News

Air travel is one of the major contributors to global warming. Cambridge scientists are working with leading energy companies to help develop sustainable aviation fuels, which could reduce the industry’s carbon emissions by up to 80%.Aviation was one of the miracles of the 20th century – it simultaneously made the world smaller and opened it up to …

Professors Rachel Oliver and Silvia Vignolini from the University of Cambridge have been awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies. Each award is worth £2.5 million over ten years to develop emerging technologies with high potential to deliver economic and social benefits to the UK.Funded by the UK Department for Busines…

On 1 Dec 2022, Xin Sun, Researcher at Tsinghua University, was the invited speaker, as a part of the Cambridge University Energy Technology Society (CUETS) talks, to present on "Critical Materials for Battery Sustainability".Watch the full talk below. Xin Sun is a PhD candidate in School of Vehicles and Mobility, Tsinghua University, and a Predocto…

In the week of COP27 people across the world have flown to Sharm El Sheikh to discuss action on climate change. Aviation is a crucial way to bring us together to tackle this challenge – but it is also a major contributor to the problem.Along with all areas of the global economy, flight must become climate neutral. However, huge uncertainty remains …

Cambridge City Council, in partnership with the University of Cambridge, has secured government funding to undertake a study to explore the feasibility of developing a Cambridge City Centre Heat Network.If the study identifies it is feasible and government funding is available to develop the project further, a heat network – which could include hea…

Professor John Orr has been announced a winner of the 2022 Philip Leverhulme Prize, securing £100,000 to advance his research in the field of construction and structural engineering. Professor Orr will specifically use the prize money to continue his work on reducing whole life embodied carbon of built assets in support of the UK’s net zero carbon …

At its AGM on 20 September 2022 the Royal Academy of Engineering elected 72 leading figures in the field of engineering and technology to its Fellowship.Three University of Cambridge academics joined the Royal Academy of Engineering as Fellows. Congratulations to: Professor Manish Chhowalla, Department of Material Science and Metallurgy Professor…

As we enter another COP, with the world at 1.15°C of warming, it feels as though the hope of “keeping 1.5°C alive” is similarly dwindling. But we cannot give up hope – too much depends on it. As COP26 in Glasgow drew to a close, I said it had provided an important gateway to a 1.5°C world, but that we needed accelerated action to get there. The twe…

Cambridge University Press has published The International Law of Energy by Jorge E. Viñuales.Founding Director of C-EENRG, Professor Jorge Viñuales, just published a new monograph 'The International Law of Energy' with Cambridge University Press.The world's energy structure underpins the global environmental crisis and changing it will require reg…

Laying the foundations for buildings to stay cool in extreme heat.Impact at a glance:Measured excessively hot summer conditions in UK hospitals from 2007–19 and developed proposals to boost resilience in hot summers.  Adaptation solutions were designed for 248 National Health Service (NHS) England Acute Hospitals (12.4 million m2).Methodology was e…

Decarbonisation of the energy system is the greatest challenge we face. At Cambridge’s Institute for Energy and Environmental Flows, world-leading researchers in fluid mechanics, thermodynamics and surface science are working to develop the solutions we need to replace fossil fuels and protect our planet.After an extremely hot, dry summer in the UK…

Researchers have developed floating ‘artificial leaves’ that generate clean fuels from sunlight and water, and could eventually operate on a large scale at sea.The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, designed ultra-thin, flexible devices, which take their inspiration from photosynthesis – the process by which plants convert sunlight into…

Dr Kwadwo Oti-Sarpong has received a grant from the Energy Interdisciplinary Research Centre for a policy-driven collaborative project to guide the delivery of low carbon emissions infrastructure projects in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).Working with Dr Rehema Msulwa, a Research Associate at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, and a contributor to …

The Energy IRC awarded the latest round of Small Grants funded by the Isaac Newton Trust/ Energy Policy Research Group (EPRG) and the NERC Discipline Hopping for Environmental Solutions initiative.The grants were awarded to interdisciplinary teams focussed on the theme of energy transitions to achieve net zero carbon by 2050.The seven projects whic…

A study of 29 European lakes has found that some naturally-occurring lake bacteria grow faster and more efficiently on the remains of plastic bags than on natural matter like leaves and twigs.The bacteria break down the carbon compounds in plastic to use as food for their growth. The scientists say that enriching waters with particular species of b…