Energy, Environment and Sustainability Group
Its output is a statement drafted in the final conference session which is intended to be presented by the Engineering Institutions to Government (DECC) in order to inform the development of the UK’s energy strategy beyond 2050. In this way it will augment the DECC Energy 2050 Pathways work taking this forward beyond its current end date. An additional output of the conference is the potential to identify any necessary research required in the medium term to deliver the indentified strategies.
The conference represents a real opportunity for engineers to hear the latest thinking on climate change, the potential for energy demand management and energy production possibilities to meet that demand towards the end of the century and to use this information to influence Government thinking on the UK’s long term energy strategy.
An important aspect of the conference is that it is developed by a steering group composed of the main energy related institutions supported by DECC representatives. The institutions involved are: the IMechE, NI, IET, IChemE, ICE, RAEng, and the Energy Institute. The Institution is represented jointly by the Power Industry Division (Specifically the Nuclear Power Committee) and the Energy, Environment and Sustainability Group and also have the role of conference administration.
The steering group have constructed a conference programme comprising a mix of senior government, industry and academic speakers; view the full programme. The conference takes place on 4-5 March 2014 and the venue is the BIS conference centre at 1 Victoria Street, London. There is a conference dinner on the night of 4 March at the ICE offices.
The first morning of the conference is opened by the Energy Minister setting expectations for the event following which the scene is set by the Government Chief Scientist Sir Mark Walport. Further presentations during this morning session include an update on climate change data from the MET office and the current position of the Energy 2050 pathways work by DECC. This session concludes with a QA session chaired by the President of the Nuclear Institute Rr Adm (Rtd) Tim Chittenden.
Initially the first afternoon is made of two parallel sessions investigating scenarios for the production and use of electricity and heat respectively. Finally in a session chaired by Sir John Parker the President of the RAEng, energy demand reduction will be examined.
After a brief recap of day one, day two commences with parallel sessions investigating energy transmission and uses of energy for transport.
The afternoon of day two, chaired by Prof Patrick Kniveton, President of the Institution, commences with three sessions: the first on Adaptation, the second on the Energy Hierarchy (presented by Prof Ian Arbon) and the third a projection of the existing Energy 2050 pathways work. These act as a precursor to the final session in which Patrick Kniveton will facilitate a discussion by delegates aimed at constructing a briefing note which subsequently can be presented by the Engineering Institutions to DECC.
In conclusion, for any Engineer interested in the sustainable management of energy in the UK towards the end of this century attendance at this conference is a must. Not only will you be provided with the most up to date thinking on energy related issues but you also have the chance to contribute to a statement to be presented to DECC to inform their development of long term UK energy scenarios.