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PLANS to boost greener, active transport, which is to include walking, cycling as well as electric vehicles, have been launched by Transport Secretary Grant  Shapps. Following unprecedented levels of walking and cycling across the UK during the pandemic, the plans will help encourage more people to choose alternatives to public transport when they need to travel, making healthier habits easier...

THE NORTH West Energy and Hydrogen Cluster has been awarded Government funding to map out the region’s journey to becoming the UK’s first net zero carbon industrial cluster by 2040. Funding has also been awarded to the North West’s leading hydrogen and carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) project, HyNet. The £120,000 roadmap project which is jointly funded by UK Research...

AN INTERNATIONAL research project has revealed the highest levels of microplastic ever recorded on the seafloor, with up to 1.9 million pieces in a thin layer covering just one square metre. Over 10 million tons of plastic waste enters the oceans each year. Floating plastic waste at sea has caught the public’s interest thanks to the ‘Blue Planet Effect’ seeing moves...

MAGNETIC resonance imaging (MRI) can provide an effective way of supporting the development of the next generation of high-performance rechargeable batteries, according to research led by the University of Birmingham. The technique, which was developed to detect the movement and deposition of sodium metal ions within a sodium battery, will enable faster evaluation of new battery materials, and help to...

AN INTERNATIONAL team of astronomers has shown in a laboratory at Leiden University in the Netherlands that methane can form on icy dust particles in space. The possibility had existed for quite some time, but because the conditions in space were difficult to simulate, it was not possible to prove this under relevant space conditions. Researchers from the Laboratory for Astrophysics...

Last week Sarah Divall from the environmental charity Hubbub sat down with us in a webinar about changing our attitudes towards a more sustainable future. Change is never easy, there is a hugely complex range of factors that govern what we do and why we do them. When pushing for environmental change, how do you encourage people to make more sustainable...

OVER the last five years, efforts to manage water supply and demand effectively have stalled. Within its recent report on Water Supply and Demand Management, the National Audit Office (NAO) warned that unless more concerted action is taken now, parts of the south of England could run out of water within the next 20 years. The NAO identified a number of...

THE REGULATOR of Social Housing has today published the results of its new monthly survey of housing associations and local authorities about how they are coping with the coronavirus pandemic. The social housing sector is generally reporting that it is still managing to maintain service delivery for emergency repairs and key health and safety checks despite the impact of coronavirus. Fiona MacGregor,...

THE UK Green Building Council has published new guidance aiming to de-mystify the practice of measuring the social value of buildings and places. For the built environment sector, the measurement of social value is already a critical part of the commitment to creating social value across the supply chain, and a rapidly evolving area of practice. John Alker, Director of Policy...

NATIONAL Grid ESO is today outlining a number of new tools and measures to manage the unprecedented situation caused by COVID-19 and reduced demand for electricity. The additional options for ESO's control room engineers to draw on are aimed at enabling the continued supply of safe, secure and reliable electricity in any situation, and will ensure the ESO operates the...