Available onlineResearchers & Research Groups
(page 2 of 6)| Clip: | Energy Research Group |
|---|---|
| Duration: | 00:02:34 |
| Date: | 13-11-1983 |
| Clip: | Alternative Technology Group |
|---|---|
| Duration: | 00:03:21 |
| Date: | 13-11-1983 |
Alternative Energy and Research
Though by the mid-1980s some cuts had to be made to internal research funding due to the financial landscape at the time, research at the OU still went from strength to strength.
Other significant groups not yet mentioned included several that were conducting research into different areas within the wider sector of alternative energy and environmental technologies: for instance the Energy Research Group (ERG), the New Towns Study Unit and the Alternative Technology Group.
In the first clip on this page, Dr Steve Cousins of the Energy Research Group and Dr Steve Potter of the New Towns Study Unit look at the social uses of cars and demonstrate a meter for monitoring energy consumption for use in car sharing.
Both the Energy Research Group and the New Towns Study Unit were able to make excellent use of the University’s location in the new town of Milton Keynes. One of the most notable projects of the ERG monitored the development of energy-efficient housing in some of the newly-built local estates. The Pennyland Project featured in several OU TV programmes of the 1980s, and there is a clip from one on this page on the Digital Archive.
In the second clip, Godfrey Boyle and Derek Taylor of the Alternative Technology Group look at the development of wind turbines, using natural resources to create sustainable energy and monitoring this output. These Open University research groups were at the forefront of this field, which grew in international scope as this and subsequent decades advanced.
