Energy is related to all aspects of human activity. Our research encompasses the entire energy pathway from (i) the understanding of resources, (ii) converter technology development, (iii) the needs of users, through to (iv) the impacts of energy use such as climate change.
Our Energy and Climate Change research is linked to policy, infrastructure, resilience and adaptability. Minimising energy requirements, making the most efficient use of resources we ultimately require and reducing / eliminating their impacts is a common approach across all our research.
Our current work is essentially across ‘all scales of energy’ from the solar cell of a few watts to the 100’s kW of combustion, wave and tidal power and the multi MW scale of the city. We look at problems from fundamental, technical and applied perspectives. Increasingly, the interdisciplinary nature of energy and climate change means that many large projects are both multi-disciplinary and multi-institution bridging engineering with environmental, social and economic requirements.
IMPACT2C for example, is a major EU project investigating potential impacts and economic costs of a 2 degree global temperature rise. Here, Southampton’s work is focussed on the coastal aspects of climate change and the consequences for low-lying areas within the EU and beyond.
Technical studies of micro-grids and decentralised electricity generation are complemented by major energy studies at the user behaviour - technology interface, such as the EPSRC Replication of Rural Electrification intervention.
New metal/air technology batteries are being developed through the NECOBAUT project, linking industry and european university partners to deliver the low cost, lightweight batteries that the automotive industry requires.
Industrial scale demonstration of sustainable algae cultures for biofuel production is being undertaken via an EU FP7 project. This is just one of many projects which link to our research in combustion, gasification and multiphase flow.
Pure technical challenges of course remain, such as the development of superconducting cables for power transmission at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider which is being undertaken by the Institute of Cryogenics.
Clean Combustion and Carbon Capture
Our researchers have access to a wide range of specialist facilities and equipment including:
If you are interested in joining us either to study or to become part of our research team please select the relevant link below for further information.
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