Regular readers will see that battery tech stories are pretty frequent here, which points to the ongoing battles to continue to deliver more powerful and more cost effective batteries. The exponential growth prospects for EV’s and energy storage depend on this. One approach is to develop batteries like the sodium-ion one, below, that avoid the … Read More
An interesting weekend read (HERE , if you have an FT subscription), is an article by John Burn-Murdoch about the inherent mis-nomer in British Conservation Areas, which do a great deal to protect buildings and quite the opposite when it comes to the natural environment. He quotes research by Professor Thiemo Fetzer from the University of … Read More
Encouraging to start the year with record levels of wind generation in the UK. Good news, but might it be seen as a metaphor for some turbulence to come? There are plenty of challenges ahead as highlighted in the Focus section below. COMPANY NEWS Insurance giant Chubb launches global climate businessProperty insurance giant Chubb has … Read More
In another sign that sanity is slowly returning to this country it is encouraging to hear that the Environment Secretary has confirmed that the Environmental Land Management scheme will start to roll out as originally planned next year. Not a moment too soon. COMPANY NEWS Ineos in talks with Rolls-Royce to build mini-nuclear power plantIneos, … Read More
If the objective is to confuse us, they have certainly succeeded. Which leading member of our government is in favour of onshore wind and which is against and which similar for ground mounted solar. I am very confused about something which should have been beyond doubt years ago. It is painful to watch. COMPANY NEWS … Read More
Enjoy a few minutes of politics free reading COMPANY NEWS Lloyds is UK’s first bank to shun fossil fuelsLloyds Banking Group has become the first full-service British bank to walk away from directly financing coal, oil and gas projects.New North Sea greenfield oil and gas developments permitted after 2021 now fall outside the banking group’s … Read More
Glad to see the post about the boom in renewables, below. I hope that the UK will join in, although messages are mixed currently. A good example being that we criticise the President of DR Congo for issuing licenses to drill for oil in peatlands and then issue plenty of our own in the North … Read More
What a week! It starts with a new PM who has shown little sign of recognising the urgency of net-zero actions, and finishes with a new king who has always been a keen friend to environmentalists. Will they behave to stereotype? Liz Truss’s energy policy needs plenty of detail fleshed out, but does at least … Read More
My wife showed me a piece this week in Remodelista about a gorgeous off-grid hut in Majorca HERE which included a novel power system: In fact the architect, Mariana de Delás makes an interesting point: the wheelbarrow contains power banks which run all electrical requirements in the hut, which involves wheeling the power to the user.. … Read More
One argument that has been rattling around the environmental arena for the last few weeks is about whether the North Sea oil extractors should face a windfall tax. Generally the financial community have an aversion to the idea of windfall taxes as companies need to feel comfortable that their tax liability is predicatble so that … Read More