Sino-UK engineering partnership to target China’s threat to the environment
A new Sino-UK academic collaboration has received over £200,000 funding to encourage China to adopt more environmentally-friendly policies and cut its rapidly growing greenhouse gas emissions. The Interact 4 collaboration has been set up because China’s exploding economy is creating one of the world’s biggest environmental threats. If its growth remains uncontrolled, the amount of carbon dioxide emissions it produces will negate any cuts made by other countries. The UK founder members include representatives from seven universities.
(Media-Newswire.com) - A new Sino-UK academic collaboration has received over £200,000 funding to encourage China to adopt more environmentally-friendly policies and cut its rapidly growing greenhouse gas emissions.
The Interact 4 collaboration has been set up because China’s exploding economy is creating one of the world’s biggest environmental threats. If its growth remains uncontrolled, the amount of carbon dioxide emissions it produces will negate any cuts made by other countries.
The UK founder members include representatives from seven universities ( *see notes for full details ). Chinese members include the leading engineering research universities in China, and representatives from the country’s two largest electric power research institutes, the China EPRI and the NARI Group.
Dr Haifeng Wang, from the Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering at the University of Bath, who is leading the collaboration, said: “China is now the world’s fastest-growing energy consumer and it relies heavily on fossil fuels and resources that are neither environmentally-friendly nor sustainable.
“Interact 4, the new network, will act as a bridge between the power industries in the two countries and will focus on fast-tracking policy decisions to make China less of a pollutant.”
The funding, from the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council, will enable a crucial exchange of knowledge, training and expertise.
Focusing on electric power engineering, the main areas of activity for the network will be: transmission, storage and renewable generation of energy by wind, fuel cell, hydrogen, biomass, marine, solar and photovoltaic technology.
The network will host a series of workshops and a major energy forum, with delegates from the Chinese government and industry, demonstrating the significant social, environmental, economic and technical advantages of renewable generation.
Dr Wang will lead the collaboration with Professor Raj Aggarwal, head of the Electrical Power & Energy Systems Group at the University of Bath, one of the UK’s leading university-based groups specialising electric power engineering research.
Jon Hunt from the University’s Research and Innovation Service had a significant input into preparing the final INTERACT4 proposal to the EPSRC.
All of the UK members of the network are part of the Sustainable Power Generation and Supply ( SUPERGEN ) network - the main force of energy research in the country. Launched in 2003 to help meet national environmental emissions targets, SUPERGEN has played a key role in addressing various social, economic and engineering issues for the shaping of UK energy generation and supply systems.
SUPERGEN has research collaborations nationwide and the network will provide an opportunity for it to extend its international influence to the academic and industrial community in China.
Ends For further information please contact Andrew McLaughlin in the University of Bath Press Office on 01225 386883 or 07966 341 357
Notes
Top Notes
Interact 4 founder members are: the universities of Bath, Strathclyde, Loughborough, Aston, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Manchester and Bangor and Imperial College London. Universities in China: Tsinghua, Zhejiang, Tianjin, Huazhong, Xian Jiaotong, Northern China University of Power Engineering and Wuhan.
Sustainable Power Generation and Supply ( SUPERGEN ) takes a new approach to supporting research into sustainable power generation and supply. This multidisciplinary initiative is managed and led by EPSRC in partnership with Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council, Economic & Social Research Council, Natural Environment Research Council and the Carbon Trust. The initiative aims to help the UK meet its environmental emissions targets through a radical improvement in the sustainability of power generation and supply. Researchers work in consortia, multidisciplinary partnerships between industry and universities, focused on major programmes of work. This promotes interaction, generation of new ideas and transfer of research results as well as significant step changes in tackling broad challenges rather than incremental progress.
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