ageographer – Professor Alan Howard

1 November 2020Energy, Energy Resources

Renewable electricity generation capacity now exceeds fossil fuels

The UK for the first time has more installed capacity to generate electricity from renewable sources than from fossil fuels. The following chart shows the total electricity generating capacity by fuel source for 2015 and 2020. It highlights the growth in renewable capacity, but while coal capacity has reduced the installed generating capacity from gas […]

29 June 2020Energy

2019 electricity generation: fossil fuels vs renewables

Visual data display showing which days renewables generate more electricity than fossil fuels and vice versa.

1 May 2020Education

Principles of fair assessment guidance for academic staff

Addressing student workload inconsistencies: design and implementation of a principles of fair assessment guide for academic staff

22 April 2020About me, don mclean

Interview for “Classic Albums”

I was interviewed by award-winning director George Scott for the BBC 2 Classic Albums episode about Don McLean’s “American Pie” album. The interview took place at the Sleeper Sounds Studio in Ladbroke Grove, London on August 2nd 2017. I was on the show as Don McLean‘s biographer and spent a couple of hours talking about […]

22 April 2020Energy

The Rise and Fall of British Coal

Coal mining has been one of the most important industries of industrial Britain, peaking in 1913 with production of 280 million tonnes from an industry employing over 1 million workers at a time when coal provided nearly 100% of primary energy consumption.

16 April 2020Energy

Live Grid Data

Latest data from the National Grid.

29 October 2019micro-learning

The “paradoxical relationship between prosperity and nature loving”

A micro-learning task looking at the ‘paradoxical relationship between prosperity and nature loving’.

29 September 2019micro-learning

“Peak Death”

A micro-learning activity looking at the most common age of death.

23 August 2019Education

China field class 2019

I was pleased to participate on the first University of Reading Environmental Science undergraduate field class to Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST), organised by my colleagues Steve Robinson and Hong Yang. A group of Reading third year students joined 36 Chinese students studying our Environmental Science programme at the Reading-NUIST Academy at […]

3 March 2019don mclean

Essay on American Pie added to Library of Congress

In 2018, the Library of Congress National Preservation Board invited me to contribute an essay on “American Pie” as part of their recognition of the importance of this song in American culture. This has now been completed and published.