Revealed: Many more solar firms face closure if government cuts go ahead
Total of 25 businesses said they will either fold or have to cut staff, putting over 350 jobs at risk as a result of cuts to feed-in tariff and renewables obligation Hundreds more jobs will be lost at solar power companies if planned changes to government policy come into force in the new year, 25 […]
Heathrow third runway: civil service chief 'warned ministers not to comment'
Sir Jeremy Heywood’s intervention appears to reflect concerns that ministers’ remarks could make final decision vulnerable to legal challenge Britain’s most senior civil servant warned ministers not to speak out publicly over proposals to build a third runway at Heathrow before the Conservative party conference, it has been reported. Sir Jeremy Heywood, the cabinet secretary, […]
Errors revealed at Chinese nuclear firm seeking to invest in UK plants
Huge quantity of protective steel was left out of initial construction of China General Nuclear Corp’s first reactor, built close to Hong Kong in 1987 One of the Chinese nuclear power firms pushing for a stake in the UK’s energy industry left out hundreds of critical steel rods when building its first reactor near Hong […]
Introducing Transparent Solar Panels
The cost of solar panels dropped 80% between 2008 and 2015 and solar technology is becoming an increasingly common sight both in business and residential contexts. Panels are now an affordable commodity for the middle classes and a team of researchers at Michigan State University have aimed to take advantage of that new market. They’ve […]
Toyota Aiming For Self-Driving Vehicles By 2020
Once regarded as a distant, almost futuristic technology, it is now a question of “when”, rather than “if”, autonomous driving systems will hit the market at scale. This month, Toyota Motors took a significant step in that direction, announcing that it intends to deploy self-driving vehicles by 2020. That’s just five years into the future. […]
Novice cavers find marvels beneath the fissured limestone
Selside, Yorkshire Dales The young potholers re-emerge into sunlight, blinking like startled moles and buzzing with the marvels they had seen The cavers peer into their hands to check the bright discs of yellow light that show their headlamp beams are switched on. These twentysomething novices then follow their instructor into Lower Long Churn, a […]
True love: tiny Australian desert fish travel vast distances to find new mate
The 6cm long goby is an ‘average swimmer’ but can travel hundreds of kilometres through Australia’s red centre in just a trickle of water A trickle of water running over parched earth is all the encouragement the desert goby needs. The unassuming little fish, reckoned by researchers to be a poor to average swimmer, only […]
France launches global drive for climate deal
Diplomats mobilised for unprecedented PR push, with Paris summit seen as last chance to reach agreement France has launched an unprecedented diplomatic drive to shepherd nations big and small towards a major climate change deal, ahead of a Paris summit next month that is the next major make-or-break moment for the movement against global warming. […]
UK solar power industry proposes emergency plan to save renewables
Trade body says scheme would add just £1 to bills by 2019 and comes in response to government plans to cut subsidies for rooftop solar panels by 87% The solar power industry has proposed an emergency plan to rescue renewables, which it says would add just £1 to consumer bills by 2019, on top of […]
Mystery and beauty in the smoke of garden bonfires: Country diary 100 years ago
Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 21 October 1915 OxfordshireThe mists have been unusually heavy these last few days, and, mingling with them, the chief feature of our village landscape has been the garden bonfires. These burn all day and every day, but sunset and the hour after it is the time they make […]