University links up with Kirklees Climate Commission
Professor John Allport
Professor of Turbocharger Engineering
...is turning his expertise and interest in turbines into ways the University could reuse waste to generate electricity for storage or release to the national grid
The University of Huddersfield is playing its part in a new body on its doorstep that is seeking to hit ambitious climate targets in the Kirklees area.
Professor John Allport, from the Department of Engineering and Technology, is representing the University on the newly-formed Kirklees Climate Commission (KCC). The KCC is supporting efforts to work towards net zero carbon emissions and greater climate resilience, while the University itself is beginning a number of initiatives that will align with the Commission’s objectives.
The KCC includes local business leaders, educators, councillors, creatives and legal practitioners, and it will also relate to the climate advisory body that is working around similar targets for the Yorkshire and Humber region.
‘Poacher turned gatekeeper’
“I started off in the coal industry before moving into oil, gas and chemical processing. Then I spent 25 years in the automotive industry, so it’s a case of being poacher turned gamekeeper,” reflects Professor Allport.
“Effectively, I spent years developing technologies that contributed to polluting the planet. But after we successively established the Turbocharger Research Institute at the University, my focus turned to technologies to combat pollution. My group now look at how can we avoid making the same mistakes with developing countries – can they work without a carbon economy?
“We are looking at solar powered water pumps in Africa, hydroelectric power in Nepal and using agricultural wastes for generating power in Uganda, as well as how these technologies could be applied in a local context. The KCC is a good fit with what we are doing at the University.”
Professor Peter Roberts, Chair of the Kirklees Climate Commission, said: “I am delighted that Professor John Allport is a member of the Kirklees Climate Commission and I am very grateful that the University of Huddersfield is providing support for our work.
“The Commission is tackling a wide range of problems which, when taken together, represent the greatest challenge facing contemporary society. Working together, and using John’s and other colleagues’ expertise to the full, offers the potential to identify a sustainable pathway to the future.”
Local focus on net-zero
John’s involvement with the KCC will see it look at the implications of local projects on the transition to net-zero emissions, such as the proposed expansion of the busy A629 road from the town centre to the M62 motorway. The Commission will also look at housing, energy usage, land use and climate risks such as flooding.
Another related project under consideration by John’s group is to use existing weirs on rivers in the area to generate power in a way that will allow fish to swim up-river, altering structures that currently make a move to cleaner waters difficult due to their construction in the early industrial era.
“One option would be to make bypasses for turbines with integrated fish ladders on the weirs using concrete, as has been done in some other places, but the embedded carbon in construction could offset all the carbon gains for 30 to 40 years. Can we do it less carbon intensively? One answer would be a retrofit system that generates power by taking water down the weir, but incorporating a series of basins as a ‘fish ladder’ that allow them to jump ‘up’ the weir.”
The redeveloped Technology Building will feature many energy-efficient measuresUniversity already on road to net-zero
His interest in turbines could lead to the University reusing its waste to generate electricity that could either be stored on site, or even released to the national grid. Future capacity for studying waste to energy projects and the “circular energy economy” is being built into the redevelopment of the Technology Building with this in mind.
“We are also researching battery storage for charging electric vehicles which also helps to reduce power surges from the grid. We would like to put this kind of charging points with ‘buffer storage’ onto our campus to study their performance experimentally, but possibly for use by public as well.”
“The power economy is an increasingly important matter, and with the solar panels on our Technology Building there is a huge amount going on across the University in the sphere of energy efficiency, clean energy and how we use it best.”
Main photo by Greg Trowman on Unsplash – Hade Edge above Holmfirth