Dr Janet Stephenson and Professor Gerry Carrington
"We have huge difficulties facing us, both nationally and globally, in terms of energy constraints, particularly in relation to our use of fossil fuels and global warming," says Stephenson.
"And we need to address those issues with a very broad front of knowledge, because the solutions are unlikely to come from magic-bullet technologies."
Adds Carrington: "Over the next 30 years it is likely that we will have to reconstitute our systems for the supply and consumption of energy entirely, because the constraints under which they will operate will be so different from anything we have experienced in the past."
Carrington and Stephenson have spearheaded the establishment of the Otago Energy Research Centre (OERC), a network of more than 40 researchers active in various aspects of energy research.
Carrington is head of the Department of Physics at Otago and Stephenson is a planning expert from the Department of Geography and convenor of the OERC (www.otago.ac.nz/oerc).
They consider the OERC is an example of the collaborative, multidisciplinary approach that is needed to address one of the modern world's most pressing quests - how to achieve secure, sustainable, carbon-neutral energy systems.
"Energy research is a vital component of moving towards the low-carbon, sustainable future sought by the government," says Carrington. "We can't afford to sit back and wait for researchers elsewhere to provide the solutions for New Zealand's problems.
"We must ensure we are active in the international research effort to appreciate the relevance of new ideas and technologies to our particular circumstances. This means we must spread the net quite widely to ensure we have great people working on the cutting edge internationally in specialised areas of energy research."
"New energy technologies and energy sources are only part of the solution," adds Stephenson. "For families, businesses and institutions, there's a need to examine our ‘energy culture'.
Understanding how and why we use energy - how efficiently we use it, and what choices we have - is becoming critically important.
"As well, we need to think carefully about the impact of new technologies and new fuels. For example, what would it mean to our lifestyles and economy to rely heavily on electric cars?
What would be the environmental impact of producing biofuels from crops, or synthetic fuels from our lignite fields?"
Current research at Otago touches on many of these issues. A few examples are:
• Hydrogen generation from water is the aim of the futuristic-seeming research undertaken by biochemist Associate Professor Julian Eaton-Rye and his team. They are working with a natural enzyme which is found in plants, algae and cyanobacteria that utilises light energy to split water into its hydrogen and oxygen components. The ultimate potential is to produce hydrogen as a fuel using biological or biologically-inspired systems.
• Many New Zealand industries are heavy users of energy for drying materials like timber and milk powder. A group of researchers, including Carrington and Dr Zhifa Sun, are using computer-modelling methods, linked with industry demonstrations, to assess the economic, energy and environmental benefits of heat-pump dryers in comparison with conventional vented dryers.
• Researchers in the Energy Studies programme, led by Associate Professor Bob Lloyd, carried out a long-term study of newly-insulated public housing in Dunedin. They concluded that, even with insulation in the ceilings and floors, the houses did not come close to WHO recommendations with regards to indoor temperatures. With the help of a grant from FRST, the team went the next step and renovated two Housing New Zealand homes to a much higher level, including wall insulation and double-glazing, to give a house which exceeded the current building regulations for energy efficiency.
• We all know that children increasingly rely on mum and dad to drive them around - but do we know how much? Associate Professor Claire Freeman (Geography) and team interviewed children and their parents, and found that the everyday life of most of the children was highly car-dependent. Moving towards more sustainable transport (e.g. buses, walking, cycling) will require lifestyle changes that may be difficult to achieve for many families.
"This is just a sample of the research currently going on among the 40-odd academics - there's lots more," Stephenson explains. "As well, there are around 17 PhD and more than 30 other postgrad students doing research on energy-related topics."
This year, deploying Carrington and Stephenson's co-operative, multidisciplinary approach, the National Energy Research Institute (NERI) was formally established, funded by a $1.5 million grant from the Tertiary Education Commission. NERI (www.neri.org.nz) is a collaborative partnership of 13 New Zealand universities, crown research institutes and other research organisations.
"NERI is serious about fostering high-quality energy research," explains Carrington. "We're also committed to ensuring that the next generation of energy researchers has the skills we'll need. And we're working to create much closer links between industry and researchers.
All these activities are part of the big picture - creating the knowledge and innovations that the nation needs to thrive in a very different future."
FUNDING
Tertiary Education Commission
Foundation for Research, Science and Technology
Marsden Fund
University of Otago Research Grant