Category: Low-carbon innovations

Disruption to meet net-zero

Posted on Emma CassarPosted in Low-carbon innovations, Useful Links

Post written by Emilie Vrain. To reach net zero, rapid changes across society will be needed. A report published by UKERC provides insights into the level of disruption that could be required by various sectors. Extremely relevant to our SILCI project, the report highlights how heat, electricity, transport and construction may need to change to remain competitive and meet future carbon targets i.e. change their business models and operating practices or phase out core assets.    

Making Net Zero Work with Bloomberg New Energy Finance

Posted on Charlie WilsonPosted in Events, Low-carbon innovations

Image Attribution: Bloomberg New Energy Finance Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) is the leading market intelligence and advisory service for the energy industry. Held on Oct 19-20th in the glitz of a Hyde Park hotel, the summit agenda included keynote talks from Claire Perry (former Minister for Climate Change) and Kwasi Kwarteng (current Minister of State in BEIS), as well as a host of […]

Lighting the way towards a low carbon future

Posted on Emma CassarPosted in Low-carbon innovations

Post written by Emilie Vrain With smart lighting being among the most purchased smart home devices, researchers from Germany and Algeria have teamed up to investigate the economic, social and environmental impacts of their adoption. Using simulation models their results find that the payback period of such technologies is only a few years, and that […]

Exponential Emission Reductions are Required

Posted on Charlie WilsonPosted in Low-carbon innovations, Resources

A new ‘Exponential Carbon Roadmap 1.5‘ provides 36 solutions for cutting global greenhouse gas emissions by 50% over the next decade, and each successive decade thereafter. Timed to stimulate debate and action at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York, the roadmap sets out a comprehensive, challenging but achievable programme of action for staying on track […]

What happens when you meet your hero?

Posted on Charlie WilsonPosted in Low-carbon innovations, News

Amory Lovins has been arguing the case for efficiency-led system transformation for over 40 years. His landmark paper back in 1976 challenged the orthodoxy of ever-rising energy demand, and is summarised in Wikipedia thus: “Amory Lovins coined the term ‘soft energy path’ to describe an alternative future where energy efficiency and appropriate renewable energy sources steadily replace […]

“The Levitt Ring Model (1984, 1980) – a conceptual framework for understanding the attributes of low carbon innovations”

Posted on Hazel PettiforPosted in Low-carbon innovations

The Levitt ring model is a long established framework distinguishing between different types of product and service attributes. It is heavily used and cited in marketing literature. It distinguishes between core, primary attributes that meet consumers’ most basic needs, and non-core, secondary and tertiary attributes that offer consumers additional sources of added value. In her work on the appealing attributes of low carbon […]

How can diverse social sciences contribute to demand-side transformation?

Posted on Charlie WilsonPosted in Low-carbon innovations, News

Charlie Wilson travelled to Potsdam outside sunny Berlin for a symposium on how to achieve the 1.5°C climate target. The symposium brought together IPCC lead authors, scenario modelling experts, and policy stakeholders to identify integral elements of 1.5°C decarbonisation pathways and how climate policy ‘entry points’ can drive transformative change. Together with Felix Creutzig at […]

Communicating about communication

Posted on Emma CassarPosted in Low-carbon innovations, News

Post written by Emilie Vrain Having spent the summer collecting and analysing data from an online survey about smart home technologies and social networks, one of our team members recently headed to Zurich, Switzerland to present some of her findings at the 4th European Conference in Social Networks. Emilie’s presentation highlights that current adopters of smart home […]

SILCI at the International Conference in Environmental Psychology

Posted on Hazel PettiforPosted in Low-carbon innovations

One of the SILCI team, Hazel Pettifor recently gave a talk at the International Conference in Environmental Psychology. The talk was entitled ‘The appealing attributes of low carbon innovations’. It focused on the opportunities to differentiate low carbon innovations from incumbent technologies by emphasising their valued public attributes. The talk drew on the teams work […]