Welcome to our News and Blog page where you can read the latest stories from the team. If you are interested in a particular topic – you can filter the stories via the tags below:
Cost Effective, Smart Monitoring of Residential & Industrial Properties
We have recently completed a collaborative project with Safehouse Technology – whose smart sensors not only keep loved ones safe, but can also be used to monitor low-carbon tech used…
Heat Week – All Wrapped up!
This week we threw a spotlight on one of the toughest challenges society faces in reducing carbon emissions. Thanks to everyone who took part in Heat Week! Here’s a review…
Highly Commended at the British Construction Industry Awards
We are thrilled to announce that the Active Office has been ‘highly commended’ in its category, ‘Climate Resilience Project of the Year,’ at the British Construction Industry Awards (BCIA). Congratulations…
Warmth not waste: new research will look at re-using waste heat from industry
A new project involving Swansea University researchers and Tata Steel will investigate the potential for recovering waste heat from industry so it can be re-used. Heavy industries can release up…
Collaborative Thermal Energy Storage Research Project Towards Achieving Net Zero
FLEXISApp has just announced funding for MESH (Mobile Energy Storage as Heat), a partnership project between FLEXISApp, SPECIFIC and Tata Steel UK. MESH is a 24 month thermal energy storage…
Keeping warm without gas needs technical solutions and more…
Sharon Bishop, SPECIFIC’s communications manager and heating novice, calls for a joined-up collaborative approach. Many years ago, I sat next to a member of one of the government’s energy advisory…
Designing low carbon buildings: Swansea team’s know-how gathered in new toolkit for others to use
The ‘Active Buildings Toolkit’ has been developed by Design Manager, Joanna Clarke, to share the principles and learnings from the Active Buildings, with the aim of encouraging others to adopt…
Heat Week is here! What’s it all about?
We’re throwing a spotlight on one of the toughest challenges society faces in reducing carbon emissions. Heating with fossil fuels accounts for about a quarter of global carbon emissions. Here…
Sustainability Award for Swansea University Labs
Swansea University has achieved the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF) sustainability award for many of its laboratories across campus including SPECIFIC‘s. The LEAF tool, devised by UCL (University College London)…
How SPECIFIC works with business: A Q&A vlog w/ Chris Bailey
In our first ever vlog, we chat to one of SPECIFIC’s Business Development Managers about how we work with businesses across the UK, and some of the projects were currently…
Back to School Safely: 12 Local Schools Protected by Swansea University Hand Sanitiser
Children returning to lessons at 12 local schools this week are the latest people to be protected by hand sanitiser made at Swansea University
Q&A w/ Hybrid Solar Start-up, Naked Energy
Naked Energy is a British design, innovation and engineering business with a global outlook, redefining solar energy solutions. As a technology supplier for the Active Office, we caught up with…
“Build, Build, Build” vs. Build Back Better
In June this year, the UK Prime Minister delivered a “Build, Build, Build” speech that preceded the announcement of radical reforms to the current planning system in England. This has…
Launching an EPSRC programme grant during lockdown
EPSRC Programme Grants are mechanisms to provide flexible funding to world-leading research groups to address significant major research challenges. This represented a great opportunity for Swansea University to strengthen links…
£6 million award to drive next-generation solar technology into new applications
A £6 million award will drive next-generation solar technology into new applications. We’ve teamed up with Imperial College London and Oxford University for a new programme grant, ATIP, which will…
Prof Trystan Watson wins teaching excellence award
Professor Trystan Watson has won a student-nominated award for excellence in teaching and learning. The Excellence in Learning and Teaching Awards are celebrated annually to members of staff who have made an outstanding contribution…
£6m EU investment in SPECIFIC Innovation & Knowledge Centre recognises project’s success
In 2011, SPECIFIC was one of six UK Innovation and Knowledge Centres (IKCs) created by the UK Government. Nine years on, and countless projects and collaborations later, SPECIFIC is celebrating…
Professor Dave Worsley Wins Government Award
The national St David Awards scheme recognises and celebrates the exceptional achievements of people from all walks of life in Wales. Dave’s contribution to Wales in this category has been…
The Perils and Pitfalls of Perovskite XPS
Here at SPECIFIC, our PV team are looking at scaling up perovskite solar cells (PSCs). A recent paper published by the team notes that use of XPS in perovskite can…
Turning Waste Heat into Electricity
Dr Matt Burton is part of our Thermoelectrics Group and is working on research to allow the widespread use of thermoelectric materials to harness waste heat. Here, he explains why…
Using Electric Vehicles to ‘Flatten the Curve’
The team at SPECIFIC have long been advocates of using electric vehicles (EVs), from adopting the first generation Nissan Leaf to now operating a “fleet” of electric cars and vans.…
The Circular Economy and Photovoltaics
Developing sustainable renewable energy technologies is vital in the move to decarbonise industry. Renewable energy technologies, including solar, have enormous socio-economic benefits and are significantly better for the environment than fossil-fuels, which continue to…
Care Home and Frontline Housing Teams Now Using University-Made Hand Sanitiser
Frontline housing workers, homelessness support services and the people they look after, many of whom are vulnerable, are the latest groups to be using hand sanitiser made at Swansea University,…
New Fabrication Methods Improve Perovskite Solar Cell Efficiency
Here, SPECIFIC researcher and one of the paper’s authors, Rahul Patidar, discusses the processes and research that led to the paper being published. A newcomer to the photovoltaic industry, PSCs have gathered…
Active Versus Passive Buildings
At SPECIFIC, we are often asked: “What differentiates an Active Building from other “green” buildings?” This blog defines what we mean by an Active Building and also explores other environmentally-conscious…
Funding for Team to Test Speed Clean of Ambulances Carrying Covid-19 Patients
Swansea University has successfully won funding to reduce the time it takes to sanitise ambulances after carrying a suspected Covid-19 positive patient. Students from the university are helping slash the…
Virtual Sustainable Technology Workshops Target Future Engineers
Four sessions have been designed with a Sustainable Engineering theme in order to motivate young people to get involved with designing tomorrow’s solutions. The topics covered are similar to those…
Transforming Transport: the UK’s first Active Rail Shelter
SPECIFIC’s most recent Active Building demonstration is a rail-approved platform waiting shelter. The shelter has been installed at the Solar Heat Energy Demonstrator (SHED) site and is being used for testing and…
Swansea University shifts from solar to sanitiser – producing 5000 litres a week for the NHS
A solar tech lab at Swansea University has temporarily switched to producing 5000 litres of hand sanitiser a week, to help the NHS fight the Coronavirus outbreak.
Novel scribing method for carbon perovskite solar modules
Making solar modules is not like making single solar cells. When working on single cells, the main parameters that should be optimised include the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the…
Covid-19 Statement
SPECIFIC is committed to caring for the health and well-being of our staff and partners. Following guidance from Swansea University / UK Government, and to ensure the safety of our…
Innovative Energy Storage System for the Ever-Evolving Active Classroom
Having been running for 3 years, the Energy Storage System (ESS) in The Active Classroom is now being renewed to meet fresh challenges such as new electric vehicle charging ports,…
Materials – It’s What We Do
At Knowledge Transfer Network UK and Innovate UK‘s Materials Research Exchange in London last month, we brought 11 other Materials Engineering projects from Swansea University to exhibit as a group…
Achieving Net Zero: An Issue for Government, Industry and Consumers.
The UK has made significant progress in decarbonising the economy – overall emissions have fallen by 40% since 1990 and almost half our electricity came from renewable or low carbon…
Professor Dave Worsley Shortlisted for Government Award
The national St David Awards scheme recognises and celebrates the exceptional achievements of people from all walks of life in Wales. Dave’s contribution to Wales in this category has been…
Developing New Functional Coatings for 21st Century Steel
Steel is the core product in manufacturing, national infrastructure and high-tech 21st century industries such as electric vehicles and Active Buildings. It is the most widely used material in the…
Dr Jenny Baker Wins Research and Innovation Award
The Research & Innovation Awards celebrate the outstanding research and collaborations that are undertaken at Swansea University, and the enormous impact these are having across the world. The ceremony guests…
Scale-up to Star Trek: The Future of Industrial Coatings
What type of research is being undertaken by SPECIFIC’s Industrial Coatings group? In basic terms, our work has two primary strands:– Developing ways of putting a liquid on a substrate–…
Leading the way for inclusive, sustainable conferences
SUNRISE is an international project to address global energy poverty with partners from India, Mexico, South Africa, and Kazakhstan. Twice-yearly conferences have been essential to building collaborations and growing capabilities,…
Improving Protocols to test the stability of perovskite solar cells
There are existing protocols to evaluate emerging photovoltaic devices, but they are not appropriate for halide perovskite solar cells – a new generation of solar cells designed to overcome the…
Active Buildings Architect Shortlisted for Award
The aim of the award is to recognise a woman who has made an outstanding contribution to engineering in the built environment and is a fitting role model for women…
Trystan Watson publishes 100th paper!
Professor Watson has been a part of the SPECIFIC team for 12 years and is passionate about his work. Trystan and the group have gained a reputation within the PV community,…
Solar Heat Storage: Eliminating Gas Heating
This series of articles is a partnership between SPECIFIC, SUNRISE and the Active Building Centre. Our projects work with academic, industry and community partners in the UK and the Global South to research…
Building Collaborations in Mexico
Blog by Simone Meroni Yucatan is a Mexican state, surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, where the Mayan civilization flourished. Here, the sun shines all year. The winter, as most Europeans known, never makes an…
The Active Classroom: still providing insights and performing well…
This series of articles is a partnership between SPECIFIC, SUNRISE and the Active Building Centre. Our projects work with academic, industry and community partners in the UK and the Global…
Flexibility Hits the Headlines
[Written by Peter Bullock, Evergreen Smart Power] National Grid’s need to keep the electricity network balanced rarely makes for a stimulating topic of conversation, but the recent once-in-a-decade power outages…
CONGRATS TO JENNY BAKER ON HER EPSRC FELLOWSHIP!
Congratulations to Jenny Baker on being awarded a £1.3M, 5-year Early Career Research Fellowship by EPSRC to pursue her research in sustainable manufacturing of solid state batteries for fixed storage…
Strengthening Research Linked Between UK and China
This Summer, we hosted the first ever UK-China Workshop on Organic and Perovskites Solar cells at Swansea University Bay Campus. The main objective of the 3-day event was to bring…
The Active Office: One Year On…
A Q&A with SPECIFIC’s Technology Director, Dr Justin Searle, on how the Active Office has performed, and what’s next… How has the Active Office run over the last year? It…
Perovskite Solar Cells for Aerospace
Airbus works with researchers at Swansea University to investigate the performance and stability of perovskite solar cells in a simulated stratospheric environment. Following a successful application to Airbus Endeavr, researchers at Swansea…
Active Office scoops top honour at building awards for Swansea University
Innovative design and pioneering technology helped Swansea University scoop for a top award for one of its highest-profile new buildings. The Active Office, which demonstrates the Active Building concept developed…
Getting the Best out of Solar Technologies: a Q&A on the Latest Project…
A ‘Q&A’ with Chris Weirman on the latest solar PV and solar thermal project at SPECIFIC. Please introduce yourself and your role at SPECIFIC: My name’s Chris Weirman, and I’m…
Turning Waste Heat into Electrical Power: 3D Printed Device Could Help Cut Energy Bills and Carbon
[Article written by Kevin Sullivan, Swansea University Press Office] A new 3-D printed thermoelectric device, which converts heat into electric power with an efficiency factor over 50% higher than the…
Sêr Solar – End of Project Celebration
Sêr Solar was devised in response to the Welsh Government’s Sêr Cymru programme, established in June 2013 to strengthen research capability in Wales. The £50m scheme sought to attract leading…
Celebrating Shortlist Success for the Active Office
We’re thrilled to announce that the Active Office is following in the footsteps of its big sister, The Active Classroom, and has been shortlisted for numerous awards in 2019… The…
‘Active Homes’ are Key to a Decentralised Energy Future
[Written by Gill Kelleher, Policy and Engagement Manager at SPECIFIC] David Attenborough’s poignant message at the opening ceremony of the United Nations sponsored climate talks, COP24 in December 2018, highlighted…
A Year of Sunshine with the PV Team
[written by Silvia Villarroya-Lidon, Ser Solar Fellow – Industrial Engagement] As 2018 came to an end, we looked back at our PV teams’ technical and personal achievements, and we can…
Assessing the Viability of Producing PV instead of Textiles
[By Adrian Walters, IP & Project Manager for SUNRISE] Background: In 2017 the photovoltaic groups at Swansea University (SPECIFIC IKC) and CINVESTAV, Merida were awarded a Newton Fund grant, funded by the UK Department for Business,…
Active Office: Occupied & Generating Electricity AND Heat via PV-T
(Written by Joanna Clarke, Buildings Integration Manager at SPECIFIC) The Active Office is now occupied by members of the new Active Building Centre (ABC) team, bringing the building to life…
RSC Photophysics & Photochemistry Group Meeting 2018
[Written by Catherine Suenne De Castro from SPECIFIC’s Research Team] The RSC Photophysics and Photochemistry Group (PPG) meeting was held on the 20th and 21st of September 2018 at both the…