The paper was cited by numerous academic papers, as though it was itself a rigorous piece of academic research.[1] In this way, it became adopted as part of the academic basis for policy development, without much investigation of its credibility.
Lobby groups cited it, whether because it suited their interests or because they naively believed it and developed their views on the back of it.[2]
It was even cited by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as evidence for the potential and ease of integration of renewable gas, in their Dec 2009 report on Integration of Renewable Energy into Present and Future Energy Systems.[3]
One likely psychological factor in this credulous citation was that National Grid may have been seen as the sort of altruistic, impartial player that state-owned operators of national infrastructure are often wrongly perceived to be, long after National Grid became a private company with obvious commercial priorities.
Successful rent-seekers adopted the report as a marketing and lobbying tool.[4] Ecotricity promoted notional “green gas” from their supply business, on the basis of plans for their production business to make major investments in the technology, given credibility by the potential indicated in the NG/E&Y report. In the event, almost none of the planned investment materialised, but the notional product remained available from their supply business.
Zero Carbon Britain (a cooperative project involving academia, NGOs, and the public and private sector) published Zero Carbon Britain 2030, A New Energy Strategy in 2010.[5] On renewables, they explained:
As our basis, we use the UK Energy Research Council’s (UKERC, 2009) £18 million research into electricity scenarios and integrate this with the work of NERA Economic Consulting and AEA (2009) for DECC on heat, and work from the National Grid (2009) on biogas, as well as further specialised research from an array of academic sources. With this, we create a vision of how the energy system could look like in 2030.
The report was endorsed by many individuals and organisations who were influential in energy policy.
National Grid also self-referentially cited it in applications to the regulator as evidence of the potential of the technology.[6] They also, incidentally, published an equivalent study for the other region (USA) in which they had significant business interests.[7]
The breadth of this report’s citation naturally led to its inclusion within government publications as a credible source.[8]
[1] e.g. Dodds & MacDowell, “The future of the UK gas network”, Energy Policy, Vol.60 (Sep 2013) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.05.030
Floris van Foreest, “Does natural gas need a decarbonisation strategy? The cases of the Netherlands and the UK” (May 2011), Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, https://www.oxfordenergy.org/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/NG-51.pdf
Hammond & O’Grady, “The life cycle greenhouse gas implications of a UK gas supply transformation on a future low carbon electricity sector”, Energy, Vol. 118, Jan 2017, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2016.10.123
Calderón, Calducci et al, “An Optimisation Framework for the Strategic Design of Synthetic Natural Gas (BioSNG) Supply Chains”, UCL, https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1573850/1/Papageorgiou_APEN.pdf
Jo Abbess, Renewable Gas: The Transition to Low Carbon Energy Fuels (2016)
Staffell, Brett et al, Domestic Microgeneration: Renewable and Distributed Energy Technologies, Policies & Economics (2015)
Hester & Harrison, Issues in Environmental Science & Technology: Fracking (2015)
Olivia Woolley, “Reforming Gas Sector Governance to Promote Biomethane Injection”, Renewable Energy Law & Policy Review, Vol.4 No.3 (2014) https://www.jstor.org/stable/24324796?seq=1
Hawkes, Munuera & Strbac, Low Carbon Residential Heating, Grantham Institute for Climate Change Briefing paper No 6 (Sep 2011) https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/grantham-institute/public/publications/briefing-papers/Low-carbon-residential-heating---Grantham-BP-6.pdf
Capuda & Mancarella, “Techno-economic and Environmental Modelling and Optimization of Flexible Distributed Multi-Generation Options” https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/files/23016922/POST-PEER-REVIEW-NON-PUBLISHERS.PDF
Fraser of Allander Institute, “Options for delivering carbon reductions in the heat sector in Scotland” (2012), briefing note for ClimateXChange. https://www.climatexchange.org.uk/media/1710/carbon_reductions_in_the_heat_sector.pdf
Torija, Castillo-Castillo et al, “The prospects for biogas integration with fuel cells in the United Kingdom”, Imperial College London, https://spiral.imperial.ac.uk/bitstream/10044/1/30993/2/biogas%20manuscript%20accepted%20but%20not%20yet%20published.pdf
Dodds & Demoullin, “Conversion of the UK gas system to transport hydrogen”, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 38 (2013) https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/82709079.pdf
Dodds, P. E. and Hawkes, A. (Eds.) (2014) The role of hydrogen and fuel cells in providing affordable, secure low-carbon heat. H2FC SUPERGEN, London, UK. http://www.h2fcsupergen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/H2FC-SUPERGEN-White-Paper-on-Heat-May-2014.pdf
Ricardo-AEA for the RAC Foundation, “Powering Ahead: The future of low-carbon cars and fuels” (Apr 2013) https://www.racfoundation.org/assets/rac_foundation/content/downloadables/powering_ahead-kay_et_al-apr2013.pdf
Lelyveld & Woods (AECOM), “Carbon emission factors for fuels – Methodology and values for 2013 & 2016”, report for Zero Carbon Hub, http://www.zerocarbonhub.org/sites/default/files/resources/reports/Carbon_Compliance_Carbon_Emission_Factors_for_Fuels_Methodology_and_Values_for_2013_%26_2016.pdf
Brenda Boardman (ECI, Oxford Uni) for Greenpeace, “Achieving zero: Delivering future-friendly buildings” (2012), https://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/research/energy/downloads/achieving-zero-text.pdf
Abdul-Salam, Ehlers & Harnmeijer, “Anaerobic Digestion of Feedstock Grown on Marginal Land: Break-Even Electricity Prices”, Energies (2017) 10, https://pureapps2.hw.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/22670757
[2] Redpoint for the Energy Networks Association, “Gas Future Scenarios Project – Final Report” (Nov 2010) https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/docs/2010/11/ena_gas_futur…
Policy Connect, Next Steps for the Gas Grid (2017), https://www.policyconnect.org.uk/sites/site_pc/files/report/1001/fieldreportdownload/futuregaspt1nextstepsforthegasgridwebcompressed.pdf
IPPR, Europe’s power: Re-energising a progressive climate and energy agenda (Sep 2014), https://www.ippr.org/files/publications/pdf/europes-power_Sep2014.pdf
Max Fordham Consulting Engineers, “A case against the widespread use of district heating and CHP in the UK” (2010), https://www.maxfordham.com/assets/media/images/publications/Widesread%20use%20of%20district%20heating/District_Heating__CHP_Study.pdf
Scottish Wildlife Trust, Energy and Nature Conservation Policy (Jun 2011), https://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/docs/002__057__publications__policies__Energy_policy___2012__1335525425.pdf
Scientists for Global Responsibility, “Shale gas and fracking: examining the evidence” https://www.sgr.org.uk/sites/default/files/SGR+CIEH-shale-gas-rebuttal…
[4] Dale Vince, “’Green Gas’ is here”, Zero Carbonista blog (21 Nov 2009) http://zerocarbonista.com/2009/11/21/green-gas-is-here/
Suez/Sita, Driving Green Growth (2012), https://www.suez.co.uk/-/media/suez-uk/files/publication/drivinggreengrowth-sitauk-120423.pdf
Deutsche Bank, Cleaner Technologies: Evolving Towards a Sustainable End-State, https://www.db.com/cr/en/docs/Cleaner_Technologies-Evolving_Towards_a_Sustainable_End-State_201207.pdf
Centrica, “Unconventional Gas in Europe”, response to DECC consultation (Oct 2010), in the library of the UK Carbon Capture and Storage Research Centre, https://ukccsrc.ac.uk/sites/default/files/publications/ccs-reports/DECC_Gas_195.pdf
E.ON, Lend Lease proposal for Elephant and Castle (Mar 2012), http://www.energyforlondon.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Heygate-Energy-Strategy.pdf
Renewable Energy Association, “Renewable Electricity and Heat Tariffs, preliminary blueprint” (Mar 2009) https://www.fitariffs.co.uk/library/regulation/0903REA_Blueprint1-1.pdf
Stephen Tindale for Center for European Reform, “How to meet the EU's 2020 renewables target” (Sep 2012) https://issuu.com/centreforeuropeanreform/docs/120902162817-e047a61a4a7…
[6] National Grid, Gas Network Innovation Competition Screening Submission Pro-forma, https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/docs/2015/05/gas_isp_power…
[7] https://www9.nationalgridus.com/non_html/ng_renewable_wp.pdf
https://www.gasfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/agf-renewable-…
[8] E4Tech for DECC and NNFCC, “The potential for bioSNG production in the UK” (Apr 2010), https://www.build-a-gasifier.com/PDF/BioSNG-final-report-E4tech-14-06-1…
Houses of Parliament Library Research Briefings, “Decarbonising the gas network” (2017), http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/POST-PN-0565/POST-PN-0565.pdf
Energy & Climate Change Committee, Low carbon technologies in a green economy: 4th report of Session 2009-10
Sustainable Development Commission Scotland, Renewable Heat in Scotland (Jul 2009), http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/data/files/publications/SDC%20Renewable%20Heat%20Report.pdf
DECC/Ofgem, Energy Markets Outlook Report (Dec 2009)
Scottish Enterprise, Low Carbon Heat Foresighting Discussion Paper (Mar 2015) http://www.evaluationsonline.org.uk/evaluations/Documents.do?action=download&id=751&ui=browse
Ricardo-AEA Report for the Task Force on Fuel Efficient, Low Emission HGV Technologies, “Opportunities to overcome the barriers to uptake of low emission technologies for each commercial vehicle duty cycle” https://www.lowcvp.org.uk/assets/reports/Opportunities%20for%20low%20em…