Our Insights

Blog & Insights

Engineering-led analysis of energy technology. Every claim referenced, no greenwash.

We'd rather publish three articles that survive scrutiny than thirty that don't. Each piece below is researched against peer-reviewed literature and primary sources, with a full reference list. The first articles are being written now.

Engineering Analysis 30 Jul 2026 14 min read

The Real Embodied Energy of Energy Technology

How much energy does it take to make a solar panel, a battery or a heat pump — and how long before it pays that energy back? The honest numbers, from peer-reviewed life-cycle studies.

Read article
Heat Pumps 30 Jul 2026 13 min read

Heat Pumps Are Not Witchcraft

The physics behind them has been understood since the 1850s, and millions run worldwide today. How vapour-compression actually works, and why a heat pump is best understood as an energy lever.

Read article
End of Life 30 Jul 2026 15 min read

What Actually Happens When It Wears Out

Where solar panels, batteries and heat pumps go at end of life — how PV recycling works in practice (we're PV Cycle members), UK battery routes, refrigerant handling, and what isn't yet recyclable.

Read article
Land Use 30 Jul 2026 14 min read

Solar Parks: What a Terrible Idea

Why cover prime agricultural land with panels while millions of square metres of commercial roof — with grid connections already nearby — sit bare? A land-use argument, with numbers.

Read article
Land Use 30 Jul 2026 15 min read

Agrivoltaics: Having Your Field and Farming It Too

Where solar and agriculture genuinely coexist — panels that shade crops, cut water loss and keep land productive. What the field trials actually show, and where the hype outruns the harvest.

Read article
Engineering Analysis Planned

The Carbon Crusade: Green on Paper, Missing the Point

How a single metric swallowed the environmental debate — and became an industry in its own right. What carbon accounting looks good at, and the water, soil, particulates and mineral depletion it quietly ignores.

Coming soon
Solar PV Planned

Microinverters vs String Inverters: The Whole-System Arithmetic

Per-unit failure data flatters microinverters — until you put a dozen of them on a roof that needs scaffolding to reach. The honest reliability and repair maths for a domestic array.

Coming soon
System Design Planned

Sizing a Battery to Carry a Winter's Day

How we size home storage to run an entire house — heat pump included — through a worst-case winter day on overnight charge. The design method, the maths, and where token batteries go wrong.

Coming soon
Heat Pumps Planned

Off the Gas Grid: Oil vs Heat Pump in the South West

Half our patch heats with kerosene and a delivery lorry. The full comparison — running costs, price volatility, practicality — for the off-grid homes the national debate forgets.

Coming soon
R&D Planned

Scrapped for One Duff Cell: Inside EV Battery Repair

Whole packs are being written off for single failed cells. What we're learning as we get into pack diagnosis and repair — and why the waste hierarchy starts with a screwdriver, not a shredder.

Coming soon