A scheme transporting Scotland’s green power to England is likely to be controversial despite lengthy consultations

Within weeks, work is expected to begin on a 121-mile (195-kilometre) clean energy “superhighway” designed to channel green electricity from Scotland’s rich renewable resources to the north of England.

The industry regulator Ofgem is expected to give the green light for work to begin on the first section of the multibillion-pound high-voltage cable project, Eastern Green Link (EGL), in the coming days. Ofgem’s approval for a second section is expected to follow within weeks.

Discoveries made in pursuit of nuclear fusion have potentially huge practical applications in everything from curing cancer to superior batteries for EVs

When James Watt’s first commercial steam engine was installed in March 1776 at Bloomfield Colliery, Tipton in the West Midlands, it was hailed as a mechanical marvel. Yet few could have anticipated the way steam engines would change the world.

Developed initially to pump water from mines, the technology was adapted across so many industries and applications that it sparked the Industrial Revolution. Now, according to those working on the development of fusion energy power plants, we are on the cusp of a similar transformation. “I see this whole endeavour as having the characteristics of a general purpose technology in the same spirit as Watt,” says Lu-Fong Chua, chief strategy officer of TAE Power Solutions in Birmingham.

The ground is humming with geothermal energy that could heat or cool our homes – and now the big US utilities are starting to take note

Along with earthworms, rocks, and the occasional skeleton, there is a massive battery right under your feet. Unlike a flammable lithium ion battery, though, this one is perfectly stable, free to use, and ripe for sustainable exploitation: the Earth itself.

While temperatures above ground fluctuate throughout the year, the ground stays a stable temperature, meaning that it is humming with geothermal energy that engineers can exploit. “Every building sits on a thermal asset,” said Cameron Best, director of business development at Brightcore Energy in New York, which deploys geothermal systems. “I really don’t think there’s any more efficient or better way to heat and cool our homes.”

Drax received £22bn in subsidies despite being UK’s largest emitter in 2023, though company rejects ‘flawed’ research

The Drax power station was responsible for four times more carbon emissions than the UK’s last remaining coal-fired plant last year, despite taking more than £0.5bn in clean-energy subsidies in 2023, according to a report.

The North Yorkshire power plant, which burns wood pellets imported from North America to generate electricity, was revealed as Britain’s single largest carbon emitter in 2023 by a report from the climate thinktank Ember.

Nuclear site awaits sentencing over breaches that it admitted could have threatened national security

Sellafield has apologised after pleading guilty to criminal charges relating to a string of cybersecurity failings at Britain’s most hazardous nuclear site, which it admitted could have threatened national security.

Among the failings at the vast nuclear waste dump in Cumbria was the discovery that 75% of its computer servers were vulnerable to cyber-attacks, Westminster magistrates court in London heard.

The new government has made a fast start in mobilising Britain’s most obvious natural asset, but big challenges remain

In its pomp during the 1970s, Ardersier port near Inverness was a behemoth of Scottish industry. During the North Sea oil and gas boom, thousands worked on one of the largest rig construction sites in the world. Disused since 2001, the port is making a triumphant comeback , to be reconfigured as a giant hub for the turbines that will harness wind power off the Scottish coast. If Sir Keir Starmer’s government is to achieve its goal of fully decarbonising electricity by 2030, this huge investment project in the Highlands will need to be matched by similar ambition elsewhere.

Wind energy is fundamental to meeting Britain’s net zero commitments, generating growth and reducing energy costs. But under Rishi Sunak, the sector suffered a lost year in 2023, when the government failed to award a single offshore wind contract. In July, the Climate Change Committee estimated that by 2030, the number of annual offshore and onshore wind installations needed to at least triple and double, respectively.

Unease and anger are rising over proposals to build country’s first facility on Kilifi coast, home to white sand beaches, coral reefs and mangrove swamps

Kilifi County’s white sandy beaches have made it one of Kenya’s most popular tourist destinations. Hotels and beach bars line the 165 mile-long (265km) coast ; fishers supply the district’s restaurants with fresh seafood; and visitors spend their days boating, snorkelling around coral reefs or bird watching in dense mangrove forests.

Soon, this idyllic coastline will host Kenya’s first nuclear plant, as the country, like its east African neighbour Uganda , pushes forward with atomic energy plans.

This forest is our home, our existence and our children’s future. Politicians who can’t resist selling it for oil cash will feel the strength of the Waorani people

In 2019 I helped lead a movement that defeated the Ecuadorian government’s plans to auction half a million acres of Waorani territory in the Amazon to oil companies. We showed in court that the government had violated its legal obligation to obtain free, prior and informed consent from Indigenous communities. We won a moral and legal victory on behalf of our ancestral home in that moment – or so we thought. Now, however, Ecuador’s president plans to plough through that legal judgment and recommence oil drilling on nearby Indigenous lands. He obviously hasn’t reckoned with the strength and tenacity of the Waorani people.

In winning that landmark legal case, we protected pristine rainforest lands, Indigenous autonomy and our planet’s climate from further deforestation. We protected our homes, our children’s future and the forests where I grew up playing with my siblings and pet monkeys, learning to garden and make fresh chicha, and where my people still live today. No more destroying our lives, homes and forests to pump the blood of our ancestors from beneath the soil.

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Many people fear the UK’s draughty old properties are too great a challenge for the technology

• Can heat pumps be installed in older properties?
• Do heat pumps work at freezing temperatures?
• Are heat pumps more expensive to run than gas boilers?

Heat pumps could be the single largest step a household can take to reduce their carbon emissions while saving money on their bills. But many in Britain fear that, even though millions of homes across Europe have benefited from the shift away from gas or oil boilers, the UK’s draughty old homes could prove too great a challenge for the technology.

The concern is unsurprising given that the UK has some of the least energy efficient homes in Europe. A study by the smart home company tado° monitored 80,000 users across Europe to find how quickly properties lose heat when outdoor temperatures fall to zero. It found that UK homes lost on average 3C after five hours without heating, compared with just 1C in Germany and 0.9C in Norway.