How will we power the UK in the future?
The Government Chief Scientific Adviser begins a series of public talks exploring how we could power the UK in the future.
Over the next 6 months, Sir Mark Walport will tour the UK to talk about how we supply and use energy today, and the options we have for the future. The Government Office for Science has also produced 3 animations that complement these events.
The events and animations have been developed in collaboration with the Association for Science and Discovery Centres and the Department for Energy and Climate Change.
Sir Mark said:
The UK faces a series of choices about energy. We all require energy to live and our dependence on it is total. But how we supply energy and how we use it in the future needs to change. We need power that is secure, affordable and more than ever we need it to be sustainable.
When world leaders meet at the UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris this December, energy will be at the heart of the debate.
Professor John Loughhead, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department for Energy and Climate Change said:
We must continue to explore our options to meet the challenge of increasing global demand for affordable and secure energy, while at the same time tackling climate change. Increased public understanding of these issues will help by enabling people to make their own decisions about where and how they source their energy and contribute to meeting this challenge.
Dr Penny Fidler, Chief Executive Officer of the UK Association for Science and Discovery Centres said:
As a nation, and as a global society we have some lively challenges ahead, particularly the effects of carbon, and our future energy sources. These matters are of huge importance and something everyone should be able to explore first hand, and who better to share this directly with them, than the UK’s Chief Science Adviser.
Events
Sir Mark will be visiting the following venues.
| Location | Date | Other speakers |
|---|---|---|
| Natural History Museum, London | Friday 25 September 2015 | None |
| W5, Belfast | Tuesday 3 November 2015 | Minister Stephen Farry |
| At-Bristol Science Centre, Bristol | Tuesday 8 December 2015 | Dr Helen Czerski |
| New Walk Museum, Leicester | Monday 18 January 2016 | TBC |
| Glasgow Science Centre, Glasgow | Tuesday 9 February 2016 | Prof Mark Miodownik |
| Thinktank, Birmingham | Thursday 3 March 2016 | Prof Iain Stewart |
Presentation
View the slides from the presentation:
Animations
These short animations introduce how we power the UK today and the options we have for the future.
Where do we get our energy from?
Where do we get our energy from?
A world without fossil fuels?
Can renewables power our future?
Can renewables power our future?