Carrie Soderman is a third-year PhD student in Geochemistry at the Department of Earth Sciences. Usually, Carrie can be found researching mantle plumes and experimenting on isotopes in the clean lab. But earlier this year Carrie decided to take some time to undertake an internship with the Environmental Audit Committee, a House of Commons Select Committee.
During her internship, Carrie headed up the planning for an inquiry on Community Energy, which covers any energy scheme run by a local community – including renewable electricity generation/storage and energy efficiency projects. The inquiry’s aim was to scrutinise support for community energy in current UK policy, along with the role community energy could play in tackling climate change and emissions reduction, and any regulation or policy changes that could or should be implemented to boost the sector.
“This was a really interesting and topical inquiry to be involved in – it highlighted just how important community schemes are, not only for increasing support and use of renewable energy, but as a key way to change the mindset and energy behaviour of local populations,” said Carrie.
Carrie also worked on evidence sessions for an inquiry into Deposit Return Schemes – schemes where a small (e.g., 20p) deposit is placed on drinks containers, which you get back when the container is returned to a designated place.
“I would highly recommend the internship scheme to other UKRI-funded PhD students. I’m now enjoying settling back into lab work again, but keeping an eye on what the EAC are up to. Their Twitter account is @CommonsEAC – look out for a Government response on community energy in the UK, due soon!”
Read more about Carrie’s experience on our blog.