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Showing posts from June, 2026

1976 to 2026- 50 years of Natta

Some changes are afoot with Renew and NATTA, so here’s a short update, along with a retrospective account of their long history. The normal Renew extra weekly news service will return with the next issue.  In 1976, along with colleagues from the Open University Faculty of Technology, I helped organise a conference on alternative energy held at Cranfield University. It attracted about over 50 people from around the UK and led to the establishment of NATTA- the Network for Alternative Technology and Technology Assessment, which I then led. Alternative Technology- what’s that? Basically, it means wind, solar, and other sources of renewable energy - then something of a novelty but now commonplace. And NATTA played a role it making that happen.  It started out by organising follow up conferences around the country and, in 1979, setting up a bimonthly membership newsletter. That expanded and became ‘Renew’ which I have run bimonthly, in various formats, to this day .  The ...