DrRichardHanna

Summary

Overview

Dr. Richard Hanna is a Research Associate at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London. He carries out systematic evidence reviews for the UK Energy Research Centre and specialises in topics related to energy technology innovation and low carbon heating policy. He is currently leading a review of the international evidence on net job creation in renewable energy and energy efficiency. His previous review projects have examined: (1) timescales from basic research to commercialisation of energy technologies and consumer products; (2) an international review of best practices in heat decarbonisation, with a focus on heat pump and district heating deployment; and (3) the extent to which energy scenarios and energy systems models represent disruptive / discontinuous change in energy systems.

Previously he was a Research Fellow at the University of Reading from 2013 to 2015. Contributing to the Dynamics of Energy Mobility And Demand (DEMAND) project, he conducted secondary analyses of time-use data to understand how the structure and social distribution of householder practices shape peak electricity demand.  Richard completed his PhD at the University of Surrey in 2013, examining the influence of installer businesses on the rate of microgeneration uptake and on installation standards in the UK. 

Evidence of esteem

Associate Member of the Energy Institute (AMEI); Member of the British Institute of Energy Economics.

Co-leader of the “Behaviour change in Energy and Environment policy” multi-faculty network, Imperial College London (2020 - current).

Named researcher on 'Aquifer thermal energy storage for decarbonisation of heating and cooling: Overcoming technical, economic and societal barriers to UK deployment', Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council grant, 2021-2024 (£1,524,750).

Invited speaker / panellist: Sustainable Economies Research Group (SERG) seminar, University of the West of England (online, 2022); LCS-RNet 12th Annual Meeting: Accelerating Actions for Leveraging a Climate-Neutral  Sustainable Society, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Japan (online, 2021); Carbon Connect Roundtable: Innovation, Technology and Low Carbon Heat, London (2020); Energy Policy and Regulation for Heat Decarbonisation in Northern Ireland, Belfast (2019).

Conference presentations: Forum on Scenarios for Climate and Societal Futures, US (2019); Energizing Futures: Sustainable Development and Energy in Transition, Finland (2018); Science, Technology and Innovation: New Challenges and Practices, Spain (2018); 1st International Conference on Energy Research & Social Science, Spain (2017).

Examples of policy impacts

2022: ‘The Future of Home Heating: The Roles of Heat Pumps and Hydrogen’ Energy Futures Lab briefing paper (commissioned by the MCS Charitable Foundation) was launched. As a co-author I was quoted in the Independent and Daily Mail Online. The report was also covered on page 2 of the Daily Telegraph and received widespread coverage in local news outlets across the UK.

2021: Interim findings from review of low carbon job creation cited in the report of the Green Jobs Taskforce convened by BEIS and DfE.

2018: Report published by BEIS, prepared in conjunction with Vivid Economics (International comparisons of heating, cooling and heat decarbonisation policies).

2016/7: Working paper from the Best practice in heat decarbonisation policy project published on the Committee on Climate Change website as supporting evidence for the Committee’s ‘Next Steps for UK Heat Policy’ report.

2016: Innovation timelines from invention to maturity report cited in the National Infrastructure Commission’s report ‘The impact of technological change on future infrastructure supply and demand’.

Publications

Journals

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