Utility Week

Community It's life, but not as we know it So it turns out that strange alien life forms – of a sort – do exist aer all, but not in outer space. A ten-year scientific pro- ject has just established that a huge amount of weird bacteria lives 2.5km below the seabed. Scientists working with the Deep Carbon Observatory cre- ated a model of a hidden eco- system that they have dubbed the Galapagos of the Deep. The record depth at which life has been found on land is approximately 5km, while the record in a marine environ- ment is 10.5km from the ocean surface. They believe the deep biosphere is around 2 to 2.3 bil- lion km 3 , which is almost twice the volume of all oceans. That's one heck of a lot of carbon. In fact, the scientists esti- mate that as much as 70 per cent of all the bacteria on the planet lives underground, with minimal nutrition in conditions of zero sunlight and under fantastic pressure. They survive in what is described as a "zombie" state of living lifelessness, which, now Disconnector thinks about it, has eerie parallels with life in Brexit-hit Britain. In the case of the under- ground bacteria, they are wait- ing for some momentous event to strike so they can be brought back to life, while in Brexit Britain we're waiting for pretty much the same thing. Who're you looking at? Disconnector cannot help but marvel at how fast China has developed in its pursuit of the West. Not too long ago, the most technologically advanced possession of most people in the country was a bicycle. These days, a fall in con- sumer demand for iPhones in China has wiped out a third of the share price of Apple. Unfortunately, China also appears to be competing with us when it comes to being neu- rotic, if the success of Beijing start-up Smash is anything to go by. Smash offers citizens of Chi- na's capital an "anger room" to vent their fury at inanimate objects. Customers are fur- nished with protective clothing and a baseball bat and given half-hour time slots in which to bash to pieces everyday house- hold items such as radios and TVs. Glass bottles are a stock item, of course, scoring highly for their smashability. It's a missed opportunity for British exports, thinks Disconnector. Bottled up rage is something we've rather excelled at for some time – although if the Daily Mail's Wild West Britain is in any way an accurate picture, we don't bother to confine it in a controlled environment. Robot wars For those of you hoping for technology to come to the rescue of humankind, it's probably best not to hold your breath. The first robot-on-robot road rage incident has been recorded, in the US, as tech companies assembled to show off their new shiny things at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. A Russian robotics company says one of its autonomous Promobots (pictured) was taken out by a self-driving Tesla on the eve of the show. The robot was trundling along the side of the road where CCTV showed numerous cars safely passing it before the Tesla drives by and takes it out. The Promobot was written off. The assumption at this point is that the incident was an accident and not some piece of industrial espionage perpe- trated by Elon Musk's outfit or by some dastardly black ops by the Russians trying to discredit the wayward billionaire. Not too long ago, either of those scenarios would have sounded as preposterous as Discon- nector intends them to, but now, readers could not be blamed for not dismissing them out of hand. Disconnector Publishing director, Utilities: Ellen Bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellenbennett@fav-house.com; Acting editor: Suzanne Heneghan, t: 01342 332106, e: suzanneheneghan@fav-house.com Acting content director: Denise Chevin, 01342 332087, denisechevin@fav-house.com; Deputy editor: Jane Gray (maternity leave); Features editor: Lois Vallely, t: 01342 332080, e: loisvallely@fav-house.com; News editor: Katey Pigden, t: 01342 332082, e: kateypigden@ fav-house.com; Energy correspondent: Tom Grimwood, t: 01342 332061, e: tomgrimwood@ fav-house.com; Policy correspondent: David Blackman, e: davidblackman@fav-house.com; Reporter: Adam John, t: 01342 332069, e: adamjohn@fav-house.com; Production editor: Paul Newton, t: 01342 332085, e: paulnewton@fav-house.com; Business development manager: Ben Hammond, e: benhammond@fav-house.com. t: 01342 332116; Business development executive: Sarah Wood, e: sarahwood@ fav-house.com. t: 01342 332117 Conference sponsorship manager: Sophie Abbott, t: 01342 332062, e: sophieabbott@ fav-house.com; General enquiries: 01342 332000; Membership enquiries: Peter Bissell, t: 01342 332057, e: peterbissell@fav-house.com. ISSN: 1356-5532. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. 2,500 Average circulation Jan–Dec 2018 Membership subscriptions: UK £769+VAT per year. Overseas £781 per year. Contact Peter Bissell on: 01342 332057 Utility Week is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (which regulates the UK's magazine and newspaper industry). We abide by the Editors' Code of Practice and are committed to upholding the highest standards of journalism. If you think that we have not met those standards and want to make a complaint please contact the publishing director, Ellen Bennett, at ellenbennett@fav-house.com. If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or if you would like more information about IPSO or the Editors' Code, contact IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or visit www.ipso.co.uk UTILITY WEEK | 18TH - 24TH JANUARY 2019 | 31 Ann Robinson @AnnRobinson8 Now need Govt. to stop providing renewable subsidies for use of wood pellets in energy production. Not only are they polluting the atmosphere but energy is needed to transport pellets to UK. William Marchant @richonlyinname SSE hitting out at Bulb today over alleged unsustainable pricing. It is hard to square Bulb's profit projection per account with its significant losses. But it's not alone in suggesting profitability is possible at a much lower cap. Duncan Carter @Duncan_E_Carter I wonder to what extent (newer) suppliers serving DD only, online, low debt, low PPM and low vulnerability customers do have lower costs? In an extreme competitive environment, suppliers serving higher cost to serve customers won't survive Rebecca Long-Bailey @RLong_Bailey The government's proposals for small scale renewable energy will create a complex market mechanism in which large energy companies – notorious for overcharging consumers billions of pounds – can offer whatever sum they deem fit to households. Dustin Benton @dustin_benton The good news is that the UK can continue to decarbonise rapidly without Wylfa, at least out to 2030. And, because current nuclear designs are so expensive, it would be ~£1bn/year cheaper to build more offshore wind to fill the nuclear gap Alan Whitehead @alanwhiteheadmp If Hitachi do pull out of Wylfa on Monday Govmt face tough questions on energy security and low carbon generation. Wylfa, Moorside & Oldbury leave a 9.2GW hole. What *new* plans will they bring forward to address the energy gap and 5th Carbon Budget? Tom Steward @Steward_T Not sure how transition to a system which is trying to cater to diametrically opposing generation types could be delivered as quickly and cheaply as a focused drive to a system based on complementary generation types? Top Tweets

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