Energy Policy Centre Being Launched

A much-needed'' centre focusing on energy policy is being formally launched today.

The University of Strathclyde's Centre for Energy Policy (CEP) has been created with the aim of challenging and informing policy analysis and decision-making in Scotland and around the world.

The launch will take place in the university's new £89 million Technology and Innovation Centre.

CEP director Professor Karen Turner said: The centre will look to broaden the discussion about the future of energy policy in Scotland, not just focusing on electricity and renewables but also considering the longer-term issues, such as transport and heating.

The centre will benefit from Strathclyde's renowned collaborative approach to research and knowledge exchange.

Our team will draw on the university's considerable energy-related expertise - held across its science, engineering, humanities and social sciences faculties and business school - and will create a space for useful and challenging debate on energy policy.''

The centre will also take part in the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) project to look at the economic benefits of energy saving efficiencies across households and industry.

CEP chairman Ian Marchant said: How we produce energy determines our environmental impact, its price, our economic welfare and its availability our way of life. We need a joined-up policy framework that acknowledges these objectives.

The CEP is a much-needed innovation to bridge academic approaches to energy policy, the needs of policy-makers and the engineering and business challenges of this 21st-century industry.''