Energy saving
Research Topic
Language: English
This is a research topic created to provide authors with a place to attach new problem publications.
Research problems linked to this topic
- What are the strengths and limitations of advanced and emerging vehicle designs and technologies, from personal electric vehicles through to automated shuttles, and how can we enable their safe and secure use on roads?
- What are the interventions needed to reverse climate change or at least hold it steady to begin to mitigate the multiple stresses it causes?
- What are more carbon-efficient practices that the police should look to adopt when responding to incidents?
- What are the relative merits of existing, emerging, and future technologies in helping to decarbonise aviation? What adaptations will be required for the aviation sector to successfully adopt new zero-emission technologies?
- How can we effectively use nature on our land to help provide the services we need (carbon uptake, flood defence, resilience through biodiversity, clean air and water, recreation for public health and so on) and balance the provision of these services?
- How can we build resilience of biodiversity and society to climate change through ecosystem restoration, better land management, and land use?
- How can DWP best contribute to net zero by driving reductions in emissions through work and pensions policies, estates and operations?
- What are the opportunities and risks presented by Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), including its role in supporting greater energy efficiency in future?
- How should mitigation of other greenhouse gases and pollutants be compared to and combined with CO2 mitigation (i.e., what is the balance of action and what are the appropriate metrics to compare them), and what do these mean for the timing of the requirement for net zero emissions?
- Are there risks associated with this new energy landscape and how could they be best controlled? Do co-located technologies pose new hazards and risks? What new hazards arise from how new energy systems are integrated and controlled?
- How can we most effectively implement nature-based solutions, such as tree planting and peatland restoration, to address climate change, support progress to net zero carbon emission, reduce biodiversity loss and prevent poverty?
- What factors incentivise or disincentivise people to make energy improvements? What are relevant examples of how people’s behaviours have changed (e.g. to invest in energy efficient measures)? And what are the most effective ways to provide trusted advice to individuals to inform their decisions?
- How can we encourage more sustainable travel behaviours?
- Evaluate the technologies that will drive clean networks/power efficiency: harnessing semiconductors and AI to drive more efficient telecom radios and network optimisation.
- What are the positive and negative environmental impacts of increasing renewable energy production (wind, solar, geothermal, and so on) and other actions taken to decarbonise the economy?
- What skills are needed to implement improvements in creative industries environmental impact and to meet Net Zero targets? What are the best mechanisms for developing these skills in the workforce?
- What future electric vehicle charging technology will be available? What are the advantages and disadvantages? And what groups of electric vehicle users will it mostly benefit?
- How can we best model and understand the impacts on a global level of environmental policy actions?
- How long does it take for the CO2eq emissions from the production, shipping, installation and use of fibre to result in a net emission saving overuse of copper?
- How can a more strategic approach to land use be developed through aligning climate change objectives (adaptation and mitigation) with objectives for biodiversity and ecosystem services? How can the environmental co-benefits of mitigation actions be identified and quantified?
- What are the broader environmental consequences of changes to the housing and planning system, and what is needed to support a lower-carbon future?
- What sustainable vehicle alternatives can policing turn to that are capable of meeting requirements for performance and weight?
- What is the impact of rising sea level on coastal systems, natural, and human? Can natural systems help to mitigate against coastal incursion and degradation?
- What actions would most effectively and efficiently improve the status of the natural environment and secure economic, social, and health benefits domestically and globally?
- What factors increase the risk of gaps between design/modelled performance, and actual energy or other performance of buildings? Of these factors, which are the most significant in terms of the ‘performance gap’?
- What is the potential decarbonisation benefit that maritime autonomy can offer?
- What are the environmental effects of emerging technologies?
- How do we reduce the impacts of production on the environment through more sustainable food production, processing, and manufacture? And how do we influence consumer choice towards healthy and sustainable dietary choices?
- What are the current and innovative technologies which could help retrofit existing dwellings or otherwise achieve net zero and build in resilience to climate change goals through the built environment at least cost?
- What are safe speed profiles for trains that optimise capacity, comfort, and energy efficiency?
- What is the full carbon life cycle of fibre? How does this differ where different machineries and processes are used? Are there possible emissions savings that could be made across the lifecycle? What are the ways in which these savings could be implemented or influenced by BDUK or other actors in the market?
- How can behavioural science be used to encourage people and organisations to make more sustainable travel choices?
- How does increased data usage affect power consumption at server and data centres?
- Reducing policing’s environmental impact
- Using climate-smart management, how do we best protect marine biodiversity that might change as a result of climate change?
- What will be the environmental impact of the copper switch-off and recovery of copper wiring? This includes the emissions used to recover the copper wiring, and the emissions savings from reduced need to mine and refine copper?
- How can the UK develop measurement of carbon fluxes from different habitats and farming systems which are in different conditions and using different management approaches? This is especially relevant for peatland and coastal habitats
- How can we monitor emissions arising as a result of digital consumption?
- What is the role of local government in influencing people’s decision-making on energy improvements?
- How will ‘vehicle to grid’ reverse charging impact on electric vehicle battery life?
- What initiatives and activities work in reducing the sector’s environmental and climate impacts?
- How can standard methodologies on measuring greenhouse gas emissions be applied to AHT sectors? What kinds of new sustainability techniques and measures need to be developed specifically for AHT sectors?
- How can the role of human factors in the safe and effective operation of a new energy system be effectively understood?
- What evidence and methods are required to minimise the distortionary effects of carbon border taxes, and overcome the technical obstacles of tracking embedded carbon?
- How can the pathways to decarbonisation of transport be evaluated against the UK’s international climate ambitions?
- What is telecom’s role in achieving net zero and the impact of changing climate? To what extend is telecoms a driver of energy efficiency within and across sectors?
- How can the UK optimise sustainable growth of biomass for use in power generation (bioenergy) and, with appropriate storage, for removal of atmospheric CO2? How can the negative environmental consequences from biomass production and use (on soil quality, water quality, air quality, and biodiversity) be minimised? What’s the full life cycle analysis for different feedstock? What’s the scalability of different feedstocks within sustainable limits?
- Where do interactions exist between climate adaptation in transport infrastructure and other net zero or natural environment policies? Are there any co-benefits/trade-offs and how can we implement solutions that deliver on all these priorities?
- How can we improve the management of our ecosystems, including biodiversity loss, chemical pollution, environmental degradation, and the introduction of alien species, to reduce the risk of infectious zoonotic, animal, and plant diseases?
- How can society and government act to protect and enhance nature, thereby sustaining the ecosystem services (including mitigation and adaptation to climate change) it provides, under a changing climate?
- How can policing establish sustainable science and technology development and procurement practices that contribute to policing’s Net Zero commitments?
- How do low or no emission power methods for 4G mobile masts, such as wind, solar, hydrogen, and other methods, compare to diesel generation power in terms of ;(i) viability, (ii) reliability, (iii) durability, (iv) cost to operate?
- Assess and explain the impact of AHT sectors on climate change and contribution to net zero objectives. What works to mitigate the sectors’ impact to climate change and achieve these objectives?
- How to optimize the deployment of different nature-based solutions to realise their various benefits and avoid negative outcomes (for example some tree planting on peatland)?
- What emerging evidence is there about the future housing market in a post-pandemic world? And how will net zero carbon emission homes affect this?