[Graeme]

Fuelling the future

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A') five-year project at St Andrews University is creating technologies that will allow the development of a decentralised energy generation system in the UK.

Researchers, led by Prof John Irvine of the chemistry department, claim that by about 2050 cheap oil will no longer be available and Europe's reserves will be exhausted.

A bigger proportion of energy production is expected to come from renewables such as solar, wind, tidal and biomass, supplemented by nuclear, natural gas and coal.