Jumping into hot water: Will water utilities deliver hot water as a service in the future?
Student: Glen Baker
Domestic heat service contracts where customers pay for the warmth and comfort they actually want rather than kWh of gas and electricity, have the potential to provide new routes to market for low carbon heat technologies while focussing on improving consumer experience. This project explores natural synergies between water utilities and business models that provide the hot water portion of a heat service contract. It intends to provide an indicator of who is best placed to deliver hot water services and how key players in the area may cooperate.
Supervisors:
- Dr Jeffrey Hardy, Grantham Institute
- Dr Christoph Mazur, Engie
- Edmund Hunt, Energy Systems Catapult
Innovation in the energy field: value proposition and early investment trends identified by new ventures
Student: Marcel Buen
Venture capital (VC) funds are usually regarded as technology enablers identifying disruptive innovation opportunities by investing in novel concepts or technologies ahead of the 'market’. We use venture capital investment data between 2014-19 as a proxy to assess where innovation is taking place in the energy sector as well as an indicator to understand which possible 2050 UK energy futures are more likely to develop. This includes analysing investment trends by sector (storage, EVs or solar PV for example), activity (manufacturing, software or services) and value propositions to allow characterisation of possible energy system configuration, operation and consumer value propositions.
Supervisors:
- Dr Mark Workman, Energy Futures Lab
Identifying Energy Impacts and Socio-technical Barriers of the Use of Smart Home Technologies
Student: Jiaxin Chen
Many researchers across the world are interested in smart home technologies with the aim of reducing energy consumption and increasing the wellbeing of households. Although many studies have shown potential benefits of smart home technologies, the penetration rate of smart home devices is still low even in some developed countries. This thesis mainly focuses on the energy impacts and possible barriers of the development of smart home technologies. Social acceptance of smart homes is analysed and the process of Smart Meter Implementation Program (SMIP) in the UK is assessed as a case study, followed by the evaluation of smart home related policies in the UK.
Supervisors:
- Karen Makuch, Centre for Environmental Policy
- Dylan D. Furszyfer Del Rio, Centre for Environmental Policy
An Approach to Re-segment Energy Consumers Using Psychographics and Granular Smart Meter Data
Student: Freya Espir
Changing the energy use behaviour of domestic energy consumers is key to decarbonising the UK’s power and residential sectors rapidly and economically. But how can their habitual routines be influenced? Targeting energy consumers with personalised messages matched to their lifestyles and interests, as indicated from their electricity data and online browsing footprints, could revolutionise how utilities engage with energy consumers. This research uses an innovative approach to cluster domestic energy consumers into segments who share homogeneous personalities and electricity demand patterns. Incentives and tariffs could be iteratively matched to each segment due to the speed of digital.
Supervisors:
- Dr Mark Workman, Energy Futures Lab
- Dr Graham Oakes, Upside Energy
The impact of economic sanctions on the environment
Student: Jean-Karim Intissar
The aim of this project is to assess the impact of international economic sanctions on the state of the environment through the comparison of 4 cases studies (Cuba, Iran, Iraq and Russia), crossed with the use of quantitative models to determine the factors impacting the environmental outcome of sanctions episodes.
Supervisors:
- Karen Makuch, Centre for Environmental Policy
- Shirin Hakim, Centre for Environmental Policy
A Critical Assessment of the UK Smart Meter Rollout and its Future Prospects
Student: Constantinos Middleton
The Smart Meter Implementation Programme (SMIP) presents the legal framework behind the target of installing a smart electricity and gas meter in every household and small enterprise by 2020. However, the programme is years behind schedule and its costs are continuously challenged. At present, 26% of the designated target by 2020 has been met, with just over 42 million smart meters yet to be installed. This project seeks to evaluate the SMIP's current scenario and future outlook in order to provide a set of recommendations to mitigate the growing risks and enhance the prospect of a successful rollout.
Supervisors:
- Karen Makuch, Centre for Environmental Policy
- Dylan Furszyfer Del Rio, Centre for Environmental Policy
A business case for the UK Center for Carbon Removal (UKCCR) - A user centred design approach
Student: Uday Reddy
The thesis aims to develop the strategic plan for the creation of a UK centre for carbon removal (UKCCR), a non-profit organisation with an informal network of 100+ UK and international professionals. Three workshops with 30 participants from the aerospace, policy maker, innovator and investor sectors respectively, were crucial in developing the thesis. A human centred design approach was applied to analyse the viability, feasibility and desirability of a future UK carbon removal market. The key output being the realisability aspect that UKCCR as an independent body can provide to its fellow members and accelerate the implementation of carbon removal in the UK.
Supervisors:
- Dr Mark Workman, Energy Futures Lab
The role of the aviation sector in the seeding and development of a greenhouse gas removal market
Student: Bianca Valmarana
The most recent evidence from the IPCC urgently highlights the importance of a rapid move to net-zero emissions by 2050, a target only achievable with the large-scale deployment of greenhouse gas removal methods. There practices have potential to offset emissions for sectors that are hard to decarbonise, such as aviation. This project investigates role of the aviation sector in the development of a greenhouse gas removal market by identifying the sector’s motivation to decarbonise. The approach includes documentary analysis, cluster analysis, econometric analysis using Python and complementary interviews.
Supervisors:
- Dr Mark Workman, Energy Futures Lab
- Dr Ralf Martin, Imperial College Business School