The Energy Challenge

Not since the 1970s has energy been so high on the political and media agendas, and a matter of public interest and debate. In just a few decades, we must radically transform our energy systems; not only how we produce our energy but also the efficiency with which we use it and how we manage its transport and storage.

The drivers for this are powerful ones, as we strive to assure the secure and sustainable energy that is fundamental to our prosperity and to our way of life, both now and for the long term. There can be no doubt that the challenge we face is a major one, in the UK and globally.

Research excellence and innovation are central to achieving our energy goals, therefore the Energy Technologies Institute represents the most important development in UK energy research and innovation for decades. By bringing together the efforts and investments of both public and private sectors, and by focusing on key energy challenges with a new level of scale and ambition, it has the potential to achieve step-change advances in energy technologies.

The Energy White Paper (6.6MB PDF) addresses the challenges outlined above.