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In an attempt to reduce costs and cut emissions, manufacturers are increasingly turning to energy efficient technologies. Almost two-thirds of companies surveyed planned to increase investment in energy management during the next 12 months, in areas such as renewable and self-generation technologies. The aerospace industry leads the way, with more than two-thirds investing in energy efficient technologies, compared with 41 per cent in metals and aggregates.

The cost of these metal thefts is estimated to be around £220 million. This figure however is merely the direct cost of the tangible items stolen and does not take into consideration the cost of infrastructure downtime, loss of business productivity through power outages or even the problems that can be caused to hospitals or other emergency services if they lose power through stolen cable. 

Telehealth is a new scheme where patients with long-term conditions monitor themselves at home using technology rather than going into hospital.

UK Seabed Resources, a subsidiary of the British arm of Lockheed Martin, hopes to extract so-called nodules - small lumps of rock - from the ocean floor.

1. Industry outlookThe report's baseline deployment forecast, shows Europe achieving between 26 - 27GW of installed capacity by 2020, of which around 23GW is new installations.Such deployment would:- Occur mainly in the UK and Germany.- Require around 3,500 turbines plus associated infrastructure.- Cost upwards of £75 billion (€86 billion) based on current industry practices.2. Power cable demandGrowth in resulting cable installations will be significant, with an estimated 6,000km of export cable, 2,000km of EU inter-connector cable and 6,500km of array cable installations by 2020.The report's findings show:- In terms of total cable installations, the report predicts that demand will more than double over the period to 2020, with growth of between 2.5 and 3.0 times that of 2011 occurring in both export and array installations.- A near-doubling of export and inter-connector installations by 2016. Thereafter, growth is limited as HVDC use increases and general industry growth slows.- A 250% rise in array cable installations from 350km in 2011 to 900km by 2020.3. Export cable supply vs. demandThe authors estimate that annual export cable installation supply currently stands at around 600 - 650km (vs. 500km 2011 demand). Identified capacity additions are limited. Our analysis shows that export cable installation capacity needs to increase by around 75% within 2 - 3 years if demand is to be met.

These two pressures will play out around the world, but the effect on the cost of food production may well differ from country to country, says Mirjam Röder at the University of Manchester, UK, who is one of the authors of the report. Other countries may rely less on imported food, or have more resources to help them adapt their food production infrastructure.

In July China’s State Grid, the world’s largest utility with 2m employees, bought a 35 per cent stake in CDP Reti, a subsidiary of Italy’s state financing agency that controls the country’s electricity grid operator and gas distribution. It also picked up a 25 per cent stake in Portugal’s grid operator REN and is looking to buy into the Greek grid operator ADMIE, bankers familiar with the deal told the FT.