James Fallon
I’m James, a PhD student with interests in music, maths, nature, degrowth communism™️, and studying the emerging field of energy-meteorology.
what I’m working on…
As a PhD student, I research climate-risk to critical infrastructure, in the energy‑met group University of Reading. Thesis incoming 2024…
Energy-meteorologists use weather and climate information to better understand how weather affects the energy sector, how to mitigate climate-risk, and aid the transition to clean, renewable infrastructure.
previous research
For me, taking part in the S2S4E project was a really exciting opportunity to research the value of weather forecasts. S2S4E provide sub-seasonal to seasonal forecasts, which means they make predictions weeks-months into the future (much further than the regular types of forecasts we are used to on TV). These types of forecasts derive skill from slowly evolving larger scale weather patterns, and are increasingly important for energy security as more energy is generated from renewable sources. To use these forecasts effectively, we have to anticipate and plan for different possible (and sometimes oppositely trending) near-future outcomes.
My undergraduate background is in physics, and in 2019 I completed my Masters research project developing a novel technique for quantifying the linearity of the cloud-reflectivity aerosol response. In 2018 I completed a summer research project at the China-EU Institute for Clean and Renewable Energy, writing software for the analytical modelling of ground source heat pumps.