Utility Week

Community sians that they were prepared to take astounding risks. Given that Nasa employed 400,000 people one way or another to put a man on the moon, getting them all to con- spire to keep mum for 50 years would be an achievement on a par with going to the Moon. So, perhaps the more positive-minded of the con- spiracy theorists could at least celebrate that? Stay out of the water Maybe the problem is that there's so much fakery around, we don't know what to trust. With this in mind, Discon- nector was taken with the phenomenon of Russian Insta- grammers € ocking to the azure blue "lake" near Russian's third-largest city, Novosibirsk, to grab the perfect sel… e. Russian feeds are awash with bikini-clad models basking on the white beaches or adopting serene yoga poses. The only € y in the ointment is that the reason the water around Novosibirsk is turquoise is because its highly toxic. The "white sand" is ash, courtesy of the Siberian Generating Com- pany, which is pleading with people to stay away. Are they heeding the warn- ing? Of course not. In Russia like everywhere else, you can choose what to believe. Disconnector Publishing director, Utilities: Ellen Bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellenbennett@fav-house.com; Content director: Jane Gray, janegray@fav-house.com, t: 01342 333004; Editor: Suzanne Heneghan, t: 01342 332106, e: suzanneheneghan@fav-house.com Digital editor: James Wallin, 01342 332015, jameswallin@fav-house.com; Intelligence editor: Denise Chevin, 01342 332087, denisechevin@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; Editorial assistant: Greg Jones, t: 01342 332102, e: gregjones@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. 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 (IPSO), the regulator of 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 we have not met those standards and want to make a complaint, please contact the Editor. If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or if you want more information about IPSO or the Editors' Code, contact IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or visit www.ipso.co.uk. Phil Johnstone @PJohnstone1 UK nuclear obsession intensi- es. No other tech receives such intense support from gov, yet scrutiny regarding what drives this unparalleled favouritism is mini- mal. It's just what Britain does and let's not ask why! Keep calm and carry on… or something. Tom Steward @Steward_T Lots of noise in the media today about @eonenergyuk going 100‡per cent renewable. Unfortunately it's about 48 per cent greenwashed with REGOs – a practice that costs next to nothing, and that @OFGEM says o• ers little environmental bene t. I wonder how they're making this clear to their customers. Emma Pinchbeck @ELPinchbeck Londoners, note that we already live in the most water-stressed regions of the UK. So climate change could mean we'll be warm, but also, quite thirsty. (Also the central line will be a literal desert.) Bryn Kewley @BrynKewley How to reach #NetZero? All National Grid's scenarios suggest doubling generation. Gov need a greater vision for onshore wind, solar and tidal energy. #FES2019 Dustin Benton @dustin_benton We have zero-carbon cars, trains, buses, trams, bicycles, etc today, but policy enables gas guzzlers. Airbus A380s could cut their per- passenger emissions by about 40‡per cent tomorrow but we price aviation emissions at minus £125/ tonne. It's like @transportgovuk isn't even trying. Top Tweets Weapons using radio fre- quencies and laser technology "have the potential to revolu- tionise the battle… eld by oŒ ering powerful and cost-eŒ ective weapons systems", says defence secretary Penny Mordaunt. The Ministry of Defence has allocated £130"million to the development of DEWs and hopes to hold trials in 2023 involving the army and navy. In the latter case, Disconnector hopes they choose a ship that stays a€ oat. It's not rocket science This week there has rightfully been much celebrating of the 50th anniversary of the € ight of Apollo 11 and man walking on the Moon. Or did they? (Spoiler alert: yes, they did.) A recent YouGov poll found that one in six Brits questioned whether it was truth or hoax. Four per cent believe the hoax theory is "de… nitely true", 12 per cent think it is "probably true", and a further 9"per cent "don't know". Admittedly, if you go to the Science Museum in London and see the mock-up of the lunar module, it's mind-bending that astronauts managed to go all the way to the Moon in such a fragile contraption wrapped in what looks like tinfoil. But that doesn't prove they didn't go; it just proves that the Americans were so set on beating the Rus- Water, water everywhere Earlier this month the UK's £3"billion aircra¥ carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth had to aban- don its sea trials and return to Portsmouth Naval Base because a fault was uncovered. But it wasn't one of the gazillion high-tech electronic systems on the ship that went wrong (with 40 aircra¥ and 1,600 crew it's less a ship than a € oating town). The biggest ship in the British navy was found to have sprung a leak. A Ministry of Defence spokesperson dismissed the leak as "a minor issue with an internal system", but an inves- tigation is nonetheless due. Perhaps Disconnector is unduly gloomy, but setting to sea in a leaking battleship seems somehow like a meta- phor for something… Let there be light Talking of military hardware, the great man doesn't know whether to be impressed or horri… ed that the UK is embracing an entirely new class of weapon: Directed Energy Weapons, or DEWs. These entail using elec- tromagnetic waves to disrupt enemy electronics, and James Bond-style lasers to shoot down drones, missiles and so on. UTILITY WEEK | 19TH - 25TH JULY 2019 | 31

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