Video transcript: A sustainable energy future - Energy Leeds
Transcript for the video embedded on the Energy website homepage.
[University of Leeds logo.]
[Music]
[A variety of footage is shown including light bulbs, vehicles driving on a bridge, city skyline, busy city centre.]
A voiceover says: Energy is a key building block of the modern world.
Think for a minute about what you've done today that hasn't used energy.
[A variety of footage including close up footage of someone’s finger using laptop keypad, then the light from the computer reflecting in their eyes, someone using a kettle, someone using a gas hob rings and someone driving.]
Then you probably can't think of anything. We're completely dependent.
[A variety of voiceovers join in with a variety of footage including gas meters, sped up footage of pedestrians in busy city scenes, pylons, oil field.]
We're facing really serious issues around energy security…
….climate change…
….gas and oil becoming increasingly more expensive.
The challenges are not only facing our generation, but also our next generation.
[Computer generated imagery of earth from space and a baby in the womb].
We've all got an important contribution to make to addressing this challenge.
[Footage of solar panels, wind turbines and someone plugging in an electric vehicle.]
[Cuts to University of Leeds building, text appears that says Energy Leeds.]
[A person is stood inside the building looking up into a large glass atrium several storeys high.] [The person sits down on a chair in a study space. Text says they are Professor Tim Cockerill, Chair in Efficient Energy Utilisation, Co-Director of Energy Leeds.
Professor Cockerill says: Energy Leeds is the university’s Interdisciplinary Energy Research Institute.
[A new person appears in the same place, text says they are Dr Andrew Ross, Associate Professor in Energy and Resource recovery.
Dr Ross says: decarbonising our energy is one of the key challenges.
[Another new person appears in the same place and text says they are Dr Viktoria Spaiser, Associate Professor in Sustainability Research and Computational Social Science.]
Dr Spaiser says: It means that we try to phase out any reliance on energy infrastructure that is built on fossil fuels.
[Another new person appears and text says they are Jeremy Campbell Laycock, Research and Innovation Development manager. A variety of footage includes people working in a lab, wind turbines and a person using an electric vehicle charging pin on a street.]
Its a much bigger challenge than just making the technology work, deploying it, people having to change lifestyles.
How the economics of it work, what the business models are.
Energy Leeds is bringing together researchers across the university from engineering, health research, social sciences.
[A new person appears, text says they are Professor Lucie Middlemiss, professor of environment and society.]
Professor Middlemiss says: Thinking differently about these kind of big social and environmental problems.
[A new person appears, text says they are Professor Kang Li, Chair of Smart Energy Systems.]
Professor Li says: We are actively engaged in innovative research.
Professor Cockerill appears. Text says Bioenergy.
Professor Cockerill says: We've got a lot of work on Bioenergy, a lot of work and industrial decarbonisation.
[A new person appears, text says they are Dr Imogen Rattle, Research Fellow in Local Low Carbon Industrial Strategy.]
Dr Rattle says: So what we're trying to do with this project is to look at what possible approaches we could take to helping these local sites to decarbonise when there aren't necessarily institutional structures.
And so one of the things I'm hoping to do in the real world is try to look at some of the governments structures, some of the institutions about how we might approach that and that's about, who is involved, what they need to do, and who they need to link up with.
We also work in Renewable Energy.
Professor Li says: That requires, for example, artificial intelligence, novel power electronics as well as other new technologies.
[A variety of footage including people sat in a boardroom, wind turbines, a dam generating hydro energy and some solar panels.]
Professor Cockerill says: A related aspect, much more on the social side is Energy Justice.
[Footage of someone plugging in an electric vehicle. Text says: Energy Justice.]
Dr Spaiser says: Not everyone is able to transition on their own. There's a lot of support needed for certain disadvantaged groups.
Professor Middlemiss says: My motivation in my research in being involved in this is to bring to light those challenge and to show how they will affect different people differently, but also to come up with better answers to the question of how we can do this in an equitable way.
That would convince societies to get along and actually implement those solutions.
[Cuts to footage of University of Leeds buildings. Text says: Decarbonising campus.]
Professor Cockerill says: There's a real commitment to decarbonising the campus.
Jeremy Campbell Laycock says: Weather that's through retrofitting buildings, looking at changing our energy supplies.
Professor Cockerill says: Also thinking about responsible sourcing, making sure that what the university purchases is produce in a fair and low carbon and just way.
Jeremy Campbell Laycock says: One of the things that we're looking at is the impact from the university research farm.
[A variety of footage shows a farm including buildings, facilities and fields, and a pig.]
Dr Ross says: Looking at both the integration of renewable energy.
It's looking at the emissions associated with the current activities of the farm and looking at alternative innovative technologies that could lower the carbon footprint.
[Aerial footage of Leeds Town Hall.]
Professor Cockerill says: A lot of our work within university aims to push the policy agenda.
Jeremy says: whether that's local government or national government or international.
Professor Cockerill says: Colleagues, identify deficiencies in policy so areas that should be develop, new ideas that could come into policy.
Jeremy says: through working with Leeds City Council, for example we've developed local climate commissions
Dr Spaiser says: to bring together citizens, experts to work together collaboratively and in cooperation to find solutions.
[Footage of researchers sat around a large table, in discussion.]
We have a number of researchers across Leeds that are involved in the IPCC helping to do research and make recommendations about what the world needs to do to address climate change as well.
Dr Ross says: Many of our projects are funded with contributions from industry some of them are even led by industrial partners.
[Variety of footage of staff and equipment in an industrial setting, including aerial footage of a power station.]
Professor Li says: We work with manufacturing sectors, power generating companies, transport sectors.
Dr Ross says: We also work internationally. My own research works heavily with companies in India and in Sub-Saharan Africa.
[Cuts to footage of campus including students in study spaces and labs.]
Jeremy says: There's people from all over the world at Leeds. People with different ideas and expertise and interests.
Professor Middlemiss says: motivated by these huge social and environmental questions.
Professor Cockerill says: We're educating the next generation of energy researchers here.
Dr Rattle says: We're actually out there engaging with the world and trying to provide real life solutions.
Jeremy says: People are coming to us all the time looking to work with us.
Dr Ross says: You can see the impact that this research is having.
Dr Rattle says: It's a chance to actually engage and act in areas which are going to make a positive difference to people's lives.
[A variety of footage including researchers in engineering workshops, using computers, person walking in the countryside, someone else in a city landscape, an African lady cooking in a large pot.]
Professor Cockerill says: It seems very unlikely that we're going to go backwards from the decarbonisation trajectory.
It's actually only going to accelerate the change. There's never been so much interest in developing solutions to how we can have a better, cleaner energy system.
Dr Rattle says: We’re going to make a positive difference to industry.
Hopefully, employment, its going to improve air quality, hopefully is going to tackle climate change.
Professor Middlemiss says: We can move towards a future in which people can live different and hopefully better lives. I think
Professor Cockerill says: It's going to be pretty busy for the next 10 to 15 years.
[Energy logo appears and the Energy website address www.leeds.ac.uk/energy.]