• Bank of England mulls tougher climate goals, while Kiwis report record warm winter

    Sarah Breeden, the Bank’s lead on climate change issues and its newly appointed executive director for financial stability and risk, said the Bank is having an “active debate” over plans to make goals on reducing its own carbon footprint more ambitious. Part of this could see the Bank cut back on policymaker trips overseas in favour of virtual meetings even once pandemic restrictions have been lifted and travel becomes more open again. The proposal comes after the Bank recently beat its climate target nine years early, as policymakers were unable to jet around the globe due to the pandemic. Its second annual climate-related financial disclosures report showed that on one measure the Bank’s carbon emissions plunged by 74 per cent, smashing through its initial target to reduce its footprint…

  • Set target date for gas boiler phase-out, industry urges

    A range of industry experts involved in the transition to clean, reliable and efficient energy proposed a target date for phasing out boilers and grants to help people install heat pumps in order to encourage the transition. Homes contribute around 15 per cent of the UK’s overall carbon emissions. Reducing these emissions by insulating homes and replacing fossil fuel-based heating systems, mostly gas boilers, will be an important part of meeting Britain’s Paris Agreement obligations and reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Heat pumps work as reverse refrigerators, using electricity to heat water and homes. They require less maintenance, use less energy, and create more jobs than gas boilers, and when powered by renewable resources they do not contribute to carbon emissions…

  • Elections Bill introduced; aims for transparency in online campaigns

    The government said that its Elections Bill will strengthen the integrity of electoral processes and make it “more inclusive”. Among the measures in the bill will be a new “digital imprints regime” to govern online campaign materials. According to proposals detailed last year, the measures will force parties and campaigners from anywhere in the world to link their campaign content to their identity with a digital imprint. The idea behind this measure is to ensure that voters have the same transparency from online materials as they do from leaflets posted through their letterbox. Facebook has already introduced a “paid for by” disclaimer to political advertisements on its platforms. Concern about misleading political advertising, including state-backed psychological warfare weaponising political…

  • South Downs National Park to ‘renature’ area six times the size of Westminster

    The UK’s newest national park currently has a quarter of its land managed for nature such as woods, heaths, ponds and nature reserves. The park authority is now hoping to create an additional 13,000 hectares - approximately the size of 21,000 football pitches - of habitat for plants and animals to thrive. This extra land would bring 33 per cent of land in the national park managed for nature, exceeding the UN-backed target of 30 per cent by 2030. The park authority is in fact aiming for 67 per cent of land managed for nature by the same date. At the recent G7 summit, held in Cornwall, UK, all members present signed up to the global '30×30' initiative. Ecologist Andrew Lee, who heads countryside policy and management for the national park, said: “The biodiversity crisis is real and it…

  • View from India: Genome labs initiated to study virus mutations

    On the one side, the national vaccination programme is in full swing. The jab appears to be reassuring. In fact, the Centre has invited bids for drone-led vaccine delivery in remote areas and challenging locations. A standard protocol for vaccine delivery through Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) has been developed by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur. That doesn’t mean to say that everyone is safe. No, far from that, there’s a murky dimension to it. Delta itself has boosted the second wave of the infection in India. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has described Delta as a ‘Variant of Concern’ (VoC). The second wave is not yet over, though the case trajectory is coming down. Being highly infectious, Delta…

  • Hands-on review: JLab Epic Air Sport ANC earbuds

    JLab is a company that makes a lot of earbuds. It aims to offer something for everyone, at all price points - including the rarified upper echelons, where consumers quite reasonably become more selective and demanding. When you're going to be plunking down anything even close to a three-figure sum, the product in question has got to deliver on all fronts. The Epic Air Sport ANC are JLab's specifically sport-oriented version of its regular higher-end, in-ear Epic Air active noise-cancelling (ANC) 'buds. This Sport set feature the classic ear hook retention design widely used to keep such earbuds in place, in spite of your most energetic exertions. Insert 'buds into ears; rotate counter-clockwise to hook the arms over your ears; go ahead and feel the burn all you like - these 'buds will stay…

  • Booming demand for critical minerals could harm the environment, not save it

    Fossil-fuel-based power generation is losing its financial advantage over energy from renewable sources, largely thanks to  steadily declining prices for green power  - solar PV and onshore wind are now just below the critical fossil-fuel cost range - and with the arrival of better and cheaper storage technology.  However, carbon power still seems to hold one trump card: it uses far fewer critical and rare-earth minerals than cleaner counterparts. This worries economic analysts, who predict large deficits affecting the industry if new mining endeavours fail to succeed in unearthing commodities essential for electric vehicles and other green power developments. On the other hand, environmental activists worry that a rushed mining boom risks the environment instead of saving it. Both sides…

  • Climate change litigation increasing globally since 2015, report finds

    Researchers from the London School of Economics found that just over 800 cases were filed globally between 1986 and 2014, while over 1,000 cases have been brought in the last six years. The number of ‘strategic’ cases is also on the rise. These are cases that aim to bring about some broader societal shift, as well as cases that challenge government inaction or lack of ambition in climate goals. The study suggested that the fossil fuel industry could be a particular focus for future litigation, especially related to cases around government subsidies or tax relief for the sector. “The number of ‘strategic’ cases is dramatically on the rise,” the report said, referring to activist cases that aim to bring about a broad shift in policy. “Litigation that is aligned with climate goals is on…

  • Richard Branson to join Virgin Galactic’s first fully manned test flight on 11 July

    The next test flight of the firm’s SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity will see Branson trying out the private astronaut experience that Virgin Galactic eventually plans to sell to rich space tourists at a price of around £175,000 per ticket. It will be the twenty-second flight test for the ship and its fourth crewed spaceflight, although the first to carry a full crew of two pilots and four mission specialists in the cabin. The flight is designed specifically for Branson and his crew to evaluate the commercial experience, including the cabin environment, seat comfort, the weightlessness, as well as the views of Earth that the spaceship delivers. Following this flight the team plans to complete inspections of the vehicles and an extensive data review, which will inform the next steps in the test flight…

  • Instant water cleaning method better than commercial approach, scientists claim

    The researchers at Cardiff University said the results could revolutionise water disinfection technologies and present an opportunity to provide clean water to communities that need it most. The novel method works by using a catalyst made from gold and palladium that takes in hydrogen and oxygen to form hydrogen peroxide – a commonly used disinfectant currently produced on an industrial scale. Industry makes over four million tonnes of hydrogen peroxide in factories each year, where they then transport it to the places where it’s used and stored. Stabilising chemicals are often added to the solutions during the production process to stop them degrading but these reduce its effectiveness as a disinfectant. Another common approach to disinfecting water is the addition of chlorine. But experts…

  • Human skin used as conductible material to charge smartwatch

    Smartwatches are increasingly able to monitor the vital signs of health, including tracking sleep, but the devices are often disconnected from a user’s body overnight in order to be charged at the bedside. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have used the natural electrical conductivity of human skin to try and solve this problem. “In this device we have an electrode that couples to the human body, which you could think of as the red wire, if you’re thinking of a traditional battery with a pair of red and black wires,” said computing engineer Jeremy Gummeson. The conventional black wire is established between two metal plates that are embedded on the wearable device and an instrumented everyday object, which becomes coupled (or virtually connected) via the surrounding…

  • Manufacturers urge government to work more collaboratively with the EU

    Britain’s manufacturers are calling on the UK government to help them ease continued difficulties with the new trading environment and relationship with the EU, which has ramped up costs, caused import and export delays, and is hampering smooth trade as companies struggle to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. In Make UK's report, titled ' Trade and Cooperation with the EU: Six Months On ', the data collected showed that 96 per cent of companies said they have faced challenges since the start of the year with the new trading environment, with nearly half (47 per cent) citing early difficulties with customs processes. This has since eased, as companies’ understanding of the new rules improved. However, over a third (36 per cent) - mainly small and medium sized companies - said they are still…

  • National Robotarium to develop made-to-measure 3D laser beams

    Lasers are a crucial component of modern manufacturing, with the global laser processing market projected to grow from $4bn (£2.8bn) in 2020 to $5.8bn (£4.1bn) by 2025 (according to a 2020 report from MarketsandMarkets). Lasers are used widely by industry to produce precise incisions and mould materials into specific shapes. However, this approach to laser-based manufacturing depends on melting or vaporising the material, which means the laser’s energy must be focused on the right points. The standard laser beam shape makes it difficult to tailor this for specific manufacturing processes, decreasing efficiency and limiting what can be made. The 3D laser innovation could transform the manufacturing and healthcare technology industries, making it easier and cheaper to produce products that…

  • It’s time to turn digital transformation from buzzword into reality

    The last year has affected our health, social interactions and businesses. From work calls to grocery shopping, every aspect of our lives has been forced online. While we have yet to move out of the pandemic, we are now at a point where we can look back at the dramatic speed of change in the last year and a half, and the impressive rate at which businesses adapted to the ‘new normal’. Indeed, many businesses are questioning how they could ever go back to their old ways of working. The last year or so has highlighted the need to be agile and adaptable and those that have embraced these principles are well positioned to deal with the unexpected in the future. There are a number of factors that go into making fundamental change a success, from having a culture that is open to new ways of working…

    IET EngX
    IET EngX

  • Money & Markets: The next technological boom: rare earths

    One of my many investment rules is: beware of investing in anything where the name of the thing doesn’t make sense or it is basically wrong. It’s not a ban on investing, because one thing that can happen in a misnamed category is that it can go sky high because the bulk of investors simply don’t know what they are buying into, and that is a significant cause of bubbles. Lack of ability to understand leads to inability to price correctly, which in turn can, sometimes but not always, lead to FOMO (fear of missing out) where people pile in just because everyone else is. This is, of course, subjective because ‘multimedia’, for example, which was a boom bubble in the '90s, was to me about the application of a single media type not about multimedia at all, but many will still look at the single…

    IET EngX
    IET EngX

  • Global plastic emissions could be causing irreversible harm to the environment

    The study states that plastic pollution is a global threat and actions to drastically reduce emissions of plastic to the environment are "the rational policy response". The study is due to be published in the journal Science tomorrow (2 July). Plastic is now found everywhere on the planet: from deserts and mountaintops to deep oceans and Arctic snow. As of 2016, estimates of global emissions of plastic to the world's lakes, rivers and oceans ranged from nine to 23 million metric tonnes per year, with a similar amount emitted onto land yearly. These estimates are expected to almost double by 2025 if business-as-usual scenarios apply. "Plastic is deeply engrained in our society and it leaks out into the environment everywhere, even in countries with good waste-handling infrastructure," said…

  • Nissan to build £1bn electric vehicle hub in the UK

    With Brexit posing a serious challenge to domestic automakers, Nissan’s commitment was hailed by the government as a sign that the UK’s industry can thrive even outside the EU. The project has been launched with an initial £1bn investment by Nissan and its partners Envision AESC, a global player in battery technology, and Sunderland City Council. Comprising three interconnected initiatives, Nissan EV36Zero brings together electric vehicles, renewable energy and battery production to create what the company describes as "a world-first EV manufacturing ecosystem". The initiative, which will be based around Nissan's Sunderland plant alongside battery firm Envision AESC, is expected to create more than 1,600 direct jobs with an extra 4,500 in supply companies. While Nissan said it would build…

  • ‘Smart skin’ takes reliable vitals during sweat-inducing activities

    The researchers patterned the sensor-embedded sticky patch with artificial sweat ducts, similar to pores in human skin, that the researchers etched through the material’s ultrathin layers. The pores perforate the patch in a kirigami-like pattern, similar to that of the Japanese paper-cutting art. The design also ensures that sweat can escape through the patch, preventing skin irritation and damage to embedded sensors. The kirigami design also helps the patch conform to human skin as it stretches and bends. This flexibility, paired with the material’s ability to withstand sweat, enables it to monitor a person’s health over long periods of time, which has not been possible with previous “e-skin” designs, the team said. “With this conformable, breathable skin patch, there won’t be any sweat…

  • Future data storage units could be just two atoms thick

    The unit is just two atoms thick; it is made up of 'sliding' 2D layers of boron and nitrogen, through which electrons may tunnel, boosting the information reading process beyond current technologies. Current state-of-the-art nano storage devices are at least 100 atoms thick, containing around a million atoms in a crystalline structure. Approximately a million of these devices could fit into the area of a coin, each switching at a speed of a million times per second. “Our research stems from curiosity about the behaviour of atoms and electrics in solid materials, which has generated many of the technologies supporting our modern way of life,” said Professor Moshe Ben Shalom. “We, and many other scientists, try to understand, predict, and even control the fascinating properties of these…

  • Agriculture byproducts could help produce biodegradable plastics

    Bioplastics are biodegradable plastics made from biological substances rather than petroleum.  The novel approach involves a 'plug-in' preconditioning process, a simple adjustment for biofuel refineries, said Joshua Yuan, a research scientist at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research facility. These 'plug-in' technologies allow for optimisation of sustainable, cost-effective lignin – the key component of bioplastics used in food packaging and other everyday items. According to Yuan, efficient extraction and use of lignin is a major challenge for biofuel refineries. “Our process takes five conventional pre-treatment technologies and modifies them to produce biofuel and plastics together at a lower cost,” he explained. The new method, called 'plug-in preconditioning processes of lignin', or PIPOL…

  • Right to repair laws come into effect in bid to cut e-waste

    The new rules also include energy efficiency rules and provisions to tackle premature obsolescence – a practice manufacturers use to artificially shorten their products’ lifespan in order to encourage future sales. While the rules come into place from today, the firms affected will have a two-year grace period to make spare parts available to consumers. The rules are in part designed to tackle the 1.5 million tonnes of electrical waste generated in the UK every year by extending the lifespan of products by up to 10 years. A study from late last year found that Britons are the second largest producers of e-waste in Europe, generating around 55kg per household annually. The EU introduced its own right to repair rules in March that mandate that firms make their products repairable for at…

  • Laser comb upgraded to detect all primary greenhouse gases

    Previously, the NIST dual-comb technology was able to detect methane; this upgraded version can sense all primary airborne greenhouse gases – nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide and water vapour – as well as the major air pollutants ozone and carbon monoxide. This new system is suitable for monitoring and understanding emissions of these gases, as well as assessing urban air quality. A frequency comb is an extremely precise 'ruler' equivalent which allows scientists to measure exact wavelengths of light; each 'tooth' of the comb identifies a different wavelength. These instruments identify the unique signatures of gases by detecting the amount of light absorbed at each wavelength of the broader spectrum as beams trace a path through the air. Other applications include detecting leaks from oil…

  • View from India: Hyper connectivity for better outcomes

    When we look at the manufacturing scenario, the emphasis has always been on mass production. Though the focus remains pretty much the same, robots and automation are add-ons to the manufacturing ecosystem. They have brought precision and speed to the product development cycle. The latest is Industry 4.0, which will digitally transform shop floors. Industry 4.0 will help in predictions through real-time data. Through Industry 4.0, machine-learning (ML) tools can be integrated into production and machines will become intelligent and take informed decisions. Manual processes will be replaced by automation. “The entire value chain of manufacturing becomes smart and automated through Industry 4.0. Right from conceptualisation-design-execution, every stage of the shop floor is a value add in…

  • Book review: ‘The Pay Off’ by Natasha de Terán and Gottfried Leibbrandt

    Put at its simplest, a payment is a bilateral transaction in which money moves between parties in exchange for goods or services. The ‘payment’ has been at the heart of how societies work since our tribal origins and has been essential to economies for more than seven millennia, which is roughly how long we’ve been using metal coins to represent fiscal value. The idea of physical money is so fundamental to the way humans interact that authors of ‘The Pay Off’ (Elliott & Thompson, £16.99, ISBN 9781783965847), Natasha de Terán and Gottfried Leibbrandt, argue that it is part of a triumvirate of key abstractions that enable societies to function (the other two being religion and writing). And while over time we’ve devised ever more sophisticated ways of moving money around, the most explosive…

    IET EngX
    IET EngX

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