Strategically integrated renewable energy and environment systems (SIRE)

对于大多数社会来说，能源支撑着生活的方方面面，许多人认为获得充足和不间断的能源是一项基本需求和权利。能源目前占全球温室气体排放量的75%左右，因此对气候变化有很大贡献。因此，为了避免危险的气候变化，我们必须改变我们的能源供应，使其排放更少的温室气体。考虑到陆上风能和太阳能与波浪和潮汐相比的成熟度，陆上风能和太阳能为英国提供了巨大的潜力；尽管补贴削减，但仍在继续部署，证明了成本竞争力的增强；与核电(例如，2008-25年实施欣克利角-C核电站)和页岩气相比，部署速度更快；与有限的剩余水能资源相比，英国各地的潜力相当大；成熟的英国工业和金融专业知识；以及电池市场改变游戏规则的发展。然而，与传统发电站相比，风能和太阳能占据了更大的土地面积，对宿主景观既有有利的影响，也有不利的影响。因此，决定风能和太阳能在英国各地的设计、管理和位置至关重要；糟糕的决定可能会用能源对全球范围的气候变化影响来换取局部的环境破坏。环境科学在确定陆上风能和太阳能的设计、管理和选址方面发挥着关键作用。环境过程通过资源潜力(例如太阳辐射和风能)和影响因素(例如太阳能电池板上的尘埃沉积和林业造成的湍流)直接控制能源产生。相反，可再生能源也影响环境的功能，例如通过改变当地气候和生态，改变为自然提供的空间和提供生态系统服务。因此，环境科学处于有利地位，可以提供一种为明智决策提供信息的手段。例如，约克郡的牧场用地是否比威尔特郡的低等级农业用地更可取？在两者都可行的地区，太阳能和风能哪一个更可取？此外，在场地规模上，管理行动和能源基础设施能否设计成实现共同利益(例如生境)和减少有害影响(例如不必要的干扰)？此外，鉴于能源决策的经济基础，不仅有必要提供基于证据的指导，而且还需要提供一种量化不同决策影响的手段。此外，这也将支持未来风能和太阳能开发的商业案例。因此，该项目的目的是提供强有力的证据基础，为风能和太阳能在英国各地的战略部署提供信息，提供能源、环境和社会经济效益。这将通过三个目标实现：1.开发一个多因素框架，以评估陆上风能和太阳能的能源、环境和社会经济影响；2.模拟评估和量化风能和太阳能在整个英国的能源、环境和社会经济影响；3.与利益攸关方接触，使创新工具能够嵌入到从地方到国家的英国能源决策中。这项研究和创新将与利益攸关方共同开发，其成果将为可再生能源的土地利用变化带来创新和新颖的循证决策手段，提供并量化能源、环境和社会经济效益。

For most societies, energy underpins all aspects of life and many people consider access to abundant and uninterrupted energy a basic need and right. Energy is currently responsible for ~75% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and thus contributes significantly to climate change. Therefore, in order to avoid dangerous climate change it is critical that we change our energy supplies to those that release substantially less greenhouse gas. Land-based wind and solar energy offers great potential for the UK, given their maturity compared with wave and tidal; increasing cost competitiveness evidenced by continued deployment despite subsidy cuts; rapidity of deployment compared with nuclear (e.g. 2008-25 Hinkley-C implementation) and shale gas; considerable potential across the UK compared to limited remaining hydro energy resources; established UK-based industrial and financial expertise; and game-changing developments in the battery market. However, wind and solar takes up a greater land area than traditional power stations with both beneficial and detrimental effects on the hosting landscape. Therefore, deciding the design, management and location of wind and solar across the UK is pivotal; poor decisions could swap the global-scale climate change impacts of energy for localised environmental damage. Environmental science has a critical role to play in determining the design, management and location of land-based wind and solar energy. Environmental processes directly control energy generation through resource potential (e.g. solar radiation and wind), and influencing factors (e.g. dust deposition on solar panels and turbulence caused by forestry). Conversely, renewables also affect the functioning of the environment, for example by changing local climates and ecology and altering the provision of space for nature and the delivery of ecosystem services. Consequently, environmental science is well placed to deliver a means of informing astute decisions. For example, is land take of pasture land in Yorkshire preferable to land take of low grade agricultural land in Wiltshire? In areas where both are viable, is solar or wind preferable? Moreover, at the site scale, can management actions and energy infrastructure be designed to deliver co-benefits (e.g. habitats) and reduce detrimental impacts (e.g. unnecessary disturbance)? Further, given the economic basis of energy decision-making, it is not only necessary to provide evidenced-based guidance, but also to provide a means of quantifying the effect of different decisions. Moreover, this will also support future business cases for wind and solar energy developments. Consequently, the aim of this project is to provide a robust evidence base to inform the strategic deployment of wind and solar energy across the UK, delivering energy, environment and socio-economic benefits. This will be achieved through three objectives:1. Development of a multifactorial framework to assess the energy, environment and socio-economic effects of land-based wind and solar energy;2. Simulated assessment and quantification of the energy, environment and socio-economic effects of wind and solar energy across the UK;3. Engaging with stakeholders to enable embedding of innovative tools into UK energy decision-making from local to national scales. The research and innovation will be co-developed with stakeholders and the outcomes will bring an innovative and novel means of evidence-based decision for land use change for renewable energy that delivers and quantifies energy, environment and socio-economic benefits.