Category: Energy

Anti-fracking protesters with yellow signs saying "frack free Lancashire"
Energy, Mitigation, Policy

Fracking Q&A: The background, the ban and what’s coming next

Last weekend, the United Kingdom Government announced a moratorium on fracking, based on evidence from a report by the Oil & Gas Authority (OGA). In this Q&A, Imperial’s Karen Makuch, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Law, and Miriam Aczel, President’s Scholar at the Centre for Environmental Policy, consider what led to the ban, and what it might mean for the UK energy sector going forwards.   What … Continue reading Fracking Q&A: The background, the ban and what’s coming next

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A nurse leans over a small baby, being held by a man, in a small rural hospital
Energy, Health

Energy for life – The underestimated component for good healthcare provision

Muriel Hauser, visiting research postgraduate at the Grantham Institute, considers why electricity is so important for healthcare, and how improving access to energy can improve access to healthcare for all people.  Have you ever worried that a blackout might occur when you’re in hospital? That an operation could be interrupted because of a power outage, or that it could be impossible to get an X-ray … Continue reading Energy for life – The underestimated component for good healthcare provision

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Dam spans deep river valley, with water gushing out and green-sided hills to either side
Energy, Student blogs, Water

The pitfalls of hydroelectric power in drought-prone Africa

Alvaro Lara, former student on the MSc Climate Change, Management & Finance programme, considers Africa’s reliance on hydroelectric power, the impact of climate change on the water cycle and why current plans to invest in more hydroelectric projects may not be a route to energy security. For much of 2017, one of the world’s least-developed countries, Malawi in south-east Africa, experienced intermittent blackouts as a result of … Continue reading The pitfalls of hydroelectric power in drought-prone Africa

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Heindl’s Gravity Storage - graphic showing a huge mass of rock in a cylinder, held up by water
Energy, Mitigation, Student blogs

Gravity – the solution to energy storage?

Oliver Schmidt, research postgraduate on the Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet DTP who is funded by the Grantham Institute, recently authored a report analysing the costs of gravity-based energy storage options. In this blog, he considers why harnessing the power of gravity could revolutionise energy storage in the future. Lithium-ion batteries seem to be used everywhere – from tablets and smart phones, to electric … Continue reading Gravity – the solution to energy storage?

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Energy, Mitigation, Policy

The energy conundrum: Bringing carbon under control and reversing rising emissions

Neil Hirst, Senior Policy Fellow at the Grantham Institute and author of The Energy Conundrum, Climate Change, Global Prosperity, and the Tough Decisions We Have to Make, considers the outlook for global energy and how to bring rising carbon emissions under control. Twenty-five years ago, the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) treaty was set up to tackle the causes of global … Continue reading The energy conundrum: Bringing carbon under control and reversing rising emissions

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Energy, Mitigation

The future of the electricity utility – decision time for US stakeholders

Last month, Grantham Affiliates Dr Jeffrey Hardy and Dr Chris Mazur travelled to Chicago to run a ‘Decision Theatre’ workshop with participants from the US energy supply chain as part of the Utility 2050 project. Here, they consider the findings of the workshop, the differences across the pond, and the potential for collaboration. The Utility 2050 project, originally conceived by the Energy Research Partnership, offers … Continue reading The future of the electricity utility – decision time for US stakeholders

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Solar heat water heater and chimney
Energy, Mitigation

Could solar-thermal be the solution for low-carbon heating?

Well-established solar heat technologies could be playing a key role in creating a sustainable future energy system and meeting an increasing global demand for energy, according to our latest briefing paper. “Solar-thermal and hybrid photovoltaic-thermal systems for renewable heating” looks at the continuing potential of this technology and what stands in the way. Dr Alexander Mellor, Research Associate in the Department of Physics and co-author of … Continue reading Could solar-thermal be the solution for low-carbon heating?

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Energy, Mitigation

Energy Utopia: What stands in the way of smart, clean, affordable, customer-led energy?

Last year, Dr Jeffrey Hardy took a career break from his role as Head of Sustainable Energy Futures at Ofgem and joined the Grantham Institute as a Senior Research Fellow. He has been imagining a future where your relationship with your energy company is different to the present, and why new business models must put customers in the driving seat of the low-carbon transformation. Here he … Continue reading Energy Utopia: What stands in the way of smart, clean, affordable, customer-led energy?

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Energy, Policy, Student blogs

Don’t score an own goal on energy policy: Fatih Birol presents the World Energy Outlook at Imperial

The International Energy Agency’s most important report is a warning that words are not enough, and now is the time for every country to play their best game, according to Jonathan Bosch, an Imperial PhD student on the Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet Doctoral Training Partnership. The Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol, made the first UK public presentation of … Continue reading Don’t score an own goal on energy policy: Fatih Birol presents the World Energy Outlook at Imperial

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business, Energy, finance, Innovation, Policy

The similarities between our energy outlook and BP’s will surprise you

New analysis foreshadows a dwindling demand for fossil fuels, but what will the oil companies make of the future? Grantham Institute Director of Policy and Translation, Alyssa Gilbert, looked into her crystal ball to find out. Continue reading The similarities between our energy outlook and BP’s will surprise you

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