• Low-carbon plastic recycling process developed using ‘supercritical’ water

    The team from the University of Birmingham used water under incredibly high pressure and temperature called ‘supercritical’, where its properties and operational behaviour are completely different from ambient/hot water. Supercritical water can be a solvent for all organic materials including plastics. Its gas-like penetration power makes it a superior medium to decompose mixtures of complex waste plastics into value-added materials, which are feedstock for manufacturing new plastics. The team wants to further develop the process, dubbed CircuPlast, to improve the conversion of non-recyclable end-of-life plastics into high-value chemicals for use as feedstock for the plastics industry. The process has been licensed to engineering consultants Stopford. The firm’s technology & innovation…

  • Letters to the editor: volume 17, issue 2

    Smart meters need reliable power A friend recently lost domestic heating, with a fault code showing on the boiler. The repair person visited, and found that the gas supply itself was the issue. The smart meter had shut down, because it depends on an internal battery. The solution requires the energy provider to schedule a complete replacement of the meter. That would seem reasonable enough, if the devices can achieve the hoped-for ten-year lifetime from their cells, although awkward and wasteful. However, this is the third such meter my friend has had fitted in three years. I imagine this is not an isolated case. That’s a lot of potential WEEE waste. There would seem to be some obvious design flaws here that could be addressed: A domestic remote energy monitor could warn the consumer of…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Gadgets: Kokoon Nightbuds, Sky Glass, Glowforge Pro and more

    Kokoon Nightbuds Tiny Bluetooth earbuds for sleep: they don’t protrude but connect comfortably behind your head. Listen to your favourites, plus the app offers a range of white noises and sleep-inducing meditations. It tracks sleep, even senses when you nod off, and then fades out the sounds. £229.99 kokoon.io Sky Glass A state-of-the-art 4K HDR Dolby Atmos TV with broadband-based Sky built in (no extra box, no satellite dish). It’s stunning, comes in a living-room-friendly range of colours and with intuitive voice commands, but pricey. Even if you pay monthly like a phone contract, you’ll need a Sky subscription too. From £649 (or £13 a month) sky.com/glass FlexiSpot E8 ...

  • Tesla recalls nearly 580,000 vehicles over ‘Boombox’ function, as scrutiny intensifies

    The recall is the fourth to be made public in the last two weeks as US watchdog the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) increases its scrutiny of the nation’s largest electric vehicle maker. In two of the recalls, Tesla made decisions that break safety laws, while the others were down to software errors. The NHTSA said on its website on Thursday that the cars and SUVs have what Tesla calls a 'Boombox' function that allows drivers to play sounds while the vehicles are moving. This breaches federal safety standards that require pedestrian warning noises for electric cars, which make little noise when moving, the agency says. The agency says the problem will be repaired with an over-the-air software update that will disable the 'Boombox' function. It says the function can…

  • UK’s first battery-diesel hybrid train enters passenger service

    According to its owner Porterbrook, the train was developed by adding a powerful battery to a 20-year-old diesel train to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by 25 per cent. The firm added that the two-carriage train, named HybridFLEX, also provides a 75 per cent decrease in noise and a 70 per cent decrease in nitrogen oxide. The Government has pledged to remove all diesel-only trains from UK railways by 2040. Chiltern Railways will introduce the train on its 40-mile route between London Marylebone and Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, from today (10 February). There are also plans to use it between the capital and Oxford in the coming months. “Chiltern Railways is determined to operate a railway that is as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible,” said its managing director…

  • View from India: Preparing for a circular and green economy

    The spotlight is on clean and sustainable mobility. The finance minister has indicated that the use of public transport in urban areas will be promoted; this will be complemented by clean tech and governance solutions, special mobility zones with a zero-fossil-fuel policy, and electric vehicles (EVs). Considering the constraint of space in urban areas for setting up charging stations at scale, a battery-swapping policy will be brought in and inter-operability standards will be formulated. “For the Indian automobile sector, which is a significant contributor to the nation’s GDP [gross domestic product], the budget offers continuity and also additional opportunities to drive multi-year growth,” said PB Balaji, Group CFO at Tata Motors. "Specifically, the robust increase in capex [capital expenditure…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Fusion power experiment generates ‘milestone’ energy load

    According to researchers from the EUROfusion consortium, which encompasses 4,800 experts from across Europe, the experiment at the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) site in Oxford more than doubled previous energy generation records that were achieved in 1997. Fifty-nine megajoules of sustained fusion energy were generated for five seconds in the Joint European Torus (JET) tokamak machine. The scientific data from the experiment is seen as a major boost for ITER, the larger and more advanced version of JET. The ITER tokamak proof-of-concept fusion plant has been under construction in France since 2013. Its main reactor is planned to be completed in late 2025 and is designed to create and sustain a plasma of 500MW (thermal power) for 20 minutes, with just 50MW of thermal power injected…

  • View from Brussels: Fishing for chips

    Microchips are the latest technology to be the focus of a ‘Made in the EU’ drive by Brussels, which has already pumped millions of euros into batteries, quantum computing and the cloud.  According to a new strategy published on 8 February, the EU will allocate around €11 billion of public funding to develop new semiconductor technology and ramp up the production of chips within its borders. More than €30 billion in further investment from the private sector is being targeted by the architect of the ‘EU Chips Act’, the European Commission, which is the EU’s executive branch. A miniscule 9 per cent of global microchip production is currently located in the EU, and the goal of the Chips Act is to increase that to 20 per cent by 2030. If achieved, this would still only be a slight clawback…

  • Toyota and Honda profits fall due to chip shortages

    Toyota reported nearly a 6 per cent drop last quarter with profits totalling 791.7bn yen (£5.1bn), down from 838.7bn yen (£5.4bn) the previous year. Honda fared even worse, with profits dropping by a sizable 32 per cent to just 192.9bn yen (£1.1bn), down from 284bn yen (£1.8bn) the year before. Both firms anticipate that the chip shortage will continue to affect them over the next financial year. In June, an executive at chipmaker Intel said that the global semiconductor shortage could take many years to resolve as global supply chains continued to struggle under the “explosive growth in semiconductors” required for much of the world’s population to adjust to the coronavirus pandemic. While Intel's plans to expand its US chip manufacturing operations, with a $20bn investment towards two…

  • Geomagnetic storm destroys SpaceX satellites just days after launch

    The Starlink service has been designed to provide broadband internet using its own constellation of satellites, which function as a wireless network providing continuous coverage across the planet for Internet of Things devices, particularly in remote areas in industries such as agriculture and maritime. SpaceX launched 49 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit last Thursday on the back of a Falcon 9 rocket. They were quickly shifted into their intended orbit, roughly 210km above Earth, and the firm confirmed that each satellite managed to achieve controlled flight. Initially, SpaceX deploys its satellites into these lower orbits so they can be quickly deorbited by atmospheric drag if initial system checks show that they will not function correctly. “While the low deployment altitude…

  • Facebook expands counter-speech initiative to the UK

    The social network has announced the expansion of its 'Redirect Initiative' to the UK, as well as Pakistan. It replaces the top search result on hate or extremism-based searches with a link to help and support on how to move away from hate and violence. Research has shown that challenging violent and extremist views with positive counter-speech is one of the most effective ways to combat such attitudes and use empathy and alternative perspectives to respond to extremist views, according to Facebook. The tool has already been rolled out in Australia, the US, Germany and Indonesia and is the latest move by Facebook's parent company Meta to improve online safety amid ongoing scrutiny of the sector from regulators and policymakers around the world. The social media firm said the counter-speech…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • AI undermining ‘core human values’ becomes target of €1.9m grant

    Artificial intelligence is transforming society as algorithms increasingly dictate access to jobs and insurance, justice, medical treatments, as well as our daily interactions with friends and family. As these technologies race ahead, we are starting to see unintended social consequences: algorithms that promote everything from racial bias in healthcare to the misinformation eroding faith in democracies. Building a better understanding of how AI may pose a threat to human values is the purpose behind the €2m donation, from German philanthropic foundation Stiftung Mercator, to the University of Cambridge research team. The donation is part of a package of nearly €4m (£3.8m) that will see the Cambridge team – including social scientists and philosophers as well as technology designers …

  • Europe’s grid can support over 100 million electric vehicles, study says

    EY-Eurelectric represents the power sector in 32 European countries. Its study could help to allay fears that the increasing popularity of electric vehicles will cause significant strain on pre-existing power networks. However, the study also said that “timely planning” of charging infrastructure and coordination between public authorities, electricity utilities, grid and charge point operators will be necessary to prevent overloading the grid. It is expected that Europe will have around 130 million electric vehicles by 2035, up from 3.3 million today. By then, 65 million chargers will need to be installed with around 85 per cent residential and 4 per cent on public highways. Jean-Bernard Lévy, Eurelectric’s President said: “Electrification is now an irreversible megatrend in road transport…

  • Scientists tap into turning water into oxygen on Moon and Mars

    Creating a reliable source of oxygen could help humanity establish liveable habitats off-Earth in an era where space travel is more achievable than ever before. Electrolysis is one potential method, which involves passing electricity through a chemical system to drive a reaction and can be used to extract oxygen out of lunar rocks or to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. This can be useful for both life support systems as well as for the in-situ production of rocket propellant. However, until now, how lower gravitational fields on the Moon (1/6th of Earth’s gravity) and Mars (1/3rd of Earth’s gravity) might affect gas-evolving electrolysis when compared to known conditions here on Earth had not been investigated in detail. Lower gravity can have a significant impact on electrolysis efficiency…

  • What can you do with a spare Arm?

    The moment the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) got involved, the deal was almost certainly doomed. Nvidia has made it official by backing out of the agreement to buy Arm from SoftBank Group.   Though it will cost $1.25bn to sever the agreement, it is a lot less than the near $70bn and mountains of legal bills the maker of graphics processing units (GPUs) would have to pay to continue to go through with the deal, if it would be allowed at all. Practically every major market in the world was acting on complaints from Nvidia’s competitors. Given that Nvidia’s stewardship might have had customers running, like Intel, into the arms of the open-source instruction set architecture RISC-V, not owning Arm probably is not that big a problem for CEO Jen-Hsun Huang’s company, which itself is a RISC…

  • Nvidia cancels Arm acquisition due to ‘significant’ regulatory scrutiny

    In 2016, Arm was acquired by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group for $32bn. Nvidia announced its intention to buy a 90 per cent stake in the firm for $40bn in September 2020. The deal immediately faced regulatory scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission in the US, from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and from the EU’s antitrust regulators . Following yesterday’s announcement by Nvidia, the CMA confirmed that it would cancel its investigation into the merger. The latest deal attracted more criticism than SoftBank’s acquisition due to Nvidia’s significant presence in the semiconductor industry, which could present a threat to Arm’s longstanding reputation as an open and neutral supplier. Even Arm’s original co-founder, Hermann Hauser, criticised the deal, saying it…

  • Porn providers will need age verification methods to comply with Online Safety Bill

    Digital minister Chris Philp said the new measures will come as part of the Online Safety Bill, which will “significantly strengthen” the legal duty for pornography providers to put robust checks in place to ensure their users are 18 years old or over. The checks could be carried out using secure age verification technology to verify that they possess a credit card and are over 18 or by having a third-party service confirm their age against government data. If sites fail to act, regulator Ofcom will have the power to fine them up to 10 per cent of their annual global turnover or block their site in the UK, while bosses of such sites could be held criminally liable if they fail to co-operate. Opponents of the move are concerned that it will lead to the creation of a list of porn users…

  • Home Office accused of ‘scaremongering’ campaign over messaging encryption

    They said the UK Home Office was misleading the public with a TV, radio and newspaper advertising campaign - created by M&C Saatchi - that accuses social media companies which use encryption of “blindfolding” the government. Among the signatories are former MI5 intelligence officer Annie Machon; Peter Tatchell Foundation; Open Rights Group; Index on Censorship; Reporters Without Borders; Digital Rights Watch, and the LGBT Technology Partnership. They believe the new campaign has been launched to try to sway public opinion against E2EE prior to amendments to the Online Safety Bill that would allow the government to force technology companies to weaken or remove the technology from their messaging apps. Last year, home secretary Priti Patel argued that it was a “moral duty” for tech companies…

  • View from India: Better infrastructure for inclusive growth

    India is preparing for its 100 th year and the thrust is growth areas. One such being the PM Gati Shakti or the 'National Master Plan for Multimodal Connectivity' that was launched in October 2021. It’s a digital platform for the implementation of infrastructure connectivity projects. Budget 2022 has given a mega push for infrastructure development. The Budget has envisioned Gati Shakti as a transformative approach for economic growth and sustainable development. The approach is driven by seven engines: namely roads, railways, airports, ports, mass transport, waterways and logistics infrastructure. All seven engines will pull forward the economy in unison. These engines are supported by the complementary roles of energy transmission; IT communication; bulk water and sewerage, and social infrastructure…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • UK supermarkets entangled in the murky world of plastic waste

    A British waste firm that has contracts to recycle the plastic waste of two major supermarkets last year mislabelled the type of plastic it exported to Turkey, avoiding national restrictions, it has emerged, leading to questions about where the UK’s plastic ends up. E&T can reveal that Eurokey Recycling - which has contracts with both Tesco and Sainsbury’s - had its export permit suspended in November 2021 by the Environment Agency (EA), following several breaches of regulations in the way it exported plastic waste to sites not only in Turkey but also in Poland and the Netherlands. Greenpeace said the news was “extremely concerning” and called on the UK government to “urgently ban all plastic waste exports and stop our plastic mess being dumped on other countries”. Both Tesco and Sainsbury…

  • Social media executives could face jail from UK's Online Safety Bill, Government claims

    Nadine Dorries said that she was putting social media companies such as Facebook on notice with the Online Safety Bill, which it is hoped will force online giants to police illegal content more diligently and proactively. Last Friday (4 February), it was announced that the long awaited Bill had been strengthened with the addition of a number of new criminal offences to force social media firms to act on illegal content more quickly. Offences such as revenge porn, hate crime, fraud, the sale of illegal drugs or weapons, the promotion or facilitation of suicide, people smuggling and sexual exploitation have been added to the list of priority offences. Content that falls within their scope must be removed by platforms under the new rules. Under these rules, senior executives of online platforms…

  • PriceRunner sues Google for €2.1bn over 'anti-competitive' search tactics

    The Swedish firm said that Google’s search results unfairly promote the tech giant’s own shopping-comparison services over those of PriceRunner. The lawsuit follows a decision by the European General Court that Google breached EU antitrust laws by manipulating search results in favour of its own shopping-comparison services. In its lawsuit, PriceRunner said it wants Google to pay compensation for the profits that it has lost in the UK since 2008, as well as in Sweden and Denmark since 2013. It wouldn’t be the first time Google has landed in hot water with EU regulators over antitrust concerns. Last year, the European Commission announced an investigation into anti-competitive behaviour by the firm, with a focus on whether the company violated competition rules by giving preferential…

  • Design for new nuclear plant in Bradwell approved by regulators

    Alongside the Environment Agency (EA), the ONR confirmed that the UK Hualong Pressurised Water Reactor (UK HPR1000) is suitable for construction, subject to the necessary licensing, planning permission and environmental permits. The design has been proposed by General Nuclear Services (GNS), which is a subsidiary of China General Nuclear (CGN) and the French state-owned EDF. CGN is currently also working on the UK’s other major nuclear project, Hinkley Point C, which is being built in Somerset. It first proposed the new Bradwell plant following approval from the UK Government of Hinkley Point C in 2016. The ONR and the EA said they were satisfied that the new reactor design meets regulatory expectations on safety, security and environmental protection at this stage of the process. The…

  • Dubai introduces charge for plastic bags; promises total ban within two years

    A statement from the government-run Dubai Media Office said the charge will start on July 1 2022. The tariff of 25fils (approximately 5p, UK currency) at purchase will apply to all single-use plastic bags from such outlets as shops, restaurants, pharmarcies and e-commerce deliveries. The government said the ban had become necessary as both camels and turtles had died from the plastic. Reportedly, 50 per cent of camel deaths in the UAE are due to the consumption of plastic bags, while 86 per cent of dead sea turtles found on some of the Emirates’ shores were found to have consumed some sort of plastic materials. Some food stores in the skyscraper-studded city have already been encouraging the public to bring reusable bags when shopping, reflecting a shift in public attitudes to recycling…

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