Quantcast
ZME Science
  • CoronavirusNEW
  • News
  • Environment
    • Climate
    • Animals
    • Renewable Energy
    • Eco tips
    • Environmental Issues
    • Green Living
  • Health
    • Alternative Medicine
    • Anatomy
    • Diseases
    • Genetics
    • Mind & Brain
    • Nutrition
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
    • Feature Post
    • Art
    • Great Pics
    • Design
    • Fossil Friday
    • AstroPicture
    • GeoPicture
    • Did you know?
    • Offbeat
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
Home Other

UK funds new cutting-edge science facilities, but forgets it needs to pay the electricity bill

Tibi Puiu by Tibi Puiu
November 26, 2013
in Other, World Problems
ADVERTISEMENT
electricity bill
(c) The Guardian

The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee  has recently issued a report that laments the embarrassing lack of efficient planning and strategy of science funding in the UK. Namely, the report speaks primarily of the seemingly lack of communication between the people who write the funding projects for infrastructure and those who write the funding for operation costs.

For instance, the report cites the ISIS site in Oxfordshire – a cutting edge scientific facility where beams of neutrons and muons are used to probe material properties. It’s rather clear that ISIS is an extremely important facility, but nevertheless it has recently been operational only 120 days a year, down from the typical 180 days a year. We’re in a tough economy, sure, but when you look at the the savings from truncating the hours one realizes that these are only marginal.

Another hilarious example is the case of the  high performance computers at the Hartree Centre near Manchester, for which some  £37.5 million of government funding were allocated in 2012 to upgrade systems. That’s a nifty sum of money, but apparently the government didn’t accurately take into account the potential electricity bill a supercomputing facility gobbles up each year. In consequence, a part of the facility is shut down because they can’t afford to supply electricity.

ADVERTISEMENT

Obviously, one would think that operational costs would be taken into account with the initial, new infrastructure plans, however it seems UK politicians like to go ahead of themselves. When inquired about these infrastructure vs operational costs discrepancies  and mismanagement,  John Womersley, chief executive of the Science and Technology Facilities Council which oversees much of the UK’s government-owned science infrastructure, said:

Get more science news like this...

Join the ZME newsletter for amazing science news, features, and exclusive scoops. More than 40,000 subscribers can't be wrong.

   

“It has been difficult to invest in the routine maintenance and upkeep of existing facilities, because [government] ministers very naturally are interested in new initiatives and transformative change in entirely new projects.”

via Nature Blog

Tags: economyelectricity
Tibi Puiu

Tibi Puiu

Tibi is a science journalist and co-founder of ZME Science. He writes mainly about emerging tech, physics, climate, and space. In his spare time, Tibi likes to make weird music on his computer and groom felines.

Follow ZME on social media

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • Coronavirus
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
  • More

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Coronavirus
  • News
  • Environment
    • Climate
    • Animals
    • Renewable Energy
    • Eco tips
    • Environmental Issues
    • Green Living
  • Health
    • Alternative Medicine
    • Anatomy
    • Diseases
    • Genetics
    • Mind & Brain
    • Nutrition
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
    • Feature Post
    • Art
    • Great Pics
    • Design
    • Fossil Friday
    • AstroPicture
    • GeoPicture
    • Did you know?
    • Offbeat
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.