What role should local governments play in heat transitions? Lessons from the Netherlands and England

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by Anna Devenish

This blog was originally posted on the ‘Going Dutch?’ project website on 30/11/2022.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to a dramatic increase in natural gas prices and an unprecedented energy crisis in the European Union and the United Kingdom. The longer-term goal of reducing dependence on natural gas for domestic heating has become more urgent.

England and the Netherlands have committed to the goal of heat decarbonisation and natural gas phase-out in the residential sector by 2050. Both countries are looking at the same range of technologies, including heat pumps, heat networks, biogas, and potentially green hydrogen. 

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Posted in 'Whole systems' perspectives, Energy Governance and Policy, Energy infrastructure, Energy systems and supply technology, Housing, Local Energy, policy, renewables

Some initial responses to the Autumn Statement

Posted on by Richard Flockemann — No Comments ↓

On Thursday 17 November 2022, Jeremy Hunt, the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, made his anxiously awaited autumn statement. In doing so, he announced a number of energy-related polices for the United Kingdom, including green-lighting the Sizewell C Nuclear power plant, a new windfall tax on low-carbon electricity generators, targeted support on energy bills for the most vulnerable, new energy demand reduction targets, and additional funds to improve energy efficiency. 

I spoke to some of the Sussex Energy Group’s energy policy experts to see what they made of it. Here’s what they said. 

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Posted in All Posts, Energy and Society, Energy demand and behaviour, Energy Governance and Policy, Energy infrastructure, Energy systems and supply technology, Political economy of energy, renewables, Retrofitting buildings, Wind energy

Why You Should Consider a Place-Based Approach to Hydrogen

Posted on by Ralitsa Hiteva — No Comments ↓

Hydrogen is very much on the agenda at COP27’s Energy Day today (15 November 2022). In today’s programme there are two separate sessions devoted to exploring hydrogen’s potential not only as a replacement for fossil fuels, but also as a source of green, inclusive, economic growth in Africa and beyond. 

As it happens, this is a conversation I can contribute to. As project lead on the CREDS funded project: Place-based business models for Net Zero I have been exploring how to develop hydrogen solutions that create value locally for your economy, communities and the environment.  As part of this project, my colleague (and fellow SEG member) Dr Giulia Mininni and I have reviewed 26 regional and national level hydrogen strategies to identify the key drivers and best practices you should consider when developing a hydrogen strategy for your region.  Here’s a short summary of what we found. 

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Posted in 'Whole systems' perspectives, All Posts, Energy Innovation and Digitalisation, Energy systems and supply technology, policy, renewables

Canada needs an energy poverty strategy. Here’s what it might look like.

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Professor Runa Das presenting her work at the Sussex Energy Group in October 2022.
Professor Runa R. Das

With COP27 now underway in Egypt,  the question of how to deliver a just transition is very much on the agenda. 

Greening a country’s economy in a way that’s fair and inclusive is a complex issue, with challenges that vary from country to country. But one issue many governments need to grapple with is energy poverty – the inability of households to adequately heat, cool, or light their homes.  

In October 2022, the David Suzuki Foundation released Keeping the Lights On, a pioneering new report on energy poverty in Canada, an important issue that’s still flying under the radar for  Canada’s policymakers. 

This report is co-authored by SEG Co-director Professor Mari Martiskainen and Dr Runa Das, an  Associate Professor at Royal Roads University. It sets out a series of actionable, evidence-based policy recommendations that could serve as a starting point for a Canadian energy poverty strategy. 

In October 2022, soon after the report’s launch, Das visited the Sussex Energy Group to tell us about her work. 

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Posted in All Posts, Energy efficiency and energy security, Energy Governance and Policy

We need to talk about the Genetic Technology (Precision-Breeding) Bill

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By Adrian Ely

On Monday (31 October), the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill came back to the Commons chamber for its third reading.  As Boris Johnson put it, the bill aims to “liberate the UK’s extraordinary bioscience sector from anti genetic modification rules”. In Conservative circles, it’s widely seen as a key opportunity arising from Brexit.  

But deregulating biotechnologies can have profound effects on a country’s social and environmental systems. And it can lock us in to a particular approach to new technologies that last for decades to come.  My research shows that changes in biotechnology regulation should be made carefully, and be informed by broader and more considered societal debate around the emerging biotechnologies that could transform our lives. 

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Posted in All Posts, policy

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The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the individual authors and do not represent Sussex Energy Group.

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