Extracts from NATTA's journal
Renew, issue 144 July- Aug 2003

6. £28m for a Sustainable Energy Economy

‘Towards a sustainable energy economy’ is a new research programme designed to support the ‘Step Change’ towards sustainable energy promised in the White Paper on Energy. In addition to the establishment of a UK Energy Research Centre (£8-12m)- location yet to be chosen- and a linked network, there are new funds for interdisciplinary social science orientated research.

Under the 2002 Spending Review three Research Councils (NERC, EPSRC and ESRC) have been awarded £28m to support a new joint research programme on sustainable energy. The research will be aimed ‘at enabling the UK to access a reliable, safe, diverse and affordable energy supply, while meeting the challenge of global warming and sustainable development’.

The idea is that the Centre acts as a ‘hub’ linking out via spokes to provide linkages between all of the UK activities in this area. During the hearings on Non Fossil R&D held by the Select Committee on Science and Technology (see earlier), the Governments Chief Scientist, Prof. Sir David King, noted that the proposed new UK Energy Research Centre should help improve co-ordination of the overall research and support effort. He added ‘I did hear the word "peanuts" referring to the £28 million, but if we can use that as a means of leveraging off private sector funds, then I think we have a very much more substantial vision of where we can be going in this area. I feel very optimistic that that is exactly what will happen’.

For more information see: http//www.nerc.ac.uk/funding/programmes/sustenergy