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Mags Tingey

Mags Tingey
Name
Mags Tingey
Title
Research officer and PhD researcher
Address
2.27 Chisholm House High School Yards Edinburgh UK EH1 1LZ
Telephone
+44 (0)131 650 8093 [phone line is currently not in use] Margaret.tingey[at]ed.ac.uk
Research Interests
Local energy governance and organisation (LEGO), District Energy, energy policy and politics, local government, energy and society, Valuation Studies, Economic Sociology
URL
http://www.sociology.ed.ac.uk/people/staff/mags_tingey

My research is about local government strategies for investment in low carbon energy. I am a part-time PhD researcher and Research Officer in the Heat and the City research group. Access our research on sustainable heating for low energy buildings and cities at https://heatandthecity.org.uk.

At a glance: Jan Webb and I reflect on the supportive public policy needed for Making local authority energy ambition a reality in the UKERC Newsletter (June, 2020).

Current Research Projects

Multi-level Governance and Energy Demand

We are examining how devolved, regional and local authorities are responding differently to goals of low energy, low carbon development and building retrofit. The research contributes to the Policy and Governance theme in the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS).

Our blog Taking stock of the role for local action on clean energy in the UK’s decarbonisation efforts (Oct, 2019) reflects on significance of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committe 2019 report Clean Growth: Technologies for meeting the UK’s emissions reduction targets for local action on clean energy.

Project team: Dr Dan van der Horst (GeoSciences, Edinburgh), Professor Jan Webb and Mags Tingey.

Doctoral Research

PhD, part-time, Working Title: Local Governance of Energy Initiatives: struggles in assembling value

My research concerns the capacity of local actors to assemble investment in low carbon energy systems. Specifically, I examine the interactions of valuation frameworks in the development of local authority-led energy initiatives. Drawing on an economic sociology perspective, the Best Value framework for local government is one object of investigation in my thesis.

Supervisors: Professor Jan Webb, Dr Dave Hawkey, and Dr Faye Wade

Previous Research Projects

Local Engagement in UK Energy Systems

We examined the current and future contribution of local authorities to a low carbon, affordable and secure UK energy system. LEUKES ran from 2014-2018 (with a pilot study in 2013), and was co-funded by the Energy Technologies Institute and part of the UK Energy Research Centre Phase 3.

The Main Report is available here. The blog Local Authorities play key role in providing clean energy for all summarises our findings (Nov, 2017).

Heat and the City

Led by Professor Jan Webb and funded by the RCUK Energy Programme, Heat and the City explored sustainable heating provision in urban areas. We had a particular focus on heat networks. It ran from 2010 to 2014.

Our 2016 book Sustainable Urban Energy Policy: Heat and the City is based on the research. The blog District heating: can we fix the plumbing of cities for sustainable futures? (Dec, 2015) discusses the implications of heat networks for sustainable heating provision.

Publications

All outputs are on our research website

Books

Hawkey D, Webb J, Lovell H, McCrone D, Tingey M, and Winskel M (2016) Sustainable Urban Energy Policy: Heat and the city. Abingdon: Routledge

Journal Articles

Tingey M, and Webb J (2020) Governance institutions and prospects for local energy innovation: laggards and leaders among UK local authorities. Energy Policy, 138, 111211, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2019.111211

Van Veelen B, Pinker A, Tingey M, Taylor Aiken G, and Eadson W (2019) What can energy research bring to social science? Reflections on 5 years of Energy Research & Social Science and beyond. Energy Research and Social Science, 57, 101240 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2019.101240

Creamer M, Eadson W, Van-Veelen B, Pinker A, Tingey M, Braunholtz-Speight T, Markantoni M, Foden M, and Lacey-Barnacle M (2018) Community energy: Entanglements of community, state, and private sector. Geography Compass,  12(7) e12378 https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12378

Webb J, Hawkey D, McCrone D, and Tingey M (2016) House, home and transforming energy in a cold climate, Families, Relationships and Societies, 5(3), p411-429 https://doi.org/10.1332/204674316X14758447787663

Webb J, Hawkey D, and Tingey M (2016) Governing cities for sustainable energy: The UK case, Cities, 54, p28-35 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2015.10.014

Recent Reports and Policy Briefs

Kuzemko C, Britton J, and Tingey M (2019) Local Sustainable Energy Taskforce: Policy Briefing March 2019. Warwick: University of Warwick

Tingey M, and Webb J (2018) Who else will need to deliver? The role of community and local institutions. In: Lloyd H. eds. A distributed energy future for the UK: An essay collection. London: Institute for Public Policy Research

Hawkey D, Tingey M, and Webb J (2018) Workshop report International workshop on public ownership of energy. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh

Webb J, Tingey M, and Hawkey D (2017) What We Know about Local Authority Engagement in UK Energy Systems: Ambitions, Activities, Business Structures & Ways Forward. London, UK Energy Research Centre and Loughborough, Energy Technologies Institute

Tingey M, Webb J, and Hawkey D (2017) Local Authority Engagement in UK Energy Systems: Highlights from Early Findings. Loughborough and London: The ETI and UKERC

Tingey M (2017) Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategies and Regulation of District Heating: Workshop report to Scottish Government. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh

Recent Presentations

UK Local Authorities – new local energy actors?: challenges from established business case valuations. Innovative Re-making of Markets and Business Models (IREMB) Social studies of energy system transitions through shifting valuations and agencies conference, Copenhagen, October 2019.

Key findings from research on Energy Services delivery models used by Local Authorities. Energy Services and Technology Association (ESTA) Energy Services Contracting Group Annual Conference Accelerating the Energy Transition: the role of energy services, London, May 2019.

Local energy business structures: prospects for reducing energy demand. UKERC Annual Research Conference Local Energy Systems in National and International Contexts, Oxford, April 2019.

Research groups