ICRED Energy Research and Industrial Development

The Leading Energy Research and Consulting Outfit in Africa

ICRED Energy Research and Industrial Development (ICERID)

Collaborations in energy research across academia, industry, government, and wider society (the Quadruple Helix)

This centre ultimately functions as an International Centre for Energy Research and Industrial Development (ICERID).

Based on experiences gathered in co-supervising a PhD topic in statistical optimisation of solar energy devices used in drying agricultural crops such as cassava, and continuing research on renewable energy and environmental sustainability, the following ideas inform work in ICERID.

  1. Frontloading applied energy research and development in the Q-Helix with robust user-centred research and services design to map experiences of users, citizens, and firms in cost-effective access to energy in their everyday work, see www.sigma-zconsulting.com
  2. Working in partnership with universities and experts in the Q-Helix to create a system of Centres for Energy Research and Industrial Development (CERIDs). These and other global energy research outfits connect digitally with the ICERID to enable it to function as a leading e-marketplace for energy research and consulting in the world.
  3. Thus, the ICERID and the network of CERIDs aim to:
  • Impact their host countries more, attract wider multi-stakeholder funding, harness ongoing applied energy research on renewable and conventional energy systems and sources, materials science, and industrial development, including manufacturing, food processing and preservation, etc.
  • Audit similar centres or institutes across Nigerian, African and global universities, government agencies and departments, to enhance the added value in the CERIDs;
  • Draw up from such audits a checklist of best practices and benchmarks which will underpin the international quality of research and consulting in the CERIDs;
  • Adapt the insights from global energy research and industrial development organisations to the locations, environmental contexts, and energy needs of different countries;
  • Institute interdisciplinary research collaborations among related faculties in universities, such faculties as Natural and Physical Sciences, Engineering, and Biological Sciences, via inaugural planning workshops – aimed at aligning staff expertise with the CERIDs’ activities;
  • Effectively facilitate the meeting-of-minds workshops in such a way that:
  • a. staff profiles are solicited in advance and in a format that dovetails to the standard global research excellence expected of all academics,
    b. indicated staff expertise are appropriate to a CERID’s potential goals,
    c. staff are split into three-five-member groups in which they’ll brainstorm on i) the nature of the Centre’s activities, ii) how the activities will benefit stakeholders across the Triple Helix of academia, industry and government, and iii) possible ways the Centre could be funded
  • Develop the insights from the workshops into action points for forward planning and implementation;
  • Create an enabling research and enterprise development culture in the universities, to better support the core university goals of effective higher education – particularly innovations in research, teaching, learning, assessments, consulting, and community services, and particularly in the centres;
  • Hence, radically upskill academics, students, and professionals on energy research and industrial development initiatives, and wider links between theoretical and applied research;
  • Enthrone, therefore, a culture of high-impact research-teaching excellence in the centres and universities;
  • Work assiduously to internationalise the universities through the above steps, in innovative research groups, and generate myriad international linkages that will deepen the talent pool in the centres and universities going forward;
  • Pool the above insights into a robust Integrated Business Model Franchise System (IBMFS) for the CERIDs, which will include seven essential disciplines for creating world-class organisations, namely:
  1. Enterprise Leadership – creating a business plan for the centres that will always work, quantifying the plan, and building world-class leadership of the centres;
  2. Market Leadership – identifying the Centres’ primary and secondary stakeholders, their perceptions, needs and behaviours and positioning and differentiating the centres’ activities far above competing centres;
  3. Financial Leadership – mapping out the financial/funding strategies that will set the centres on the right path as well as maximise their financial performance over time, and for stated short-, medium- and long-term horizons;
  4. Management Leadership – creating high-performance environment and requisite operations manuals for the centres;
  5. Client Fulfillment – Clarifying the baselines for satisfying and exciting the centres’ clients, and innovating the underpinning IBMFs;
  6. Lead Conversion – determining winning strategies for negotiating and closing deals secured by the centres from different stakeholders;
  7. Lead Generation – winning multiple channel funding using effective entrepreneurial finance and lead generation principles, including continual needs audits across stakeholder bases, writing winning research grants, converting related PhD research results to potential incomes for the centres through patents and relevant IPs, etc.
  • Combine insights from the ICERID and partner CERIDs around the above ideas and perspectives from relevant ICRED Schools (e.g. Advanced Multidisciplinary Studies, Global Economics, and Global Business) in formulating best-in-class State, Zonal, and National Industrial Strategies relevant to the energy mix of the countries;
  • Mainstream renewable energy and related infrastructure finance in Oselux Capital in building innovative and critical energy infrastructure in Africa and developing countries;
  • Mainstream the creation of net-zero real estate ecosystems through Oselux Real Estate mobilised via committed Q-Helix parnerships,i including solar villages and towns;
  • Maintain a positive offensive on using oil and gas resources to spearhead national industrial development in Nigeria and other oil-producing countries;
  • Translate the circa 600-page 2021 UK Cop26 Climate Change Strategy and the papers presented at the October-November 2021 Global Climate Change Conference in UK into an Africa-wide blueprint for energy, ICT and industrial transformation of the continent led by ICERID;
  • Maintain a positive offensive in releasing leading publications on applied energy systems research covering these themes in AfriWorld Journals, www.afriworldpublishing.com;
  • Especially jointly supervised CARED-RIAT excellent PhD and post-doc research commissioned across partner universities to Oselux Enterprise University and sponsored by interested Q-Helix organisations and stakeholders;
  • Emerging perspectives as the above ideas are given further thoughts through discussions and different interactions with universities, ICRED international schools, conferences, workshops, specialist symposia, etc.

Practical considerations for optimising energy efficiency in a nation

Based on ideas gleaned from Pascale Hughes (2019, pp. 28-29)’s in-depth article in the UK i Newspaper, entitled A nation of energy savers, the ICERID and supporting CERIDs will embark on energy conservation awareness campaigns and use Nudge Theory to encourage citizens (especially in Nigeria, Africa, and developing countries) to:

At home

  1. Use solar panels, visit www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/renewable-energy/electricity/solar-panels
  2. Install draught excluders or ventilate houses adequately where appropriate, visit www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/home-insulation
  3. Insulate homes using thermal wall paper, loft cavity or basement insulation, visit www.gowallpaper.co.uk
  4. Switch to green and renewable energy, visit www.energyhelpline.com
  5. Turn down the heating by setting the thermostat a bit lower, say from 24 degrees to 22 degrees
  6. Buy A-rated energy efficient items such as refrigerators, washing machines, etc., visit www.energysavingtrust.org.uk
  7. Switch off appliances completely instead of leaving them on standby. Also, turn off all lights not in use
  8. Bleed out air bubbles from radiators to improve the circulation of hot water, check out prices of automatic radiator bleeders at www.screwfix.com
  9. Dry clothes on the washing line when the weather is sunny and windy; it is estimated that Britain spends about £375m tumble-drying clothes during summer; it is even much easier to dry clothes under the sun in the tropics such ad Nigeria
  10. Install energy-saving LED slights whose total cost of use over much longer life-spans are much lower than halogen lights (up to 90% less energy and 25 times longer).
  11. Defrost your fridge/freezer to improve their energy efficiency.
  12. Use showers instead of filling up the bath tubs to save heating and water (a standard bath has a capacity of about 80 litres).
    Shopping
  13. Buy less to help minimise resource use, shipping- and deliver-related carbon footprints/emissions.
  14. Avoid unnecessary upgrades of techs like smartphones and laptops the production of which uses lots of energy.

Clothes

  1. Wash clothes at 30 degrees C and reduce spin speeds so they last longer. Reducing speed also reduces the plastic fibres that come out of the clothes.
  2. Repair and use existing clothes longer and minimise purchase of new ones.
  3. Swap rarely used clothes with friends instead of binning them or give then away to charity.
  4. Buy from charity shops.

Rubbish

  1. Recycle as completely as possible to minimise energy used in harvesting new materials from nature.

Travel

  1. Cut down on flights and use computer-mediated channels to work across distances. Enjoy holidays in tourist attractions nearer to your homes.
  2. Buy electric cars or at least energy-efficient hybrids.
  3. Adopt greener habits like offing the ‘ignition while waiting in traffic and accelerating gently’, visit www.theaa.com/driving-advice/fuels-environment/drive-smart.
  4. Where appropriate use car hires or car pools instead of car ownership. Visit www.nextgreencar.com/car-clubs.
  5. Use public transport, walking or cycling as often as possible.

Food

  1. Eat less meat and dairy and more vegetables to minimise carbon and methane emissions and achieve healthier diet. Also eat organic meat.
  2. Use alternative vegan options like oat or soya milk. Visit www.Ethicalconsumer.org.
  3. Buy only the amount of food you need and avoid wastage.
  4. Eat all the food such as not throwing away sandwich crusts.
  5. Understand the difference between ‘sell-by’ (deadlines retailers must sell) and ‘use-by’ dates (when the product loses its quality and taste). Visit www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/best-before-and-use-by-dates.
  6. Freeze and reuse leftovers.
  7. Eat in season and minimise the distances products travel when out of season in a place.

Society

  1. Maintain green spaces and horticultural beauty in your environs, plant trees, flowers and maintain nests for birds in your residences, etc.
  2. Invest ethically. Visit www.ethicalconsumer.org/money-financial/shopping-guide/ethical-investment-funds.
  3. Support restaurants that serve local food to minimise carbon footprint associated with importing foreign ingredients.

Dissemination pathways

  • Convening annual AfriWorldhero3e International Schools, Symposia, Conferences and Workshops (ISSCWs) with all these topics as themes
  • Publishing related proceedings, journal papers, superbooks and research monographs.

Enquiries

For more details, please contact us at:
Email:  info@afrihero.org.uk; or through Tel. no:  +447772632150 to speak to the Director of Research and Enterprise Development, Professor Patrick Oseloka EZEPUE