Through this report I would like to share with you about many efforts and projects my University of Birmingham is undertaking in the field of renewable energy.

I am studying Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Birmingham which is  ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions.

Leading the research on ‘How can the aviation industry adopt cleaner and greener fuel’?

The University of Birmingham is leading a new research consortium that will tackle climate change by investigating the barriers and benefits to the UK aviation industry adopting low carbon synthetic fuel.

The NewJet Network+ is one of five new groups announced by the UK Government looking at ways of removing the obstacles and address the challenges of decarbonising transport in the UK. Supported with £5 million of funding, the networks will bring together expertise from across academia and industry to lay the groundwork for the rolling out of more eco-friendly technologies across road, rail, air and sea transport.

Partnering the University of Birmingham in the NewJet+ Network are Manchester Metropolitan University, the University of Sheffield, Aston University, Cardiff University and Heriot-Watt University, along with Air BP, the Department for Transport, and Renovare Fuels Ltd.

Aviation and aerospace contribute more than £22bn a year to the UK economy and adopting low carbon technologies, particularly low carbon synthetic fuel, is recognised as crucial to the future of the industry. The network will explore the barriers to adopting these new fuels, such as stakeholder confidence and infrastructure, as well as the benefits, including reducing CO2 and importantly the non-CO2 emissions performance, which also contribute to the environmental impact of aviation.

The project will also explore the potential for broadening the fuel specification to reduce the environmental impact of producing these fuels, and will study the behaviour and performance of the cleaner, greener fuel in flight.

Many synthetic fuels are produced to mirror closely the properties and performance of traditional petroleum-based fuels and they could offer huge benefits to the industry if this restriction were able to be relaxed. Clearly there are challenges to adopting these new products and these need to be understood and explored before the UK is able to deliver a low carbon future for the industry.

The NewJet+ Network will begin its activities in November and will run until 2022.

This is indeed a great strategy by UK government to bringing together some of the brightest minds from all corners of the UK to  boost the development of technologies that have the potential to clean up the transport systems – so that people can cycle, drive and even fly into a greener future.

Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage

The Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage (BCES) brings together research expertise from across the University to drive innovation from the laboratory to market. The Centre recognises how energy storage, particularly thermal and cryogenic energy based technologies, coupled with appropriate policy, could play an important role in delivering an integrated energy system.

The Birmingham Centre for Nuclear Education and Research

The University of Birmingham is making a significant new investment in the area of Nuclear Engineering, Waste Management and Decommissioning. This is timed to support the UK’s investment in new construction in the Nuclear Power sector, the need to manage the legacy waste, the decommissioning of the current generation power stations and the tremendous challenges in developing the next generation nuclear facilities.

The Centre was launched in 2010 and provides the investment and infrastructure to grow the nuclear expertise and capacity that has existed at Birmingham for over 50 years. The Centre brings together a multidisciplinary team from across the University to tackle fundamental nuclear industry problems.

The research here ensured that nuclear power is used peacefully and safely; UoB is making significant contributions in the extension of the lifetime of reactor materials and in the study of effects of radiation damage to nuclear material. University is also helping develop the latest in robotic techniques for the use in safe handling of nuclear waste decommissioning. The research draws in academics from Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth and Biosciences, Electric and Mechanical Engineering and Metallurgy and Materials. This breadth provides integrated, cross-disciplinary expertise to provide the creativity to drive nuclear energy into the next generation of technology.

Birmingham Centre for Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Research

The Centre is nationally and internationally recognised for its expertise in fuel cell technologies. The Centre focuses on research and development, applications and demonstrations of fuel cell and hydrogen systems and technologies.

Its research is driving both the technology and thinking required to solve some of the challenges facing the UK, as it seeks to develop sustainable solutions to the designing of future cities, energy and transportation. It is the ability to combine the practical with the radical, which has placed Birmingham at the forefront of this endeavour.

Ours is the only research institution in UK integrating research work across the full spectrum of fuel cells and their fuels.

UoB runs an internationally recognised programme of research into hydrogen as a future energy vector, and the development of key technologies, from sustainable production and hydrogen storage to commercial utilisation, as well as the efficient provision of electricity and heat from fuel cells.

The Cold Economy

Effective cooling is essential to preserve food and medicine. It underpins industry and economic growth, is key to sustainable urbanisation but is energy intensive. Our research in this area explores the technology and the societal, business and financial models needed to deliver sustainable cooling for all.

The need for cooling

Effective cooling is essential to preserve food and medicine. It underpins industry and economic growth, is key to sustainable urbanisation as well as provides a ladder out of rural poverty. It increasingly makes much of the world bearable - or even safe - to live in. 

The problem of cooling 

The growth of artificial cooling will create massive demand for energy and, unless we can reduce our need for cooling and roll out solutions for clean and sustainable cooling provision, this will cause high levels of CO2e and pollution.  

The challenge

The world must not solve a social crisis by creating an environmental catastrophe; we need to ensure access to affordable cooling with minimum environmental impact and maximum efficient use of natural and waste resources.

What the University is doing to solve this

The Cold Economy is the development of cohesive and integrated (technology agnostic) system-level strategies to mitigate demand and meet cooling needs sustainably within our climate change, natural resource and clean air targets, while supporting economy growth.

This involves understanding the multiple cooling needs and the size and location of the thermal, waste and wrong-time energy resources to define the novel energy vectors, thermal stores, clean cooling technologies and novel business models, policy and societal interventions to optimally integrate those resources and cooling needs through self-organising systems. 

As we begin to realise the enormous scale of our future need for cooling across the globe, and the impact it will have on our energy systems and natural environment, people are increasingly asking “what do we mean by ‘clean cooling’?”.

Low carbon energy