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Policy@Manchester Articles: Energy and Environment
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Graphene providing a firm foundation for a more sustainable construction industry

James Baker By Filed Under: Cities and Environment, Energy and Environment, Renewables, Science and Engineering, Science and Technology Posted:

If we want to achieve a zero carbon world we literally need to build it in a different way. Here, James Baker, CEO of Graphene@Manchester talks about the need to support and accelerate graphene innovation to help make building materials much more sustainable in a bid to meet regional and national net zero targets. Greater […]

Nuclear powered decarbonisation?

Francis LivensProfessor Richard Taylor By , , , and Filed Under: Energy and Environment, Science and Engineering, Science and Technology Posted:

At the moment, Net Zero permeates Government policies and programmes, but the true scale of the challenge it represents is only now beginning to become clear. Could nuclear power play a role or is it a costly distraction? Here, Will Bodel, Gregg Butler, Francis Livens, Juan Matthews and Richard Taylor from the Dalton Nuclear Institute […]

The retrofitting challenge in Manchester

Elvira Uyarra By , and Filed Under: All posts, Cities and Environment, Energy and Environment, Urban Posted:

During January-March 2020, Mateusz Ziembla, together with Dr Elvira Uyarra and Professor Jonatan Pinkse, undertook a study for the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), funded by Research England, aimed at analysing the challenges associated with improving the energy efficiency of existing housing stock in order to articulate recommendations for policy action. Cost-effective decarbonisation of domestic […]

ship

Can shipping emissions be kept in check in a post-COVID future?

By Filed Under: All posts, Energy and Environment, Science and Engineering Posted:

The shipping sector is playing a vital role in the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping Britain supplied with everything from pasta to PPE. But what role does it need to play in another great crisis – preventing catastrophic climate change? Here, Simon Bullock from the Tyndall Centre, Manchester, looks at what needs to be done in order […]

Plastics in the environment: Limiting the contamination of our rivers and oceans

Ian Kane By Filed Under: All posts, Energy and Environment Posted:

Much of the world’s plastic waste is still not disposed of responsibly, and it can now be found in all natural environments. Dr Ian Kane has focused his research on understanding the problem of microplastics in world oceans. In this blog, he tells us about some of the pathways plastics take to enter oceans and […]

Power from the sun, money from the crowd: community energy offers low-cost finance for renewables

Tim Braunholtz-Speight By Filed Under: All posts, Cities and Environment, Energy and Environment, Renewables, Science and Engineering, Science and Technology, Urban Posted:

The fall in the cost of renewable energy has created new possibilities for citizen investors to fund community energy projects. However, the majority require some level of price support. In this blog, researchers from The University of Manchester call for policies to support the growth of this sector, such as encouraging the purchase of community-generated […]

Power plant

Managing radioactive waste

By Filed Under: Energy and Environment Posted:

The UK nuclear industry is predicted to generate just under 5 million tonnes of radioactive waste across its entire lifetime. A small fraction of this, about 6%, will remain radioactive for millennia, which means that a long-term plan is required for managing new nuclear waste as well as the long-lived waste already being stored in […]

The true price of fashion

By Filed Under: Energy and Environment Posted:

 About to embark on one more festive shopping spree? Perhaps you should think twice before buying yet another Christmas jumper for loved ones this holiday season… In this blog, Dr Patsy Perry – Senior Lecturer in Fashion Marketing, invites you to spare a thought for the environmental consequences of fashion as she examines the damaging […]

Climate Change: Should we take the nuclear option?

By Filed Under: Energy and Environment Posted:

In this blog, William Bodel a post-doctoral research associate at the Dalton Nuclear Institute at The University of Manchester, looks at the future of low-carbon energy generation in the UK to see whether nuclear energy should support the UK Government’s climate change commitments. Concerns around climate change, and the political drive to achieve net-zero greenhouse […]

Community resilience – Are we unable to deal with power cuts?

Matthias NoebelsMathaios Panteli By and Filed Under: Energy and Environment Posted:

In this blog, Matthias Noebels and Mathaios Panteli from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at The University of Manchester discuss, motivated by the recent UK wide power cut in August 2019, the need in the UK to think beyond electricity infrastructure resilience to be able to handle such events in the future. In August […]

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