There are concerns that the GB (Great Britain) electricity system may not be able to fully absorb increasing levels of variable renewables with consequent implications for emission reduction ...targets.1 This study considers the technical benefits of additional energy storage and interconnections in future GB electricity systems. Initially a reference model of the GB electricity system was developed using the EnergyPLAN tool. The model was validated against actual data and was confirmed to accurately represent the GB electricity system. Subsequently, an analysis of four possible scenarios, for the years 2020 and 2030, has been performed and the maximum technically feasible wind penetration calculated. Finally, the level of interconnection and energy storage has been varied to assess the technical benefits to the operation of a 2030 GB electricity system. We conclude that increasing levels of interconnection and energy storage allow a further reduction in the primary energy supply and an increase in maximum technically feasible wind penetration, permitting the system emissions intensity to be reduced from 483 gCO2/kWh in 2012 to 113 gCO2/kWh in 2030. Increasing the levels of interconnection and energy storage has significant technical benefits in the potential future GB systems considered.
•A reference model of the 2012 GB electricity system was developed and validated.•Future scenarios for 2020 and 2030 were developed, based on industry data.•The maximum technically feasible wind penetration was calculated for each scenario.•Increasing interconnection and energy storage increases the maximum wind penetration.•Electricity system emissions can be reduced to 113 gCO2/kWh.
In spite of the growth of molecular ecology, systematics and next-generation sequencing, the discovery and analysis of diversity is not currently integrated with building the tree-of-life. Tropical ...arthropod ecologists are well placed to accelerate this process if all specimens obtained through mass-trapping, many of which will be new species, could be incorporated routinely into phylogeny reconstruction. Here we test a shotgun sequencing approach, whereby mitochondrial genomes are assembled from complex ecological mixtures through mitochondrial metagenomics, and demonstrate how the approach overcomes many of the taxonomic impediments to the study of biodiversity. DNA from approximately 500 beetle specimens, originating from a single rainforest canopy fogging sample from Borneo, was pooled and shotgun sequenced, followed by de novo assembly of complete and partial mitogenomes for 175 species. The phylogenetic tree obtained from this local sample was highly similar to that from existing mitogenomes selected for global coverage of major lineages of Coleoptera. When all sequences were combined only minor topological changes were induced against this reference set, indicating an increasingly stable estimate of coleopteran phylogeny, while the ecological sample expanded the tip-level representation of several lineages. Robust trees generated from ecological samples now enable an evolutionary framework for ecology. Meanwhile, the inclusion of uncharacterized samples in the tree-of-life rapidly expands taxon and biogeographic representation of lineages without morphological identification. Mitogenomes from shotgun sequencing of unsorted environmental samples and their associated metadata, placed robustly into the phylogenetic tree, constitute novel DNA "superbarcodes" for testing hypotheses regarding global patterns of diversity.
The UK electricity sector is undergoing a transition driven by domestic and regional climate change and environmental policies. Aging electricity generating infrastructure is set to affect capacity ...margins after 2015. These developments, coupled with the increased proportion of inflexible and variable generation technologies will impact on the security of electricity supply. Investment in low-carbon technologies is central to the UK meeting its energy policy objectives. The complexity of these challenges over the future development of the UK electricity generation sector has motivated this study which aims to develop a policy-informed optimal electricity generation scenario to assess the sector's transition to 2050. The study analyses the level of deployment of electricity generating technologies in line with the 80% by 2050 emission target. This is achieved by using an excel-based “Energy Optimisation Calculator” which captures the interaction of various inputs to produce a least-cost generation mix. The key results focus on the least-cost electricity generation portfolio, emission intensity, and total investment required to assemble a sustainable electricity generation mix. A carbon neutral electricity sector is feasible if low-carbon technologies are deployed on a large scale. This requires a robust policy framework that supports the development and deployment of mature and emerging technologies.
•Electricity generation decarbonised in 2030 and nearly carbon neutral in 2050.•Nuclear, CCS and offshore wind are central in decarbonising electricity generation.•Uncertainty over future fuel and investment cost has no impact on decarbonisation.•Unabated fossil fuel generation is limited unless with Carbon Capture and Storage.•Decarbonising the electricity generation could cost about £213.4 billion by 2030.
The techno-economic performance of a small wind turbine is very sensitive to the available wind resource. However, due to financial and practical constraints installers rely on low resolution wind ...speed databases to assess a potential site. This study investigates whether the two site assessment tools currently used in the UK, NOABL or the Energy Saving Trust wind speed estimator, are accurate enough to estimate the techno-economic performance of a small wind turbine. Both the tools tend to overestimate the wind speed, with a mean error of 23% and 18% for the NOABL and Energy Saving Trust tool respectively. A techno-economic assessment of 33 small wind turbines at each site has shown that these errors can have a significant impact on the estimated load factor of an installation. Consequently, site/turbine combinations which are not economically viable can be predicted to be viable. Furthermore, both models tend to underestimate the wind resource at relatively high wind speed sites, this can lead to missed opportunities as economically viable turbine/site combinations are predicted to be non-viable. These results show that a better understanding of the local wind resource is a required to make small wind turbines a viable technology in the UK.
•Techno-economic performance of small wind turbines is dependent on the wind resource.•Extensive verification of current site assessment tools.•Errors in the tools can have a significant impact on the predicted economic return.•Better understanding of local wind required to make small wind a viable technology.
Host-mediated lung inflammation is present
, and drives mortality
, in the critical illness caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Host genetic variants associated with critical illness may ...identify mechanistic targets for therapeutic development
. Here we report the results of the GenOMICC (Genetics Of Mortality In Critical Care) genome-wide association study in 2,244 critically ill patients with COVID-19 from 208 UK intensive care units. We have identified and replicated the following new genome-wide significant associations: on chromosome 12q24.13 (rs10735079, P = 1.65 × 10
) in a gene cluster that encodes antiviral restriction enzyme activators (OAS1, OAS2 and OAS3); on chromosome 19p13.2 (rs74956615, P = 2.3 × 10
) near the gene that encodes tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2); on chromosome 19p13.3 (rs2109069, P = 3.98 × 10
) within the gene that encodes dipeptidyl peptidase 9 (DPP9); and on chromosome 21q22.1 (rs2236757, P = 4.99 × 10
) in the interferon receptor gene IFNAR2. We identified potential targets for repurposing of licensed medications: using Mendelian randomization, we found evidence that low expression of IFNAR2, or high expression of TYK2, are associated with life-threatening disease; and transcriptome-wide association in lung tissue revealed that high expression of the monocyte-macrophage chemotactic receptor CCR2 is associated with severe COVID-19. Our results identify robust genetic signals relating to key host antiviral defence mechanisms and mediators of inflammatory organ damage in COVID-19. Both mechanisms may be amenable to targeted treatment with existing drugs. However, large-scale randomized clinical trials will be essential before any change to clinical practice.
To optimise the placement of small wind turbines in urban areas a detailed understanding of the spatial variability of the wind resource is required. At present, due to a lack of observations, the ...NOABL wind speed database is frequently used to estimate the wind resource at a potential site. However, recent work has shown that this tends to overestimate the wind speed in urban areas. This paper suggests a method for adjusting the predictions of the NOABL in urban areas by considering the impact of the underlying surface on a neighbourhood scale. In which, the nature of the surface is characterised on a 1km2 resolution using an urban morphology database.
The model was then used to estimate the variability of the annual mean wind speed across Greater London at a height typical of current small wind turbine installations. Initial validation of the results suggests that the predicted wind speeds are considerably more accurate than the NOABL values. The derived wind map therefore currently provides the best opportunity to identify the neighbourhoods in Greater London at which small wind turbines yield their highest energy production. The model does not consider street scale processes, however previously derived scaling factors can be applied to relate the neighbourhood wind speed to a value at a specific rooftop site.
The results showed that the wind speed predicted across London is relatively low, exceeding 4ms−1 at only 27% of the neighbourhoods in the city. Of these sites less than 10% are within 10km of the city centre, with the majority over 20km from the city centre. Consequently, it is predicted that small wind turbines tend to perform better towards the outskirts of the city, therefore for cities which fit the Burgess concentric ring model, such as Greater London, ‘distance from city centre’ is a useful parameter for siting small wind turbines. However, there are a number of neighbourhoods close to the city centre at which the wind speed is relatively high and these sites can only been identified with a detailed representation of the urban surface, such as that developed in this study.
► We derive a new map of annual mean wind speeds across Greater London. ► Results used to assess the best location for small wind turbine installations. ► Small wind turbines perform better towards outskirts of Greater London. ► Distance from city centre is a useful parameter for siting small wind turbines. ► Very few sites identified which meet threshold wind speed outlined in literature.
Explanted orthopedic implants from 54 patients with aseptic failure and 24 patients with prosthetic knee or hip infection were sonicated in polyethylene bags. The sensitivities of periprosthetic ...tissue and sonicate fluid cultures for the diagnosis of prosthetic joint infection were 54% and 75%, whereas the specificities were 98% and 87%, respectively. Sonication in bags improved bacterial recovery from the surface of orthopedic implants; however, it lacked specificity, due to bag leakage.
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