archiveOctober 2023

Heat pumps have been welcomed by the majority of British owners across all property types in the first major nationwide survey. A new survey by Nesta, the innovation charity, finds that among people who have had a heat pump installed while living in their current home, 81 per cent are as satisfied or more satisfied with heat pumps compared to their previous heating system. The figure is similar – 83 per cent – when looking at heat pump owners in Victorian or older properties. The similarity across property type and...

TikTok users each emit 2.63g of CO2 every minute that they use the social media platform, according to a new study. With social media being used by over 4.76 billion people around the globe, amassing to 59 per cent of the world’s population, it is important that as a society we understand the ramifications of its use. Whilst many consider the implications of social media usage at an individual and societal level, such as its impact on mental health, the wider repercussions are often overlooked.  One key issue with social media’s mass usage that does...

UKFT is developing a fully-integrated and automated sorting and pre-processing plant for waste textiles from the fashion industry. The Autosort for Circular Textiles Demonstrator (ACT UK) is a £4 million two-year project that will support the transition from uneconomic manual sorting of clothes and textiles that are not suitable for resale to highly-automated sorting and pre-processing, which can then be used as feedstock for existing and emerging recycling processes. The processing plant could eventually divert thousands of tonnes from landfill each year. ACT UK brings together a consortium of recycling technologies,...

A UK-based clean-tech innovator is calling for an acceleration of hydrogen use in transport to power the journey to net zero. Bramble Energy recognises the dangerous impact air pollution can have on physical wellbeing and mental health, and is calling for industry to take action in accelerating its uptake of hydrogen as a viable clean and zero-emission solution for transportation. The potential for hydrogen as a clean solution in a wide range of mobility industries is immense. Hydrogen vehicles emit just water vapour and have the unique ability to clean...

A new reusable packaging and returns solution eliminates single-use packaging for eCommerce retailers. Manchester-based no-boxx is aiming to eliminate single-use packaging used in online deliveries and has developed a reusable packaging that uses a propitiatory technology to track the environmental impact in the eCommerce sector. The retail tech business is part of Exchange, tech scale-up programme in Manchester, and has ambitions to scale over the next 12 months. no-boxx is a sustainable and reusable packaging and returns solution for e-commerce retailers, which eliminates single-use packaging and reduces CO2 emissions by...

A pioneering geothermal heating plant at the Eden Project in Cornwall went live today and is now generating heat. The Eden Project plant is the UK’s first operational deep geothermal heating facility plant since 1986 and, at over 4,871 metres (just over 3 miles) deep, is the longest geothermal well in the UK. The heat is delivered via a 3.8km heat main, at around 85 degrees Centigrade, which will supply the Growing Point nursery and Eden’s Biomes and offices. The process of drilling deep into the granite at the home...

Youth stars, broadcasters and climate experts are demanding a new, serious and science-led environmental law. To highlight World Environment Day a youth delegation has personally delivered an urgent call for action to 10 Downing Street. Fronted by Mya-Rose ‘Birdgirl’ Craig (pictured) and supported by broadcasters Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and Dr George McGavin they are demanding that the UK government urgently enact the Climate & Ecology Bill. The CE Bill establishes a framework for the UK Government to match its international environmental ambition with domestic action. It requires Ministers to meet...

Scientists have discovered that air quality monitoring stations are collecting urgently needed biodiversity data. Researchers say air quality monitoring networks could enable biodiversity monitoring on an unprecedented scale and could be a gamechanger for global efforts to protect and promote biodiversity. They found eDNA evidence for more than 180 plants and animals in just two locations. Air quality monitoring stations around the world are unwittingly recording biodiversity data in the form of environmental DNA (eDNA). Until now it was thought that the infrastructure for monitoring biodiversity at national and global...

A new report highlights vulnerabilities and dangers in the way governments are currently moving to address climate change. Commissioned by Noradapt, a research centre funded by the government of Norway to help improve the country’s climate adaptation, the report highlights the vital need for “sustainable adaptation” strategies for adapting to climate change that do not worsen greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity degradation, or social and economic inequality. Recent research has begun to focus on “maladaptation”—how attempts to protect against climate impacts might harm vulnerable groups or get in the way of greenhouse gas...

Steady Energy aims to decarbonise residential heating in Finland with small modular nuclear reactors. Steady Energy’s LDR-50 district heating reactor is a small modular nuclear reactor which has been in development at VTT since 2020. LDR-50 is a type name for a reactor with a heat output of 50MW. Designed to operate at around 150 degrees Celsius and below 10 bar (145 psi), its operating conditions are less demanding compared to those of traditional reactors, simplifying the technical solutions needed to meet the high safety standards of the nuclear industry. “The pressure required...