Book review: The Green Ages, by Annette Kehnel I'm doing a bit of a reading series on the future at the moment. I reviewed Designing Hope last week, with more to come. The Green Ages is part of that too, despite being a book on history. Written by German historian Annette Kehnel and translated by…

Heating homes with seawater Just outside my office window is a heat pump, which provides our house with low carbon heating and hot water. It's an air source heat pump, which means it draws heat from the air and channels it into the house. There are other forms of heat pumps, notably ground source,…

What we learned this week Featuring China's climate targets, a marine treaty, a bonus book review, and solar panels from Aldi.

Film review: Power Station When you put solar panels on your roof, the sun pays for them. It might not feel like it when you get the installation quotes in, but those panels will generate more than they cost and the universe pays you back. So why aren’t we putting them everywhere? Why are so many…

Currently reading: Sink or Swim, by @susannahfisher.bsky.social - very good so far, and a hardback book without a dust cover is a classy object, no?

Book review: Waste Wars, by Alexander Clapp Did you know that during the Cold War, 10% of East Germany's GDP came from taking waste from West Germany? People couldn't move across that border, but rubbish could - and it moved from the richer territory to the poorer one. That's a pattern that…

Racist is a descriptive term This week we've seen the Prime Minister at pains to call out the Reform party's racist policies, while insisting that people who vote for Reform are not themselves racists. It's a tightrope walk, with journalists repeatedly inviting politicians to call their opponents…

What we learned this week Featuring China's climate targets, a marine treaty, a bonus book review, and solar panels from Aldi.

The landscaper of the climate age The landscape architect Kongjian Yu died this week, but as a pioneer of climate resilient cities, his visionary work will only get more relevant as the world warms.

Book review: Designing Hope, by Sarah Housley In 2021 a survey asked 10,000 young people in ten countries how they felt about climate change. 75% said the future was frightening and 55% thought humanity was doomed. "People are not excited about the future any more," notes design futurist Sarah…

Marching for and marching against There are two very different climate events this weekend - Draw the Line, and SunDay. What can we learn from comparing them?

China’s clean tech turning point China is still regularly used as an excuse for inaction on climate change: if China isn't doing its bit, then anything we do is pointless. This line became popular about 20 years ago and it had some validity at the time. It hasn't been a serious argument for a…

Book review: A different kind of power, by Jacinda Ardern I don't generally read political memoirs. In the 18 years I've been posting reviews here, I can only think of a handful of politicians whose books I've featured. But I've got time for Jacinda Ardern, former prime minister of New Zealand and…

What we learned this week I did a bit of a double-take this week when I read that both Dale Vince of Ecotricity and Greg Jackson of Octopus - two leaders in green energy in the UK - had followed the Conservatives' in calling for support for oil and gas production in the North Sea. One of the main…

What is plug-in solar? Earlier this year I wrote about alternatives to rooftop solar, and all the many ways you can benefit from solar power without investing in a full scale installation. The most intriguing of those alternatives is balcony solar, which has been booming in Germany over the last…

Five roles you can play in climate action What can I do about climate change? That's a very common question, and it's an important one. Climate change is a global phenomenon that is unfolding over decades. It can be hard to find a useful role for individuals when the problems are so clearly…

How war drove Moldova’s energy transition Moldova is surrounded on three sides by Ukraine, with Romania to the West. Like many countries in Eastern Europe, its energy systems are a legacy of the Soviet era. Infrastructure runs East towards Russia. For decades Moldova has run on Russian gas piped…

Book review: The Climate Diplomat, by Peter Betts Peter Betts was involved in climate negotiations for longer than almost anyone in the British government, from COP4 in 1998 onwards. At times he was a negotiator, at other times an advisor. He worked with a succession of governments and ministers,…

Meeting my own net zero target A few years ago now there was a big drive to set more ambitious climate targets. Net zero emerged as the phrasing of choice, with the UK government aiming for 2050. I was involved in the Extinction Rebellion movement at the time, who were calling for net zero by…

Book review: Breakneck, by Dan Wang If you want to understand China and its distinctive relationship to the United States, then framing it as communism vs capitalism isn't helpful, argues Dan Wang. Instead, think of the differences between lawyers and engineers. "China is an engineering state,…

From coal power station to battery storage Tilbury A and B were twin coal-burning power stations in Essex, built next to the river Thames so that coal could be brought in by barge. For decades they served electricity to nearby London, before they were decommisioned. There was a brief attempt to…

Including t-shirt durability, an all electric town, and beer made from pasta.

Renewable energy is almost always cheaper Rewind back a decade, and fossil fuels were the cheapest form of energy almost everywhere on the planet. There were just three countries where wind power was out-competing coal and gas, and solar was always more expensive. That changed fast. Over the next…

How climate action can support the arts Pay someone's electricity bill, and you keep their lights on for another month. Pay for their solar panels, and they've got cheaper electricity for a decade or two. I risk echoing that cliche about teaching proverbial men to fish here, but solar has a way of…

What we learned this week I wrote recently about my own experiments with temporary shade structures on my own house. Here's Low Tech Magazine with a historical overview of similar things. In the past, it was entirely normal to 'dress' your home for summer or winter, something we have forgotten how…

Book review: The City of Today is a Dying Thing, by Des Fitzgerald "This book, I should say at the outset, is against green cities." That's the contrarian premise of The City of Today is a Dying Thing, from Irish sociologist Des Fitzgerald. You don't need me to tell you how counter-cultural that…

Video: Could degrowth save the world? An interesting overview of degrowth from the BBC News channel that I wanted to draw your attention to. Unusually, producer Alvaro Alvarez has gone looking for practical examples of people attempting to live out degrowth principles, alongside academics and…

What we learned this week Links this week include a circular economy Luton Town shirt, coal in Indonesia & thought provoking TV from Denmark.

Selco’s solar innovations for the poor No, not that Selco, the UK builders' warehouse with the radio jingle. I'm talking about Selco India, another winner to profile from this year's Ashden Awards. Selco are, at first glance, a solar company. They provide solar installations in rural locations,…

What we learned this week Scientists have identified a fig tree species in Kenya with a unique ability to turn CO2 into stone. I got the press release for this earlier this week and didn't know what to make of it myself, so here's the New Scientist with the story. Carbon Copy have updated their…

Book review: Moral Ambition, by Rutger Bregman "Who among you dares to dream of a wildly better future?" asks Rutger Bregman on more than one occasion in his book, Moral Ambition. If you dare for such a thing, then his book is an invitation to think through how you can make a significant…

Every home in the UK has a digital twin on Cotality's software platform, analysing the building's performance and identifying cost-effective retrofit strategies.

Climate anxiety needs climate solutions I recently attended the online launch of a new campaign called Climate Courage Schools. An initiative from the Climate Majority Project, the campaign calls for 'emotionally aware' climate education in schools. They argue that there is growing disconnect…

What we learned this week After a good start over the last few years, the huge energy energy needs of AI has punched a big hole in Google's net zero plans. Emissions have risen by 51% in a year. For those of us in the northerly climes of the UK, it's easy to underestimate the global potential of…

After various experiments over the years, here are some simple ways that I've been shading my house during the recent heatwave.

Tools for today's workshops, using #Lego to explain #climatechange at the North Herts Climate Summit.

Book review: Slow Down, by Kohei Saito Of all the world's political ideas, degrowth and communism are among the hardest to sell. One would think then that a book subtitled 'how degrowth communism can save the earth' would be of niche interest at best. And yet, on release in 2020, Kohei Saito's…

Solar for everyone with RePowering London One of the risks of climate action is that, if done without an eye on justice, it can benefit society's winners and entrench inequality. Solar is a case in point. Wealthier households who own their own homes can get cheap energy from installing solar…

What if you can’t install a heat pump? Having installed a heat pump in our house recently, I recognise that it's not going to work for everyone. It takes up a lot of space and we've had to design it into an extension - not something you can do in an apartment or a small home. We've also spent the…

What we learned this week With Just Stop Oil calling it a day in the UK, saying their mission has been achieved, now Last Generation have turned off the lights in Germany. It feels to me like the closing of a chapter of civil disobedience for the climate. The Climate Coalition are organising…

Clothing is climate adaptation This morning I had a conversation with my daughter about school uniform. It's been hot this week - for the UK at least - and school has finally said they don't need to wear their blazers. We await the day that boys are allowed to wear shorts, but it's a concession to…

Climbing the energy ladder with BURN At the Ashden awards last week, BURN won the Award for Outstanding Achievement. It's a special category in honour of the 25 anniversary of the awards, given to a previous winner who has gone on to do extraordinary things. BURN make affordable cookstoves which…

Celebrating 25 years of the Ashden Awards The Ashden Awards were held last night, marking 25 years of the awards for climate innovation. To mark the occasion, four previous winners were honoured with outstanding achievement awards, in a ceremony presented by Myra Anubi, with special guests Vanessa…

Book review: Deficit, by Emma Holten In 2020 Emma Holten read an article in the Danish press that argued that over the course of their lifetimes, women took more from the public purse than they gave. This made them a net deficit to society. Holten took umbrage at the idea, quite rightly, and…

Earth in 100 seconds A few years ago there was a thought-provoking video that showed Britain's land use, Britain in 100 seconds. The man behind the film, Dan Raven-Ellison, has now produced a global version. Each second of the film shows 1% of the Earth's land, beginning with 10 seconds walking…

What we learned this week I'm a fan of agrovoltaics - combining solar panels with farming - and it has a new high profile project. The Vatican's agrovoltaic project was commissioned by Pope Francis to meet the Vatican's energy needs. It is now complete, adding the city state to the short list of…

Book review: Mountain Tales, by Sauma Roy Sauma Roy is a journalist and microfinance entrepreneur in Mumbai. She discovered that many of those seeking loans were living on the Deonar landfill site, eking out a living from the city's waste. Over the course of a decade she visited, got to know…

The evolution of EV charging networks Last week I charged the electric car in four different countries. All of the chargers worked, and I used the same Electroverse card on all of them. It's the first time we've taken the car outside the UK and it was entirely painless. It was not always like…

Transparency in recycling from Polytag One of the big obstacles to creating a circular economy is that there's a big disconnect between producers and waste. Companies create and sell products, and usually have no involvement with waste disposal. That's done by an entirely separate industry or by…

What we learned this week Earlier this week I wrote about solar power in Pakistan (link below), though this is the big solar story of the week: as of this summer, solar generation is set to overtake nuclear power. It won't stay there, as it will fall back below nuclear as the northern hemisphere…