27% of the UK’s CO2 emissions come from residential properties and if the government is to meet its target of reducing emissions by 80% within the next 40 years it has been estimated that six houses every minute should be retrofitted. (more…)
Just days after the Ofgem report criticising the UK’s gas and electricity suppliers for not playing it straight with consumers, we hear that higher electricity bills are going to fund a new carbon tax. (more…)
George Osborne’s budget brought some welcome news for the rail industry. The Chancellor announced that the government could now afford to invest an additional £200 million in the UK’s regional railways.
The £85 million Ordsall Chord scheme, which links the two Manchester mainline stations of Piccadilly and Victoria, will now go ahead. This will reduce considerably the journey times between Leeds and Liverpool. (more…)
Over the past ten years, we have seen major changes in the way our clients fill their temporary staffing requirements. What was once an uncontrolled local activity is now a highly transparent and process driven activity.
We now have a market that provides recruitment solutions such as Managed Services Programmes (MSP) and Preferred Supplier Lists (PSL). But how do clients know which one is best for their business? (more…)
As if the Japanese people didn’t have enough to worry about after last week’s horrendous earthquake and Tsunami, they now have the nuclear threat to contend with. (more…)
The government has now published its vision for developing a sustainable environment for the UK.
Mainstreaming Sustainable Development sets out the coalition’s plans to deliver sustainability at the same time as increasing economic growth and reducing the fiscal deficit. (more…)
Have you seen Japan’s newest bullet train yet? Over 1000 people gathered at Tokyo Station to see the debut of Japan’s newest bullet train earlier this week, which has a maximum speed of 300km an hour. Click below to watch a video of the launch.
The world has been making use of energy from the wind for thousands of years. As early as 5000 B.C. it is believed that boatmen on the Nile realised the value of wind to power their sailing vessels.
Windmills were first used in Persia and then in China around 200 B.C. Europe was slower to adopt the technology and the first windmill didn’t go into action in the UK until 1185, with European windmills being used to grind grain and pump water. However, they started to fade into obscurity during the industrial revolution when it was discovered that there were more efficient ways to produce power. (more…)
If the UK is going to successfully reduce its carbon emission targets, something has to be done to overcome the current skills shortages.
In the dim and distant past, the UK made prolific use of child labour to do the jobs no-one else wanted to do. Luckily, that system has long since been outlawed. We also had apprenticeship schemes, which were an excellent way of providing young men with the skills necessary to carry out a trade. (more…)
Rail travellers often suffer during bad weather and last December’s cold snap was no exception. A study carried out by the Office of Rail Regulation found that both Network Rail and the train operators performed badly over the period.
The problem was made worse by train companies adopting different approaches to passenger information even though they were using the same lines. Operators also failed to coordinate emergency timetables, adding yet more confusion to passengers.
At stations, passengers faced a confusing array of information, from destination boards to tannoy announcements, which left them with no idea when, or even if, trains were running. The report claimed that wildly inaccurate information was being given in some instances because the latest train timetables were not fed into the information system which stations rely on. (more…)
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