Experts meet to discuss latest green energy thinking

Three experts from The University of Nottingham will be speaking at the conference which is being staged at Loughborough University.

Professor Colin Snape, Director of Research in the School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering will discuss the research challenges in clean fossil fuel energy.

Professor Snape said: “This event is an opportunity to highlight the major strengths in a number of energy technologies we have at the University.”

Greg Asher, Professor of Electrical Drives and Control in the School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, will speak on research at Nottingham into electrical technologies for energy infrastructure.

Dr Mark Gillott, from the School of Built Environment, will highlight the work that is being done at the University into sustainable housing. Dr Gillott is leading the Creative Energy Homes project — a research and educational showcase of innovative state-of-the-art energy efficient homes of the future. Six homes on the University Park’s newly established ‘Green Close’ have been designed, and will be constructed, to various degrees of innovation and flexibility. The project aims to stimulate sustainable design ideas, and promote new ways of providing affordable, environmentally sustainable housing and technological engineering solutions that are innovative in their design. Each house will be a fully monitored and occupied research test facility that will provide researchers with environmental conditions data and energy performance characteristics.

Dr Helen Fletcher, Manager of the Midlands Energy Consortium, said: “This is the first in a series of events being hosted by the consortium. Our aim is to communicate the very latest in green energy research and development and to reinforce the consortium partners’ positions as leaders in energy and climate change research.”

Financial support for the Midlands Energy Consortium was provided, in a unique cross-border arrangement, by both Advantage West Midlands and the East Midlands Development Agency (emda).

The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) was established to speed up the development of cleaner energies in support of the UK's energy and climate change goals and increase funding and provide a national strategic focus for research and development and promote international technology collaboration.

Jointly funded by Government and industry, the ETI brings together some of the world's biggest companies — BP, Caterpillar, EDF Energy, E.ON UK, Rolls-Royce and Shell. Their funding contribution, along with that of the Government, provides the Institute with a potential budget of more than £600 million over 10 years.  The involvement of other private companies could boost the cash pot up to £1 billion.

The conference is being held on 15 October 2008, between 0915 and 1630 at the Sir Denis Rooke Building at Loughborough University, Leicestershire, LE11 3TU more information is available at http://www.midlandsenergyconsortium.org/

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Notes to Editors:

The University of Nottingham is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 100 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and Times Higher (THE) World University Rankings.

It provides innovative and top quality teaching, undertakes world-changing research, and attracts talented staff and students from 150 nations. Described by The Times as Britain's "only truly global university", it has invested continuously in award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia.
 
Twice since 2003 its research and teaching academics have won Nobel Prizes. The University has won the Queen's Award for Enterprise in both 2006 (International Trade) and 2007 (Innovation — School of Pharmacy).
 
Its students are much in demand from 'blue-chip' employers. Winners of Students in Free Enterprise for four years in succession, and current holder of UK Graduate of the Year, they are accomplished artists, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, innovators and fundraisers. Nottingham graduates consistently excel in business, the media, the arts and sport. Undergraduate and postgraduate degree completion rates are amongst the highest in the United Kingdom.

Loughborough University has an international reputation for excellence in teaching and research, strong links with industry and unrivalled sporting achievement.  It was awarded the coveted Sunday Times University of the Year 2008-09 title, and is consistently ranked in the top fifteen of UK universities in national newspaper league tables. In the 2008 National Student Survey, Loughborough was voted one of the top five universities in the UK, with 22 out of 30 of its subject areas being ranked in the top ten for overall satisfaction. It was named winner of the 2006 and 2007 Times Higher award for the UK’s Best Student Experience and winner of the 2007 award for Outstanding Support for Overseas Students. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, the University has been awarded six Queen's Anniversary Prizes — an achievement bettered by no other institution.

The University of Birmingham has around 27,000 students and 6,000 members of staff and a turnover of £360 million.  Birmingham ranks 5th in the UK for research excellence; in the most recent Research Assessment Exercise, seven areas of the university's research achieved the six star rating.
 
Energy-related research at Birmingham includes projects on hydrogen and fuel cells, future engines and future fuels for vehicles, energy efficiency in the built environment, and a wide range of materials work.  The Institute for Energy Research and Policy was established in 2005 to coordinate energy research across the university, and to highlight the wider implications of technological developments.