EVALUATE has just published the first of at least five Policy briefs expected over the next four years. It focuses on energy prices and general poverty trends across Europe. The policy brief is being issued to coincide with the commencement of EU Sustainable Energy Week and the ManagEnergy Annual Conference, where I will speak at a panel on ‘Energy savings and use of renewables – affordable ways to address energy poverty locally’.
The EVALUATE team has been active on the conference circuit during the past six months. Some of my own activities have included:
- A conference presentation on energy vulnerability at a conference in Slovenia, organised by the REACH project (funded by Intelligent Energy Europe). During my stay in Slovenia I was also interviewed by the Energetika magazine.
- A keynote presentation (via Skype) for a workshop at Södertorn University Stockholm, on ‘Large-scale energy projects‘, on the 24th of April 2014;
- A video presentation for a conference on hydropower in the Balkans;
- A seminar on ‘Retrofitted cities: Transforming buildings from within‘ for the Manchester Architecture Centre, 19th February 2014;
- Invited talks on ‘Energy vulnerability in Europe’ at the annual seminar series of the Southeast European Research Centre of the University of Sheffield and City College in Thessaloniki, Greece (20th January 2014) and at a conference on ‘Energy pathways and scenarios’ in Skopje, Macedonia (23rd January 2014);
- A keynote lecture at a Seminar on ‘Environments and Ecologies’ within the University of York’s Centre for Urban Research’s seminar series on the ‘Post-crash city’ on the 12th of December 2013. The lecture was titled ‘‘The infrastructural precariat: energy vulnerability in the age of austerity’; a video podcast is available here;
- A plenary presentation at an European Parliament event on ‘Tax Justice and Climate Change’, organized by the European Social Platform, on the 5th of December 2013. More information about the event can be found on this link and the paper I wrote for them can be found here;
- Presented a Café Scientifique on ‘Energy Security in the UK’ at the Birmingham Science Museum, on the 5th of November. Click here for a report written by a Birmingham university student;
- Gave a plenary talk at a conference titled ‘The Psychology of Fuel Poverty’ organized by the Cheshire Lehmann Fund in London, on the 19th of November 2013. The conference was followed by a Parliamentary Reception organised by the EAGA Charitable Trust;
- Presented a paper on ‘European energy governance’ at a conference on ‘The UK’s Global Gas Challenge’ organized by the UK Energy Research Centre in London, on the 27th of November 2013. This event was practitioner-orientated and was attended by representatives of all major energy utilities, as well as the National Grid, OfGem and the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
EVALUATE was also actively represented at the Annual Conference of the Association of American Geographers – between us, Saska, Sergio and I presented papers, organized, chaired and acted as discussants at more than 10 different sessions. Saska recently wrote a report on energy geographies at the AAG for our blog, available here.
People and Energy Collective 