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![Biomass](/files/img_cache/2145022/160_120_1HR_regen_bical_l4v34451-2.jpg?1456223422)
A biomass mess (again)
Added: 12 Mar 2014
The government looks as though it will now be lucky to fill its arbitrary 400MW cap for new biomass…
![Drax Power Plant 2](/files/img_cache/2144951/160_120_1Drax-at-sunset.jpg?1456223415)
Does industrial growth really matter?
Added: 5 Mar 2014
Over the past month or so we have heard a great deal from our political leaders about how passionat…
![BP chemicals plant facility](/files/img_cache/2144783/160_120_1BP-chemicals.jpg?1456223409)
If China falls, will the UK rise?
Added: 17 Feb 2014
The BBC tomorrow airs a programme investigating the dangerously-high levels of debt sustaining Chin…
![Chemical Plant](/files/img_cache/2144753/160_120_1chemical-plant.jpg?1456223410)
Homeward bound
Added: 12 Feb 2014
If, like me, you watched this weekend’s episode of the BBC show Top Gear, you would have seen their…
![Horsemeat scandal - food fraud](/files/img_cache/2144673/160_120_1cow-horse-web.jpg?1456223399)
Wholly Cow?
Added: 5 Feb 2014
A year has passed since some frozen beef lasagnes were found to have more of an equine flavour to t…
![GSK process safety module](/files/img_cache/2144530/160_120_1GSK.jpeg?1456223420)
Beating Asia on price
Added: 22 Jan 2014
This week I met the boss of a UK firm that exports worldwide and is able to compete with rivals in …
![Cuadrilla shale site](/files/img_cache/2144423/160_120_1Preese-Hall.jpg?1456223422)
The year ahead
Added: 15 Jan 2014
Happy New Year. It looks as though 2014 is, like last year, going to be a year where energy dominat…
![Chemical Plant](/files/img_cache/2144231/160_120_1chemical-plant.jpg?1456223413)
Energy & the global game
Added: 18 Dec 2013
At this time of Christmas Carols, there is a growing chorus of chemicals company bosses crying out …
![Kids Schools Skills2](/files/img_cache/2144134/160_120_1AAA-Kids-Schools-Skills2.jpg?1456223421)
How to kill a love of science
Added: 11 Dec 2013
All children are born with an innate love of science, so why are so many switched off from STEM sub…
![Kurt Bock](/files/img_cache/2143997/160_120_1Kurt-Bock-BASF.jpg?1456223401)
Lunch with the BASF boss
Added: 27 Nov 2013
Last Friday I headed down to Mayfair to meet BASF chairman Kurt Bock, who over lunch gave me a fasc…
![Chemical Plant](/files/img_cache/2143898/160_120_1chemical-plant.jpg?1456223406)
Avoiding blackouts…at any cost?
Added: 13 Nov 2013
Yesterday I was speaking to Dr John Roberts, who chaired the Royal Academy of Engineering group tha…
![Centralised control room](/files/img_cache/2143815/160_120_1Control-room-1.jpg?1456223418)
Control rooms play catch-up
Added: 5 Nov 2013
They are present in most households and even my three-year old can operate one, so why are process …
![EDF Hinkley Point C nuclear power wide](/files/img_cache/2143642/160_120_1hpc2.jpg?1456223407)
Nuclear engineers - Made in China?
Added: 16 Oct 2013
The headline of my editorial last week attracted plenty of criticism, with some accusing me of deni…
![British Mens Cycling Team Pursuit](/files/img_cache/2143485/160_120_16916799749_c945a21435_z.jpg?1456223415)
Engineers aren’t Made in China
Added: 3 Oct 2013
Engineers need to stop moaning about public perception and instead do what they do best: analyse th…
![Centralised control room](/files/img_cache/2143394/160_120_1Control-room-1.jpg?1456223402)
Help the aged’s successors
Added: 25 Sep 2013
Are DCS suppliers really helping control room operators and their successors with their new technol…
![Invensys Foxboro Evo DCS](/files/img_cache/2143291/160_120_1Foxboro-Evo-system.jpg?1456223422)
French kissing in Texas
Added: 13 Sep 2013
Optimism abounds among Invesnsys staff at its users conference in Texas, with few fearing the impen…
![Shale gas](/files/img_cache/2143139/160_120_1Capture.jpg?1456223404)
Trust me, I'm a fracker
Added: 28 Aug 2013
Trust is not enough when it comes to easing fracking pollution fears.
![Atlas Copco balloon](/files/img_cache/2143076/160_120_1Atlas-balloon-9.jpg?1456223399)
Summer Spending Spree
Added: 21 Aug 2013
The football transfer markets are feeble compared to the money changing hands in the process indust…
![George Osborne](/files/img_cache/2143022/160_120_1400px-George_osborne_hi.jpg?1456223400)
Don't butcher Osborne's cash cow
Added: 14 Aug 2013
Biomass is a risky choice for one of the first direct investments by a pension fund into new-build …
![Coffee roasting](/files/img_cache/2142928/160_120_1coffeeroasting.jpg?1456223422)
Can you process me a decent coffee?
Added: 6 Aug 2013
Food and drink may be the UK’s largest manufacturing sector, but I can’t stand instant coffee.