Innovation, sustainability and the future of cities
As knowledge workers, we spend most of our professional lives in projects: analysing, advising, writing, designing, developing, creating and problem-solving. And we know we should use those projects to build our skills and capability – to learn. To learn as
A business needs to constantly develop to survive. Just like a living organism, you must adapt to changes in your environment. New technologies, consumer attitudes, regulatory requirements and cost structures constantly turn over your market, changing the routes to success.
I started this thread of posts to discover whether electricity storage is a major barrier to wider deployment of renewables. So, what have we learned about electricity storage over the last nine weeks? Renewable energy has not created the need
Last week we talked about batteries for grid scale electricity storage. There is another way we can use chemical bonds to store spare renewable electricity – Power-to-X. The idea behind Power-to-X is to convert renewable electricity into a transportable and
This week we look at using batteries for temporary storage of renewable electricity. The installed battery capacity is still small compared to pumped hydro, but it is the fastest growing solution, and the most flexible. Battery is a generic term
After a quick holiday break over Christmas and the New Year, we get back to the blog series on energy storage technologies. I hope you all had an enjoyable time! In this 5th episode, we cover storing electricity as electricity
Looking for practical storage solutions for an electricity grid dominated by renewables, we have already examined gravity, pressure, and momentum as ways to capture and hold energy for later use. Next on our list is heat. It is helpful to
This series of blogs is about electricity storage and how it works with renewable energy to create net-zero electricity grids. Last week I talked about using weights and gravity to store electricity. The most popular method is pumped hydro storage.
Last week, I looked at the wide range of technologies available for electricity storage to support renewable energy grids. Gravity systems are the dominant form of electricity storage today. Current installations can store up to 9,000 GWh—about a quarter of
I get frustrated that any time renewable energy and net-zero get mentioned on social media, reporting a new technical breakthrough, a bigger pipeline of projects or reducing costs, someone will triumphantly reply “you know the sun doesn’t shine at night!”,
This week is my first anniversary as a battery electric vehicle driver. My previous car had reached the end of its economic life and I had promised myself that my next vehicle would be electric. There is little to say
On May 17th 2001, twenty years ago, I started Miller-Klein Associates Ltd. The corporate merry-go-round had taken another turn, leaving me without an exciting job, so I turned to private practice. My ambitions were limited. I wasn’t interested in starting
Prices fall We have all noticed, or should have noticed, that manufactured products tend to get cheaper with time. The extreme case is computing. The first personal computer I used professionally in 1978 was the Commodore PET. This beast had
It may be old-age or being locked down by Covid-19, but I’m feeling rather grumpy. As soon as I had finished my previous blog on the dangers of so-called ‘best practice’, I heard myself saying “and another thing!”. So here
I don’t know about you, but I react badly to the label “best practice”. What gets touted as best practice is often terrible practice. Or at least the wrong practice in the wrong place at the wrong time. It starts
Over the years I have attended many courses, workshops, and talks on business strategy. Some memorable, and some not. Some engaging and useful, and others confusing and a waste of time. The best of the lot were courses by Arnoldo
In 1892 the wonderfully named Captain Matthew Henry Phineas Riall Sankey became lead engineer and steam engine designer for Willans and Robinson. The efficiency of steam engines was a hot topic, and he needed to understand and communicate where the
In your innovation journey, you will have to talk to your customers to find out whether your new idea works for them. After all, we know that the number one reason for innovations falling flat is that they solve a
Years ago, I asked a surgeon how they learnt a new procedure; you can’t operate on a patient with a textbook propped open on a convenient part of their body. They said it was very simple; “you watch one, you
There are many kinds of innovation. Some hit you with a flash of light as you realise that there is a simple, practical and clever solution to a pervasive problem. The kind of innovation that makes you slap your head
Looking back through the history of innovation, the technologies that created the biggest impact are the ones that enabled further innovation. Whether it’s the water wheel, the steam engine, the electric motor or the microchip, each triggered a wave of
In an earlier blog, I warned about thoughtlessly following the practices of successful companies, hoping the magic would rub off on you. Buying in to the latest management fad. What I called “cargo cult management”. But human nature is human
We have all heard variations of the joke “A consultant is someone who borrows your watch to tell you the time, and then keeps the watch”. They get a lot of flak; some of it richly deserved. Their methods and
Photo by Bethany Opler on Unsplash The challenge of energy-efficient retrofit In the UK, our homes account for about 30% of total energy consumption and about 20% of total carbon emissions. To have any hope of reaching the 2050 net-zero target, we must
When I first started working in industry, I was lucky to have a great manager. One aphorism he drummed into me was: “don’t let best be the enemy of better”. It is easy to keep looking for the optimum; to
In the current coronavirus epidemic, one recommendation from health authorities is for people to work from home. There are lots of jobs where this is impossible. It is hard to be a taxi driver, or a nurse, or a professional
We need to create buildings that don’t contribute to increasing climate change and can adapt to the climate change that is happening. Buildings that are energy efficient and resilient. Many people point to ‘smart buildings’ as a solution; a technological
Like many people I have watched the TV footage of the wildfires in Australia with shock. So much damage done so quickly, and over such a wide area. I also thought back to last year’s California wildfires and asked myself,
We have all heard the famous Peter Drucker phrase from his 1954 book the Practice of Management – “what gets measured, gets managed”. It is a cliché of management practice, and like all clichés it contains a truth. If you
Using the electricity stored in an Electric Vehicle battery to smooth and manage demand on the electricity grid was a big topic at this year’s Low Carbon Vehicles exhibition and conference in September at the Millbrook proving ground. This Vehicle
Wonderful Lithium-Ion Batteries A few weeks ago, John Goodenough, Akira Yoshino and Stanley Whittingham won the 2019 Chemistry Nobel Prize for their work on Lithium-ion batteries (Li-ion). Lithium-ion batteries have made our portable, cable-free, mobile world. From our mobile phones
Every year I try to get to the Cenex Low Carbon Vehicles show at Millbrook proving ground. It’s a great way to take the pulse of the industry and to learn more about the future of transport. You find out
We have a problem with household waste in the UK. The stuff that gets collected at the kerbside. In 2017 we collected about 27 million tonnes of waste from our homes. We are getting better recycling, and just over 45%
Our homes consume about 30% of the UK’s energy and produce 20% of greenhouse gas emissions. 80% of that energy is used for space and hot water heating, mostly from gas. With a net-zero target for UK carbon emissions, it is
Earlier this year, I wrote about industry clusters. What they are, where they come from, and how important they are. So I was surprised to open my newspaper this morning and find an article by Larry Elliott arguing that the
As the world’s population becomes more urban, access to nature becomes more important to our wellbeing. From the pollinators that provide our food to the public parks that are the ‘green lungs’ of many towns and cities. Access to nature
37% of UK carbon emissions come from heating – domestic, public and commercial, and industrial. About 85% of the heating comes from gas. In its Net Zero report, the Committee on Climate Change argues that we must reduce carbon emissions
Everyone wants to be disruptive; to transform a market, sweeping away the big players and bringing exciting new ideas. It is the big win that everyone looks for. There are millions of articles about business disruption on Google with titles
You have created a great new product you are really excited about. You have sorted out the business model, figured out how to deliver it to the user, and fixed any manufacturing and cost problems. This will be great! And
Over the last 12 months, we have seen increasing interest in the climate crisis. We hear explicit warnings on climate risks from respected commentators like David Attenborough. Greta Thunberg is energising younger people to campaign for their future. Activists like
When a new technology appears it is usually accompanied by great excitement, at least from its inventors. What new opportunities does the technology open up? Where can we use it? The early enthusiasm quickly runs into practical barriers. The Gartner
You may have seen the TV advert for Experian in which Marcus Brigstocke meets his ‘data self’. A collection of live information that governs how financial institutions treat him as a customer. This is a variant of the ‘digital twin’
What do Mumbai, Copenhagen, the Spanish town of Castellón de la Plana, and the small US town of Dalton, Georgia, have in common? Each is at the centre of a concentrated industry cluster. Mumbai is famous for being the home
I love reading innovation stories. Where the idea came from, how they overcame problems, and what they make possible. Stories are how we excite people about innovation and why it matters. We need to tell more stories and better stories.
I have long thought the only way we can create cities that are economically successful, great places to live, sustainable and resilient, is to treat them as an integrated system of systems. The problem is that cities are so complicated
150 years ago, Dimitri Mendeleev developed the Periodic Table of the Elements. A way of organising all the information about the behaviour of the 63 elements known at the time. It has become an iconic image of science, and in
To innovate, we need to try things out; to experiment. But how do we select the right experiment? How do we choose? Whenever we conduct an experiment, we want the maximum information at the minimum cost. Experiments should be as
Last Friday I attended the annual Business Green Technology Awards. I always enjoy these events as they provide a great snapshot of innovation activity in the cleantech sector in the UK. This year I was a member of the judging
We know that business needs to innovate. Whether a startup, established SME or major industry player, new customer offers are critical for survival. We also know that most innovations fail in the market; despite our enthusiasm, creativity and persistence. We
In 1955 C. Northcote Parkinson wrote an article in The Economist that introduced the world to Parkinson’s Law – “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”. An observation so universal in application that it is instantly recognisable