Whenever renewables are mentioned, hydropower is rarely considered. That is because it is a well-established technology and, taken purely as a source of generated electricity, it could be argued that it has not much more to offer in the UK.

However, that is a long way from the truth. The main problem the UK hydropower sector has is dealing with its success over the past 150 years. It is a proven technology: yes, the first water turbines were built in the mid 1800s but they have been developing ever since. Turbine efficiencies are rarely below 80%, which is about double that of a steam turbine.

As the world staggers from one energy crisis to another, it is finally having to face up to the reality that fossil fuels are a depleting resource and that rapidly escalating energy prices are now a permanent feature.

As the search for new alternative energy sources and the development of known ones continues, for users of energy – large and small – the most important thing is to reduce the consumption of existing energy sources. This, of course, reduces carbon emissions and, importantly from a commercial point of view, reduces, or at least contains, costs.

Sustainable urban regeneration is a team effort, requiring specialists who can bring both their expertise and their respect for other professionals to the table.

How do you find such specialists?
Planning Guidance (in the form of PPS 23) advises that “all investigations of land potentially affected by contamination should be carried out by or under the direction of a suitably qualified, competent person” who “would normally be expected to be a chartered member of an appropriate professional body (such as the Institution of Civil Engineers, Geological Society of London, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Institution of Environmental Management) and also have relevant experience of investigating contaminated sites.”

Despite huge efforts by all of the major stakeholders to resolve the issue of flooding exposure in the UK, has ministerial confidence started to evaporate into more empty promises?
For more than five million of the UK population, their property’s exposure to serious flooding risk represents a position of potential financial meltdown if insurers withdraw flood cover.

Data not readily accessible Using better information, the Environment Agency (EA) has recently revised the number of properties at significant risk: up from 220,000 in 2002 to 570,000 this year – a 259% increase.