Energy Epidemiology Research Centre – studying energy demand from transport and the built environment, developing a new path for energy demand research
UCL Energy Institute has been awarded one of six Centres of Excellence in End-Use Energy Demand by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The Research Councils UK (RCUK) Centre for Energy Epidemiology (CEE) will focus on providing an evidence base for government and industry to support end use energy reduction across buildings and transport, helping to deliver the UK's commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% of 1990 levels by 2050.
UCL-Energy has focused the RCUK end-use energy demand centre on an energy epidemiological approach that looks to re-interpret the health sciences research structure in order to found a robust research and analysis framework from which to address the pressing issues surrounding end-use energy demand.
Energy Epidemiology is the systematic use of measured data to illuminate the causes of energy use and of changes in energy use. The approach has a long history in health research, but has not so far been applied, at scale, to the study of energy.
Energy Epidemiology has the capacity to transform the UK economy over the coming decades by providing empirical evidence on the impacts of energy policy and of investments in the whole of the UK's energy system – demand and supply.
UCL-Energy sees that the pre-requisites for the success of an epidemiological approach to energy research includes funding, developing and training of the next generation of energy scientists, the deliberate creation of environments capable of supporting an interdisciplinary research culture, a concerted effort to improving data collection and access, along with collaborative activities to share methods and insights.
UCL-Energy believes that a self-supporting, critical and creative system of science will emerge from the multi-disciplinary approach offered in Energy Epidemiology. The newly funded RCUK Centre for Energy Epidemiology will provide a platform on which to build and apply this approach.