What SAP?

"This ole house is gettin' shaky, this ole house is gettin' old. This ole house lets in the rain, this ole house lets in the cold." - This Ole House by Shakin' Stevens

If you’ve recently moved house, you’re probably familiar with Energy Performance Certificates (EPC). They provide a concise summary of the energy and environmental performance of domestic properties, specifically, an estimate of CO₂ emissions and energy consumption. 

These are used to apply a colour coded performance rating to the dwelling. EPCs must be provided whenever a property is sold or rented and provide useful information to the new occupier as a starting point to estimate the likely environmental impact and energy bills associated with the dweling.

The calculations underpinning an EPC require a standardised methodology for assessing energy and environmental performance of dwellings. This is where the Standard Assessment Procedure or SAP comes in. In addition to EPCs, the SAP is used for a number of policy initiatives including the Green Deal and to ensure compliance with building regulations.

Domestic Power Struggles – how we use electricity in the home

"Knowledge is Power." - Francis Bacon









Want to save money on your electricity bills and reduce your CO₂ emissions? Then you may want to consider living with others, ditching the dishwasher and tumble dryer and being wary of those ubiquitous standby modes, according to a groundbreaking study carried out by the Energy Saving Trust, DEFRA and DECC.

The first comprehensive research of its kind into domestic electricity consumption in English households has shed some fascinating light on the habits of the nation. The in-depth study monitored non-heating electricity usage in 251 households over periods of between one month and one year to investigate consumer habits in single- and multiple-occupancy households.

SET for Britain - Taking Research to Parliament

"There's something in me that just wants to create dialogue" - David Mamet

















As I drew back the curtains at a little after 6 am I was greeted by the freezing sight of a typical northern spring morning - a metallic grey sky and a fresh covering of snow. The day was Monday 18th March, the day of the eagerly anticipated annual Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) for Britain event at the Houses of Parliament.

Catching the Wind

A short article about my trip to Parliament to present my research on wind energy at the SET for Britain event which appeared in a local Devon newspaper.

Why we need a climate dream

"I Have a dream" - Martin Luther King













In August 1963, Martin Luther King began his speech to an enraptured audience. He spoke of injustice, tragedy and broken promises, then, as he moved through his script, there was a cry from the audience, “tell them about the dream Martin, tell them about the dream.”...

Read the full article at Leeds Student Newspaper

Science at a music festival, what will they think of next?

Find out what happened when a group of PhD researcher's got together with the Green Man music festival and a UK Research Council to create some high energy learning. 


Einstein's Garden 2012 - energy factory from Green Man on Vimeo.

Right and Popper - 4. Along came Einstein

"The important thing is not to stop questioning" - Albert Einstein








In Popper's description of the world, if we are rational, we will base our decisions on truth, which is another way of saying we will base them on the best of our knowledge. Truth, in the scientific sense, is not absolute but that which corresponds to the facts, and of course, we never have all the facts.

How long is a piece of string?
Magee uses the example of measurement to demonstrate Popper's view of scientific truth. if you think about it, we can never obtain an exact measurement of the length of a piece of string. With more and more precise equipment we can reduce our uncertainty to 1 cm, 1 mm, 0.1 mm etc but an exact measurement is a concept, it can never be physically realized because we can always improve our accuracy.  

Even though exact measurement is unattainable, we can still make great practical use of both measurement and accuracy of measurement. Our aim in accurately measuring the length of a piece of sting, just as in the scientific method, is to approach the truth ever more closely while accepting that we can never reach it. Alternatively, we can just say the length of a piece of string is twice half it's length, which is exact but does nothing to enhance our understanding of it's length.

Right and Popper - 3. Science, there's method in the madness

"Scientific views end in awe and mystery, lost at the edge in uncertainty..." - Richard Feynman

If the scientific method in which we put so much trust cannot be logically justified, should we abandon it entirely? Are we once again lost in the mystery of the universe, resigned to looking to the heavens for signs and portents just as our ancestors did?

I would argue that, yes we are lost in the mystery of the universe but that science is a pretty good map, one which is constantly being revised. 

The map is not the territory
No one would ever argue that some lines and shading drawn on a bit of paper are in any way the same as the territory which they represent, but maps give us a practical way of navigating, they give us a way to get where we want to go and tell us what to expect along the way. I think science is similar.

According to Magee, Hume's problem has led almost all scientists to accept that scientific laws cannot be proved and therefore are not certain. Each time we observe supporting evidence for our theories however, we become more convinced as to their validity. Every time we see the sun rise in the morning, our faith grows that it will also rise tomorrow. 

What science does is gives us the most probable explanation given our current level of understanding and there can be no doubt that the results it delivers are of great practical usefulness. The fact that science is useful though doesn't get rid of the nagging problem that it doesn't have a strictly logical basis.

Right and Popper - 2. Why science is irrational

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple" - Oscar Wilde 












In our current age of immense scientific discovery, we may feel a little pity when we look back at our ancestors. Condemned to look in vain to the sky for omens and portents, making meaningless sacrifices to a myriad of gods, lost in the mystery of the universe. 

We however can relax, comfortably secure in our scientific knowledge, knowledge that has been painstakingly developed from careful application of the scientific method. The ultimate test of logic and rationality. 

Well, maybe we shouldn't be feeling quite so comfortable, maybe science isn't so rational after all!

Right and Popper - 1. The great man himself

"Our knowledge can only be finite, while our ignorance must necessarily be infinite." - Karl Popper














Everything I know about the philosopher Karl Popper I have learnt from a tiny book consisting of just 110 small pages. Yet that tiny book is a treasure trove of wisdom. The knowledge conveyed within its pages I would argue is indispensable to the scientist, politician and philosopher alike.

Without boring you too much with the details, Popper was born in Vienna in 1902. He was a great philosopher, not only of the natural sciences but also of social science and politics. The tiny book I spoke of is a short summary of Popper's work which was written in 1973 by Bryan Magee and simply entitled, Popper. If you can obtain a copy it's a highly recommended read! 

The Nobel Prize winner, Sir John Eccles advised scientists to "read and meditate on Popper's writings on the philosophy of science and to adopt them as the basis of operation of one's scientific life" and in his summary of Popper's work, Magee states that Popper's is a "philosophy of action" and 'that it "changes peoples lives and the way they do their work". What greater advert could their be for Popper and indeed the study of philosophy.

In the series of posts entitled 'Right and Popper' I'll try to give a brief flavour of some of Popper's insights that I find most intriguing. As I mentioned, everything I know about Popper is based on that tiny 110 page book and hence everything I write here is in fact third-hand. While I'll endeavour to accurately represent Magee's writings, I'll also throw in a healthy dose of my own opinion and conjecture in line with that noble tradition known as 'The Blog Post'.

High Energy Public Engagement

"Energy and persistence conquer all things" - Benjamin Franklin

Muddy boots, leaking tents, and a home-made power station firing ping-pong balls at delighted festival goers as the heavens opened somewhere deep in the Welsh Black Mountains - this was public engagement at its most extreme!

It all started very sedately around a warm and dry meeting table where PhD students from the Doctoral Training Centre in Low Carbon Technologies at the University of Leeds as well as representatives from the University of Bristol and University College London learned of RCUK’s plan to fund an ambitious public engagement project with the theme of Energy at the Green Man music festival in Wales.

The Low Carbon Carrot - contracts for difference

"Not brute force but only persuasion and faith are the kings of this world." - Thomas Carlyle 

Contracts for difference, or to give them their full name FIT CfD (Feed in tariff with contract for difference) are the UK government's proposed mechanism for providing incentives for future investment in low carbon electricity generation.

Why are they important?

FIT CfD is part of the wider proposals contained within the Electricity Market Reform White paper published in 2011 and further refined in the Draft Energy Bill in 2012. An overhaul of the UK electricity market is urgently required for several reasons:

1. Expected loss of around 25% of UK generating capacity in next ten years as older plants close.
2. Commitment to 15% energy from renewables by 2020.
3. Legally binding target of 80% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050.

A Low Carbon Economy – absorbing the shock

'Economy does not lie in sparing money, but in spending it wisely.' - Thomas Huxley 

In many countries, including the UK, there is a very fortunate synergy between climate change policy and economic stability.

The UK is a net importer of fossil fuels, particularly oil and gas, making it vulnerable to price shocks caused by events which may be completely out of the control of UK policy. This is precisely why we hear so much talk about energy security.

A volatile world

In addition to the pressing climate change issues, reducing our dependence on imported fossil fuels is vital in achieving economic stability in a volatile world. Policies which encourage energy efficiency and increase capacity of ‘home grown’ energy such as solar, wind and to some extent nuclear, can thus be seen to be beneficial on more than one level.

DECC recently commissioned a study by Oxford Economics on this very subject. The report ‘Fossil fuel price shocks and a low carbon economy’ can be accessed here.

The focus of the study was the effect on the UK economy of an oil and gas price shock (i.e. a sudden and unexpected rise in the import cost of these commodities). A quick look at a graph of oil prices over the last few decades demonstrates that there is a clear historical precedent for such shocks.

Wind Energy in Rural Peru: a volunteer experience with WindAid

A great wind is blowing, and that gives you either imagination or a headache. - Catherine the Great 

It was a dark and rainy afternoon in February when I left Yorkshire in the North of England and set off for London to catch a flight southwards. My destination was Trujillo on the North West coast of Peru where I was to spend the next five weeks working as a volunteer with an organisation called WindAid.

Clean Energy

WindAid is an environmental development organisation that brings electricity to isolated communities in Peru through the manufacture and installation of wind turbines. Many rural communities in Peru have no access to electricity for basic needs such as education and healthcare. 

Others have a limited and costly supply through diesel generators which pollute the environment. Using simple technology, local labour and materials and a passion for sustainable energy, WindAid, along with an army of volunteers, are working to electrify isolated communities in Peru and provide access to the modern facilities we take for granted.

Is Climate Change the Real Black Swan?

‘If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.’ - George Bernard Shaw 

It is with some apprehension that I comment on the work of Nassim Taleb and the idea of the Black Swan. The concept was rigorously discussed in Taleb’s book of the same name published in 2007. 

Taleb is a formidable and precise thinker and since at present I only have a basic understanding of the nuances of the Black Swan, I hope he will forgive me for any errors in my presentation of it.

The concept goes something like this: