Renewable energy and the built environment – the research agenda

Citation

(2005), "Renewable energy and the built environment – the research agenda", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 6 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijshe.2005.24906aaf.001

Renewable energy and the built environment – the research agenda

A report produced by the UK-based RICS Foundation and authored by David Fell, Jayne Cox and Lucy Jenkins, Brook Lyndhurst, intends to lay the basis for discussion and debate about the key issues which need to be addressed in built environment research. The report “Renewable energy and the built environment – the research agenda” is one of a set of three (the other ones are “The funding and development of the built environment” and “The role of parks and open spaces in urban vitality” address other issues.

From the report it can be seen that the nature and pattern of our built environment both shapes and is shaped by energy issues. The question that the researchers pose is what are the possible impacts on built environment processes and outcomes of new and emerging approaches to energy production and distribution and of different patterns of energy use? Given their interpretation and analysis of the available research and information, they have concluded that there are five major themes around which research needs to be focused, with the first of these being the most important one. The themes are as follows:

1. 1.

   The role of the planning process in enabling the development of renewable energy.

2. 2.

   The attitude of occupiers, developers and investors towards the take-up of renewable energy.

3. 3.

   The potential for the adoption of combined heat and power, photovoltaic and embedded systems.

4. 4.

   The adoption of scenario planning techniques for different energy use outcomes.

5. 5.

   The wider economic benefits and disbenefits of the greater adoption of renewable energy.

The choice of the above themes is justified by the authors based on the fact that steadily increasing significance of sustainable development is causing a progressively wider array of questions to be asked of contemporary economic structures and issues. Since energy issues are of profound significance in modern economic and geo-political terms, and many of the world’s largest corporations and most significant infrastructural developments are energy related, moves towards sustainable development must include consideration of energy issues. At the same time, a range of other issues of sustainable development – protection of habitats, better waste management and so on – have their focus on the built environment. Those involved with the built environment, therefore, need increasingly to understand and take account of energy issues as part of the response to the challenges of sustainable development.

As part of the global response to these challenges, a range of international, regional and national targets – most obviously in terms of emissions of carbon dioxide – have been and are being developed. The practical implementation of the steps necessary to achieve these targets has begun, with the built environment a major part of these efforts. Finally, the authors consider that, linked to this, in the UK at least, a plethora of new policy developments – including the review of land-use planning, efforts to reduce car dependence, the regionalisation of government – seem set to change the ways in which built environment processes and energy issues interact, with potentially significant implications for everyone.