Professor Russell McKenna
Professor Russell McKenna
Chair in Energy Transition, School of Engineering
Tel: +44 (0)1224 272516
Email: russell.mckenna@abdn.ac.uk
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Research Profile
My research focusses on decentralised multi-energy systems, especially within residential buildings and urban environments. I am especially interested in developing and applying Operations Research (OR) methods to energy systems, including energy system models (ESMs) and methods of techno-economic and environmental analysis, in order to answer diverse research questions related to the uptake and integration of low carbon technologies (LCTs). One strand of my work is focussed on methods of resource assessments for these LCTs, which serve as an input to larger ESMs. Another strand is concerned with the ways consumers' behaviour shapes their energy demand patterns. An additional interest is related to autonomous energy systems, involving a critical analysis of this much-discussed concept. In recent years I have increasingly consider non-technical factors into my work and incorporate these into quantitative frameworks.
I was previously Professor for Energy Systems Modelling at DTU Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and Head of Group for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency at the Chair of Energy Economics, Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT), Germany. I obtained an MEng in Aerospace Engineering with German at the University of Bath and subsequently did a PhD at the same institution. The PhD was about energy efficiency in the UK industrial sector and involved a series of case studies employing thermodynamic and economic methods to assess improvement potentials in diverse sectors. It was funded a UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) interdisciplinary studentships from 2005 onwards.
I have (co-)authored over 100 scientific publications, of which about 40 in high quality peer-reviewed journals. I have been PI on several national (German) research projects and Work Package leader in numerous European ones (e.g. CONCERTO, CIVIS). My collaboration is strongest in Europe, especially in Germany, Denmark and the UK, and I have some links to South East Asia and New Zealand. In 2015 I was awarded a Whole Systems Energy Modelling (WholeSEM) Research Fellowship and spent four months at the UCL Energy Institute. In 2017, I undertook a short DEMAND International Visiting Fellowship at the University of Reading. Finally, I have been an Expert Advisor in multiple contexts including for the German Society of Engineers (VDI), Research Councils (ANR, Humboldt) and the European Commission and have organized streams at international OR and energy conferences.
