scale

Mr Walsh is also sceptical of whether people smuggling gangs can be cracked at scale, drawing the comparison of drugs gangs.

Although prices are still lower than last winter, the jump in electricity and gas costs comes as support handed out in recent years for bills has been scaled back.

However, conventional microfabrication techniques face limitations in scale and in the construction of complex networks.

One such technology was invented at Penn State and is currently garnering support from the agricultural technology sector to address the problem at scale.

While desalination facilities are abundant in countries like Israel, Australia, and Saudi Arabia where water scarcity is acute, the energy required to desalinate water at scale presents a significant environmental hurdle.