Newcastle University supports RAF’s pathway to Net Zero

With the help of Newcastle University, the Royal Air Force, the largest CO2 emitter in defence, has committed to achieving net-zero by 2040-ahead of the UK Government’s 2050 target. RAF Leeming technology hub has teamed up with Newcastle University to establish a ViTAL Living Lab, allowing scientists to access the base and conduct experiments within six different areas of green technology, ranging from hydrogen-powered vehicles to geothermal energy. The aim is to make Leeming RAF’s first carbon-neutral station by 2025.

The Living Lab will provide a framework to enable the rapid impact assessment of a wide range of proposed changes in behaviour and emergent decarbonising technologies and innovations. The project will develop and harness full scale experiments, exploring the application of cutting-edge solar technology, carbon sequestration techniques and geothermal, hydrogen and electric as potential energy sources for the RAF Leeming base.  Critically, it will establish a carbon baseline and life cycle assessments at RAF Leeming so that changes made to the estates and infrastructure are understood in a sustainability context and harness the full power of rapid research and technology in the field.  

In an interview with Forces.net, Newcastle University’s senior lecturer of engineering Dr. Oliver Heidrich remarks, “"We're not just conducting research that's in the lab in our university, we're doing it on the ground, in situ, and that's really ground-breaking. That has not happened before.”

Geothermal energy is also being explored through Newcastle University scientists. Geo-science lecturer Dr. Mark Ireland is using Leeming to develop new seismic sensors that can detect hot water below the ground. “The UK isn’t on an active plate boundary, and we don’t have lots of volcanos, but as you go deeper it gets hotter and the water also gets hotter…we’re looking to see how we can exploit to a much greater degree, that heat beneath the earth,” Ireland explains.

To learn more, read the Forces.net article or watch the RAF video on Project ViTAL.

Last modified: Tue, 15 Mar 2022 13:15:38 GMT