Exergy Economics is an emerging field that has the potential to throw new light on the relationship between economic growth and energy consumption.
Projects
Reorienting investments and divesting from fossil fuel assets
How can the investment community be reoriented away from investments in fossil fuels and towards investment in low carbon options, especially energy efficiency and energy demand measures? This project is researching the challenges of financing a transition to a low-carbon and low-energy demand economy, and the implications for the financial sector, government and civil society.
Energy demand and the UK steel economy
How has the UK decarbonised by de-industrialising? This project examines questions of energy demand and consumption in the UK, with a particular focus on the country’s steel industry.
Policy synergies and trade offs for low energy innovation
Policy mixes are particularly important for supporting transitions to lower-energy systems. Do current UK energy policy goals and instruments add up to a coherent policy mix suitable for fostering such transitions? What is the impact of the current policy mix?
Futures of Personal Mobility
What assumptions are made about the future uptake and use of electric vehicles and car sharing clubs in the UK? Implications for future energy demand and a transition to sustainable transport are identified by this project.
Energy saving innovations and economy wide rebound effects
This project investigates the impact of energy efficiency improvements throughout the UK economy and along international supply chains, as well as using sophisticated multi-sector macroeconomic models to capture a much wider range of economic effects. This new project on economy-wide rebound effects significantly extends CIED’s work and is led by the Centre for Energy Policy at the University of Strathclyde.
Rebound effects in UK transport
While the fuel efficiency of passenger and freight transport has improved, it may have unintentionally increased the number of cars on the road or encouraged the development of larger, more powerful vehicles. What is the nature and magnitude of these rebound effects and their policy implications?
Evidence from history: Deliberate acceleration of socio-technical transitions
The diffusion of low-energy systems needs to be accelerated to address climate change. What lessons can be learned from historical case studies about the technological, political, cultural and economic actions and mechanisms that accelerate diffusion?
Smart meter rollout in the UK: Dynamics of expectations
Smart meters have taken on a prominent role in the UK government’s energy demand reduction plans and discourse over the past decade. What expectations have been associated with smart metering roll out and how have they changed over time? How do expectations link with governance?
Learning about diffusion from experiences in other countries
European countries have seen some low-energy innovations, like district energy systems in Austria, gain popularity. What lessons can be learned from these examples about how to overcome inertia and cause diffusions to accelerate, leading to tipping points and breakthroughs?
The diffusion of energy service contracting
Energy service contracts involve the outsourcing of energy-related services to a third party, or contractor. This project aims to identify the factors underpinning successful business models, to identify whether, how and under what conditions such models could diffuse more widely, and to assess their potential for reducing energy demand in order to provide recommendations for public policy.
The energy implications of automated and smart freight mobility
What are the expected impacts of automated vehicles and smart mobility on energy demand in UK freight transport? How are these technological innovations legitimised by industry, policymakers and other actors? This project aims to find out.
The Fuel Bill Drop Shop Project
Energy shops provide advice about energy issues to the public. Does advice through energy shops work, with whom and under what circumstances?
Low Energy Housing Innovations and the role of Intermediaries (LEHII)
How have innovations in whole house retrofits and zero carbon new build houses developed in the UK? What role do intermediaries play in facilitating and governing transitions to low energy housing?
Grassroots innovation in low energy digital fabrication
Rapid advances in open-source, small-scale digital design and fabrication technologies are opening up new possibilities for decentralised, networked, user-led manufacturing. A confluence of new technologies (e.g. the 3-D printing ‘revolution’), new business models (e.g. ‘personalised manufacturing’), and new social movements (e.g. ‘open-source, commons-based, peer-production’), are prompting claims about the ‘reconfiguration’ of production and consumption. For …
Innovations in urban transport
Why do innovations in low-energy transport emerge and develop more rapidly in some cities than in others? What can local governments and stakeholders do to stimulate the success of such innovations?
