Spurred by lockdowns, floods and war in Europe, retail demand for survival supplies is rising steeply in the UK As Storm Babet battered the UK last month, a niche but growing section of the population could have felt justified in their unusual pursuit: preparing for disaster. With increasing threats posed by climate breakdown, such as flooding and wildfires,
Following the King’s Speech yesterday (7 November), energy cooperatives across the UK have written to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urging him to be “on the right side of history”. With the King’s Speech reiterating support for new oil and gas licenses in the North Sea, the energy cooperatives have outlined in an open letter that
Solar electricity panels, also known as photovoltaics (PV), capture the sun’s energy and convert it into electricity that you can use in your home. By installing solar panels, you can generate your own renewable electricity. How do solar panels work? A solar PV panel consists of many cells made from layers of semi-conducting material, most commonly silicon. When light shines on this
New legislation to mandate annual oil and gas licensing in the North Sea is expected to be set out in the King’s Speech tomorrow (7 November). The bill will allow the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) to invite applications for new oil and gas production licenses on an annual basis. This would replace the current
Just over half of Europe's single family homes could technically be fully energy self-sufficient with a combination of solar energy and storage systems, according to a report by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Already today, 53 percent of about 41 million buildings included in the analysis could theoretically go off-grid and have a fully
Continuing our Designing for Disaster series, we spotlight Climate Safe Rooms, an initiative that insulates one room in a home as a cost-effective way of preparing low-income homes in Australia for extreme heat. The project was created by Tim Adams for Victoria-based not-for-profit community group Geelong Sustainability, which so far has implemented a Climate Safe Room in 16 vulnerable homes. Rather than retrofitting
Escalating rhetoric comes as new study shows there are just six years left to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius at current CO2 emissions rate The Oregon State University ecologist had spent his career wandering through the hills and canyons of Yellowstone National Park, tracking the health of wolves and other large carnivores. Nor was he
The Energy Act 2023, which has been called the “biggest piece of energy legislation in the UK’s history”, received Royal Assent yesterday (26 October). The Act, which has now become law, includes a number of major changes aimed at creating a more efficient energy system that can uphold the growing number of electrified technologies being
Renewables are set to contribute 80% of new power capacity to 2030 in the stated policies scenario (STEPS), with solar PV alone accounting for more than half of this, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). In its flagship World Energy Outlook report, the IEA expects solar manufacturing capacity to exceed 1.2TW of module nameplate capacity
Despite significant clean energy growth across the globe, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned that under today’s policy settings, emissions would remain high enough to increase global average temperatures to around 2.4 °C. Bending the emissions curve onto a path towards a 1.5 °C maximum increase, the IEA’s flagship World Energy Outlook (WEO) report