DEMAND: Dynamics of Energy, Mobility and Demand

The DEMAND Centre (Dynamics of Energy, Mobility and Demand) takes a distinctive approach to end use energy demand, recognising that energy is not used for its own sake but as part of accomplishing social practices at home, at work and in moving around. In essence the Centre focuses on what energy is for.

This approach generates an ambitious research agenda that is crucial for organisations involved in demand management and in radically reconfiguring infrastructures, buildings and transport systems in line with greenhouse gas emissions targets. While greater efficiency is important, the trend is often towards more resource intensive standards of comfort, convenience and speed. The problem is that we lack a sophisticated understanding of how these trends take hold and of the underlying dynamics of demand itself.

In focusing on how demand is made and met, the Centre will work across the sectoral boundaries of mobility and building-related energy use. To do this it will draw on academic experts from many disciplines, and on the research and practice based knowledge of a major international energy company, EDF, which shares our ambition to understand much more about the fundamental dynamics of energy demand.

The five themes of our research programme will produce a coherent and integrated set of outcomes. Theme 1 will generate a detailed and differentiated analysis of trends and patterns in end use practices, working across sectors by combining existing data in new ways. Theme 2 will provide in-depth explanations of how and why end use practices are changing to produce an increase or decrease in demand, assessing the implications for scenarios and for current and new forms of demand management. Theme 3 will examine the scope for managing energy demand through the design and operation of infrastructures, identifying which features of present energy and mobility systems might be abandoned, adapted and augmented over the next 40 years. Theme 4 focuses on where and how notions of need and of justice and entitlement to energy services have become embedded in legislation, regulation and norms, and how these might be changed. The fifth theme addresses three cross cutting issues: the constitution of demand (how is energy demand made?); the dynamics of demand (how does it change?) and steering demand (how, when, and by whom can patterns of energy demand be shaped and steered?).

The Centre's structure - a core group, a close knit research team and an extended network - provides the necessary focus and flexibility. Members of the core group from Lancaster University, the Institute for Transport Studies at Leeds University, and EDF R&D have established track records in energy-related research and leadership. EDF R&D's European Centre and Labs for Energy Efficiency Research (ECLEER) is embedded in the Centre, committed to its agenda and approach and consequently contributing over £1.35 million of co-funding.

Managing demand is a task that depends on the combined efforts of utilities, governments (at every level), and those involved in making, modifying and managing buildings and transport systems. We will therefore collaborate with Transport for London, the International Energy Agency, DECC and SCI/Tesco, along with a DEMAND club of non-academics involved with our research and its dissemination, and an extended network of national and international experts from academia, business and policy, all working together to develop the Centre's research, to ensure its practical value and impact and to provide a focal point for new forms of cross-sectoral exchange and innovation. The Centre also includes 20 visiting fellowships, a series of additional linked projects, together with a PhD programme (9 students), an internship and related summer schools. These arrangements ensure that the centre acts as a "hot house" for academic and non-academic creativity, providing opportunities to co-design novel analyses and practical interventions

The DEMAND centre asks fundamental questions about whether, when, where and at what scale demand for energy use can be changed in order to meet the Government's ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets. The impact that the Centre promises ranges from providing nationally and internationally debate changing evidence about how radical demand-side reductions might be implemented, through to system level learning about infrastructural adaptation and management and more specific conclusions relevant for the design of technologies and policy interventions.

Achieving impact partly depends on the initial relevance and shaping of the research agenda. The DEMAND Centre is committed to the co-design and co-production of knowledge. EDF R&D, Transport for London and the International Energy Agency have therefore been involved in shaping individual projects and the design of the research programme as a whole. During the course of our research we will interact with over 150 stakeholders from the fields of energy, buildings, transport, utilities, local planning and more, and obtain ongoing advice and input from a non-academic 'Club' of 20-30 stakeholders from business, government and NGOs. In the longer run we will enhance capacity, training a new generation of researchers and providing fellowships and secondments for non-academic collaborators.

The DEMAND Centre's research will impact a range of policy audiences from the local to international scales. We will work directly with local authorities on issues such as new and evolving infrastructures and data collection and interpretation. At the national level, we have planned a carefully crafted, project-led series of policy briefings and a programme of policy seminars, hosted by DECC, on topics of high policy relevance. We will work with specialist policy advisors to ensure our research informs, influences and shapes a wider range of policy debates and use our links with EDF R&D's ECLEER network, and with the International Energy Agency, to promote the Centre's work to international policy communities.

The DEMAND Centre will engage extensively with a range of private sector organizations responsible for the design and management of energy and mobility systems (e.g. facilities managers, energy and transport network operators, building designers, property developers, the retail sector and employers), all involved in making and reproducing energy demand as we know it today, and in shaping future trends and patterns in end use practices. Direct engagement in projects offers the potential for specific economic opportunities to be identified. The DEMAND Centre will have significant societal impact through its focus on the characteristics of a low carbon society and on the scope for redefining end uses practices and concepts of well being and entitlement on which energy demand depends.

Our impact plan and communications strategy encompasses the whole programme with the aim of integrating findings and targeting them in exciting and accessible formats that meet the needs of the different stakeholders. We will run 18 engagement events, some of which will be debates and public engagement exhibitions. We will also host a dynamic web environment which allows all members of the Centre to interact in real-time via blogs and twitter as well as acting as a hub for the collation of outputs and the communication of events and activities.

Ultimately, the DEMAND Centre's impact depends on our ability to successfully engage, inspire and inform a wide range of stakeholders - from policy makers through to product designers - all of whom have a part to play in shaping future energy demand. Our research and engagement strategies are designed to have this effect, and to thereby make a substantial difference to future CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions.