15:50 | Small Modular Reactors are being touted as the only zero carbon baseload solution to our climate crisis. Rolls Royce say they’ll have their design operational within ten years. Can they do it, and do we want it?
11:31 | A Chinese research group has perfected a system to manufacture synthetic starch, potentially saving huge swathes of land and water use.
13:50 | Fossil fuels are inextricably linked to our everyday lives and it’ll be impossible to phase them out in the next three decades. At least that’s what the fossil fuel industry would have you believe.
11:11 | Solar panels are highly sensitive to what you might call ‘sub-optimal’ conditions… a research team reckon they’ve overcome those problems by creating a spherical version of the common solar PV panel.
18:03 | Our leaders tell us that the COP 26 climate conference in Glasgow was a success, but hundreds of thousands of climate activists outside the event did not seem to share that optimism.
12:47 | The launch of the world’s first fully electric wirelessly chargeable car.
13:38 | Solar PV panels are now a common site around the world and they do a great job. But they only work on flat surfaces. What about the millions of other surfaces that are not so conveniently shaped?
13:13 | Can our politicians filter out the cacophony of climate noise in the world right now and focus on the key priorities that will actually make a difference?
10:14 | As we continue to use ever more steel for new infrastructure around the world, the task of decarbonising the industry is growing ever more urgent.
14:50 | One UK company have just announced a £16 billion project that will be generating 3.6GW of solar, wind and battery capacity in South Morocco.
11:35 | Lithium Sulphur (or Sulfur) batteries have been on the ‘hopeful technology’ list for over a decade now. Now, after ten years of waiting, suddenly two different solutions have been announced within a week of each other.
11:16 | Now, one company plans to replace the burners in disused coal fired power plants with an energy storage system that can not only provide useful grid balancing power, but also bring gainful employment back to hard working people.
10:35 | Wooden windmills are surely a relic from our pre industrial history aren’t they? Well, that was certainly true until recently.
13:31 | Gridscale is a long duration energy storage solution developed by Stiesdal Storage Technologies in Denmark.
7:54 | The business model featuring a one way street of electricity supply will soon be consigned to the history books, replaced by a smart distributed grid with multi-directional imports and exports, often driven by local community schemes. Here’s a great example.
15:42 | Blue hydrogen is being promoted by natural gas producers as the simplest and cheapest answer to decarbonising our economies. But recent studies have shown that it’s overall greenhouse gas emissions footprint is worse than natural gas.
18:55 | The climate emergency requires climate solutions. And fast! A new analysis suggests that 90% of the job could be achieved by just a handful of disruptive technologies that are very real indeed.
11:19 | Energy consumption for heating and cooling is expected to triple in the next thirty years, as populations grow, and more people move into cities. A lot of that energy demand is used in compressing and pumping fluids.
14:36 | The IPCC has been publishing science based climate warning assessments since 1990 and in those 30 odd years human beings have released more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than we did in the previous two centuries.
The global freight shipping industry accounts for nearly 3% of all GHG emissions, so freight operators are on a quest to reach net zero by 2050. Here’s three of the most promising wind power options that could help them get there.
11:27 | Iron Air batteries use cheap, non toxic, abundant materials and potentially have a far higher energy density than Lithium Ion batteries.
22:59 | This video looks at ten areas of your life where you can make a positive difference.
12:29 | As electric vehicle sales continue to accelerate around the world, battery charging times and operational lifespan are becoming ever more important questions in the minds of potential EV drivers.
14:10 | Solid state batteries are the long-promised Holy Grail of battery technology. Turns out it’s quite tricky to make them reliable!
12:58 | Offshore wind turbines powered almost 40% of all the UK’s homes in 2020. IEA says there’s enough potential energy out there to power all of Europe, the US and Japan several times over.
13:40 | Decarbonisation is the only way out of our climate emergency. But just about every mainstream agency and organisation around the world is advising policymakers not to move too quickly away from fossil fuels for fear of disrupting economies and societies.
14:46 | Three study papers have been published that look at different activities of industrial meat and dairy producers, with some fascinating conclusions and proposals.
14:26 | Hemp is an extremely fast growing plant that stores a large amount of carbon. So is it really possible to convert it into graphene and diamond in a sustainable, environmentally friendly way?
13:58 | A new smart domestic hot water storage tank has been developed that not only heats water 20% more efficiently, but can also use electrical energy when it’s free or even negatively priced.
12:37 | A jumbo jet sized floating platform supporting two large turbines has been launched off the coast of Scotland, providing new hope for a potentially influential industry.
10:16 | A major housing development in Austin, Texas is installing five miles of geothermal pipework to serve a Master Planned Community that will comprise 7500 homes and 30,000 residents.
13:45 | Human activity hasn’t just lowered the amount of CO2 the Amazon region can store, it’s also kicked off numerous other feedback loops that are now tipping out of control.
15:50 | China is installing more renewable energy than any other country in the world, but they also added the equivalent of one large coal power plant to their electricity grid every single week in 2020.
14:28 | Agrophotovoltaics, agrivoltaics, or APV. Just like the name suggests, it’s a way of combining photovoltaic solar panels with agriculture.
10:59 | Kerosene lamps are still widely used in many parts of the world, not least by kids trying to study during the evenings in Sub-Saharan Africa.
12:47 | Most industry commentators predicted it would be 2050 before we saw a commercial hydrogen powered plane in service. But industry giant, Airbus, have just smashed that assumption…
13:38 | Cryogenic air cooling is an invention that’s been used in industry for well over a hundred years. Recently the process was put to use as an energy storage system for electricity grids.
15:21 | Climate and ecology are inextricably linked. This holistic approach forms the basis of the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill, recently tabled in the UK Parliament.
14:24 | Global greenhouse emissions dropped by 7% in 2020, for reasons that we all understand only too well. As we approach the half way mark in 2021…
12:08 | Most air flows just goes to waste. What if we could scoop that air up and do something useful with it?
13:56 | The consequences of climate change are already happening all over the world every day.
14:12 | A UK company has developed a heat pump system based on the principles of the Stirling Engine, using no HFC refrigeration gases and with a 30% saving in energy costs compared to existing systems.
13:05 | Some say population growth is the root of all the problems we will face in the future and that it is rapidly spiralling out of control. But a new report suggests the numbers might not be quite as bad as we previously thought.
11:08 | Now a new energy storage system puts green hydrogen production firmly into the hands of the consumer. On site, in their own home. Safely and reliably. Could this one be a game changer?
17:48 | Switching to renewables is an important step towards a more sustainable future. Optimising the efficiency of those mining and processing operations can hugely reduce their impact.
10:25 | Wet bulb temperature sounds almost comical, but the implications of it’s extremes could not be more serious.
13:51 | Passive House, or Passivhaus, is an energy efficient building design standard for new builds all over the world. But what about existing buildings that already account for almost 40% of all global greenhouse gas emissions?
14:02 | A new micro-hydropower technology is working with the natural flow of water and wildlife rather than against it, to bring much needed constant baseload power to off grid areas in remote areas of developing nations.