Learn how R&D Programme Manager Bethany Taylor is helping us drive heat pump adoption, her experience playing rugby for England Ladies Age Group, and why she is (still) waiting for a tidal lagoon in Swansea.
What is your position at City Science?
My role is R&D Programme Manager. This involves monitoring, managing and reporting on all the Research and Development projects within City Science. I’m working across multiple projects at the moment. It means I have to stay highly organised – my colour-coded calendar is a great way to stay on top of things!
How did you come to be working at City Science?
My undergraduate degree is in Environmental Engineering from Swansea University and that is where I developed my interest in energy and sustainability. After that, I did a Master’s Degree in Engineering Leadership and Management, again at Swansea University. That really prepared me for a project management role.
While at university, I also worked part-time as a retrofit designer. I’d done quite a bit of retrofit work in my engineering degree, and I liked the idea of improving people’s homes and their health and well-being while helping contribute towards achieving Net Zero. In addition, I worked part-time doing project management with a company specialising in smart metering for commercial and domestic buildings.
I also learnt how to lead a team from my time playing rugby and, bringing all these factors together, City Science seemed the perfect place to develop my career, so I was delighted to get the opportunity to join them.
Can you give an example of a project that you’re either working on or have been working on?
I’ve been working across four projects that are part of the Heat Pump Ready programme. This is an innovation programme funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero as part of their Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP). Its aim is to accelerate the domestic uptake of heat pumps in the UK.
To have any chance of reaching the UK’s commitment of Net Zero by 2050, the uptake of heat pumps is essential because they typically reduce carbon emissions from heating by 80%, yet we know there are considerable barriers to their adoption by homeowners.
We are leading two of the UK’s four Stream 1 Phase 2 Heat Pump Ready projects – one in Oxfordshire and one in Cambridgeshire – where we are developing innovative and ultimately scalable approaches to help make the transition to net zero affordable and achievable for all, by reducing costs to consumers and minimising barriers to heat pump uptake.( Heat Pump Ready supports 35 domestic heat pump installation projects.)
In addition, we have led the ‘Advanced Modelling for Heat as a Service’ (Advanced Modelling for Heat as a Service – City Science) project, and been working as a partner on the ‘Right sizing heat pumps’ project. Both of these are part of the Stream 2 Heat Pump Ready programme, where we’ve been looking at how we can overcome upfront cost as a barrier to heat pump uptake.
My role in these projects involves reporting and project management, and liaising with external stakeholders, government agencies and local authorities.
What motivates you most about the work you do at City Science?
I love the fact that they’re genuinely committed to decarbonisation – it runs through everything they do. They’re not looking to green-wash or make a quick profit by cutting corners. To me, this is what makes City Science stand apart from any other company.
When you do get time off, what do you enjoy doing with your free time?
Rugby is the main focus of my free time. Recently, I have been named the Gloucestershire Women’s captain for the 2024 season. I also play for North Bristol and I play for the Dodgers Rugby 7s team, a team big on mental health. I am fortunate that City Science supports my rugby career alongside my professional career and has sponsored me for this season. Laurence is also really excited to go to Twickenham when my county team gets to the final.
In addition, I’m part of the industry board at Swansea University, representing City Science. This means I have a say in the content that makes up the MSc Engineering Leadership and Management degree and I’m helping them steer it more towards developing net zero skills.
If you could wave a wand and change some aspect of policy or legislation, what would it be and why?
I’d look to encourage tidal lagoons within the UK.
There are no specific policies or legislations against tidal lagoons, but there’s also no clear framework in place for installing them. The main barrier right now is cost, as they’re quite expensive, and they haven’t taken the leap to invest in research and development for tidal lagoons. But when we compare the situation to offshore wind, we know that money invested there has resulted in a significant cost reduction for the technology.
I think it would be a missed opportunity if we don’t explore tidal lagoons, as the Severn Estuary has the second-largest tidal range in the whole world. In fact, one of the reasons I went to Swansea University was because they were going to install a tidal lagoon, but it hasn’t happened yet.