As an energy specialist, it seems to me that one of the most important points about meeting the energy challenge head-on is that we can't change those things that we don't acknowledge.
Advice. Strategy. Implementation.
Latest news and views from the Rolton Group:
Young people want an electric vehicle, but what does the National Infrastructure Assessment say about the ability to deliver?
17th July 2018 | Chris Evans: Deputy Managing Director
We seem to be on the cusp of electric vehicles (EVs) becoming the preferred choice for the majority of young people, as according to a recent AA survey, over 50% of youngsters would like to own an electric car. However, there’s a long way to go before UK electrical and EV charging infrastructure is ready for this scale of change.
Resource Responsibility and the Global Carbon Crisis
5th March 2015 | Peter Rolton
Although it doesn’t feel so long ago, it has been almost two years since I wrote about the mounting risk of investing in fossil fuels; in short, great portions of the reserves we are currently spending billions per year to discover and explore will have to remain unburnt if we are to avoid more than 2°C of global temperature rise, leaving eye-wateringly valuable assets stranded under the ground and potentially creating a global financial crash far more serious than the one from which we are just starting to emerge.
Macro to micro: How will volatile global markets affect UK construction?
21st January 2015 | Chris Evans
With Chinese investors treating their stock market like a weekend at the Venetian in Macau, it came as no surprise to see the country’s regulators step in this week to hand a three-month ban to their three biggest brokers on opening new margin accounts, which allow investors to bet big with borrowed money.
Community Energy: Re-energizing the Local Power Scene
5th January 2015 | Peter Rolton
I’ve been writing about the need for a reconfiguration of British energy for a long time. On the infrastructural side things are a mess, and they don’t look any better from the spare capacity perspective, nor from the fuel poverty angle.
Peter Rolton, Interview with BBC Radio Northampton
14th November 2014 | Peter Rolton
News broke this week of a report from the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) in which the potential for shale gas exploitation in the UK was put under extreme scrutiny; in particular, the level of emphasis that has been placed on fracking as some sort of silver bullet for energy issues has been fiercely criticised.
Does The Apprentice Need to Learn Some New Skills?
10th October 2014 | Peter Rolton
Next Tuesday, the ominous tones of Prokofiev’s 'Dance of the Knights' will flood out into living rooms across the UK, and this can mean only one thing: Lord Sugar is back to cast judgement over the most recent crop of Apprentice hopefuls.
Engendering Equality in Engineering
26th September 2014 | Peter Rolton
British engineering is facing a serious skills shortage. Yesterday, the thinktank IPPR published a report claiming that ‘an additional 87,000 graduate level engineers will be needed in the UK each year between now and 2020’ in order to meet growing demand, but that ‘the higher education system is only producing 46,000 engineering graduates annually’. Well as a starter for ten, that maths doesn’t look good.