Our Uncertain Future Archives

Heatwaves are becoming the norm. This is what Britain will look like in the year 2052

If you think the temperature uncomfortable today, let me take you to the last day of July 2052, the rays of the climbing sun reveal a city still sweltering in the residual heat of the day before. From the air, London resembles a colossal refugee camp. Streets, gardens and parks are teeming with tents

Octopus Energy boss: some people would accept blackouts if bills cut

Greg Jackson argues against costly investments in UK’s power grid that are adding to household bills The boss of the UK’s biggest energy supplier has suggested that some households would accept an occasional electricity blackout in exchange for much lower energy bills. A year on from Europe’s largest power outage – which left tens

How much home battery backup do YOU need?

Home batteries are getting a lot of attention lately, but are people really looking for a full “whole home” setup, or are they just interested in keeping their phones alive for some post-hurricane doom scrolling? We asked you, our brilliant Electrek readers, what you were looking for in your home battery. Here’s what you

You can’t make a cup of tea

When I was young, I remember being told about the Cutty Sark, a now preserved Victorian tea clipper. It was a story bound up in an empire that was coming to an end as I was growing up. And, less obviously, it was a story about the limits of renewable energy in a world

This is what a fossil-fuel shock looks like. The UK must adapt its energy system – and quickly

The Iran war will hit food prices, fuel costs and interest rates. But with a few smart moves, we could could turn this crisis to our advantage Energy shocks don’t just raise our energy bills – they can be turning points in how our economy runs. The UK responded to the energy crises of

The Last Empire: Why the Trump-Netanyahu War Signals the Fall of a Civilisation

America is waging wars of expansion across two continents at the precise moment its energy foundations are giving way. The war on Iran is a stress test of a late-stage empire — and every indicator says it will fail. The American empire is falling. The Trump-Netanyahu war on Iran - launched weeks after the

No one goes to war over a solar panel

Fossil fuels aren’t a shield against chaos. They are a conduit for it. Iran’s daily strikes on Gulf energy infrastructure didn’t just set oil terminals ablaze. They have also torched one of the most persistent myths in modern energy politics: that oil and gas are the irreplaceable foundation of “energy security.” It’s a myth

What a ‘super El Niño’ could mean for your weather forecast in 2026

The ever-shifting, interconnected system of global air and ocean currents dictates the weather we experience daily. This year, however, scientists are warning that a particularly potent version of one of Earth's most infamous climate phenomena, El Niño, could dramatically alter these patterns. Climate scientist Daniel Swain recently posted on X (formerly Twitter), stating: "Whew. All

Point of no return’ for Earth is getting closer as our ‘hothouse planet’ boils

A team of scientists has warned we could be reaching a number of tipping points that might trigger runaway heating and a devastating and 'disruptive' future for humanity Earth is teetering on the brink of a climate “point of no return” and scientists reckon we may be far closer than anyone thought. If global

Why is the UK so rainy this year and how is the climate crisis making matters worse?

It has rained in parts of the country every day of the year so far and downpours are expected to continue this week In a “miserable and relentlessly wet” start to the year, rain has fallen somewhere in the UK every single day for weeks on end. With more than 100 flood warnings in

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