The Icon

AFTER a year of delays, the UK Government will publish the Energy White Paper, Heat Strategy and Buildings Strategy alongside the Autumn Statement, Alok Sharma has confirmed. The Energy White Paper, originally due in summer 2019, is set to outline the roadmap for net zero, helping the industry to move forwards towards the legally binding 2050 target. Speaking at a BEIS...

A new plan to better protect and prepare millions of homes and businesses to the risk of flooding that the climate emergency will bring in the future has been launched by the Environment Agency (EA). With more extreme weather expected, including summer temperatures up to 7.4˚C hotter and 59% more rainfall by 2050, the new Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk...

RESEARCHERS at Cambridge, Imperial and Singapore have developed a method to print ultrathin coatings on next-generation solar cells, allowing them to work in tandem with silicon solar cells to boost efficiencies. Photovoltaics, or solar cells, work by absorbing sunlight to produce clean electricity. However, photovoltaics can absorb only a fraction of the solar spectrum, which limits their efficiencies. The typical efficiency of...

The Environmental Audit Committee has launched a new inquiry that will consider how best to protect and enhance biodiversity while considering nature-based solutions to climate change. The inquiry launch comes at a time when biodiversity is declining faster than at any time in human history, and 15% of species in the UK are threatened with extinction. This is due to a...

THE RATE of uptake of new technologies by water companies is causing ongoing frustration within the supply chain, results from a British Water survey reveal. The trade association’s annual UK Water Company Performance Survey asks contractors, consultants and suppliers to rate their clients’ performance in 11 areas, including professionalism, contractual approach and communication. Innovation was the lowest scoring area in 2020...

OFWAT has announced today that it has modified the licences of 16 of the 17 water companies in England and Wales, who have accepted new ring-fencing provisions. One element of these changes is to protect customers by restricting pay-outs to shareholders if the company is in financial distress. Rachel Fletcher, Chief Executive at Ofwat, commented on the announcement: “Today marks a...

Over 350,000 homes will be fitted with electric vehicle chargers by 2025 as plug-in car uptake surges, according to electric vehicle charging scale-up Andersen. By 2025, an expected one million electric vehicles will be registered on UK roads bringing with it a spike in the number of home chargers. Analysis of sales trends by Andersen has found that 362,270 wall boxes...

THE GOVERNMENT has announced it will relax planning legislation to make it easier to construct large batteries to store renewable energy from solar and wind farms across the UK. Removing barriers for energy storage projects, which are discouraging bolder investment decisions in larger battery facilities, could treble the number of batteries serving the electricity grid. It will help bring about storage...

Aldi has announced an ambitious new commitment to reduce the volume of plastic packaging used by 50% by 2025. The new commitment will see the UK’s fifth-largest supermarket remove 74,000 tonnes of plastic packaging during the next five years, the equivalent to 2.2bn single items of plastic. To achieve this target, Aldi will work to remove and reduce unnecessary packaging and...

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has announced a new task group which will develop guidance on the procurement of renewable energy and carbon offsets for the built environment sector. This work will build on UKGBC’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Framework, which was developed to build industry consensus on the definition of a net zero carbon building for both construction...