Small reactor revolution [print version]
It is not easy to take control of your future when your energy supply is uncertain as it is in Britain
Energy
Energy
New money for energy, new commitment
The government’s latest announcement on energy policy is full of positive signs, with a welcome wish to use government procurement to boost jobs and investment here. But workers will want more than promises…
Electric Cars - Cornish promise
In a big boost for electric vehicle battery production in Britain, mining exploration company Cornish Lithium announced significant investment...
Home-grown promise of small nuclear reactors
25 November 2020
Government funding for advanced nuclear technologies could help end Britain's reliance on Chinese and French companies for new nuclear power stations.
The rise of nuclear power
24 October 2020
Despite Britain's formidable base of scientific and engineering knowledge, development of nuclear power has stalled. Britain needs to change that to secure future energy supplies.
The rise of nuclear power [print version]
Britain’s nuclear power industry had its origins in outstanding research – and led to the first atomic electricity station in the capitalist world…
Government's lack of energy ambition exposed
12 October 2020
Britain needs a coherent energy policy. The government doesn’t have one, despite Boris Johnson's promises about wind power.
Time to end energy dependence
Dogged by EU rules on state support, bedevilled by government indifference over decades, Britain’s energy policy needs a radical overhaul…
The promise of hydrogen
Hydrogen has a huge potential to deliver clean energy. That’s why our scientific community is pursuing an alternative vision, investigating hydrogen as a potential power source.
Energy - Interconnector stalls
Britain has become embroiled in a legal row over a new interconnector bringing electricity from France through the Channel tunnel.
Britain’s coal-free energy not as green as it looks
Britain has now gone for two months without burning coal. But the figures hide the full truth about today’s carbon-neutral energy.
How Norway does it
In 2010, a huge new oilfield was discovered in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, west of Stavanger.
Blackouts ahead as energy policy fails
Yes, it’s possible to produce energy without using nuclear power or fossil fuels. But at the moment the price tag for that will be a reversion to pre-industrial levels of production and consumption. No central heating, anyone?
BiFab workers protest at EDF in Edinburgh
5 July 2019
With their jobs under threat after contracts they could meet have been sent abroad, workers from the BiFab construction yards in Fife protested at the head office of the energy giant EDF in Edinburgh.
Union attacks offshore immigration waiver
Shipping union Nautilus has hit out at a decision to extend an immigration waiver for offshore wind construction companies operating in British waters.
Cold winds for offshore jobs
The lack of Scottish jobs in its burgeoning offshore wind farm sector has been highlighted.
Cold wind blows for jobs in offshore power
9 April 2019
Despite politicians’ promises, new contracts for wind farms in the seas off Scotland are not going to Scottish yards.
Nuclear gap
19 January 2019
Hitachi has pulled out of building a new nuclear power station in Anglesey, two months after Toshiba dropped its project in Cumbria. Britain’s nuclear energy policy is now in disarray.
EU energy interference
With cold weather on the way, the European Court of Justice has seen fit to meddle in the power market…
Automobiles: plan for electric cars
MPs on the Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee have called for the sale of new cars with petrol or diesel engines to be banned by 2032.
Let's get scientific about energy
Independence from the EU will usher in a new era of opportunity for Britain. What do we want for our country? This demands debate wherever people work, interact or socialise – and an essential topic is energy production…
Ballot on Total rigs
Unite is balloting workers at three of Total’s North Sea oil rigs for industrial action following the company’s refusal to reduce the number of unpaid working days.
Small can be beautiful
Britain could take a world lead in a new nuclear technology, and boost its energy self-sufficiency too…
Strike hits North Sea oil platform
16 April 2018
Workers on the Norwegian oil giant’s Mariner platform in the North Sea went on strike on Saturday 7 April, downing tools for four hours in the morning and a further four-hour sit-in in the evening.
Make energy independent
Energy has been hardest hit by the deluge of EU directives instructing us what we could do and how we could do it…
Wind farm bonanza
Between 2012 and 2017 wind farm owners were paid £367 million in “constraint” payments – payments to not produce electricity.
1: Gas prices flare
The biggest jump in British gas prices in 8 years has prompted concerns in industry and government about over security of supply and an ever increasing reliance on imports of natural gas
2: The 'national' grid
The National Grid provides part of Britain’s fundamental and essential strategic industrial infrastructure.
A farewell to coal?
15 January 2018
The government has repeated its intention to close all coal-fired electricity power generation by 2025.