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North East England has deeper roots in energy science and engineering than any other region in the world. The unique geographical circumstances of two navigable rivers penetrating a major coalfield mean't that the first global fossil fuel export industry was already established here by the end of the 16th Century.
Today, North East England is home to more than half of the UK's most intensive energy-using industries (in petrochemicals, aluminium, steel). The continued success of these industries in part reflects the phenomenal achievements of the £4M Energy Resource Excellence programme, co-funded by ONE and the Carbon Trust, which is helping this industrial cluster to reduce energy consumption (and thus carbon emissions) while increasing productivity.
The North East: A region infused with Energy
Exuberant innovation in energy technologies followed: first harnessing steam power for locomotion (the Stephensons), then turbine technology (Charles Parson), then electric light (Sir Joseph Swan), and the world's first fuel cells (Thomas Bacon). To this day, innovation in energy technologies is flourishing in North East England, with more than £6Bn of investment (either recently-completed or under development) in novel energy projects in the last few years.