Durham Energy Institute

Durham Energy Institute (DEI) is a research institute at Durham University. It was launched in September 2009 to undertake multi-disciplinary research into energy. As of 2010^[update], the Director is Professor Richard Davies.

The principal aim of the DEI is to tackle the societal aspects of energy use. The Institute draws upon its existing knowledge base, skills and expertise to:

• promote technical scientific excellence
• solve technological and social problems associated with energy provision, demand and use

Research

The following technological missions have been identified for the DEI.

Materials and chemistry for energy

Includes alternative fuels and photovoltaics.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} One area that the DEI is involved in is biofuels. Within the DEI is the Durham Centre for Crop Improvement Technology which has expertise in molecular biology, plant genetics, biochemistry and policy to underpin crop breeding and development. It researches the underpinning genetics behind oil/starch yield of crops as well as the metabolic pathways of algae. This research has led to patents being granted for genes which increase the oil/starch yield of crops. The photovoltaics research is carried out within another DEI centre; the Durham Centre for Renewable Energy (DCRE). The DCRE is spread over five complementary academic departments and is made up of about 25 members, most of whom are research group leaders.

Electricity conversion, transmission and distribution

Includes wind, wave, hydro, microgeneration, smart grids, and grid integration of renewables ^[6][7][8]

Geo-energy

Includes the exploitation of fossil fuels, carbon capture and storage and geothermal energy. The Centre for Research into Earth Energy Systems (CeREES) is an important contributor to research in this area.^[9]

Energy and society

Energy and society research at the DEI is committed to developing pragmatic solutions to contemporary energy issues, including renewable energy, energy distribution, geopolitical security and climate change. But equally this work remains committed to conceptual innovation and is thus driven by methodological and theoretical pluralism.^[10]

Business, economics and law

Includes resource management and pricing, technological change and innovation, carbon finance, economics of renewables, environmental impacts, consumer behaviour.^[11][12][13]

Technologies for fusion energy

Fusion energy provides an alternative nuclear route. It is a demanding technology that includes holding a plasma burning at 100 million degrees.^[14] However the fuel is derived from seawater (i.e. essentially limitless), the levels of toxic materials are very much less than produced using fission because of the short lifetimes of the materials involved and fusion technology is not a weapons technology.^[15]

Its board of advisors includes Nick Butler, Brent Cheshire DONG Energy and Chris Pywell ONE NorthEast

Durham Centre for Doctoral Training in Energy (CDT in Energy)

The Durham CDT in Energy forms an important and integral part of the DEI, offering an interdisciplinary postgraduate research training programme in energy.^[16]

See also

• Renewable energy
• Biofuels
• Carbon finance
• Energy and society
• Geothermal power
• Hydro power
• Microgeneration
• Smart grid

References

1. ^ Petty, M.C. 2007. Molecular Electronics: From Principles to Practice. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Ltd
2. ^ Proskuryakov,Y.Y., Durose, K., Al Turkestani, M.K., et al. 2009. Impedance spectroscopy of thin-film CdTe/CdS solar cells under varied illumination. Journal of Applied Physics. 106, 4, 044507.
3. ^ Greenwell, H. C. Laurens, L. M. L., Shields, R. J., Lovitt, R. W., Flynn, K. J. 2010. Placing Microalgae on the Biofuels Priority List - A Review of the Technical Challenges. J. Royal Soc. Interface, 7, 703-726.
4. ^ Spencer, M.W.B., Casson, S.A., Lindsey, K. 2007. Transcriptional profiling of the Arabidopsis embryo. Plant Physiol. 143, 924-940.
5. ^ Arnold, K., Batsanov, A. S., Davies, B., Grosjean, C.,Thorben Schütz, Whiting A. and Zawatzky, K. 2008. The first example of enamine-Lewis acid cooperative bifunctional catalysis: Application to the asymmetric aldol reaction. Chem. Commun., 3879-3881.
6. ^ Dent, C. J., Ochoa, L. F., Harrison, G. P. & Bialek, J. W. 2010. Efficient Secure AC OPF for Network Generation Capacity Assessment. IEEE Transactions on Power Systems 25(1): 575-583.
7. ^ Blake, S. & Taylor, P. 2010. Aspects of Risk Assessment in Distribution System Asset Management: Case Studies. In Handbook of Power Systems. Rebennack, S., Pardalos, P., Pereira, M. & Iliadis, N. Berlin, Germany: Springer. 931-962.
8. ^ Yang, W., Tavner, P. J., Crabtree, C. J. & Wilkinson, M. 2010. Cost-effective condition monitoring for wind turbines. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics 57(1): 263-271.
9. ^ Davies, R.J., Manga M, Tingay, M., Lusianga, S. & Swarbrick, R 2010. The LUSI mud volcano controversy: Was it caused by drilling?’ Discussion of Sawalo et al 2009. Marine and Petroleum Geology.
10. ^ Bulkeley, H. and Newell, P. (2010) Governing Climate Change, Routledge, London.
11. ^ Adcock, M D. 2007. Intellectual property, GM crops and Bioethics. Biotechnology 2: 1088-1092.
12. ^ Whynes, D., Frew, E.J., Philips, Z.N., Covey, J. & Smith, R.D. 2007. On the numerical forms of contingent valuation responses. Journal of Economic Psychology 28: 462-476.
13. ^ Bischi, G. I., Sbragia, L. & Szidarovszky, F. 2008. Learning the Demand Function in a Repeated Cournot Oligopoly Game. International Journal of Systems Science 39(4): 403-419.
14. ^ http://www.fusion.org.uk/introduction.aspx
15. ^ Larbalestier, DC, Osamura, K & Hampshire, DP 2008. MEM07: The 5th annual workshop on mechanical and electromagnetic properties of composite superconductors (princeton, NJ, USA, 21–24 August 2007). Superconductor Science & Technology 21(5): 2.
16. ^ http://www.dur.ac.uk/dei/cdt/

External links

• http://www.dur.ac.uk/
• http://www.dur.ac.uk/dei/
• http://www.dur.ac.uk/dei/cdt/
• http://www.dur.ac.uk/earth.sciences/research/cerees/