Eco Innovation
46,000 homes could be powered by reduced TFL services
Can the underground really go carbon neutral by 2050? A new study by British Business Energy has revealed how many wind turbines and solar panels would be needed to power the annual energy consumption of the tube in a bid to the environment after lockdown.
Embedding digitalisation into offshore wind
The offshore wind industry has become one of the UK’s success stories. In the past decade, the industry went from a capacity of 0.3 Gigawatts (GW) of power to 9.7 GW, and also generated almost ten percent of the UK’s total energy in 2019. However, this success brings similarly high expectations for the future, with a Government target of a 400 per cent increase in capacity by 2030. To achieve this, the sector must accelerate its ...
Is the UK’s coal-free hiatus here to stay?
Britain passed a significant landmark in June 2020, as the nation went coal-free for two months. A decade ago, around 40% of the UK’s electricity came from coal and, while the recent plummet in demand accounts for some of the success, it isn’t the full story
Upgrading the grid to accommodate renewable energy
Here Francesco Ierullo, Head of Sales for South and West Europe and IMEA at global composite technology company Exel Composites, has discussed how using composites can improve renewable energy transmission across the grid.
Report calls for national delivery to decarbonise heat
A new Heat Commission convened by the CBI and University of Birmingham has called on the Government to develop a National Delivery Body (NDB) to lead the development and implementation of a national strategy to decarbonise heat.
Rock star of photovoltaics is CIGS
Estimates vary but we are certainly in $100bn, 100GW territory with the booming photovoltaic market. The new IDTechEx report, 'Electronics Reshaped 2020-2040' reveals solar market growth by new capabilities opening previously impossible applications. Well-rehearsed is how silicon is in the lead with massive Chinese investment likely to see single-crystal silicon usurp polycrystalline silicon as its newly affordable extra electricity output attrac...
Energy harvesting microwatt-gigawatt: new directions
Materials suppliers need to appraise opportunities at all power levels of energy harvesting. Those developing, making and using harvesters providing microwatts to GW need to see the big picture and how they can expand into it.
Three new projects for storing clean energy in Europe
Nidec ASI has announced that it is growing in Northern Europe and is supplying battery energy storage solutions (BESS) for three major projects in Finland and Sweden for storing clean energy..
New research illuminates future of tandem solar cells
A team of researchers from Nextgen Nano may have found a new way of accelerating the development of high efficiency Organic PhotoVoltaic (OPV) technology. Nextgen Nano’s latest research demonstrated that a relatively simple material, HSolar, was widely compatible as an InterConnecting Layer (ICL) with multiple solar cell materials in tandem solar cells. The material also showed stable performance and high efficiency, which were re...
Hydrogen to become game changer in cleaner power
Hydrogen is likely to play a crucial role in clean energy transition in sectors such as transportation, buildings and power generation. Interest in the use of hydrogen technology is increasing in a range of niche transport market segments, besides other applications.