What is a healthy room temperature? On releasing its Cold Weather Plan for 2014, Public Health England has recently revised its recommended minimum levels to keep in good health. No longer, they say, do…
Big may be beautiful but it’s also inflexible and expensive.
Andrew Parsons/PA
Take a hard look at the painful process of de-carbonising the UK’s electricity supply, and it’s clear that the options on the table are not great. From the outset, changes to the system generate further…
We’ll need more of these, wherever they end up.
Andrew Milligan/PA
Do we have enough onshore windfarms, or do we have too many? And who decides what “too many” looks like? The Conservative Party has announced it would end subsidies for new onshore wind farms if it won…
Batteries should be included.
Portland General Electric
There is a boom in renewable energy sources coming online worldwide, but the predominant types – solar and wind – are problematic due to their variable nature. For most regions of the world, the sun cannot…
Time to put some heat into the hydrogen industry.
Flames on a black background, Olga Nikonova
The inhabitants of a frequently cold and windy country like the UK need to heat their homes, even in what is loosely termed “summer”. This is achieved mostly by natural gas-fed boilers – but this dependence…
Keeping it cool: well insulated buildings give nothing away.
Passivhaus Institut
Britain’s homes are responsible for almost a third of the nation’s energy use, despite decades of gradually improving energy efficiency. For the UK to meet its targets for carbon emissions reductions by…
Solar panels: a tale of the haves and have-nots?
Mtaylor848
Energy-generating solar panels provide the opportunity to generate low-carbon electricity from the roof over your head, at a cost that has fallen dramatically and continues to slide. So many governments…
A rose-tinted view of central energy planning, or the best fit for the job?
Ackers72
While a privatised energy market has delivered stable and cost-effective electricity to Britain’s national grid for 25 years, the world and the pressures it faces are changing. A group of Newcastle University…
The escalating situation in Ukraine has focused the minds of Europe’s leaders on their countries’ energy needs and how to meet them. Energy security has quickly become a strategic priority for the EU…
The future will be dimly lit without tackling the growing energy gap.
Ben Curtis/PA
The Conservative Party apparently plans to introduce a moratorium on future onshore wind farms from 2020, hanging their hat on the growth of offshore wind instead, and following Germany’s lead by expanding…
With floods sweeping the country, energy policy has slipped down the agenda since Labour’s attention-grabbing price freeze policy announcement. And this of course is unfortunate, as energy policy is central…
A potential government investigation into British Gas has offered up the chance to restructure the market in a way that has not happened since the industry was privatised, and could skew the market to…
Whodunnit: who broke the energy market?
Chris Young/PA
It is ironic that it is the Labour frontbench leading the charge against what it calls the UK’s “broken energy market”, because practically every controversial aspect of the energy market was the creation…
To anyone following recent discussions about the UK’s energy sector, it might seem the nation is entirely lighting-obsessed. When announcing the deal that paved the way for a new nuclear power station…
10% price rises are becoming the new normal.
Rui Vieira/PA
Energy prices seem seldom out of the news. Politicians show their frustration with the energy market in proposing various solutions. This week Tory grandee and former prime minister John Major has called…
The future Hinkley Point C nuclear power station (centre), with older reactors.
EDF
There has long been talk of the need for a “nuclear renaissance”, and now it seems underway. The deal has been struck that would see the first new British nuclear power station in a generation. But is…
If bills are kept low, will there be a price to paid in other ways?
Rui Vieira/PA
First the banks lost the public’s trust, then the tax activities of some large corporations were brought under scrutiny. So perhaps taking on the “big six” UK energy companies as household fuel bills incessantly…