Tools

Facilitating new insight and learning

Models, databases, games, visualisations are just a few of the tools produced by our Partners and as outputs from accredited programmes.

 Here are a few examples to use now or to follow progress on.

Knowledge Discovery Tools

Envirobase: a tool maintained by the LWEC partnership to provide information from over 20,000 environmental research projects and programmes in one easy- to- search place. Use now.

Wastenet, a free-to-use knowledge portal set up by Defra for those either conducting research on or working in the field of waste management.Use now.

Sustainable Production and Consumption  Knowledge Portal, set up by Defra and ready to use now.

Climate

• A prototype model of the impact of local climate in urban areas from the Adaptation and Resilience in a Changing Climate network. This model, once tested, will allow planners and local councils etc. to evaluate the impacts of temperature on energy use, comfort and health in buildings within their region. (SCORCHIO project - http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/research/cure/research/scorchio/)
• Data for future weather years from the Adaptation and Resilience in a Changing Climate network. Climate data at the local scale for the 2030s, 2050s and 2080s is now available for various locations across the UK. These can be used by building designers and engineers to study the energy and thermal performance of buildings under likely future conditions (PROMETHEUS project - http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/cee/prometheus/).

Ecosystems

• Data from the Open Air Laboratores programme used in the EU Water Framework Directive

• Open source data and models to improve the management of river catchments across England and Wales, from the Demonstration Test Catchments programme. Data and models will be available to all.

Health

• Improved integration of large-scale health and environmental datasets as a basis for environmental health research, from the Centre for Environment and Health.

Infrastructure

• New car technology from the Low Carbon Vehicles Innovation Platform.

Society

• ‘Flood Snakes and Ladders' tool from the Flood, Vulnerability and Urban Resilience programme.

An interactive flood simulation recovery tool developed from local people’s flood recovery diaries, in Hull. The tool can be used to prepare policy makers and emergency planners for the aftermath of a flood and is also relevant to other emergency situations.