Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
Dr. Stephen Allen is a lecturer and engineer working in the fields of whole life carbon, life cycle assessment (LCA) and energy-systems analysis. His research focuses on radically reducing the carbon footprint of the built environment, by tackling both embodied and operational emissions. Current collaborative projects include:
- £36m Active Buildings Centre
- £18m UK Energy Research Centre
- €7m Circular Biobased Construction Industry
- Supervising PhD researchers on whole-life carbon assessment of buildings, experimental development of sustainable construction materials, and energy storage
Stephen has professional experience in both policy and commercial environments. During 2010-12 he worked as the Scientific Adviser on Energy at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST), informing and influencing energy and climate policy. In 2012-18 he was a senior consultant at Sustain and then director at Circular Ecology. He led projects for companies with turnovers greater than £10bn to measure and reduce the environmental footprint of buildings, rail transport and consumer products. He has also worked as an engineer in remote parts of Canada and Mexico, designing and building equipment and accommodation to support field research.
His publications have been used by parliament, government and the Committee on Climate Change to inform policy, and by professional magazines to influence practice in industry. He has won the prestigious George Stephenson Medal from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (for best original paper), and a place on the USA’s International Visitor Leadership Programme on climate change and renewable energy. He is conversationally fluent in Spanish.
Willing to supervise doctoral students
Interested in supervising students studying:
- Low energy and low carbon design of buildings
- Sustainable building materials
- Sustainable energy technologies
- Thermodynamics and heat transfer
- Carbon footprinting
- Life cycle assessment
External positions
Member of Engineering Early Career Forum, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
2018 → 2020Director - Energy and Environment, Circular Ecology Ltd.
2014 → 2018Senior Associate - Energy and Environment, Sustain Ltd
2012 → 2014Scientific Adviser - Energy, Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology
2010 → 2012Research Officer, SUPERGEN Highly Distributed Power Systems, University of Bath
2009Mechanical Engineer (Canada and Mexico), Coastal Ecosystems Research Foundation
2005 → 2006Keywords
- Sustainable energy
- Renewable energy
- Thermodynamics
- Heat transfer
- Carbon footprinting
- Energy analysis
- Life cycle assessment
- Embodied energy and carbon
- Building performance analysis
- TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
- TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
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Network
Projects
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Socio-Technological Routes to Building Stock Decarbonisation across B&NES
Stephenson, V., McManus, M., Allen, S., Hawkins, W., Lupton, R., Natarajan, S. & Shea, A.
1/12/20 → 31/03/21
Project: Research council
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UK Energy Research Centre Phase 4 - Theme 7
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
1/04/19 → 31/03/24
Project: Research council
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Circular Biobased Construction Industry
Maskell, D., Allen, S., Emmitt, S., Shea, A. & Walker, P.
1/03/19 → 30/09/22
Project: EU Commission
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ABC: Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund - Active Building Centre
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
3/09/18 → 30/09/22
Project: Research council
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Circular economy for affordable, low-carbon secondary raw materials
Sharma, B., Walker, P. & Allen, S.
1/02/19 → 30/06/19
Project: Other
Research Output
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Buildings as Energy Infrastructure, not Passive Consumers
Nikolaidou, E., Fosas, D., Roberts, M., Allen, S., Walker, I. & Coley, D., 11 Dec 2020Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report
Open Access -
Indicative appraisal of clustered micro-generators for a low-carbon transition in the UK building sector
Allen, S., Cohen, B. & Hammond, G., 10 Jul 2020, In: Global Transitions. 2, p. 83-97 15 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Life cycle assessment in the building design process - A systematic literature review
Roberts, M., Allen, S. & Coley, D., 1 Nov 2020, In: Building and Environment. 185, 12 p., 107274.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
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Rational whole-life carbon assessment using a dynamic climate model: Comparison of a concrete, steel and timber building structure
Hawkins, W., Cooper, S., Bukauskas, A., Allen, S., Roynon, J. & Ibell, T., 2020, In: Structures.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Towards Active Buildings: rating grid-servicing buildings
Fosas, D., Nikolaidou, E., Roberts, M., Allen, S., Walker, I. & Coley, D., 29 Oct 2020, (Acceptance date) In: Building Services Engineering Research and Technology.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile27 Downloads (Pure)
Datasets
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Dataset for "Towards Active Buildings: rating grid-servicing buildings"
Fosas, D. (Creator), Nikolaidou, E. (Creator), Roberts, M. (Creator), Allen, S. (Creator), Walker, I. (Creator) & Coley, D. (Creator), University of Bath, 11 Nov 2020
DOI: 10.15125/BATH-00766
Dataset
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Embodied energy and embodied carbon of 81 shelters globally
Kuchai, N. (Creator), Matard, A. (Creator), Coley, D. (Creator), Allen, S. (Creator) & Allen, S. (Creator), University of Bath, 16 Sep 2019
DOI: 10.15125/BATH-00550
Dataset
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Dataset for Life Cycle Assessment in the Building Design Process
Roberts, M. (Creator), Allen, S. (Creator) & Coley, D. (Creator), University of Bath, 16 Sep 2020
DOI: 10.15125/BATH-00804
Dataset
Thesis
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Micro-generation for UK Households: Thermodynamic and Related Analysis
Author: Allen, S., 1 Jun 2009Supervisor: Hammond, G. (Supervisor)
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › PhD
File