Energy Efficiency

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Energy efficiency research at the University of Cambridge cuts across all other energy research themes.  Examples of key initiatives that focus on energy efficiency include:

• Integrated consideration of buildings, transport and urban planning, including the Energy Efficient Cities Initiative, which addresses energy demand reduction in the urban environment by integrating design and development of novel technologies for energy efficient cities, with links to economic, policy and regulatory considerations.
• Energy efficient buildings, using novel design and new technologies to reduce the energy consumed in business and domestic buildings, including the Energy Efficiency in the Built Environment project and work at the BP Institute on energy efficiency for HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning).
• Investigations into energy use, emissions, environmental impact, capital and operating costs of current and future transport technology and the system wide impact of technological innovations through the use of global transport demand modelling and transport system technology assessment.
• Energy efficient chemical, refining and materials production processes, as well as energy efficient recycling processes.  This research is focussed in the Departments of Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology and Materials Science and Metallurgy.
• Investigations into global and regional energy demand scenarios and energy policy interventions to increase energy efficiency and reduce demand.  Two of the largest research groups in Cambridge addressing these issues are the Energy Policy Research Group and the Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research.
• Optimising the design of the next generation radio telescope, the Square Kilometer Array, for low power consumption and utilisation of novel renewable energy technologies in a desert environment in the Cavendish Laboratory.

Please visit individual faculty profiles to learn more about their research in the Energy Efficiency theme.