Steel giant Tata gets heat battery: The Reengineer Monitor #64
Hormuz crisis latest, offshore wind turbine data centres - and more!
SPECIAL: Energy crisis deepens
As the war in the Middle East continues, I covered the situation affecting commercial shipping earlier this week for BBC News. Specifically, how GPS jamming is causing navigational headaches for mariners in and around the Strait of Hormuz.
Separately, I recommend you watch this interview, which contains some really great detail about why Iran’s threat to oil and gas infrastructure and transport in the region is so serious, and also difficult to counter.
Heating and cooling
2025 was a record year for heat pump installations in the UK, according to government statistics published yesterday. There were 51,886 government-supported heat pumps installed that year – an increase from the 48,677 installed in 2024. This does not include installations that went ahead without a government grant. “Recent geopolitical tensions have exposed just how vulnerable households are to energy price shocks beyond their control, which is all the more reason to electrify heating and insulate consumers from volatile global gas markets,” says Rob Metcalfe of the Centre for Net Zero, a non-profit research founded by Octopus Energy, an energy company that installs heat pumps.
