LSBU’s Climate Emergency Debates Series presents 'The Heat is On - the race to replace gas in a Climate Emergency' - the 3rd in our series.

‘The Heat is On...’ will see a panel of industry leaders and academics scrutinise the fiscal, technological and legacy issues that are shaping the UK’s urgent race to replace domestic gas to decarbonise the nation’s heat.

Join us for 2 action packed hours, full of insights from cutting edge research. We'll look at the challenges - and indeed challenge - many of the assumptions that are driving investment in low carbon options at national, regional and domestic level. We'll also hear how heat is social, and how human behaviour may well present the biggest challenge of all.

EVENT TIMINGS

3.00: EVENT OPENS

3.05: Opening Address by Prof Andy Ford - Professor of Building Systems Engineering, LSBU

3.10: Dr Jan Rosenow - Director of European Programmes at the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) and Honorary Research Fellow at Oxford University - Heating our homes not the planet: how can we stop our addiction to fossil heating? Dr Jan Rosenow will show why heating has been the Cinderella of climate policy and what can be done about it

3.20: Monica Donaldson-Balan - Mott MacDonald / Heat Workstream Lead for the Net-Zero Infrastructure Industry Coalition will discuss the challenges and requirements for three heat decarbonisation pathways, exploring an all electric, all hydrogen and a hybrid future The Path to Zero Carbon Heat

3.30: Dr Graeme Hawker - Research Fellow - Future Energy Systems, University of Strathclyde brings us Predictably Unpredictable: when Simulation meets Human Nature - and why the human factor might throw a lot of energy cost modelling into disarray

3.40: Mark Hewitt - Director of ICAX - Going Local or Going Loco? Mark will make a case for balanced energy networks and heat pumps - tried and tested decentralised technology - and show how they are demonstrably fit for purpose and planet

3.50: Dr Mike Jenkins - Bridgend County Borough Council, Team Leader Sustainable Development - will showcase Caerau's inspiring trial scheme where agile, integrated solutions have transformed heat in a very mixed community, and how 21st Century technologies have brought the poorest households out of Dickensian levels of fuel poverty

4.00: Dr Richard Lowes - Research Fellow, UKERC, University of Exeter brings us What is the Value of Hydrogen for Heating? in which he will explore the role of incumbency and some of the sunk cost fallacies that may well erroneously drive heat policy at this critical juncture.

4.10 to 5pm close: Panel discussion with audience Q&A

Do come and join us`

As usual, we’ll be encouraging active participation. There will be an audience vote plus a lively audience Q&A session with our panel of experts.

This event will take place on Zoom Webinar. Registered guests will receive the Zoom link one day ahead of the event.

About our events:

Event Curator: Pippa Palmer Research Strategist / Curator Climate Emergency Events LSBU School of Built Environment & Architecture. Email palmerp5@lsbu.ac.uk with all enquiries, or to sign up for future events.

Our ethos with LSBU’s Climate Emergency Debate series is not just to talk about the topics that matter. We aim to equip our audiences new insights and tools to turn theory into action in their working lives.