UK-India Sustainable Energy Technology Network

能源供应和交付的安全和可持续性是重大的全球挑战。需要新的材料、工程解决方案和技术创新，以帮助满足减贫、经济快速发展和气候变化等相互竞争的需求。未来50年，英国和印度在发展可持续能源供应方面面临不同的挑战。英国拥有发达的能源网络，需要利用高效的能源发电技术、燃料转换以及碳捕获和储存来实现现代化。减少需求也是必要的，以实现2007年能源白皮书(迎接能源挑战)设定的目标，该白皮书承诺到2020年二氧化碳排放量减少26%-32%，到2050年减少60%。随着印度经济的快速增长，印度对能源的需求也在不断增加，这对印度政府来说是一个重大挑战，因为它无法提供足够的能源供应来维持目前的增长水平。负荷削减(即停电)在印度中部和南部的大部分地区都很常见，原因是需求水平超过了发电能力。然而，人类发展目标意味着，印度需要在未来25年实现显著的经济增长，以消除贫困和发展农村经济。对印度来说，以水力发电和燃煤发电为来源的能源产量预计将大幅增长，2005-2030年间产量可能会翻两番。尽管国家实施了电力供应和电气化计划，但仍有很大一部分农村人口没有电。农村地区的本地化能源生产和燃料使用需要在小规模技术解决方案的应用方面取得进展。这一可持续能源技术网络侧重于其中两大发展挑战：大规模增加高效和清洁的化石燃料发电；利用技术发展来满足现有电力网络以外地区的小规模、主要是农村能源需求。该网络团队由来自诺丁汉大学、拉夫堡大学和伯明翰大学的学者、工业合作伙伴莱茵npower以及来自那格浦尔的国家环境工程研究所(NEERI)、德里的印度理工学院(IIT)、班加罗尔的印度科学研究所(CST，IISc)可持续技术中心和浦那的世界可持续能源研究所(WISE)的研究人员组成。涵盖化学、物理、工程和地质等科学领域以及社会经济和政策领域的补充网络专门知识将使新的技术解决方案能够适应当地社区的需要。通过将学术和科学专家、当地社区、非政府组织和工业界聚集在一起的网络活动，以及通过在一系列媒体上宣传会议、研究机会和最新进展，我们希望建立一个具有全球品牌覆盖的可持续能源研究人员社区。通过这种方式和我们的成功，我们预计将在英国和印度相互的能源相关活动中创造一个阶段性的变化。我们预计两国在开发碳捕获和储存(CCS)的新解决方案方面取得进展，通过对材料、生物质和氢气生产和燃烧动力学的研究提高工厂和燃料效率，以及应用小规模替代技术来满足农村社区的需求。此外，通过将科学家和工程师与社会科学家、经济学家和政策专家结合起来，我们寻求以全面的方式开发和部署新技术，这些技术将对有关国家的经济发展做出重大贡献。

Security and sustainability of energy supply and delivery are major global challenges. New materials, engineering solutions and technological innovations are needed to help meet competing needs of poverty deduction, rapid economic development and climate change. The UK and India face different challenges over the next 50 years in developing sustainable energy supply. The UK has a developed energy network that needs modernisation using efficient energy generation technologies, fuel switching and carbon capture and storage. Demand reduction is also necessary in order to meet targets set by the 2007 Energy White Paper ( Meeting the Energy Challenge ) which commits to a 26-32% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 and 60% by 2050. India's requirement for energy is increasing in line with its rapidly expanding economy, presenting a major challenge for its government in providing and securing access of supply sufficient to sustain current levels of growth. Load shedding (i.e. power cuts) is a common occurrence across much of central and southern India resulting from demand levels which exceed energy generation capacity. However, human development goals mean that India needs significant economic growth over the next 25 years to eradicate poverty and to develop its rural economy. For India, a massive expansion in energy production, sourced from hydroelectric and coal-fired power generation is predicted, with production likely to treble between 2005-2030. Despite national electricity supply and electrification schemes, a large proportion of rural population remains without electricity. Advances in the application of small-scale technological solutions are required for localised energy generation and fuel use in rural areas. This Sustainable Energy Technologies Network focuses on two of these major development challenges: delivery of large-scale increases in fossil fuel generation that is both efficient and clean; and utilising technological developments to address small-scale, dominantly rural energy needs in locations beyond current electricity networks. The network team comprises academics from the University of Nottingham, Loughborough University and the University of Birmingham, industrial partner RWE npower and researchers from the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur; the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi; the Centre for Sustainable Technology, Indian Institute of Science (CST, IISc) Bangalore and the World Institute of Sustainable Energy (WISE), Pune. Complementary network expertise spanning the scientific fields of chemistry, physics, engineering and geology, along with socio-economic and policy areas will allow new technological solutions to be adapted to meet the needs of local communities. Through network activities which bring together academic and scientific experts, local communities, NGOs and industry, and by publicising meetings, research opportunities and recent advances in a range of media, we hope to build a sustainable community of energy researchers which has global brand coverage. In this way and through our successes, we anticipate creating a step-change in mutual UK-India energy-related activities.We anticipate advances for both countries in the development of novel solutions for carbon capture and storage (CCS), increased plant and fuel efficiency through research into materials, biomass and hydrogen production and combustion kinetics, and the application of small-scale alternative technologies to meet the needs of rural communities. In addition, through combining scientists and engineers with social scientists, economists and policy experts, we seek to enable a holistic approach to developing and deploying new technologies which will make significant contributions to economic development of the countries involved.