Over the next few decades, the world’s energy landscape as we know it will change dramatically. One decisive change is the ever-growing demand for power which brings about the need for new and better energy innovations.
Wherever there is an increase in access to reliable and affordable energy, people want to enjoy a higher standard of living. While that is certainly a good thing, at the same time, many of the world’s population lack access to even the most basic energy services.
Our existing energy market has been in development for over a century and changing it to renewable energy is no easy feat. Among other factors, it requires incredibly large capital investments and thus far, renewable energy has reached 21.6%. It was further explained during the One Planet Summit in December 2017, when U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: “Finance is the key to successful climate action.”
Even so, why is the adoption of renewable energy lacking on a global scale? It’s certainly not for a lack of wanting a cleaner life or to improve the world for future generations. Instead, market conditions slowing the development of
Reflecting back on 2017 we saw a number of engineering trends making their mark in a big way. Some include advanced robotics, additive manufacturing, IIoT, quantum computing and big data. Even though it’s possible to identify hundreds of minor developments, what are the major engineering trends to follow in 2018? Take a look at these top trends we put together to end the year on a positive note.
There are a number energy sources available in nature but solar energy is by far the most abundant. Our sun provides more solar energy in one hour than the entire world consumes in a year. The question is how do we collect and store this abundance of energy more effectively?
In recent times there has been an even bigger drive for renewable energy than ever before. This has also given rise once again to the solar power car. It could be due to the global warming phenomena or maybe we finally realised that the sun is in fact our biggest energy source and it’s free. At least in theory it is but putting in place the technology to store sufficient amounts of energy is the challenging part.
Nearly 2 years after the project confirmed equity funding, the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon has just been backed by a government commission review.
Former UK energy minister Charles Hendry has been gathering evidence for the independent enquiry for almost a year and as part of that review has visited all the potential sites and held various discussions with the industry. That report says that the project would make a strong contribution to the UK’s energy supply.
There were a host of other conclusions in the report, but some of the headline ones were:
Back in March this year London was set to see the introduction of 5 all electric double decker buses capable of driving up to 190 miles in day on one 4 hour overnight charge. The 5 buses joined a fleet of single deck electric, hydrogen and hybrid buses as part of the effort to reduce emissions in the city centre.
At the other end of the country Stagecoach are operating all electric bus services in Inverness and having worked with manufacturer Optare have managed to extend the range of miles the vehicles can do. In addition to running on electricity, these buses also feature electric heating systems rather than the standard diesel ones. This makes them the UKs’ most efficient electric buses in terms of kWh per mile and they fist of their kind.
There is always mixed feeling when discussing the pros and cons of wind energy and in the UK it’s had its fair share of debate.
Whatever your view news last month confirmed that the North East of England will house the largest offshore wind farm in the world when the Dong Energy Hornsea project is complete.
The multi billion pound project will occupy more than 400 square kilometres, will be situated about 120km off the Yorkshire coast and is it’s anticipated it will power more than a million homes.
The project will not only provide clean energy but will also create jobs and more financial security. It is expected the project will create around 2000 jobs during construction with up to 300 further jobs once operational.
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