FeME Climate Challenge Workshop - Energy

The new Failure Modes of Engineering (FeME) project that has been funded by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), focuses on engineering solutions for climate change and biodiversity loss and empowering those impacted most as crucial agents for the future engineering that we need.

FeME focuses on three sectors – transport, energy, water – and four critical themes within these sectors:

• Social acceptance of engineering solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation

• Mitigation of disruptions caused by climate change

• Adaptation to disruptions caused by climate change

• Effective use of limited resources in a threatening climate

This workshop focuses on the first critical theme – developing solutions that are socially acceptable in the context of Energy. During this workshop, you will hear about the project and delve into practical challenges around the questions of community engagement, public trust and acceptance of engineering solutions to climate change.

You will have an opportunity to shape the research agenda and formulate use cases where practical and effective tools and approaches to public trust and acceptance are required.

What we aim to do

The workshop will be structured in two parts. In the first part, we will explore the use cases in Energy where different approaches to engaging with communities, stakeholders or end-users might be required. Below is are examples of challenges we are looking to explore, however, the we encourage the participants to bring forward their own challenges.

Challenge 1: Renewable energy and use of communal land. This challenge will explore issues around renewable energy development and concerns over the use of communal land. We will explore what approaches have (not) worked in the past in engaging with securing permissions and coming to an agreement with local communities about the use of communal land and expanding renewable energy capacity.

Challenge 2: Conflicting interests. This challenge will explore the issues around developing renewable energy at the intersection of the needs of different stakeholders, such as local fisheries and offshore renewables. We will explore what approaches have (not) worked in the past and what issues need to be addressed for a more productive co-creation of solutions that will meet interests of all involved and affected to a degree.

Challenge 3: Renewable energy in urban areas. This challenge will explore the design, development and deployment of new forms of renewable energy that make use of public spaces or share urban spaces, such as rooftops of multi-tenement buildings. We will focus on the challenges or bringing multiple individual semi-independent actors for a more productive co-creation with communities to design solutions that meet their needs.

In the second part, we will conduct a facilitated round-the-table discussion of challenges in community engagement, using a card game. The discussions will help us refine the issues around community engagement in the energy sector and apply this to a seed fund and developmental workshops with world-leading experts on community engagement. The ultimate aim of this part of work is to develop a portfolio of tools and approaches that practitioners can use in their work.

Figure 1. Facilitated round-the-table discussion in one of the previous climate challenges.

Who should attend

This event is designed for professionals in the energy sector interested in more participatory and data-informed approaches to community engagement in the context of engineered solutions for energy.

Benefits for participants

The ability to shape and have priority access to the practical tools and guides developed for practitioners working on engineering solutions to climate change.

Develop an understanding of the tools developed and how to use them to gain more meaningful insights from community engagement and consultation exercises.

This FeME Climate Challenge event is part of activities that aim to identify practical problems in the highlighted four critical themes and three key areas of transport, energy and water mentioned above.

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