They are among a group of academics to be successful in the latest round of seed funding from Scotland Beyond Net Zero (SBNZ) to drive collaborative research to help the country reach its climate targets.
Other projects involving Edinburgh academics aim to help tackle fuel poverty in rural Scotland, and develop approaches to support the restoration peatlands.
Net zero coalition
The landmark SBNZ initiative, a coalition of leading climate and sustainability experts from 13 of Scotland's universities, aims to help the country meet – and go beyond – its ambition of achieving net zero by 2045.
It seeks to catalyse action and empower government, policymakers, organisations and industry to make informed change to help Scotland achieve its climate goals.
Following a competitive submission process, 11 new research collaborations have been selected for SBNZ’s second round of seed funding.
Each project involves cross-sector collaborations to address sustainability challenges in energy, finance, food, the built environment, natural systems and transport.
Innovative projects
A project involving Edinburgh academics will create digital twins – detailed computer models – of existing building types to aid the development of ways to improve their energy efficiency.
The project, which also involves researchers from Edinburgh Napier University, will explore how improvements could be made in areas such as cost, carbon footprint and sustainable materials use.
Edinburgh researchers, together with academics from Heriot-Watt University and the University of Glasgow, are also involved in a project to help tackle fuel poverty in rural Scotland.
They aim to gain insights into factors affecting rural energy use, and deliver solutions and policy recommendations to support a just energy transition – ensuring no one is left behind in Scotland’s path to net zero.
Two further projects involving Edinburgh academics will focus on supporting the restoration of peatlands, which are key carbon sinks. One aims to create a framework to measure the climate impact of emissions, storage and land use, with the other developing 3D imaging tools to monitor peatlands.
Among the other projects to secure SBNZ seed funding is a study to turn waste produced during whisky production into compostable packaging.