Energy career options

You'll have seen above that UKERC is organising a webinar on Delivering a sustainable energy system: Career options? It's aimed at A-level and undergraduate students who are interested in a career in energy, but who might not have appreciated the full breadth and complexity (and thus opportunity) of the energy system. As a presenter in the webinar I feel obliged to heartily endorse the quality of the speakers and make a plea for you to advertise the event to anyone, in our target audience, who you think might benefit from participating.

The UKERC webinar is part of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Festival of Social Science (FoSS). Since UKERC is participating, I thought I'd have a look at the "competition" with regards to other energy related events in the festival.

The FoSS, which runs 6 – 15th March is designed to communicate information about the social sciences and how social science impacts on our lives. The events take a variety of formats, from traditional lectures and seminars, to exhibitions, film screenings and topical debates. Furthermore, they are aimed at a range of different audiences, including policy makers, business, the media, the general public and students of all ages.

I've been looking through the programme and have cherry picked some events that interest me, and hopefully you as well.

Within the programme aimed at school and college students, in addition to the UKERC webinar, the Sussex Energy Group Climate Change Debate on 11th March will bring together three teams of sixth form students to debate possible solutions to climate change. Fulham Primary School are running an event on Lowering carbon emission by sustainable travel on 12th March – it sounds like a great idea to get the kids involved in this at such an early age.
For those who have a specific interest in a subject, the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods is organising a workshop on Climate Change: Social Science and Civil Society Perspectives on 9th March. The workshop aims to achieve a meeting of minds between academics, environmental groups and members of the policy community with interests in the social science research agenda (broadly conceived) into the climate crisis. On the next day, 10th March, RELU-Biomass are running a stakeholder meeting on "How will energy crops affect our landscapes?" at Rothamsted Manor.

Elsewhere in the programme, there are some really events that have caught my interest including:
Curious People
The Credit Crunch: Gender Equality in Hard Times
The Social Life of Plants
The 'Credit Crunch': Consequences for UK Households
Talent and Autism
Research and evidence in policy making debate

In the energy news this week, a couple of stories have snagged my attention. Scientists have been using satellite images of the gravitational force across the surface of the Earth to identify likely new of oil and gas fields. The method works on the basis that such deposits are surrounded by relatively light materials than have less gravitational force than surrounding materials. Worryingly, but perhaps unsurprisingly, the tool is expected to be particularly useful for identifying resources that will be uncovered as the Arctic ice melts.

The Independent has followed up my breaking news story of last week to announce that "Britain fails to deliver on pledge to lead world to 'green recovery'". Well, perhaps they weren't exactly following up my story...

The solar industry is apparently celebrating a historic milestone due to the production of a solar module with a cost below $1 per watt of generating capacity. The Chinese car industry is also celebrating their achievement in coming from nowhere to producing the first commercial petrol plug in hybrid car. The car, made by Build Your Dreams Auto, can be recharged by mains electricity and can travel for 62 miles on a full charge before switching the petrol engine. For those interested in running off and purchasing one, it costs a rather reasonable £15,000.
For those of you wondering where the animal related news is, you be delighted to know that a brand new species of psychedelic bouncing fishhas been discovered. I'm struggling to work out the energy angle here, but it probably has something to do with the bouncing.