New professor Richard Green brings a business focus to environmentally friendly technologies

The Alan and Sabine Howard Professor of Sustainable Energy Business is announced as Professor Richard Green

By Tanya Gubbay
Monday 10 October 2011

A new Professor who recently joined Imperial College Business School is aiming to bring a business focus to the challenge of making the UK’s energy supply more sustainable.

Professor Richard Green, an expert in renewable energy and electricity markets, becomes the first Alan and Sabine Howard Professor of Sustainable Energy Business, which is named after its supporters.

Professor Green’s aim is to bring a business perspective to new sustainable energy technologies, including those being developed at Imperial, such as carbon capture and storage, fuel cells and smart electricity networks. He believes that a key challenge for those seeking to reduce carbon emissions is to make sustainable and low-carbon technologies attractive to businesses.

"We will only be able to make use of new technologies if companies are willing to invest in them," Professor Green explained. "They must believe that market conditions and government policies will allow them to earn a reasonable return on their investments."

Professor Green’s most recent research has centred round the European Union’s pledge to cut CO2 emissions by more than 20% by 2020. His particular focus has been on the potential impact of introducing large amounts of wind power into the British electricity market if targets for 2020 are to be met.

In his new role, Professor Green will look to continue this research and will be collaborating closely with colleagues across the College, particularly in Electrical Engineering, the Centre for Energy Policy and Technology and the Energy Futures Lab.

"The College has a distinguished and thriving energy research community across many disciplines and a strong tradition of working together to solve practical problems. I look forward to helping deliver the business and policy recommendations we need if we are to achieve our energy and environmental goals," Professor Green said.

The position will be supported for five years by Alan and Sabine Howard, who see it addressing a vital area for our world today. "We are delighted that Professor Richard Green has been appointed to this position. We wanted to establish it as it addressed both what we and the College saw as an area in need of urgent development. Indeed, Imperial is uniquely placed to carry out research that combines science, medicine, engineering and business, delivering practical solutions to the challenges facing today’s society. It is at the critical juncture of new energy technologies and business, where the key to finding achievable global energy solutions lies," said Mr Howard, an alumnus of Imperial College and founder and CEO of Brevan Howard Asset Management.

Professor Nigel Brandon, Director of the Energy Futures Lab said: "The key now is to find ways of integrating sustainable energy technology into our existing infrastructure, while developing the right policies that encourage people to help make this sustainable future an affordable reality. Richard’s extensive background in business will add another important dimension to the work that is already underway at the College."