News

Lecture will explore ways forward for renewable energy

(29 November 2004)

A major lecture by one of the country’s leading experts in the field of renewable energy will explore the way forward for development of alternative ways of more environmentally friendly ways of generating electricity.

The venue for the lecture is the Appleby Lecture Theatre at 5.30 p.m. on Wednesday 1st December. The lecture is open to staff, students and members of the public. Admission is free. The lecture takes places this week at the University of Durham when one of the University’s own top researchers, Professor Peter Tavner, delivers an inaugural lecture titled : ”Renewable Energy : what can we do?” which will look at the how renewable energy sources are being used and assess their future potential. Professor Tavner will take up the challenge made recently by the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser Sir David King who says that there is a need for imperative action to address the issue of global warming and the environmental impact of the use of fossil fuels to generate electricity.

The use of renewable sources for generating electricity is one way to mitigate the effects of human activity on the environment. Professor Tavner has had wide experience in the electrical energy industry and his lecture will review the renewable sources available and assess their future potential for society.

He will look at a number of significant successes in the exploitation of renewable sources at Durham University, notably in the areas of wind and wave power generation. He will present some of the technological, social and economic issues which will need to be addressed if renewable energy is to play a larger role in the future..

The venue for the lecture is the Appleby Lecture Theatre at 5.30 p.m. on Wednesday 1st December. The lecture is open to staff, students and members of the public. Admission is free.

For further information contact : Professor Peter Tavner, School of Engineering University of Durham Tel 0191 334 2460 e-mail : peter.tavner@durham.ac.uk

Media enquiries to : Tom Fennelly, Public Relations Office, University of Durham, Tel 0191 334 6078 e-mail : t.p.fennelly@durham.ac.uk

Notes to editors :

Peter Tavner MA, PhD, CEng, FIEE, is the Professor of New and Renewable Energy in the School of Engineering at the University of Durham. He received an MA in Mechanical Sciences (1969) from Cambridge University and a PhD degree (1978) from Southampton University. His doctorate thesis was on the electromagnetic behaviour of the stator cores of large electrical turbogenerators.

He has held a number of research and senior technical positions in industry including Technical Director of Laurence, Scott & Electromotors Ltd and Brush Electrical Machines Ltd. Most recently he has been Group Technical Director of FKI Energy Technology, an international business which manufactures wind turbines, electrical machines, electrical drives, dynamometers, transformers and switchgear in the UK, Holland, Italy, Germany and the Czech Republic.

His research interests are in the development of electrical machines of unusual topology for the extraction of energy from renewable sources and their cost-effective connection to the electricity system. He retains a particular interest in electromagnetic analysis, the application of condition monitoring to electrical systems and the use of convertors with electrical machines. He is a winner of the Institution Premium of the IEE and author with Prof. J. Penman of Aberdeen University of "Condition Monitoring for Electrical Machines".