LIDA Seminar leads to successful funding application

In spring 2016 I was invited to present my work on ‘environmental footprints: consumption-based approaches to measuring environmental impacts’ as part of the LIDA seminar series. As a direct result of this opportunity I got to know several LIDA staff members and staff from LIDA partner organisations including CallCredit. I was inspired by the type of data held in the Consumer Data Research Centre started to wonder whether it would be possible to use time series household expenditure profiles to understand the role that demographic change has had on the energy demand in the UK. The UK has an aging population. By 2030, the number of over 65 year olds will increase by 30%. I am interested in finding out how we will meet the energy needs of a future population.

The models that I have been developing for the past five years can assign industrial energy use to the products produced by industry – taking into account the full supply chain of production. I then assign the energy to the final consumers: households and government. My model currently only understands the behaviour of the aggregate of all UK households. Disaggregating to allow for different household types may provide options for targeted energy reduction policy. By making the link between energy used by industry and the consumption behaviour of certain household types, I will be able to develop scenarios of future demand for products and hence predict the future energy needs of industry. My work will help the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) improve their energy demand model. This is important because scenarios of the UK’s future energy needs directly inform the UK’s carbon budgets.

In early 2017 I submitted a post-doctoral fellowship application to the EPSRC’s End Use Energy Demand priority area. Following an interview in September this year my application was accepted and I will start my fellowship ‘Energy Demographics’ in January 2018. I hope to work closely with LIDA for the duration of my fellowship and beyond.

For more information please contact:

Dr. Anne Owen                 a.owen@leeds.ac.uk                     @dr_anneowen