Energy efficiency

24 Apr 23

UK and Netherlands to jointly benefit from multi-use undersea power line

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

The project, named LionLink, is expected to provide enough clean electricity to power 1.8 million homes – more than Birmingham and Manchester combined. The 1.8GW power line is the second-largest multi-purpose cross-border electricity line ever built, after the one that currently connects Germany and Denmark. However, LionLink will be able to…

14 Apr 23

Scotland’s move toward a Passivhaus standard

Geotechnical & Environmental

Passivhaus is, in short, the gold standard for energy-efficient homes. According to physicist Wolfgang Feist, co-founder of the concept: “The heat losses of the building are reduced so much that it hardly needs any heating at all.” Certified houses are built with high-quality insulation, triple glazing, insulated frames, mechanical ventilation,…

21 Mar 23

Decarbonise public buildings ‘five times faster’ to meet net-zero targets, report says

Geotechnical & Environmental

The 'Public Building Energy Efficiency' report, conducted by network service providers Neos Networks, examined the actual energy usage and efficiency of over 450,000 public buildings in England and Wales. It analysed their display energy certificates (DECs) and ‘operational ratings’ (annual CO2 emission kg per m2), and highlighted the areas requiring…

06 Mar 23

Government urged to insulate Britain’s historic buildings

Geotechnical & Environmental

Retrofitting the UK’s historic buildings would support 290,000 jobs and boost the UK economy by £35bn as well as slashing Britain’s carbon emissions, a new report has found. The 'Heritage and Carbon' report was published by the National Trust, Historic England, the Crown Estate and property companies Peabody and Grosvenor, which…

21 Feb 23

AMD CEO: The Next Challenge Is Energy Efficiency

Computer & Information Technology

“Over the next decade, we must think of energy efficiency as the most important challenge,” Lisa Su, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, told engineers at the 2023 IEEE International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), in San Francisco.Despite a slowdown of Moore’s Law, other factors have pushed mainstream computing capabilities to…

05 Dec 22

‘Time to get serious’ with net-zero homes, UK heating industry tells government

Geotechnical & Environmental

Mike Foster, CEO of the Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA), has called for full-village trials of heat pumps to be set up to explore the possible heating options available for each home; the likely associated costs of reinforcing the electricity network, and how consumers view the change. In his call,…

28 Nov 22

UK pledges £1bn to insulate middle-income homes

Geotechnical & Environmental

The government's recently announced Eco+ scheme could see hundreds of thousands of homes across the country receive loft and cavity wall insulation, saving consumers around £310 a year, according to the energy secretary. The £1bn scheme will run for three years from Spring 2023 and target households that do not…

21 Sep 22

Insulating UK homes could save the country ‘billions’, assessments show

Geotechnical & Environmental

The UK government is under increasing pressure from political parties and research groups to increase investments in home insulation, as assessments show that it could save billions in energy costs. The Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) has drawn up a 28-year plan - at an annual cost of £7bn…