Energy and Environment

The environment is central to energy provisioning – it is the reason why we are transitioning to low carbon supplies, it ultimately controls all sources of energy and energy conversion and it's use impacts the environment.

Researchers - primarily based within Lancaster Environment Centre - within this theme cover a range of disciplines: atmospheric science; biological sciences; earth science; ecology; environmental science; economics; geography; geoinformatics and hydrology.

They apply their expertise to a range of energy types: bioenergy; geothermal; hydro; hydrocarbons; nuclear; solar; tidal; waste; wave; wind and the risks to energy infrastructure.

In addition, a group applies environmental economics and biological theories to understand the underlying drivers of energy use and associated greenhouse gas emissions. Activities range from basic research to innovation to consultancy and are resourced by research councils, industry and policy bodies.

Example projects

• The Energy Revolution Research Consortium EnergyREV is one of the three key components of the UK Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund’s Prospering from the Energy Revolution (PFER) programme with more than 60 researchers from 22 Universities working together to tackle the challenges around smart local energy systems from an interdisciplinary and whole-systems viewpoint.
• Krafla Magma Drilling Project which is exploring the potential for a new generation of geothermal energy production, directly tapping the vast reserves of energy stored in and around magma intrusions in the crust.
• Solar Park Impacts on Ecosystem Services (SPIES), a NERC Innovation project that has produced a decision support tool to promote the management of solar parks for ecosystem service benefits beyond that of low carbon energy.
• Bioenergy waste residues as alternatives to conventional inorganic fertilisers for sustainable food production in sub-Saharan Africa, a NERC international opportunities fund project working with overseas partners.
• A cluster of projects exploring the environmental impacts of and on renewables in marine and riverine contexts, including a project on the environmental and social impacts of a pico-hydropower installation in a Kenyan river and research with SME partners on reducing the effects of tidal turbines and small-scale hydro-scheme on hydrodynamics and habitats.

Example publications

• Energy Returns and The Long-run Growth of Global Industrial Society
  Jarvis, A. 2018, Ecological Economics, 146, 722-729
• Solar park microclimate and vegetation management effects on grassland carbon cycling
  Armstrong, A., Ostle, N.J., & Whitaker, J. 2016, Environmental Research Letters, 11, 074016
• The impact of biofuel poplar cultivation on ground-level ozone and premature human mortality depends on cultivar selection and planting location
  Ashworth, K., Wild, O., Eller, A., Hewitt, C.N. 2015, Environmental Science and Technology. 49, 8566-8575