Scientists Bought Centuries-Old Musket Balls on eBay and Turned Them into Cutting-Edge Solar Panels

ZME Science

By: Tudor Tarita

23 July 2026 at 17:45

Microbial contamination in water samples from a laboratory setting.

Researchers are turning toxic, centuries-old ammunition into highly efficient and cheap solar panels.

UK households free to install plug-in balcony solar panels from end of August

The Guardian - Energy

By: Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent

23 July 2026 at 14:00

Law change means renters and flat owners may be able to cut bills as energy costs soar amid Iran war

British households will be able to buy plug-in solar panels later this summer after the government changed the law so the UK’s biggest retailers could bring them to market for the first time.

People across the country will be able to join the millions across Europe generating their own electricity using “balcony solar panels” from 27 August, according to legislation passed last week.

Miliband has been relentlessly attacked for net zero; what will happen now?

The Guardian - Energy

By: Fiona Harvey Environment editor

21 July 2026 at 08:00

Tories, Reform, fossil fuel industry and some in his party lined up against decarbonisation target as energy secretary

“Whenever the Labour party feels a bit sad,” according to one close observer of the current government, speaking some months ago, “they wheel out Ed Miliband to talk about rooftop solar.”

It might not have been literally true, but it often felt during Keir Starmer’s premiership as if energy secretary Miliband brought the sun. Unfailingly upbeat, with a simple message that was understandable to voters, he had a clear mission – to decarbonise the UK’s power sector by 2030 – that was seen to be progressing fast.

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