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DIG reports published on UK Consumers, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Added 28 November 2007
The Open University Design Innovation Group (part of the OU Sustainable Technologies Group) announces two new research reports from its ‘People-centred ecodesign’ project.
Consumer adoption and use of household energy efficiency products by Sally Caird & Robin Roy with Stephen Potter & Horace Herring, Report DIG-09, December 2007.
Provides an Executive summary and detailed results of major questionnaire and interview surveys on why UK consumers decide to adopt or reject household energy efficiency measures, such as loft insulation, low energy lamps and condensing boilers. The report also covers the experiences of people who installed these measures and consumers’ ideas for improving them.
[To download the Energy Efficiency Report or Executive summary go to the Design Innovation Group pages.]
Consumer adoption and use of household renewable energy technologies by Sally Caird & Robin Roy with Stephen Potter & Horace Herring, Report DIG-10, Dec. 2007.
Provides an Executive summary and detailed results of major questionnaire and interview surveys on why UK consumers decide to adopt or reject household renewables – solar thermal water heating, solar photovoltaics, micro-wind turbines and wood-burning stoves. The report also covers the experiences of people who installed these renewables and consumers’ideas for improving them.
[To download the Renewables Report or Executive summary go to the Design Innovation Group pages.]
This research was conducted in collaboration with Milton Keynes Energy Agency http://www.mkea.org.uk/
and the National Energy Foundation http://www.nef.org.uk/
Climate Change: the citizens' agenda
August 2006: Arising from work on the People-centred eco-design project, Professor Robin Roy and Dr Sally Caird of the Department's Design Innovation Group (DIG) submitted invited written evidence to the Parliamentary Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee enquiry on 'Climate change: the citizens’ agenda'.
DTRS7: Design Meeting Protocols receives AHRC funding
June 2006: Dr Peter Lloyd, principle investigator on an AHRC workshops and networks bid, along with Nigel Cross, Janet McDonnell (Central Saint Martins), Fraser Reid (Plymouth University), and Rachael Luck (Reading University), has been successful in securing £25,000 funding for Design Thinking Research Symposium 7: Design Meeting Protocols. The project is due to start on 1st July running for 2 years, and with an internation conference in September 2007.
Read the Original Proposal: [pdf]
For further information contact: Peter Lloyd (p.lloyd@open.ac.uk)
Department Awarded RCUK Research Fellowship
The Department of Design and Innovation has been awarded a Research Councils UK (RCUK) Fellowship. This post provides the opportunity for a postdoctoral researcher to contribute to a key strategic area of research strength at the Open University. The purpose of the Fellowship is to provide a pathway from researcher to a permanent university career post. The Fellow will be offered a permanent academic position at the end of the five year Fellowship. During the period of the Fellowship, the RCUK Fellow will be expected to apply for funding and integrate fully within the activities and programmes of the Department.
RCUK Press Release: http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/
For further information contact: Chris Earl (c.f.earl@open.ac.uk)
EERU European Renewable Energy Projects
March 2006: Over the past three years EERU, with DTI support, has been working on an 'outreach' information transfer project with EU accession and candidate countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The 'New Europe, New Energy' project has involved many research visits and conferences at governmental level, in Lithuania, Bulgaria and shortly Romania. See OU News Release about the most recent event: http://www3.open.ac.uk/media/fullstory.aspx?id=8496
For further information contact: Terry Cook (t.cook@open.ac.uk)
Cox Report
December 2005: Both Robin Roy and Stephen Potter have given written evidence to the Cox Review of Creativity in Business, commissioned by Gordon Brown, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Designing for the 21st Century
February 2005: Jeff Johnson leads the Embracing Complexity in Design cluster in the AHRB/EPSRC sponsored programme of Designing for the 21st Century.
Lifetime Achievement Award
July 2005: Professor Nigel Cross was honoured by the Design Research Society for lifetime achievement and elected first President of the International Association of Societies of Design Research.
Shell Eco-marathon Roundtable
May 2006: Professor Stephen Potter was an invited keynote speaker at the Roundtable on a Sustainable Energy Future held in as part of the 2006 Shell Eco-marathon in Pau, France. [Link to Eco-marathon website] Professor Potter's paper will feature in the internet EU newswire EurActiv. A copy of this paper is also available here. [copy of paper]
Parliamentary Advisor
October 2005: Godfrey Boyle was an invited speaker at the 2005 Parliamentary and Scientific Committee debate on nuclear power chaired by Lord Broers.
Eurosolar Prize
October 2004: Professor Dave Elliott was awarded the Eurosolar Prize UK in the media section for his regular column on renewable energy issues in the periodical 'Building for a Future'.
Drawing Research Network
January 2005: Dr Steve Garner has become the Director of the Drawing Research Network an affiliation of 250 international scholars in drawing research and teaching.
Design of Machines and Mechanisms
July 2004: Joe Rooney was elected as Treasurer and member of the Executive Council of the International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science (IFToMM)
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