SCI Seminar Series - Professor Peter Pearson- CANCELLED
| Dates: | 25 May 2016 |
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| Times: | 16:00 - 17:30 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | Sustainable Consumption Institute |
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| Speaker: | Professor Peter Pearson |
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Professor Peter Pearson, Professor of Sustainable Innovation and Energy, Imperial College London, will be giving the SCI Seminar on the 25 May 2016, entitled 'Two centuries of innovation & transformation in the UK gas system & its networks: where next?' the seminar will be in Room 10.05, Harold Hankins Building between 4.00 - 5.30 pm. Coffee and registration from 3.45 pm.
Abstract
Britain’s gas system developed in the early 1800s. Over the past two centuries the system and its local, national and international networks have experienced much socio-technical innovation, governance changes and several key transitions. Since the Climate Change Act of 2008, it faces a challenging transition as the UK aims towards a low carbon energy system, including decarbonising heat, electricity and transport.
The presentation will explore: the origins of the system by Murdoch, Boulton and Watt; the early 19th century development of local gas networks; innovative responses to, inter alia, the challenge of incandescent electric light from the 1880s, including the expansion of the customer base and the development and active promotion of cooking and heat services; the growth, fragmentation and incoherence of the industry between two World Wars; the post-war period that saw the industry nationalised in 1948, as the multi-fuel economy developed; the institutional, technical and social challenges associated with the conversion to North Sea natural gas in the 1960s and its aftermath; and innovation and change in response to the challenges that flowed from the privatisation of British Gas in 1987. The paper aims to show how examining past processes of innovation and industry transformation helps appreciate the challenges faced by past system and network actors, technologies, institutions and regulators, and to offer some insights into the issues posed by the low carbon transition.
Speaker
Professor Peter Pearson
Role: Professor of Sustainable Innovation & Energy
Organisation: Imperial College London, Centre for Energy Policy & Technology (ICEPT)
Biography: Peter Pearson is based at the Imperial College Centre for Energy Policy & Technology (ICEPT). Until 2009 he was director of ICEPT and from 2010-15 directed the Low Carbon Research Institute of Wales, at Cardiff University. His research focuses on long run energy and infrastructure transitions and their energy and environmental policy implications. He co-led the 10-university EPSRC-funded Realising Transition Pathways consortium (2012-16) and its predecessor Transition Pathways (2008-12), and led the historical analysis work stream. With Roger Fouquet he received the Energy Journal Best Paper Award 2006 for 'Seven Centuries of Energy Services: the Price and Use of Light in the United Kingdom'.
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
Room 10.05
Harold Hankins Building
