• View from India: Use tech upgrades to prosper or else perish

    President Droupadi Murmu has hoisted the National Flag at the Kartavya Path to begin the 74th Republic Day celebrations. President Murmu was honoured with a 21-gun salute with the Indigenous 105 mm Indian Field Guns as she arrived at the Kartavya Path along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of Egypt Abdel Fattah El Sisi. This was the first time an Egyptian President has been the chief guest at the Republic Day. The Republic Day Parade at the Kartavya Path has been represented by 23 tableaux, 17 from states and Union Territories and six from various ministries and departments. New Delhi's iconic Rajpath has been rechristened as Kartavya Path. The parade has a patriotic fervour, depicting the nation’s rich cultural heritage, economic progress and strong internal and external security…

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    E+T Magazine

  • Nasa could send nuclear rocket to Mars

    Nasa and DARPA could test the thermal rocket engine as soon as 2027, with a view towards unlocking the key to enable future Mars missions.   The two space organisations will partner on the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations, or DRACO, programme, designed to benefit both agencies and outline roles, responsibilities, and processes aimed at speeding up development efforts.  The project is intended to develop a pioneering propulsion system for space travel far different from the chemical systems prevalent since the dawn of modern rocketry. “With the help of this new technology, astronauts could journey to and from deep space faster than ever – a major capability to prepare for crewed missions to Mars,” said Nasa administrator Bill Nelson. “Congratulations to both Nasa and…

  • Hundreds of millions of people to be affected by sea level rise, new modelling suggests

    Researchers from Dutch firm Data for Sustainability say their data shows that the land areas that would be inundated after the first one to two metres of sea level rise have been underestimated in the past. The study used high-resolution measurements of land elevation from Nasa’s ICESat-2 lidar satellite, launched in 2018, to improve upon models of sea level rise and inundation. Previous assessments typically relied on radar-based data, which are less precise. “Radar is unable to fully penetrate vegetation and therefore overestimates surface elevation,” said researcher Ronald Vernimmen. This had the impact of making many coastal areas appear to be higher than they actually were. The underestimates of land elevation mean coastal communities have less time to prepare for sea level rise…

  • US sues Google over ‘anti-competitive’ advertising practices

    The DoJ said Google's market dominance was harmful to other business in the sector, and called for the company to be broken up. The complaint, filed on Tuesday 23 January in a Virginia federal court, accuses Google of using “anti-competitive, exclusionary, and unlawful means to eliminate or severely diminish any threat to its dominance over digital advertising technologies”. US Attorney General Merrick Garland added Google's actions had "weakened if not destroyed competition in the ad tech industry".  In response, Google accused the DoJ of "doubling down on a flawed argument". The legal dispute is the agency’s first antitrust lawsuit against a tech giant under President Joe Biden and an escalation in legal pressure on one of the world’s biggest internet companies. The lawsuit said…

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  • CT scans of Egyptian mummified remains reveal precious amulets

    Computerised tomography (CT) scans revealed the boy was equipped with 49 amulets of 21 different types - many made of gold - which had been carefully placed on or inside the body.  The mummified remains are said to be those of a boy, estimated to have been 14 or 15 years old when he died around 2,300 years ago.  By leveraging CT technologies, scientists were able to 'digitally unwrap' the body and make 3D-models of the amulets found inside without physically disturbing the remains. The teen, nicknamed 'golden boy' has allowed researchers to unveil some of the ritual practices that Ancient Egyptians used in the belief that they would ensure their loved ones could safely reach the afterlife. The mummified remains were digitally unwrapped in four stages/ SN Saleem,…

  • Majority support higher road taxes to fund public transport services

    Approximately 8,073 respondents were surveyed in summer 2022 in London, Washington D.C., Toronto, Paris, Dusseldorf, Turin, Dubai and Bangkok. The survey found that three-quarters of people would prefer to choose a better-connected public transport system, rather than driving. However, 48 per cent of people said they were sometimes deterred from using the services due to overcrowding. Cost, convenience and comfort were also identified as the biggest motivators to use public services. 73 per cent of respondents said they would be more likely to travel on public transport if they could see live information about crowding levels on services, rising to almost 9 in 10 people in Bangkok. However, the move towards digitisation and adoption of apps presents barriers as well. Almost two-thirds…

  • Scientists develop cheapest carbon capture system to date

    The team at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNLL) has developed what is claimed to be the "least costly carbon capture system to date". Using a PNNL-developed capture solvent, the system snatches CO2 molecules before they’re emitted, then converts them into useful, sellable substances. As described in the journal Advanced Energy Materials, the system has been designed to fit into coal-, gas-, or biomass-fired power plants, as well as cement kilns and steel plants. While commercial systems soak up carbon from flue gas at roughly $46 (£37) per tonne of CO2, a new study described in the Journal of Cleaner Production set the cost of running the methanol system using PNNL-developed capture solvents at just below $39 (£31) per tonne of CO2. “We looked at…

  • How digital asset monitoring is creating a greener, more efficient grid

    Electricity networks are becoming more complex. Grids are receiving more renewable energy input than they were designed for, energy that is produced at different times in highly varying amounts, placing great pressure on grid stability. Input sources have proliferated; increasing wind-farm connections, especially in the UK with its renewed push for more onshore wind, are now joined by multiple ‘grid edge’ suppliers such as community renewable energy projects, PV sites, and residential feed-in sources, and these cause energy backflow. Neither the grid infrastructure nor protection schemes were designed for two-way energy flow in such quantities. Now consider the rapid growth of electrification: electric vehicles (EVs), rail, device charging and more residential heating with electric heat…

  • Single oil spill near key Qatari port could devastate global energy supplies

    More than 20 per cent of global LNG exports originate from a single port in Qatar. A major spill could cause the shutdown of export facilities and desalination plants on the coast for several days.  The new paper is from a joint group of researchers at the University of Louvain, the University of Southern California (USC) Viterbi School of Engineering, and the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute. In the presence of an oil spill, tankers cannot navigate through thick oil slicks in order to continue exports abroad. Qatar’s desalination plants, which rely on the intake of seawater, would also not be able to perform normal operations with a heavily polluted water source. The researchers believe that such a shutdown could cause significant disruption in the global gas supply and…

  • Spotify fires 6 per cent of its workforce

    The audio streaming service is expected to cut about 600 jobs, as part of its post-pandemic restructuring plan. CEO Daniel Ek announced the restructuring in a message to employees, confirming reports leaked during the weekend.  Spotify has a total workforce of around 9,800 people, according to its latest filing. Based on that number, the job cuts are expected to impact about 600 employees.  Following on the lead of the main executives of Meta, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet – which have recently announced large-scale layoffs – Ek explained the decision as a result of changes in customer and advertisers' behaviours, as they have reduced spending in the face of a looming recession.  “Like many other leaders, I hoped to sustain the strong tailwinds from the pandemic and believed that our…

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  • Sponsored: Decarbonising buildings through improving efficiency and renewables

    Buildings, which are concentrated in urban areas, are part of the emissions problem. They can also be part of the solution if they are sustainably constructed and responsibly maintained. Investors, designers, and facility managers can contribute to emissions reduction and help achieve the net-zero emissions target by adopting energy efficiency measures, digitalization, and using distributed energy resources (DERs) with a microgrid. New technologies that improve energy efficiency and standards such as IEC 60364-8-1 and IEC 60364-8-82 are available today. The challenge will be identifying and incorporating the best design solution and managing them effectively to capture the most value in terms of emissions reduction. Key Learning Points: Understand how new technologies like digital solution…

  • Bank financing for low carbon energy has stalled since 2016

    The data, produced for Sierra Club, Fair Finance International, BankTrack and Rainforest Action Network, indicates major failings by financial institutions to help meet global commitments on net zero emissions by 2050. This is despite that fact that many of them are part of the UN-convened Net-Zero Banking Alliance which commits to aligning their lending and investment portfolios with net-zero emissions by 2050. According to the industry-led Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), low-carbon energy investments need to account for at least 80 per cent of energy investments compared to fossil fuels (4:1) by 2030 to reach climate goals. “Many banks claim that they continue to provide financing for fossil-fuel clients in order to help those clients in their climate transition,” said…

  • UK unveils first fully autonomous bus service

    The UK's first zero-emission self-driving bus service has started a trial on public roads to serve Milton Park, a business, science and technology park located in Oxfordshire. The buses will be operated by First Bus, as part of a project to explore “the art of the possible”. The pilot project will analyse how passengers, drivers, other road users and pedestrians respond to autonomous buses, the company said.   The project involves two all-electric fully autonomous vehicles on public roads. The self-driving minibus is already in operation, with a full-size single-decker to be added later this year for journeys between the park and Didcot Parkway railway station.  The £4.3m project received a £3m grant from the government alongside commercial and private sector funding. …

  • Data and AI projects to help NHS tackle winter crisis

    These projects have been launched by Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) with funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). One of the projects would use  AI to "digitally mimic" households struggling with the impact of the cost of the living crisis to understand the effects of cold homes on health , while another looks at helping reduce ambulance wait times.  Other studies also include using hospital data to speed up patient flow through emergency departments, as well as using machine learning to predict peaks of infection with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) – a common bug that can cause serious illness in young children. The 16 projects were selected in December 2022 and are expected to deliver findings by the end of March. Despite the tight deadline, the…

  • Worst energy suppliers for household support named

    So far, £5.7bn has been provided to 99 per cent of households in Great Britain through the Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS), with 71 per cent of all prepayment vouchers redeemed. Figures released today reveal the voucher redemption rates for the EBSS broken down by supplier. E Gas and Electricity is at the top, with an 85 per cent success rate, with soon-to-be-defunct Bulb coming in second at 79 per cent. The fewest redemptions include Good Energy, Utilita and Scottish Power, with the government calling on them and others to make sure they are doing all they can to ensure that customers with prepayment meters know what to look out for and how to redeem their vouchers. EBSS is designed so that customers receive the discount in the same way they pay their energy bills, such as via direct…

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  • UK Space Agency announces £50m for next-gen satellite coverage

    The agency said projects could be integrated with 5G networks for upgraded infrastructure that enables new services such as drones, driverless haulage and space-based networks that could rival cable-based terrestrial ones. Britain is currently the leading non-US manufacturer of satellites, with 47,000 people employed in its space industry and plans to develop multiple potential microlaunch sites, including two vertical launchpads in Scotland. Companies receiving the new funding could help to pave the way for services that can provide better-quality connectivity in remote and hard-to-reach places; higher bandwidth; lower latency, and increased security. The government has previously been warned that rural areas that cannot access superfast internet speeds will be left behind the rest of…

  • UK ploughs millions into chemical recycling research despite greenwashing claims

    Figures obtained by E&T through freedom of information rules show that £18,534,000 was awarded to chemical recycling projects by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) between 2018-2022. Chemical recycling is a broad term used to describe a range of technologies which the petrochemical sector claims can recycle plastic that is traditionally difficult to deal with mechanically by turning plastic waste back into its molecular building blocks. By far the most prevalent type of chemical recycling, pyrolysis, is a process in which plastics are broken down into a range of basic hydrocarbons by heating in the absence of oxygen. The primary product is pyrolysis oil, which can be refined into fuels or further processed to create chemicals or plastic. Gasification uses high temperatures with low volumes…

  • National Grid warms up three coal plants during cold snap

    Britain’s electricity generators have been forced to warm up coal-fired power stations for the second time this winter.  The ESO (Electricity System Operator) branch of the National Grid said the three generators - two at Drax's site in North Yorkshire and one at West Burton in Lincolnshire - will not necessarily be needed, but that the instructions were given in preparation for tighter supply margins during the cold snap.  The plants on standby were originally set for retirement, but their lives were extended through this winter in a bid to boost supplies amid energy security fears. “Our forecasts show electricity supply margins are expected to be tighter than normal on Monday evening,” the ESO said. “We have instructed coal-fired power units to be available to increase electricity supplies…

  • Pakistan suffers nationwide power outage

    Pakistan suffered a nationwide power outage that left nearly 220 million people without electricity for several hours today (Monday January 23) due to a technical fault. The country’s Ministry of Energy said in a statement the system frequency of the country’s National Grid went down at 7.34am local time.  “System maintenance work is progressing rapidly,” the tweet added. All the country's major urban centres were affected by the outages, including the biggest city Karachi, the capital Islamabad, as well as Lahore and Peshawar. Energy minister Khurram Dastgir Khan told a local TV channel that the national grid switches off power-generation units temporarily at night during the winter to save fuel costs. However, this measure left  technicians unable to boot up the system all at after…

  • UK lagging behind rivals on green growth, CBI warns

    The body, which represents British businesses, said the UK is has lost out on estimated £4.3bn of green growth market value in Europe alone and in April will fall from 5th to 30th place in OECD table on tax competitiveness. It urged the government to bring forward market-making mechanisms like Contracts for Difference (CfD) that have “proven success” in the renewables sector and could be applied to other technologies like hydrogen, carbon capture and sustainable aviation fuels. CfDs incentivise investment in renewable energy by providing direct protection to developers of projects with high upfront costs and long lifetimes against volatile wholesale prices. The government should also use regulation to stimulate domestic demand for green technologies as is being done for electric vehicles…

  • View from India: Cheetah tourism, anyone?

    Long and slender bodied, cheetahs are the world’s fastest animal. The swift-moving spotted cat had occupied parts of Central India. They were officially declared extinct in 1952 due to extensive hunting as well as ecological changes. The present generation may not have seen cheetahs. Now this could be slated to change. Shivraj Singh Chouhan, chief minister of Madhya Pradesh (MP) has issued an official statement that MP may start cheetah tourism in February. The cheetah is the world’s fastest land animal, capable of speeds touching 70 miles (112km) an hour. It’s a sight to behold and they are being introduced in India through Project Cheetah. As indicated by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) this is the world’s first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project. In October…

  • View from Brussels: Rail travel gets New Year boost

    Supporting Ukraine’s resistance against Russia’s invasion was the main theme of a meeting between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron this weekend, but other issues also made it onto the agenda. Rail fans will be delighted to hear that the two leaders wholeheartedly back plans to link the capital cities of their nations by high-speed rail, which would theoretically allow travellers to reach Berlin or Paris within seven hours. Currently, high-speed travel requires a change at stations such as Cologne or Frankfurt, padding the journey time out to more than eight hours. By regular intercity trains, the trip can take more than eleven hours. Flights between the two capitals take just under two hours, but with transfers to suburban airports and waiting times factored…

  • New emperor penguin colony uncovered by satellite

    The newly discovered colony, announced to mark Penguin Awareness Day, brings the total number of known emperor penguin breeding sites around the coastline of Antarctica to 66 - half  of which were discovered by space satellites The colony is located at Verleger Point, West Antarctica,  at 74° 42’ S, 136° 11’W , and has around 500 birds. The site was identified thanks to penguin guano stains visible in images from the European Commission’s Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite mission. These were then compared to high-resolution images from the MAXAR WorldView3 satellite for confirmation.  A new emperor penguin colony has been discovered in Antarctica using satellite mapping technology Image credit: MAXAR Technologies 2023/BAS Emperor penguins are the biggest of the

  • Google parent company Alphabet axes 12,000 jobs globally

    Google’s parent firm Alphabet has said it will cut about 12,000 jobs worldwide, becoming the latest player in the technology industry to significantly reduce its workforce.  The news was revealed in an email to Google employees that was later shared in a company blog post . The job cuts represent about 6 per cent of the group's global workforce and will affect "roles across product areas, functions, levels and regions", according to Sundar Pichai, Alphabet's CEO.  Similarly to the leaders of Amazon and Microsoft, Pichai c ited a changing "economic reality" as the reason for the layoffs. The explanation made a veiled reference to the looming global recession and the changes in consumer behaviour following the Covid-19 pandemic.  "Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic…

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