Unpacking energy demand: what it is and how it changes
The third in a series of introductory lectures on the big energy picture. These talks are open to everyone.

Energy demand characteristics are routinely under-represented in energy system analyses and in energy research, yet they are essential for understanding energy systems and for making realistic assessments of how to plan for a low-carbon future. In this talk I begin with a look at the basic elements of an energy system, then present some characteristics of demand (mostly in the UK) and how they are changing. I take a brief look at ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ energy paths outlined in the 1970s following the first oil crisis and use them as the basis for looking at current and possible future systems. Some key words when trying to match demand with supply effectively are scale, diversity, flexibility, quality and intelligibility.
Date: 18 November 2015, 13:00
Venue: Dyson Perrins Building, off South Parks Road OX1 3QY
Venue Details: Lecture theatre, School of Geography and the Environment
Speaker: Dr Sarah Darby (Senior Researcher and deputy leader, Lower Carbon Futures group, University of Oxford)
Organising department: Environmental Change Institute
Organisers: Freya Stanley Price (University of Oxford), Prof Malcolm McCulloch (Head of the University of Oxford’s Electrical Power Group and Co-Director of The Oxford Martin Programme on Integrating Renewable Energy), Dr Philipp Grunewald (University of Oxford, Oxford University Centre for the Environment)
Organiser contact email address: freya.stanley-price@ouce.ox.ac.uk
Part of: NEST - New Energy Systems Thinkers
Topics:
Booking required?: Not required
Booking url: http://www.energy.ox.ac.uk/nest
Audience: Public
Editors: Philipp Grunewald, Freya Stanley-Price