Energy: How We Can Use Less - 28 June 2006

Our Report of the Meeting including notes on all speakers presentations and the communal debate and discussion over refreshments: Download 279 kB.

Trevor Davies (Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of East Anglia).
See the CRed submission to the 2006 UK Energy Review: Download 206 kB.

Jason Palmer (Cambridge Architectural Research Ltd.)
Download 6.1 MB.

Martin Kerslake (Power saving in public organisations).
Download 44 kB.

Ed Colby (Chief Technology Officer of Sentec Ltd.).
Download 4.2 MB.

This meeting had three emphases: techniques & technology (how),  behavioural change (we), and likely capabilities (can)- Energy: How We Can Use Less

 Light refreshments and wine were provided.
The meeting was free, but prior registration was required for entry.

Online presentations are in Adobe PDF or Microsoft PowerPoint format. You can download an open source viewer for PowerPoint files (it is the Impress application, part of Open Office, which is a large download) from www.openoffice.org. Alternatively, Microsoft make available a free PowerPoint viewer for Windows ppview.exe (2.8 MB). A reader for PDF can be downloaded from the Adobe Acrobat Reader page .

Ed Colby will be talking on -Smart Meters for Dumb Markets- and describing the Sentec work in designing and manufacturing smart meters, problems of deployment and realistic opportunities for energy saving.

Jason Palmer will be concentrating on buildings: a major opportunity for saving energy and reducing CO2 emissions. However, realising these savings is far from straightforward, and in spite of huge efforts by the government, building designers and contractors, energy use in buildings is still rising - even energy use per m2.

Martin Kerslake will describe his practical experience in installing energy management in organisations: it is no longer just about buying right and using less. UK energy market consolidation, wholesale market developments, and climate change legislation have brought new complexities to the management and use of energy.

Trevor Davies will be describing the results of the behavioural research underpinning the CRed Carbon Reduction initiative and reporting on practical voluntary advocacy.

Buildings are commonly held to be a major opportunity for saving energy and reducing CO2 emissions. However, realising these savings is far from straightforward, and there are indications that in spite of huge efforts by the government, building designers and contractors energy use in buildings is still rising - even energy use per m2. There is also poor understanding of the relationship between demand-side savings and on-site (or micro-) generation, which means policy-makers are putting undue emphasis on on-site generation.

We will also be covering:

• Current policies for demand management in buildings (Building Regulations, Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, Code for Sustainable Building)
• Case studies of good practice on demand management in schools.
• The poor understanding of the relationship between demand-side savings and on-site micro-generation, and policy-makers undue emphasis on on-site generation.
• Behavioural change helped by better feedback from monitoring, by new technology, and by economic incentives.

The main attention at this meeting will focus on the built environment (heating, cooling, and electricity), we plan to have a meetings on Energy use in Transport in 2006 and 2007.

Dr Jason Palmer has ten years' experience of research and consultancy on sustainable buildings. He is a director of Cambridge Architectural Research, and is currently under contract to DTI to disseminate the findings from the Large-Scale Field Trial for Building-Integrated Photovoltaics. He is also working for the Department for Education and Skills, writing case studies about sustainable schools design.

Dr Ed Colby joined Sentec in 1998 and is now Chief Technology Officer, responsible for driving internal research projects that develop new technologies for metering and energy management. He is now a named inventor on more than 20 patent applications and 10 granted patents, including a variety of metering solutions, and products based on his work are sold worldwide.

Before joining Sentec, Ed worked as a technology consultant in one of Cambridge's well established high technology consultancies. Working with clients in the United States and Europe he led a variety of technology and management projects in sectors as diverse as coffee, copper, soft drinks, sporting goods, radiotherapy systems and medical devices, internet technologies and communications.

Ed started his career with a PhD from the Biotechnology Department at Cambridge University, covering engineering work to develop the world’s first whole blood glucose sensor integrated onto a silicon IC.’

Martin Kerslake spent his formative years working in an oil company and where, amongst other roles, he procured the electricity for their own consumption. The company was one of the top-10 largest private buyers in the UK at the time. In that role, he introduced automatic monitoriing across the portfolio of 1000 filling stations, refineries, depots, and pumping stations.  He began as an "out-and-out cynic" but after two years later he was embarrased to report a 25% reduction in utility cost.

Prof. Trevor Davies is Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research, Professor of Environmental Sciences, and Dean of the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia at Norwich. He is Director of the community carbon reduction programme, CRed.

All future "energy related" meetings in Cambridge are posted at The Cambridge Network's events calendar.

Cambridge Energy Forum holds regular speaker meetings; we use a 2-part, disputation format.