Jo presents at IAQM Action Planning meeting

Jo was invited to speak at the IAQM meeting on Action Planning last Wednesday (18th April) and presented her research on: "Barriers to developing and implementing local Air Quality Action Plans". She was joined by Simon Baldwin (Welsh Government), Steve Moorcroft (Air Quality Consultants Ltd), and Robert Vaughan and Emily Connolly (Defra). The presentations were well-received and prompted a very intense and interesting debate around the future of Air Quality Action Planning in the UK. The presentations will be uploaded to the IAQM website shortly - http://www.iaqm.co.uk/. Thanks to Bernard Fisher and Clare Beattie for organizing and Roger Barrowcliffe for chairing.

Congratulations to Jo

The Air Quality Management Resource Centre is pleased to announce the promotion of Jo Barnes to Research Fellow. Congratulations to Jo on this well-earned promotion!

Jo delivering LAQM training to Devon local authorities

Jo will be delivering a two-day workshop of LAQM training to Environmental Health Officers from across Devon on 19th-20th April. The event, hosted by Plymouth City Council, will provide an introduction to LAQM for EHOs who have recently taken on an air quality role. The training materials are drawn from the Air Quality and Carbon Management short courses which the AQMRC run in conjunction with the MSc Air Quality and Carbon Management. Further details on the MSc and on the short courses can be found on the UWE website (http://courses.uwe.ac.uk/H22A1/2012). Alternatively, if you would like us to come and deliver bespoke training for your local authority or region, please contact jo.barnes@uwe.ac.uk.

Jo to present at IAQM Action Planning meeting

Jo will be presenting at the IAQM Action Planning meeting in London this afternoon. Her presentation, entitled 'Barriers to developing and implementing local Air Quality Action Plans', will draw on the findings of her PhD research so far and the LAQM review questionnaire undertaken by AQMRC, UWE and Air Quality Consultants as part of a report to Defra in 2010. Other presentations include Simon Baldwin, Welsh Government: 'Examples of Actions Plans illustrating ‘better practice’ in terms of the integrated environmental policies', Steve Moorcroft, Air Quality Consultants ‘Efficiency of Action Plans (Defra study)’, Emily Connolly and Robert Vaughan, Defra: ‘Review of LAQM – outlining the options for a future regime’.

Tim speaking at international development conference

Tim giving a presentation on Air Quality, Climate Change and Development, and participating in a panel discussion today at the Bristol International Development Conference. http://www.bristolidc.org/index.html

Sent from my BlackBerry

Energy Behaviour Review

On Wednesday, Tim attended the inception meeting with DECC for the review of energy use and behaviour change in the domestic sector.  The work is being led by the RAND Europe, with Tim and Dr Charlie Wilson from the Tyndall Centre at the University of East Anglia employed as additional energy experts.

 

Dotun's new publication available online

Dotun Olowoporoku, Enda Hayes, James Longhurst, and Graham Parkhurst (2012) The rhetoric and realities of integrating air quality into the local transport planning process in English local authorities. Journal of Environmental Management 101 (2012). pp. 23 -32.

This paper highlights the policy and practice of integrating air quality management into transport planning. It provided evidence of the deprioritisation of air quality management within the LTP2 process.  The paper is available online, at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2012.01.017

Mofoluso's presentation at the 2012 AAG Annual General Meeting in New York

Manhattan skyline taken while aboard a ferry from Staten Island. Picture by Fagbeja Mofoluso

Mofoluso attended the 2012 Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Conference at the Hilton Hotel, New York 24 - 28 February 2012. He presented a paper titled, 'Developing an emission inventory of air pollutants and GHGs from residential sources in the Niger Delta'. The paper focused on the methodological approach used to develop the area-source component of the Niger Delta Emission Inventory (NDEI) infrastructure, which he constructed for his PhD study. The process of generating input data for the infrastructure are also discussed during the presentation. The presentation has been developed into a journal paper, which will be submitted for peer review and publication. Find out more about Mofoluso's research here

Publication in the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management

Bailey, R., Longhurst, J.W.S., Hayes, E.T., Hudson, L., Ragnarsdottir, K.V., and Thumim, J. (2012) Exploring a city’s potential low carbon futures using Delphi methods: some preliminary findings. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management (In Press.)

Rose’s paper is now available online, at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09640568.2011.635192

The paper discusses the results from the first round of Delphi questionnaire survey that Rose undertook with a large expert group, to create scenarios for a low carbon 2050 Bristol region.

More information about Rose's research can be found on her webpage here.

Ozone Contract - Inception Meeting

On Thursday 16^th February Tim  represented UWE along with other colleagues from the EU AQDD Review consortium to present the inception report for the review of ozone contract to the European Commission.

TfL Olympics Travel Behaviour Legacy

 

On Wedesday 22^nd February, Tim has been invited to attend a TfL workshop on how to maximise the legacy of the Olympics in terms of improvements in travel behaviour.  He will be representing the Disruption project www.disruptionproject.net

UWE awarded the Carbon Trust Standard

UWE has been officially recertified and awarded the Carbon Trust Standard which shows we have taken real action on climate change by reducing our carbon emissions by 3.9% relatively since the footprint year.  This is a great recognition of our achievements in carbon reduction and demonstrates our commitment to reducing carbon emissions year on year.

 

The Carbon Trust Standard indicates which organisations can be trusted to have genuinely acted on climate change and committed to ongoing emission reductions.  It also shows that we are taking personal responsibility as a University to reducing the carbon emissions that we are directly responsible for rather than just paying to off-set our emissions.

Some of the projects that have enabled us to get the Carbon Trust Standard include investment in LED street lighting, improved insulation, motion sensitive lighting and lighting improvements, air handling unit optimisation, the Student Switch Off campaign and many more.

The Carbon Trust Standard requires us to recertify every two years, which means we will continue to keep working to cut our carbon emissions.

View our Sustainability pages to learn more about how UWE is tackling climate change and reducing our environmental impact.

AQMRC PhD research update

• David Williams recently  joined AQMRC as an EPSRC funded PhD student as part of the Disruption  project. His director of studies is Dr Tim Chatterton. Welcome David.
• Simon Baldwin has been awarded his PhD subject to minor corrections. His thesis was examined by Professor Bernard Fisher, Environment Agency, and Dr Tim Chatterton. Congratulations to Simon.
• Mofoluso Fagbeja has submitted his PhD thesis and will be examined in March by Dr Sarah Lindley, Manchester University, and Dr Enda Hayes.
• Rose Bailey will submit her thesis in March and she will be examined by Professor David Gibbs, Hull University, and Dr Tim Chatterton.
• Ross Hunter will submit his thesis in the Spring.
• Jo Barnes submitted her outline thesis this year and following a  successful  viva chaired by  Dr Enda Hayes has now progressed to the final stage of her research. Well done Jo.
• AQMRC staff have been active in examining PhD candidates. Jim Longhurst has recently examined theses from the University  Putra Malaysia and Gautam Buddh Technical University, Lucknow India, and acted as internal examiner for a UWE PhD candidate. Dr Enda Hayes has examined a PhD thesis from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Tim goes back to Whitehall......

Tim has been successful in receiving an ESRC ‘Follow-On Fund’ award linked to his recent 12-month Fellowship in DECC. The award will allow him to spend 5-months over the next year extending the learning on Energy Behaviours from his original Fellowship with DECC, Defra, DfT and DCLG. The work will help to develop and implement ‘multi-model’ approaches to climate and energy behaviours within government (see Chatterton, 2011 http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/about/ec_social_res/sr_cus_insight/sr_cus_insight.aspx and Wilson and Chatterton, 2011 http://www.envplan.com/epa/editorials/a44404.pdf).

In addition to this, the opportunity to work simultaneously with 4 of the main climate change Departments will be used to help identify areas of weakness in terms of cross-departmental policies, and encourage more co-ordinated working.

Tim giving UCL Energy Institute Seminar

Tim will be giving a presentation on Tuesday 24^th January at the UCL Energy Institute energy seminar.  His presentation ‘DECC – a View from the Inside’ will be presenting the work he did in his Fellowship last year, as well as the recent developments, particularly in extending the work to consider end-use energy demand from transport.

 

 

Tim gives two talks at 44th University Transport Study Group conference

Tim was invited to give a plenary lecture on "The continuing problem of air pollution from transport and important lessons for the control of greenhouse gas" at the 44th UTSG Conference in Aberdeen last week.

He also made a second presentation on "Leaders and Laggards in Transport CO2 Emissions: The challenges and outcomes of benchmarking sustainable urban transport systems across Europe" which covered the work that he has done with Erel Avineri and Owen Waygood from the Centre for Transport and Society on the EU Framework 7 CATCH project http://www.carbonaware.eu/

AQMRC project shortlisted for Great Western Research (GWR) Impact Award

Congratulations to Simon Baldwin, Enda Hayes, John Merefield (Exeter University), Mark Everard (Environment Agency), Will Pope (AAR Environmental) and   Jim Longhurst. Their  GWR, Environment Agency and AAR Environmental co funded project “Integration of climate change and local air quality management at a regional and local level” was shortlisted from 106 entries for a GWR Impact award.   The research project will now feature as a GWR case study.  

For more information on Great Western Research visit http://www.greatwesternresearch.ac.uk/GWRthestorysofar2.php

Academy of Science of South Africa workshop “Pathways towards a low carbon city” papers published

Papers presented at the Academy of Science of South Africa workshop “Pathways towards a low carbon city”, held at the UNFCC Conference of the Parties, Durban South Africa on 5 December 2011, are now available at  http://www.assaf.org.za/environment-energy-and-water/

• International initiatives on low carbon cities - Prof Jim Longhurst, University of the West of England
• Cities GHG emissions, inventorying and comparisons - Dr Shobhakar Dhakal, Global Carbon  Project                 
• Sustainable urban infrastructure to achieve a low carbon city – Prof Anu Ramaswami, University of Colorado Denver
• Climate change initiatives in the city of Durban – Dr Sean O’Donoghue, eThekwini Municipality
• Towards a Low Carbon City: focus on Durban – Prof Roseanne Diab,  ASSAf
• Opportunities for greening the buildings and industries – Dr Francis Yamba, University of Zambia
• Low carbon planning in cities – Prof Dave Dewar, University of Cape Town

DECC Fellowship bears Publication Fruits!

 

This month has seen the publication of two outputs from Tim’s 12-month ESRC/RCUK Energy Programme funded Fellowship based in the Department of Energy and Climate Change last year.

 

Firstly, the DECC has published Tim’s report “An Introduction to Thinking about Energy Behaviours: A Multi-Model Approach” on the department website. http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/about/ec_social_res/sr_cus_insight/sr_cus_insight.aspx

 

Secondly, Tim has co-authored a Commentary paper with Charlie Wilson at the University of East Anglia that contributes to a high-profile discussion in Environment and Planning A about government policy and the ‘behaviour change’ agenda: Multiple models to inform climate change policy: a pragmatic response to the `beyond the ABC' debate http://www.envplan.com/epa/editorials/a44404.pdf

MSc Air Quality and Carbon Management given the green light

The AQMRC, UWE's recently developed MSc Air Quality and Carbon Management was this morning accepted by the validation panel for delivery from September 2012. This qualification course is unique in drawing together the component aspects of air quality and carbon management, and the management-based and solutions-focused  approach is aimed at existing professionals or those wishing to enter the field. The course is also designed to cater for the flexible demands of this market with blended class/online learning and options to utilise work-based learning where appropriate. Details are available on the website, or contact Jo Barnes for further information.