About

The Energy and Environment Research Unit (EERU) was set up in 1986 to undertake and co-ordinate research on sustainable energy technologies and to support the development of environmentally sound approaches to the generation and use of energy. The Unit was staffed by members of the Faculty of Mathematics, Computing and Technology (MCT) and was directed by Stephen Peake. EERU was also part of the Sustainable Technologies Group (STG), a wider research grouping within the MCT Faculty which also included the Design Innovation Group (DIG) and the Integrated Waste Systems (IWS) Group.

In addition to supporting a wide range of post-graduate research work, EERU also ran the course T206 “Energy for a Sustainable Future” within the Open University’s undergraduate programme.

Overview EERU’s Expertise and Interests

EERU’s main areas of interest and expertise were in:

• Renewable Energy;
• Efficient energy use;
• Sustainable energy policies and future scenarios;
• Climate Change;
• Distance Learning Courses in Sustainable Energy;
• Information Outreach on Renewable Energy.

Renewable Energy

In the renewable energy field, the main areas of EERU interest and expertise, and the principal academics involved, were:
• Building-integrated and Offshore wind power (Derek Taylor and Godfrey Boyle);
• Solar Photovoltaics (Godfrey Boyle, Steve Plater);
• Solar Thermal Energy (Bob Everett);
• Tidal Power (Dave Elliott);
• Biofuels (Jonathan Scurlock);
• Regional renewable energy studies (Derek Taylor, Godfrey Boyle);
• Renewable energy in the new EU accession countries (Dave Elliott, Terry Cook).

Efficient Energy Use

In the field of efficient energy use, EERU’s main areas of interest and expertise, and the principal researchers involved, were:
• Energy efficient and sustainable building design (Bob Everett, Derek Taylor, Susan Roaf);
• Combined Heat and Power (Bob Everett);
• Energy Management Policies (Horace Herring, Bob Everett);
• Domestic Energy Monitoring and Control (Malcolm Fowles);
• Energy in Transport (Stephen Potter);
• Social Factors influencing energy use (Horace Herring).

Sustainable Energy Policies and Future Scenarios

• Energy and Climate Change Scenarios (Stephen Peake, Godfrey Boyle);
• Environmental Impacts of Energy Use (Dave Elliott, Godfrey Boyle);
• Carbon Capture and Storage (Godfrey Boyle);
• Carbon Trading and Offsetting (Stephen Peake);
• Nuclear Energy Policy (Dave Elliott, Andy Blowers);
• Energy Systems Modelling (Godfrey Boyle).

Distance Learning Courses in Sustainable Energy

Members of EERU formed the core course team that produced and presented the Open University undergraduate course T206 Energy for a Sustainable Future. For this course, they produced three major textbooks, co-published with Oxford University Press: Energy Systems and Sustainability (2003), Renewable Energy (2004), and Managing Transport Energy (2007). These textbooks were made available to the general public, from booksellers or via the OUP website. EERU members were also active in the production of other Open University courses, including T152 Energy Measurements at Home, T172 Working with the Environment: Technology for a Sustainable Future, and T307 Innovation: Designing for a Sustainable Future. They were working on U116 Environment. Introductory EERU course material on sustainable energy was also available via the OpenLearn website.

EERU Information and Outreach

EERU was also very active in providing information on sustainable energy to the general public, through papers, books, reports, DVDs, and conferences. EERU’s bi-monthly magazine Renew had, for more than 25 years, been an invaluable source of news and background information in the field of renewable and sustainable energy. EERU members produced and edited numerous journal and conference papers, magazine articles, research reports, and books in the sustainable energy field. EERU also organised a series of major conferences on sustainable energy issues, held in the Open University’s Berrill Lecture Theatre in Milton Keynes. In 2006–07, these included: Nuclear or Not, Locating Renewables in Community Contexts, Coping with Variability, and New Europe, New Energy (organised in collaboration with the UK Energy Research Centre). The conferences were webcast and made available on DVD. They also resulted in the publication of several associated books, including Nuclear or Not (Elliott D, ed., Palgrave-Macmillan, 2007) and Renewable Energy and the Grid (Boyle G, ed., Earthscan, 2007). EERU members were also active in submitting evidence to Government Inquiries, most recently to the 2006 DTI Energy Review (Boyle and Everett, 2006).

Research Challenge

Air pollution, acid rain, oil spills from tankers, accidents in coal mines, and oil rig fires were just some of the environmental and social problems associated with the use of coal, oil, and gas by our industrial civilisation.

Burning these “fossil fuels” also made a major contribution to the rising level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The increasing “greenhouse” effect of this and other gases probably caused a significant rise in global temperatures over the following decades, leading to disruptive changes in the Earth’s climate.

Nuclear energy, although not contributing to acid rain or the greenhouse effect, also involved hazards to people and the environment. These occurred in the mining and transport of nuclear fuel, its processing and re-processing, and the storage of radioactive wastes. There was also a small but not insignificant risk of major nuclear power plant accidents.

It seemed clear that if the energy needs of the planet’s rapidly increasing population were to be met without irreparable environmental damage, there would have had to be a worldwide drive to conserve energy and improve the efficiency of its use, in order to minimise the environmental impact of every tonne of fuel burned.

Equally important would have been a major programme to harness renewable energy sources, principally solar energy and its derivatives—wind, wave, hydro, and biomass. These had the potential to meet all our energy needs for the foreseeable future, cleanly, safely, and economically.

EERU’s Aims and Objectives

Broadly, the work of EERU was concerned with:

the human energy system;
the biosphere seen as a solar-powered system; and
the interaction between these systems.

The Unit’s Aims were:

to advance and disseminate knowledge of energy systems and their interactions with the biosphere, with particular emphasis on those systems which enabled the energy needs of society to be met sustainably;
to promote interdisciplinary research in fields related to energy and the environment.

EERU’s Objectives were:

To develop educational material where appropriate on the above topics. environmentally benign energy systems for the 21st century and beyond presented a formidable challenge, requiring a vigorous research and development effort.
To study the ways in which energy was used in society, and the potential reductions in energy demand and environmental impact that could be achieved, without loss of amenity, by improved energy efficiency, monitoring, control and planning measures;
To study the physical, technological, economic, social and environmental aspects of energy supply systems, and in particular the renewable energy sources;
To design, develop and assess specific devices and systems for improved energy efficiency and renewable energy supply;
To study the interactions between energy use, human society and the biosphere, through the development of energy models;
To assess Government policy on energy and environmental issues at local, national and international levels;

In the Open University Energy and Environment Research Unit (EERU), they had been responding to the challenge since the mid-1970s. EERU was an interdisciplinary group of physicists, engineers, designers, environmental scientists, biologists, and social scientists. The Unit at that time included some 15 full-time staff, post-graduate students, and consultants.

EERU Conferences

New Europe-New Energy: Renewable Energy for the Expanded EU
A one-day conference was held at The Open University on 26th September 2006, with support from the UK Energy Research Centre, DTI Trade and Promotion, and the EPSRC.

Coping with Variability: Integrating Renewables into the Electricity System
A one-day conference was held at The Open University on 24th January 2006.

Locating Renewables in Community Contexts
A one-day conference was held at The Open University on 15th November 2005. It was hosted by EERU and The University of Birmingham.

Nuclear or Not? Do We Need Nuclear Power to Tackle Climate Change?
A one-day conference was held at The Open University on 15th March 2005. It was hosted by EERU and the Geography Discipline.

Submissions

September 2002 EERU Submission On Energy Policy
May 2001 The EERU evidence on wave and tidal power
April 2000 Comments by EERU to the MAFF Consultation on the England Rural Development Plan, Energy Crops Scheme.
May99 EERU Submissions to the DTI consultation on the Renewable Energy Review and to the Consultation on the Climate Change Levy.
Feb. 1999 Written evidence on Renewable Energy submitted by Dr. D.A.Elliott to the House of Lords Select Committee on the European Communities, Sub Committee’B’, Feb 1999.

Outreach and NATA

In addition to work on OU courses, EERU supported a number of projects designed to communicate information on sustainable energy to a wider audience.

NATTA, RENEW and RENEW on-line

The Network for Alternative Technology and Technology Assessment (NATTA) was an information service that had been based until recently within EERU. Although later independent, it continued to publish reports and its bi-monthly 30-page journal, Renew, which offered subscribers the latest information on renewable energy developments and policy, and it retained links with EERU.

Professor David Elliott edited RENEW, and NATTA was co-ordinated by Tam Dougan, who also dealt with inquiries from the general public. Terry Cook was involved with multimedia work for NATTA.

It was also made available to students in file form on the T206 course via the course’s First Class computer conference.

Following its successful first two videos, produced in 1998 and 1999 by Terry Cook, NATTA produced a third, on the UK Green Power market, entitled ‘Greening Electricity’. This also proved very successful and was shown on the Sky Community Channel in June 2002. Extracts from the NATTA videos were used, in streaming video form, for the website produced by Terry Cook for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which was funded by the DTI.

Two new NATTA videos were produced in 2010 for YouTube. They were on solar and wind power. A third one, on tidal power, was produced as a DVD which was available from NATTA. The short ‘taster’ version can be seen below:

In September 2009, Prof. Elliott and Tam Dougan retired from the OU, and NATTA became independent of EERU and the OU. They continued to produce Renew as an independent publication. However, Renew On Line remained available via the EERU website and to T206 students.

‘New Europe New Energy’ Project

The EERU ‘New Europe New Energy’ Project aimed to help provide information and support for the adoption of renewable energy technologies in the new and candidate EU member countries in Central and Eastern Europe. It initially focused on the Baltic states, with, for example, workshops and seminars in Lithuania, and then worked with groups like REEEP. It moved, via Romania and Bulgaria, to the Balkans, most recently focusing on Croatia, Kosovo, and Albania.

Team

Godfrey Boyle, Senior Lecturer (Director)

Professor David Elliott (Emeritus Professor)

Dr Bob Everett, Lecturer

Dr Stephen Peake, Senior Lecturer

Professor Stephen Potter

Malcolm Fowles, Lecturer

Dr Derek Taylor, Visiting Lecturer in Renewable Energy

Dr Janet Ramage, Visiting Lecturer in Renewable Energy

Professor Andrew Blowers, Visiting Professor

Dr Jonathan Scurlock, Visiting Research Fellow

Horace Herring, Visiting Research Fellow

Terry Cook, Visiting Research Fellow

Secretarial Staff

Claire Emburey (part-time)

Postgraduate Students

Antonio Aguilo (part-time external)

Ian Billington (part-time external)

Alexi Clarke (part-time external)

Keith Midgley (part-time external)

Steve Plater (part-time external)

Archived Research Summary:

EERU

Energy and Environment Research Unit