Minimising whole life carbon emissions in a multi-site utility

The overarching aim of the project is to develop a methodology for measuring and reporting all GHG emissions from operations, capital projects and the supply chain which is (or can be) embedded within NWL's corporate systems/processes. The project needs to consider and map out the complexity of water infrastructure, including investments cycles and resilient infrastructure systems, using whole systems thinking and therefore it covers a breadth of academic topics, including civil engineering, process engineering and environmental economics. The planned outputs of the PhD are:

* A whole life model for operational and embodied emissions which meets/exceeds current standards IS014064/PAS2080 etc.

* Improved/validated emissions factors for process emissions from NWL sites, based on new measurements or academic information. * Develop risk matrix for capital programme and the resilient infrastructure systems

* Determine emissions factors for operational consumables (such as chemicals) which better represent unique sources/suppliers based on new commercial/academic information. * Improved/validated emissions factors for embodied carbon attributable to NWL's capital programme.

* At least 2 research papers in high impact journals e.g. Industrial Ecology, Water Resources or Science of the Total Environment * Data collection and measurement systems to allow short interval control of operational emissions

Ultimately NWL wishes to incorporate this whole life model into its decision-making processes in order to ensure resilient operations and long-term planning by correctly considering the climate change mitigation and adaptation impacts of its operations and investments and this PhD study will support this ambition.