common and there are hundreds of different tariffs available, what makes customers choose the tariffs they do?


Product lifetimes


Another area of energy demand research covers product lifetimes. To this end, the Centre for Industrial Energy, Materials and Products (CIE-MAP), focuses on the energy and materials used in industrial production. Work on product lifetimes explores consumer durables markets in which cheaper products with shorter lifespans result in unsustainable levels of waste. A tendency amongst consumers to invest in costlier products has receded over a few generations. As goods decline in price, and sometimes quality, consumers increasingly throw them away as they age rather than repair them. Consumers are also under pressure to keep up with technology. For example, mobile phone users upgrade devices every two years, throwing away many working devices. However, Tim Cooper, Professor of Sustainable Design and Consumption at Nottingham Trent University, believes attitudes may be changing, highlighting initiatives such as the sustainable electronics project, Restart. This social enterprise encourages people to learn to fix broken devices at its workshops. So with this whistle-stop tour of cutting edge research in energy demand we can see the great value of developing greater understanding of energy use. With this understanding we can help change attitudes


James O’Toole is the EUED Centres Coordinator based at UCL Energy Institute.


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changes in the law on smoking, these types of changes can be introduced into society.


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