BMLT Positive News Edition 1

A collection of positivity from the world of environment and technology.

Following reading MMMs article on the Low Information Diet in 2013, I’ve stayed away from reading, watching or otherwise deliberately ingesting news.  It has proved to be a good move.  News that affects me or that I might need to know, I find out through osmosis.  Everything else passes me by, and so far I don’t seem to have missed anything important.  The closest I get to reading news is to walk past the newspaper stand in the supermarket.  I must admit I do occasionally scan the headlines and the negativity, fear and confusion inducing statements oozing from these filthy publications does at least justify my stance.

With that in mind, I thought a small collection of positive news might be a valuable thing to produce.  The first edition is going to be based on the environment and technology and features articles I’ve discovered this week.

The National Grid sells gas network and buys more electricity - IET

Pair this with the phasing out of new gas boilers by the mid-2030s and ensuring new-build homes are ‘zero carbon’ ready from 2025 onwards and it starts to look like meaningful progress.  As is often the case, change may happen faster than anticipated.

Tesla struggles to keep up with Powerwall demand - Elektrek

Following on from the struggles with Model 3 production, Tesla are now starting to concentrate on their solar and energy storage division again.  They are working on aggregating residential solar, Powerwalls and cars to act as Virtual Power Plants (VPP).  A trial has started in Hawaii, and an application to the energy regulator Ofgem in the UK has been submitted for Tesla to become a power generator.  Following on from the recent grid fiasco in Texas, Tesla is also installing a 100MWh grid level battery.  It’s possible that the energy business is about to be disrupted as has happened in the automotive world.

Ecotricity partner with Gridserve to update all UK EV chargepoints - Ecotricity

Ecotricity had the contract to provide EV charging at all UK motorway services.  However, their offering has been looking somewhat tired and outdated when compared to newer network providers and modern technology.  Their chargers were based on old technology and could only charge one car at a time at a relatively slow rate.  Additionally, reliability of CCS charging (the now default standard) was poor.

Gridserve have experience providing modern chargers as evidenced by their latest charging centre in Braintree, Essex.  Encouragingly, this is actually happening right now, with the first charger already fitted and the upgrade to increase both speed and capacity at every location expected to be complete by summer 2021.