Making energy more efficiently and wasting less of it are of paramount importance to our national wellbeing. The security of the UK’s power supplies is subject to many factors including geophysics, politics, economics and the environment. Additionally energy is wasted in most areas of commercial, and private life.

In the past energy transitions have always moved towards a higher density: from animal power to coal in the 19th century, then to oil by 1910, followed by the large scale growth of electricity and the introduction of nuclear power throughout the 20th century. This century will be typified by diversity of innovative energy generation and distribution options that blend local and national energy supplies using smart grids.

Fossil fuels however still dominate our power supply and it is expected that in the coming decades they will still represent 75% of usage down from their current 84% in the UK. This is because fossil fuel is very dense and relatively easy to produce.

The global population is heading towards 9 billion and needs evermore goods and services and the energy to provide them. Currently each person in the UK produces an average of 9.7 tonnes of carbon emissions every year. Meanwhile, in some countries children resort to reading their schoolbooks at night using streetlights because they have no power at home.

Complying with the United Nations Kyoto Protocol puts a heavy burden onto developed nations to reduce emissions. This has been a spur to innovation in many areas of power generation, distribution and use. Companies and planners are innovating fast to meet and beat the inevitable growth in energy demand and to balance it against carbon output.

Because of a hiatus in their construction, nuclear fission plants have lost a generation of technical expertise and the nuclear industry currently struggles to hire skilled personnel. A world shortage of uranium requires new ‘generation IV’ nuclear power plants that can produce 60% more power than a traditional system. Advances also need to be made in reducing the 8% of energy that is currently lost in transmission in the UK alone.

Around a 10% increase in energy demand is expected per decade and it is commonly agreed that it can only be supplied by increasing efficiency of both production and consumption. Helping people visualise and then make their ideas into efficient workable solutions is therefore essential. Whether it is optimizing planning for a whole city’s usage, creating a product with less energy, or building and operating a nuclear power plant, a carbon capture scheme, a mine or an oilrig, universal information sharing allows stakeholders and interest groups to better understand the often-complex concepts and their implications.  Using this highly visual information they can formulate better decisions around the available options.

Technology is racing to find new ways of producing and consuming energy more efficiently while cutting costs and waste. The challenge for a viable UK energy future is on; and it must suceed.