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Industry must acknowledge dangerous network fault, warn experts

Electrical experts, including a former employee of one the UK’s major power networks, have told E&T that there is a real risk of deadly gas explosions and fires in the UK due to an increasingly common fault on the electricity network. They argue that the Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) must acknowledge the risks of neutral current diversion (NCD) so that a programme of testing can be implemented - and lifesaving upgrades made to the grid. An NCD can occur on the network when the combined protective earthing and neutral (PEN) conductor fails. The current is then diverted by making a circuit via exposed metalwork on buildings including gas, water and oil pipes. This can lead to a significant build-up of heat, leading to fires and gas explosions…

E+T Magazine
British Steel job losses prompt government support for energy-intensive firms

The Chinese-owned steelmaker said it will close the facility as part of its drive to overcome global economic challenges and build a “green and sustainable future”. Coking ovens bake coal at high temperatures to produce coke, which is used to fuel blast furnaces for steel production. The Scunthorpe closure is likely to mean coke will be imported instead. Energy-intensive industries in the UK have faced tough conditions over the last year due to dramatic fuel price increases in the wake of the war in Ukraine. British Steel said its bills for energy and carbon increased by £190m last year, adding that “decisive action” was required because of the “unprecedented rise” in operating costs, surging inflation and the need to improve environmental performance. Today, the Department for Energy…

E+T Magazine in Manufacturing
Computer glitches left criminals without necessary electronic tags, report reveals

Whitehall’s spending watchdog said the technical problems with the Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) programme were discovered in September 2022 and meant that 35 convicted offenders and defendants had not been fitted with tags, among other errors. Officials found the multi-million pound digital case management system for courts – known as 'Common Platform' – had failed to send more than 3,000 “important notifications” to other bodies between June 2021 and August 2022, accounting for about 1 per cent of the total. This happened as the “system could not cope with the volume of notifications”, a National Audit Office (NAO) report, published today (Thursday 23 February), has revealed. Investigations found 367 of the faults could have “affected justice outcomes” and that “criminal justice…

E+T Magazine
Schools found to be unprepared for impact of ChatGPT on education

Research conducted by BCS, the chartered institute for IT, found that 62 per cent of professionals believe that chatbots like ChatGPT will make it harder to mark students’ work fairly. ChatGPT is a large-language model (LLM) which can answer questions in a seemingly natural way and is trained on a massive data set. It has been shown to be able to create passing-grade answers at university level - including passing law exams at one university - but it is fallible. A recent public demo by Google’s own AI service, Bard, produced a wrong answer . The majority (56 per cent) of the 124 computing teachers in the BCS study did not think their school had a plan to manage incoming use of ChatGPT by pupils, while 33 per cent said early discussions had taken place and a further 11 per cent said a plan…

E+T Magazine in STEM Education and Skills
Tackling toxic emissions from tyres requires government policy, say experts

Even though electric vehicles solve the problem of localised fuel emissions, tyre wear creates airborne particulate matter that can have negative health impacts on humans. As tyres degrade, they release a range of particles, from visible pieces of tyre rubber to nanoparticles. Large particles can also be carried from the road by rain into rivers, where they may leach toxic chemicals such as zinc and lead into the environment, whilst smaller particles become airborne and are breathed in where they are small enough to reach into the deep lung. There is emerging evidence that tyre-wear particles and other particulate matter may contribute to a range of negative health impacts including heart, lung, developmental, reproductive and cancer outcomes. Researchers from Imperial College London…

E+T Magazine in Research and Innovation
Electronic bandage speeds up healing by 30 per cent

In an animal study, the bandage healed diabetic ulcers 30 per cent faster than in mice without the bandage. It also actively monitors the healing process and then harmlessly dissolves into the body after it is no longer needed – even including the electronic components. The new device could provide a powerful tool for patients with diabetes, whose ulcers can lead to various complications, including amputated limbs or even death. Image credit: Northwestern University “When a person develops a wound, the goal is always to close that wound as quickly as possible,” said Northwestern’s Guillermo A Ameer, who co-led the study. “Otherwise, an open wound is susceptible to infection. And, for people with diabetes, infections are even harder to treat and more dangerous…

E+T Magazine in Functional Safety
Book review: ‘I, Human’, by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

Inserted between the author’s dedication and the table of contents, there’s an extra page in Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic’s ‘I, Human: AI, Automation, and the Quest to Reclaim What Makes Us Unique’ (Harvard Business Review, £19.99, ISBN 9781647820558). Floating in a mass of space are eleven words: “This book examines the impact of artificial intelligence on human behaviour.” This may seem simple – an attempt perhaps to make sure reviewers have firmly implanted in their minds his overarching theme before they start launching into their value judgements. But in fact, they could well be the most important words within the covers of ‘yet another book on AI’. This is because ‘I, Human’ isn’t really about technology at all. It’s about the effect AI will have on us as individual members of a species…

E+T Magazine
Ageing bridges monitored for impending damage using predictive AI tool

The DNA (Data, Network and AI) could be used for preventive maintenance and to thus avoid possible disasters. The scientists were aiming to address a significant Korean reality: the fact that the percentage of Korean bridges aged 30 years or more is expected to increase in the next decade to 39.3 per cent by 2031 and spike up to 76.1 per cent in 20 years. With a view towards helping track damages, the KICT research team garnered more than five million data elements either directly or indirectly related to the ageing of bridges from 2021 to 2022. The researchers then applied an artificial intelligence (AI) model to the data, to predict the degree of obsolescence of the bridges and predict damage over time. The credibility of the technology was further improved by securing additional…

E+T Magazine in Research and Innovation
Book review: ‘Beyond Data’ by Elizabeth M Renieris

In our digital world, “data” is the world in everyone’s mouths. Data is “the new oil”, “the new currency”, the “new water”. Data is the thing companies trade with, and the largest concern of many governments and privacy advocates. And yet, there is no point in protecting sensitive data if the regulations established to do so do not take into account the dangers that real people face in the digital world. In the post-pandemic and ever-digitalising era, terms like data and data privacy are often over-used, and debates around this type of legislation often end up feeling like walking in circles. Not this book. In Beyond Data: Reclaiming Human Rights at the Dawn of the Metaverse (MIT Press, $26.95, ISBN 9780262047821), Elizabeth M Renieris argues that laws focused on data protection, data…

E+T Magazine in Ethical Aspects
All UK citizens should receive digital ID cards, Blair and Hague say

Writing in The Times, the former party leaders and political rivals said the introduction of such a system would help people overcome concerns about online dangers. They have published a report that makes 40 recommendations on how the technology could be used to transform the British economy and society. This includes curtailing the power of the Treasury to “micromanage” spending on science and technology and appointing “executive ministers” who are not MPs or peers and who could shape the government’s future approach to science and technology. They also advocate increasing the use of artificial intelligence assistants in schools to help teachers and provide personalised support to pupils at home, as well as streamlining the planning system to allow laboratories and other technology infrastructure…

E+T Magazine
Government's green heating scheme is ‘failing to deliver’, Lords say

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which grants households in England and Wales £5,000 to help switch from a gas boiler to a low-carbon heat pump, has been described as "seriously failing" by a Lords inquiry. The enquiry found that o nly a third of the low-carbon heating scheme’s annual budget has been used since its launch in May 2022. The Committee said that by the end of January this year, £49.7m in vouchers had been issued, equating to 7,641 installations, according to Ofgem figures. The scheme has been allocated £150m a year in funds for three years. As a result, the Committee has written to Parliament warning that if the current take-up rate continues, only half of the allocated budget will be used to help households switch to low-carbon heating systems. Currently, heating in UK homes…

E+T Magazine in Sustainable Development
BEIS returns £1.6bn allocated to Horizon Europe

The Treasury has taken back £1.6bn that it had allocated for the UK's involvement in the European Union's research programme, Horizon Europe, or domestic alternatives. The move was revealed on page 300 of the Central Government supply estimates 2022/23, as reported by the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE) . However, the decision has not been communicated to the research community or media in any other medium. The UK’s associate membership of the €95bn (£81bn) Horizon Europe programme was foreseen in the 2020 Brexit agreement. However, the EU has been delaying the UK’s membership due to the dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol. During his election campaign the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, vowed to develop a £15bn UK research funding programme to rival Horizon, pledging…

E+T Magazine in Research and Innovation
Sponsored: Greening our Heritage properties, a holistic approach to energy efficiency

In its sixth Carbon Budget, the Committee for Climate Change stated that buildings, including homes, are the 3rd largest carbon emissions producers in the UK - accounting for 13% of all the UK’s carbon emissions . We can’t drastically modify these heritage structures, and for more modern buildings it is neither feasible nor environmentally desirable to conduct a mass demolition and rebuilding programme, so we need to find practical ways to decarbonise our existing and historic building stock. The National Trust has already assessed its carbon outputs and has set ambitious targets to decarbonise by 2030 - but how can engineers balance issues of sustainability and energy efficiency against the need to preserve original structural features and fabrics? It cannot be assumed that modern or ‘standard…

E+T Magazine in Climate Change
Bentley to cease production of ‘iconic’ W12 engine as part of EV transition

By the time production ends, more than 100,000 W12 engines will have been manufactured at the company’s Dream Factory in Crewe. Bentley is planning to electrify its entire line by the start of the next decade as part of sustainability efforts. It has already started producing the hybrid models Bentayga and Flying Spur which “exceeding the company’s expectations” demand-wise. Bentley was founded in 1919 and has been producing cars in the UK since its inception – delivering 15,174 cars in 2022. Since 1998, it has been owned by the Volkswagen Group which is also ramping up investment in electric vehicle manufacturing. Once the W12 stops being made, Bentley’s entire line-up will be available with the option of a hybrid powertrain. Despite this, development work has only recently concluded…

E+T Magazine in Automotive Engineering
‘E-CPR’ service could help hospital save more lives

London's Harefield Hospital is currently treating some inpatients with a new type of “advanced” CPR which involves hooking up patients to an artificial lung machine. Now the hospital is looking to make the technology accessible to many more people. In a new service, pe ople who suffer a cardiac arrest could be offered E-CPR if they do not respond to traditional CPR. The service, the first of its kind in the UK, will see patients taken to Harefield Hospital - a specialist heart and lung hospital in Hillingdon - by Thames Valley Air Ambulance. Once there, the patients will be hooked up to an ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machine. The ECMO machine is able to pump blood through an artificial lung outside the body when a person's own circulatory system does not function properly…

E+T Magazine in Research and Innovation
‘Criminal’ use of plastic by police at crime scenes under investigation

Veteran crime scene investigator Becci Henderson is carrying out the study as part of her PhD at the University of Portsmouth in a bid to reduce the amount of plastic waste used by police when cordoning off and investigating serious crimes. Henderson, who worked as a crime scene investigator (CSI) for 22 years, said that each evidence exhibit generated an average of 55g of plastic waste, with one crime scene creating more than 2kg of waste. She said she had witnessed an “enormous” growth in the amount of plastics used and explained that the purpose of her study was to find a more sustainable approach, including compostable materials. Henderson said: “At just one job I generated more than 2kg of waste, which all went in the bin and a lot of it was unused. We often can’t recycle or reuse…

E+T Magazine in Air Pollution
Government launches energy efficiency taskforce with 2030 target

The taskforce will create a plan on how the UK can reduce total energy demand from buildings and industry by 15 per cent by 2030 when compared to 2021 levels. According to the Odyssee-Mure Project, which monitors efficiency trends in Europe, energy efficiency for UK consumers improved by around 30 per cent between 2000 and 2018 - around 1.6 per cent per year. NatWest chief executive Dame Alison Rose will be the co-chair of the new body just weeks after her bank said it would reduce lending to oil and gas firms as part of a new climate change initiative. “Addressing the climate crisis is a team sport and building vital partnerships between the public and private sector is the key to tackling this challenge at pace,” she said. “Improving energy efficiency will not only drive a lower carbon…

E+T Magazine in Ethical Aspects
Sponsored: Electricity 4.0, how you can capitalise on digital design and emerging trends

Discover how Electricity 4.0 impacts the decarbonisation strategy in MEP Design, and how it links to electrical and digital technology. Register for this webinar to learn about: The importance of electrification and digitisation, and how manufacturers can support How to build iSLDs, including the tools required, as well as software and legal compliance The impact of technology on future simulations, operational carbon and overall resilience Emerging trends within DC Systems and how they support upcoming standards and the future-proofing of buildings and designs Presented with live Q&A on 23rd March 2023 at 1pm GMT - or watch afterwards on demand. This free webinar is available for IET members and non-members. Register for this free webinar

E+T Magazine in Power Systems
Thousands of new EV chargepoints to be installed across England

UK drivers will benefit from an additional £56m in public and industry funding for increasing electric vehicle (EV) charging points across the country. A total of 2,400 new chargepoints will be installed in locations such as Cumbria, Norfolk, Oxfordshire and West Sussex, the DfT has announced, as part of the 'Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure' (LEVI) pilot scheme. The scheme will help local authorities work in tandem with private businesses and chargepoint operators to drive the sustainable growth of local networks and increase the number of chargepoints available in each area. In addition to the expansion of the scheme, 16 new pilot scheme areas will benefit from the funding. “The government is giving local authorities across England additional help today to energise their chargepoint…

E+T Magazine in Power Conversion
Jaguar Land Rover to open three autonomous cars tech hubs in Europe

Jaguar Land Rover's (JLR) new European hubs are expected to create nearly 100 engineer jobs, focused on developing driver assistance systems and artificial intelligence (AI) for the self-driving cars of the future. The hubs are part of JLR's “multi-year strategic partnership” with Silicon Valley artificial intelligence company Nvidia, announced last year. The two companies are currently working together to develop the computer brains and nervous systems for Jaguars and Land Rovers. "We are harnessing talent in autonomous technologies around the world to develop new autonomous technologies for our future products, which will deliver a truly modern luxury experience for our clients," said Thomas Müller, product engineering director at Jaguar Land Rover. “Software is essential for us…

E+T Magazine in Control and Automation
Fossil fuel sector methane emissions ‘far too high and not falling fast enough’

The International Energy Agency (IEA) tracks global methane emissions and found that the energy industry was responsible for 135 million tonnes of methane released into the atmosphere in 2022, only slightly below the record highs seen in 2019. Today, the energy sector accounts for around 40 per cent of total methane emissions attributable to human activity, second only to agriculture. Methane is responsible for around 30 per cent of the rise in global temperatures since the Industrial Revolution and has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after it reaches the atmosphere. But it also dissipates at a much faster than carbon dioxide, only lasting an average of 12 years in the atmosphere compared to carbon dioxide, which can linger for centuries. …

E+T Magazine in Research and Innovation
View from Washington: Chip War

There have been surprisingly few comprehensive histories of the semiconductor industry, so the arrival of Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology by American academic Chris Miller is welcome. With the US and China at loggerheads over silicon, it is also timely. But while Miller, a professor of international history at Tufts University, addresses that rivalry directly at the end of his excellent book, he originally came to the topic when he discovered how the importance of chips has long tended to be buried away within the things they enable. “The book was going to be about the history of missiles in the Cold War. And the more I dug into missile technology, the more I realised that the interesting part was the guidance computers. And the more I learned about them, the…

E+T Magazine in Semiconductor Technology
Book review: ‘The Big Con’ by Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington

At last, the consulting industry is in the headlines. It is finally coming to public attention just how much money is being thrown at big consultancies, and – especially in the case of Covid-19 contracts – with little to show for it. ‘The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens our Businesses, Infantilizes our Governments and Warps our Economies’ (Allen Lane, £25, ISBN 9780241573082) argues exactly that. The authors are Dr Mariana Mazzucato, professor in the economics of innovation and public value at the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose, and Rosie Collington, a PhD candidate at that institute. They recount how, through the 1980s and 1990s, the consulting industry crept in from the sidelines and began to render governments and businesses reliant upon its services. Organisations…

E+T Magazine
‘Superalloy’ made with 3D printer could cut emissions from power plants

A group of scientists from Sandia National Laboratories, Ames National Laboratory, Iowa State University and Bruker Corp., all in the USA, used a 3D printer to create a high-performance metal alloy, or superalloy, with an unusual composition that makes it stronger and lighter than state-of-the-art materials currently used in gas turbine machinery. The findings could have broad impacts across the energy sector as well as the aerospace and automotive industries, and point towards a new class of similar alloys that have yet to be discovered. “We’re showing that this material can access previously unobtainable combinations of high strength, low weight and high-temperature resiliency,” Sandia scientist Andrew Kustas said. “We think part of the reason we achieved this is because of the additive…

E+T Magazine in Manufacturing

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