Developing a conceptual framework for adopting renewable energy in the domestic urban environment in the UK

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Nweke, O.B., 2022. Developing a conceptual framework for adopting renewable energy in the domestic urban environment in the UK. PhD, Nottingham Trent University.

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Abstract

The drive to reduce carbon emissions, address energy poverty and eliminate pollution is critical towards achieving Net Zero. Renewable energy should be utilised in urban environments as well as within large-scale projects to achieve such goals. Distributed solar energy systems, grid-connected or off-grid, could play an important role in addressing the energy challenges in urban environments. Therefore, this research investigated the challenges and opportunities in implementing renewable energy in an urban environment in the UK. Using a concurrent mixed methods approach, qualitative and quantitative data are collected. Qualitative data was collected through interviews with the Nottingham council and residents in the UK. Quantitative data was gathered using structured questionnaires targeting residents in the UK to identify the reasons for overreliance on natural gas and oil, the most important factors hindering their implementation of renewable sources, and their awareness of the climate crisis. Subsequently, using Nottingham as the case study, a roof survey analysis is conducted to investigate the growth of renewables to provide further analysis in this study. Findings in this study show that the key factors to consider in the implementation of renewable energy include financial constraints, lack of information, lack of awareness and urban planning issues. This study also establishes a theoretical and conceptual framework for renewable energy adoption. A preliminary theoretical framework is established after a comprehensive literature review and in the latter stages a comprehensive conceptual framework is developed based on the prior framework and research conducted. Therefore, using behavioural reasoning theory and diffusion of innovation theory, this study suggests that to encourage the adoption of renewable energy, the cost should be subsidised, or addressed via affordable means, and awareness should be increased to enable consumers to adopt clean technologies considering the recent rising costs of electricity. This would involve cooperation between stakeholders through multi-actor partnerships. Furthermore, policies must be developed for implementing sustainability measures as an essential component of urban planning. As a result, houses and cities should be designed to accommodate solar panels in the future instead of having complicated roofs and less-than-optimal orientations.

Item Type:	Thesis
Creators:	Nweke, O.B.
Date:	September 2022
Divisions:	Schools > School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	09 Aug 2023 10:01
Last Modified:	09 Aug 2023 10:01
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/49534