Keith explains his role and involvement with regards to the seminar, industry challenges, what he is looking forward to at the event and why it is important for engineers to attend.
Q: Please can you briefly explain your current role and expertise on this topic?
Keith Bell (KB): I hold the ScottishPower Chair in Smart Grids at the University of Strathclyde and am a member of the Climate Change Committee (CCC). The CCC is an independent body established by the Climate Change Act in 2008 to advise Government in the UK and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on the reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases and adaptation to climate change. My own expertise relates to the energy system, in particular how the power system should be planned and operated and – of increasing importance – how it interacts with other vectors such as natural gas, hydrogen and heat networks in meeting society’s need for energy with, in less than 30 years, net zero emissions.
Q: What do you think is the number one challenge for the transport industry looking to reduce vehicle emissions?
KB: I think the industry needs to accept that, for us in high income nations, not only the emissions per km travelled need to reduce relative to ‘business as usual’ but also the demand for travel. The pandemic has been devastating for many people and continues to be difficult but, during it, a lot of us have discovered that we don’t need to travel so much. My own view is that we need to think about how we organise not only our work but also our neighbourhoods and how we spend our leisure time. Cheap air travel has given access to foreign holidays for millions of people – many of us have enjoyed that and it’s helped our appreciation of different cultures – but most aviation-related emissions are caused by a relatively small number of frequent flyers.
Q: What would you say is the technology to watch when it comes to alternative fuels?
KB: Perhaps this is no surprise coming from an electrical engineer but I think electrical technologies are the ones to watch – we have low carbon sources of electricity, the benefits of relatively high energy efficiency for electric vehicles and the costs of batteries have come down dramatically though they are still high and there are major challenges in the supply chain. I’m looking especially to the electrochemists for progress!
Q: What is your advice to organisations just starting their work towards sustainable fuels?
KB: As I mentioned, I think society as a whole should re-think “mobility” – the role of private vehicles versus public transport, the support of neighbourhoods and access to services and amenities, the ability of people to work from home and the implications of choices to do so, and so on. However, travel will still be a necessity, for people and goods, for work, leisure and family, and we will need the ability to carry energy stores around. We continue to seek happy combinations of high energy density and low cost, but the minimisation of adverse environmental impacts throughout the lifetimes of fuels and the assets that use them will be a necessity.
Q: What has been your progress and/or biggest achievements when it comes to reducing emissions in transport whether that be through fuel research or implementation?
KB: I think the CCC has succeeded in raising awareness of the need for both emissions reduction and adaptation to climate change, producing well-researched, clearly presented evidence making the case for action by policy-makers, companies, organisations and individuals. The policy landscape has come a long way over the last 13 years since the CCC was established, reaching the point where the goal of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 has cross-Party political endorsement and public support. Having committed to the target and with the Government’s commitment to adopt the 6th Carbon Budget, we now need to see policies and outcomes that actually deliver on this ambition. We have particular challenges in surface transport and aviation where, over the last 20 years and in spite of improvements in the efficiencies of engines, we’ve seen almost no reduction in total emissions.
Q: What breakthroughs in terms of technology do we need for fuels that are in enough supply as well as being cost-effective?
KB: My expertise doesn’t lie in this area but my own current understanding is that – if you’ll pardon the pun – batteries don’t hold much potential for larger vehicles such as long-distance HGVs, aircraft and ships. Forms of hydrogen seem important, at least for lorries and ships. For aircraft, the development of genuinely sustainable fuels does seem to be a major challenge.
Q: Why do you feel it is important for all engineers and professionals involved in vehicle emissions reduction to be part of the conversation about the future of fuels?
KB: Net zero is a major challenge but it’s both essential and achievable. There’s an important role for engineers to show the means through which it’s possible and to use our creativity to do it in ways that support people’s own aspirations and health, benefitting the economy and minimising damaging side-effects such as in mineral extraction. However, we can’t depend on technology alone to do all the work – choices and behaviours by organisations and individuals play a major role, in large part facilitated by technology. For example, as a power system engineer, I see a need to make it easy to use electric vehicles, providing access to charging and doing so cost-effectively, utilising data analytics to characterise need for charging and encourage flexibility to make full use of the energy available from renewables and minimise the need for network reinforcements and risks to system stability.
The Engineering Fuels for the Future: Climate Neutral Fuels for 1.5°C seminar will be taking place live online on 7 July 2021.
Join this seminar to:
- Hear from pioneering organisations in the field of climate-neutral fuels including FuelsEurope, Rolls-Royce, Porsche, BEIS, Climate Change Committee and Shell
- Learn about developments in carbon-based and carbon-free alternative fuels including biomethane, synthetic fuels, hydrogen and ammonia to take back to your organisation
- Discover how alternative fuel use is shaping propulsion design across a variety of applications including aerospace, marine, heavy-duty, off-highway as well as passenger vehicles
- Gain insight into the lessons learned from the pandemic regarding air pollution and how these are being taken forward to influence transport propulsion design and application
- Grasp the overall scale-up challenge for sustainable fuels and how this is being managed.
To view the full programme and book your place, please visit the event website.