Utility Week

Community A game of call my bluff It seems a long time ago now that David Cameron (remember him?) smugly declared that he had "shot the Ukip fox" by promising to hold an in/ out referendum on the UK's membership of the EU if the Conservatives gained power. In the event, it turned out to be less of a shotgun and more of an atom bomb, the fallout from which is still raining down on the country today. Ironically, it didn't even kill the fox, since Ukip's polling numbers remained pretty much unchanged, although since then the party has done Cameron's job for him with the election of a succession of dis- astrous leaders, capped oƒ by the current one hiring Tommy Robinson (former leader of the English Defence League) as an adviser. The intervening months have seen the country gripped by two opposing narratives, one declaring that we are heading for disaster by exiting the EU, the other claiming that those claiming we are heading for disaster are a bunch of fakes. As the consensus now is that a no-deal Brexit is inevi- table, in less than eight weeks we might ‰ nally ‰ nd out who's been holding the card marked Bluƒ all this time. Glass half empty Given that we live in such polarising times, Disconnector was taken by the latest ‰ ndings from the Pew Research Centre in the US about how happy, or not, various nations are with democracy in their countries. In the UK just over half (52'per cent) are happy with the way the political system is working, which is poor, but at least leaves us better oƒ than Americans, only 46 per cent of whom think their democracy is working well. Bizarrely, fully 59 per cent of Russians say they are satis- ‰ ed, even though the country is barely democratic at all. At the top of the rankings lie Sweden and Canada, as you might expect, although they are joined there by Tanzania, which you wouldn't. It just goes to show it's di— cult to know what makes people happy. Just ask Theresa May. Build that wall! The water sector has long been familiar with putting sewage sludge to work in the form of fertiliser, but researchers in Melbourne, Australia, have gone one step further and have developed a way to turn the waste product into bricks. Associate professor Abbas Mohajerani, from RMIT University's school of engineer- ing, has developed a way of making bricks that are 25 per cent made from human waste. Apart from the obvious bene‰ ts of recycling a waste material, the bricks are also lighter and therefore easier to transport and use less energy in the ‰ ring process. Researchers have been trying to use sewage sludge for brick-making for more than 15 years now, but the main stick- ing point has been the durabil- ity of the bricks, something that Dr Mohajerani claims he has cracked. With funding from RMIT University, Melbourne Water and the Australian government Research Training Program, the aim now is to ‰ ne-tune an industrial process for making the bricks. Aœ er that, it is only a matter of trying to get people to over- come their natural squeam- ishness about using sewage sludge bricks to build their homes, and for this he says it is up to governments to mandate their use. If the great man may make a suggestion, perhaps Dr Mohajerani may have some luck lobbying a certain Donald J Trump, a man desperately in need of bricks for his wall. And who knows, it might discourage people from trying to scale'it. 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 Offi ce. 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 | 1ST - 7TH FEBRUARY 2019 | 31 William Marchant @richonlyinname Mm. It's all rather publicly quiet on the npower eon merger. With the SSE approach now toast, isn't that left behind as an effectively accidental merger? What's the timeline for integration? How many redundancies are involved? Has anyone given Michael Lewis a hug? Sarah Merrick @SpeakSarahSpeak Energy people - is there a better word for 'prosumer' (someone who both produces and consumes electricity). I absolutely hate it but need to use it / the concept a lot these days. Any alternatives very welcome! Michael Liebreich @MLiebreich Calling all energy, climate, transport wonks - a splendid, powerful initiative: #freethemodels! RT if you agree that any energy and transport model produced using public funds should be open-source. No more poorly-built black boxes. Richard Lowes @heatpolicyrich Following an initial spurt of biomass, air source heat pumps now dominate the domestic RHI. But total numbers of installations are still well short of the speed of change required. 67,290 installations in total since April 2014. Franck Latrémolière @DcmfFranck SHEPD (North of Scotland DNO) foresees DUoS charge see-saw: large cut in April 2021, large increase in April 2022. Because earlier year adjustments are feeding into a £45 million deduction from 2021/2022 allowed revenue. Does RIIO look like a good price control regime to you? Matt Finch @mattfi nch00 This defi nitely is not getting the attention it should: @DeloitteUK estimate that #ElectricVehicles could cost the same as comparable combustion vehicles as early as 2021. Running costs are already way cheaper. Dustin Benton @dustin_benton We thought this would happen in 2023-2024, and it still made obvious sense to phase out new petrol/diesel cars by 2030. Once again, technology is moving faster even than we thought, while @transportgovuk (and UK auto mfg) gets left behind Top Tweets

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