Website: decarbon8.org.uk
The DecarboN8 network brings together researchers, industry and government to design transport decarbonisation solutions which can be deployed rapidly and at scale. We are developing answers to questions such as:
- How can different places be rapidly switched to electromobility for personal travel? How do decisions on the private fleet interact with the quite different decarbonisation strategies for heavy vehicles? This requires integrating understanding of the changing carbon impacts of these options with knowledge on how energy systems work and are regulated with the operational realities of transport systems and their regulatory environment; and
- What is the right balance between infrastructure expansion, intelligent system management and demand management? Will the embodied carbon emissions of major new infrastructure offset gains from improved flows and could these be delivered in other ways?
The answer to these questions is unlikely to the same everywhere in the UK and DecarboN8 pays attention to where the answers might be different and why, to develop an innovative place based approach to decarbonisation. We pay attention to the major societal implications of any of the changes proposed and work with diverse sectors and communities to deliver solutions which share the decarbonisation challenge fairly.
The DecarboN8 network is led by the eight most research intensive Universities across the North of England (Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York) who are working with local, regional and national stakeholders to create an integrated test and research environment across the North where researchers from elsewhere in the UK and globally can study the decarbonisation challenge at these different scales.