Rewilding/3D-printing/ocean cleanup/sodium batteries & focus on blue forests

3rd March 2023

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

PPA’s/ECO3/virtual power plants/batteries/superalloys

10th February 2023

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

Cathodes/geothermal/ev charging/CO2 battery/wetlands & focus on tidal power

25th November 2022

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

Busses/UK solar/heat pumps/chemicals/LNG/wave power & focus on COP27

11th November 2022

I suppose that any revolution has its casualties, but it is still sad to see electric van pioneer Arrival join BritishVolt in the intensive care ward. COMPANY NEWS Equinor and Hitachi Energy formalise collaborationEnergy company Equinor and technology company Hitachi Energy have signed a strategic collaboration agreement. It includes developing standardised base designs for transmission … Read More

agrivoltaics/district heating/plant based protein/Barcelona Bicibus

28th October 2022

I had hoped to report plenty of good news on renewables coming from our new PM, but we may have to wait for that.Looking elsewhere there is good news around, such as the record amounts of renewables being generated both here (see below) and in Europe. Also good news from an unlikely source: Chris Giles, … Read More

battery optimisation/solar/solid state batteries & focus on Sweden

21st October 2022

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

hemp/floating wind/Greece/concrete & focus on Singapore

14th October 2022

Jacob Rees-Mogg had a lot to say about renewables this week, and was accused of talking in a “word salad”. Actually I think there was some sense in what he was trying to say, which was that the Government was trying to encourage renewables owners who have assets on the old ROC and FiT based … Read More

energy saving/solar facade/lithium & focus on new battery technologies

9th September 2022

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

private wire/BECCS/landfills/the Arctic & focus on nuclear fusion

12th August 2022

Will the real Kwasi Karteng please stand up: this week our Energy Secretary has bemoaned the use of imported biomass at Drax saying that it is not sustainable and “makes no sense to me”. The next day he announces a new consultation from the govenment to encourage Bioenergy with carbon capture (see below). His stance … Read More