• Boeing receives Nasa award for greener, more fuel-efficient airliner of future

    Under a Funded Space Act Agreement, Boeing will work with Nasa to build, test and fly a full-scale demonstrator aircraft and validate technologies aimed at lowering emissions. Nasa will invest $425m over the next seven years, while Boeing and its partners will contribute the remainder of the agreement funding, estimated to be around $725m. As part of the agreement, the agency also will contribute technical expertise and facilities. “Since the beginning, Nasa has been with you when you fly. Nasa has dared to go farther, faster, higher. And in doing so, Nasa has made aviation more sustainable and dependable. It is in our DNA,” said Nasa administrator Bill Nelson (pictured below). “It’s our goal that Nasa’s partnership with Boeing to produce and test a full-scale demonstrator will help lead…

  • Government pledges £32.5m to decarbonise industry

    The second phase of the Red Diesel Replacement Competition will provide a £32.5m funding package to support innovative projects that are developing greener energy alternatives, the government has announced. The funding is expected to be focused on greener alternatives to red diesel such as electrification and green hydrogen, providing a pathway for industry to cut  emissions and energy costs.  Red diesel - also known as gas oil - is a type of fossil fuel commonly used for off-road, heavy-duty vehicles and machinery, such as bulldozers and cranes. In April 2022, the government made changes to red diesel eligibility, restricting the use of the fuel in most sectors, as a way to pave a path towards net zero. In September of that year, the Red Diesel Replacement Competition was launched to…

  • UK to bring in deposit return scheme for plastic bottles and drink cans from 2025

    The scheme will cover England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is set to be introduced in 2025. Scotland already brought in legislation in 2020 for its own deposit returns scheme, which will see consumers paying a 20p deposit for every bottle or can from August this year. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs said the new legislation follows “extensive work with industry” to prepare them for the necessary changes including setting up infrastructure and amending labelling. The introduction of a DRS has been planned since 2018 and was initially due to be launched in 2023, but this was delayed until late 2024 and now 2025. The scheme would include special machines, known as reverse vending machines, and designated sites where people can return their bottles and receive their…

  • EU countries urge bloc to set end date for new CO2-emitting trucks

    The European Commission is set to propose tougher CO 2 standards next month for heavy goods vehicles to comply with the bloc's climate change goals. It has already set more ambitious targets for cars, including a 2035 deadline for all new cars sold in Europe to have zero CO 2 emissions. Next month's EU proposal should set a 100 per cent zero-emissions target for heavy duty vehicles, the four countries said. They did not specify a target date, but said it must comply with the EU's goal to have zero net greenhouse gas emissions across its economy by 2050. "The upcoming revision of the CO 2 standards for HDVs [heavy duty vehicles] provides a unique opportunity to send a strong signal to the market and incentivise a timely transition," the countries said in a joint document, published today…

  • AI walking stick helps blind people to navigate

    The researchers said the walking stick could one day help blind people carry out tasks from shopping for a box of cereal at the grocery store to picking a private place to sit in a crowded cafeteria. The white-and-red walking stick includes a camera and computer vision technology to help it map and catalogue the world around it. It then guides users by using vibrations in the handle and with spoken directions, such as “reach a little bit to your right”. “AI and computer vision are improving, and people are using them to build self-driving cars and similar inventions,” said doctoral student Shivendra Agrawal. “But these technologies also have the potential to improve quality of life for many people. “Imagine you’re in a café,” he added. “You don’t want to sit just anywhere. You usually…

  • The eccentric engineer: diving to Pluto

    Getting people and machinery to France was in some ways the easy bit of D-Day. Keeping them supplied when they got there was a lot harder. The War Office estimated that 60 per cent of all supplies by weight needed in France took the form of petrol and oil alone, so how were they going to get it there? The obvious solution was tankers, but there were concerns that deep-water facilities in Europe would be destroyed and shallow-draught ships might struggle in the choppy waters of the English Channel, especially under enemy fire. Some fuel could be brought in jerrycans – 20 million of which were prepared for the journey – but what was needed was a backup and that took the form of one of the war’s most overlooked engineering marvels: Pluto – the PipeLine Under The Ocean. Laying a pipeline across…

  • View from Brussels: MEPs want more video-game regulation

    According to a report authored by the Parliament, there should be harmonised rules that allow parents in particular to know more about the content of the games their children play, as well as the amount of money they spend while playing the game. Features like loot boxes – which offer players a random selection of virtual items – and gold-farming – which allows players to exchange in-game currency for real-life money – have become commonplace in modern games. However, there are concerns that younger gamers in particular can be targeted by these features and that gold-farming could be linked to financial crimes and human rights abuses. MEPs are keen to draw a line in the sand as a result. The report calls on the European Commission – the executive branch of the EU – to come up with a video…

  • Book interview: ‘All in on AI’ by Thomas Davenport

    When it comes to recognising what artificial intelligence can do for their businesses “most companies are just scratching the surface”, says Thomas H Davenport, co-author of ‘All in on AI’. “They have a few pilots or proofs of concept under way that don’t really have any substantial impact on their businesses,” he continues. “But in our book, we describe the extreme adopters: those who are doing many things with AI, some of which have the potential to transform their strategies, business models or key business processes.” Observing these “highly aggressive” companies will give other, more reluctant adopters, ideas about how they should proceed with AI, he argues. Subtitled ‘How Smart Companies Win Big with Artificial Intelligence’, the book’s message could not be clearer. Whichever way…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Crown Estate signs deal to build six offshore wind farms

    The Crown Estate has signed deals with four energy companies to build offshore wind farms that could help decarbonise the UK's energy grid.  The proceeds from the wind farms - estimated to be around £1bn per year - will be used for the “wider public good”, rather than as a funding boost for the monarchy, the King has announced.  The deals have been struck between the Crown Estate and companies including BP, Total and Germany’s RWE, and were greenlit by then-business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng in July 2022. The leases have now been signed for the six wind farms, which have a generation capacity of 8 gigawatts (GW). Three of the projects are off the coast of North Wales, Cumbria and Lancashire and the other three are in the North Sea, off Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. The Crown Estate – an…

  • UK government hits targets for decarbonising car fleet

    According to the Department for Transport (DfT), some 25.5 per cent of all government cars are now low-emission vehicles. This comes ahead of plans to make the entire fleet fully zero emission by 2027. Greening commitments set by Defra from 2021 to 2025 required that a minimum of a quarter of its car fleet be switched to ultra-low emission vehicles by the end of 2022. The 25.5 per cent figure was reached in September, just 3 months ahead of schedule. Technology and decarbonisation minister Jesse Norman said: “As the UK moves towards a cleaner transport network, the government is doing its part, with over 25 per cent of its central car fleet being battery-powered three months earlier than planned. “It’s critical that progress in decarbonising fleets is matched elsewhere. We will continue…

  • Managing outsourced manufacturing in an age of disruption

    Too many cooks in the kitchen can spoil the broth. While the goal of global sourcing and outsourced manufacturing is to reduce manufacturing costs, the increased complexity that comes with leveraging internal and external manufacturers introduces significant challenges. Among these are the challenges to managing visibility and control, which can negate financial benefits. For example, when quality issues arise, the disconnected and disparate nature of third-party manufacturing makes them difficult to detect. At the same time, early detection is critical, particularly in regulated industries such as pharmaceuticals or food and beverage, to avoid the accumulation of additional costs and production time spent on additional units that share the defect. The ability of a brand owner to quickly…

  • Government to support 100 ‘levelling-up’ projects with £2bn fund

    British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has unveiled "transformational funding" of around £2.1bn for 100 projects that he said will benefit millions of people across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.  The new funding includes £ 672m to develop better transport links, £821m for community regeneration and £594m to restore local heritage sites, as well as other education, clean technology and community initiatives.  The Department for Levelling Up promised that the latest round of levelling up funding would deliver much-needed economic growth and new jobs to historically overlooked areas. "Through greater investment in local areas, we can grow the economy, create good jobs and spread opportunity everywhere," said Sunak. "That's why we are backing more than 100 projects with new…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Science Museum’s ‘Engineers’ exhibition aims to bolster struggling sector

    The gallery will feature illustrated stories from more than 60 engineers working in a broad range of industries, such as farming, fashion, robotics and medicine. The museum said the exhibits, which will focus on winners of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (QEPrize), will attempt to “shine a light on their lives, motivations, thought processes, and what they do day to day”. The stories will be presented in four sections: Bodies, Lives, Connections and Creation. Bodies​ will look at how controlled drug delivery and surgical robots place people and their bodies at the heart of precision engineering practice. In Lives​, LED lighting and digital imaging sensors will​ illustrate how engineers work sustainably and attempt to minimise their ecological footprint. Connections will…

  • Microsoft announces 10,000 layoffs

    Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella confirmed the company's plans to reduce its workforce during the global economic slowdown, following similar action taken by Meta and Amazon.  Microsoft , which employs more than 220,000 people worldwide, including 6,000 in the UK, will lay off 10,000 employees by the end of September 2023. The company will also spend $1.2bn (£972m) in severance and reorganisation costs. In the announcement, Nadella blamed changing customer behaviours following the Covid-19 pandemic. He stressed that while customer spending had grown during Covid, more people and companies were now choosing to "exercise caution" when faced with a looming recession.  “We’re now seeing them optimise their digital spend to do more with less,” he said. “We will align our cost structure…

  • Drones scour tree canopy for DNA samples to monitor biodiversity

    Ecologists have been collecting genetic material samples, called environmental DNA (eDNA), to catalogue and monitor biodiversity. Based on these DNA traces, they can determine which species are present in a certain area. While obtaining samples from water or soil is easy, other habitats such as the forest canopy are more difficult for researchers to access, which makes it harder to track the species that live there. Researchers at ETH Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, and the company SPYGEN have partnered to develop a special drone that can autonomously collect samples on tree branches. The drone is equipped with adhesive strips. When the aircraft lands on a branch, material from the branch sticks to these strips. Researchers can then…

  • Desert dust masks true extent of climate change, research suggests

    The full amount of warming caused by greenhouse gases has been hidden by microscopic airborne particles thrown into the air during desert dust storms, a new study suggests. Furthermore, research by University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) found that the amount of desert dust has grown roughly 55 per cent since the mid-1800s, which increased the dust’s cooling effect. Some effects of atmospheric dust warm the planet, but because other effects of dust actually counteract warming – for example, by scattering sunlight back into space and dissipating high clouds that warm the planet – the study calculated that dust’s overall effect is a cooling one. The researchers warn that if dust levels decline or stop growing, warming could ramp up. “We show desert dust has increased and most likely…

  • Engineering needs more female talent: how do we get there?

    How can I make a real impact and help to solve big problems? How can I help save the environment and make the world a better place? These are the questions I asked myself when I was considering future career paths. While I was really interested in sustainability and engineering, it was difficult for me to grasp how my skill set fitted into the sector. However, my worries quickly vanished when I joined Naked Energy in 2019. Not all women have had the same experience. Many are left wondering how they fit within the industry, or simply don’t engage with engineering at all despite the opportunities that are out there. It’s particularly true for the renewable energy sector. If we’re going to attract more women to the industry, then we need to change its perception. Engineering has a reputation…

  • Energy efficiency boost could save households £500 a year

    The average home could save £500 a year on bills from April with good insulation and heat pumps, according to a recent IPPR report.  In the document, the think tank warned that public investment in energy efficiency and low-carbon heating is falling short of what is needed to meet climate goals to cut gas demand and emissions – and reduce consumers' bills.  The report called for planned investment earmarked for after 2025 to be brought forward to the next two years to plug a £5.8bn funding gap. In relation to home insulation, IPPR found that the UK's plan would require £ 12.7bn of public funding – but there is a shortfall in spending of at least £2.4bn. The report also found that £5.1bn of public spending would be needed to replace gas boilers with electric heat pumps, but there the…

  • The measure of: De Tomaso P900 hypercar

    Italian performance brand De Tomaso has unveiled the P900, the “world’s first carbon-neutral V-12”. “This venture into synthetic fuels represents our commitment to pursuing a zero-emissions mobility future without sacrificing the crucial element which we all hold so dear – the soul and symphony of an engine,” said CEO Norman Choi. The track-only hypercar’s power is driven through the rear wheels, and it features a sequential gearbox and a full carbon-fibre body and chassis. Designed by Jowyn Wong and Jakub Jodlowski, the duo behind the De Tomaso P72 two-seater model, the first P900s will arrive in the second quarter of 2023, with the Judd V-10. The V-12 variant is due to be released the following year. Image credit: Cover Images “Our design team have spent…

  • EU proposes new plan to boost green industries

    The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced the plans during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.  The plan would provide financial support to the bloc's green industries through state aid as well as a European Sovereignty Fund. Its goal is to keep the sector competitive in the face of the technological dominance of the US and China.    In her speech, Von der Leyen said the steps would be part of the European Union's (EU) Green Deal industrial plan to help Europe reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. "To help make this happen, we will put forward a new 'Net Zero Industry Act'," she said. "The aim will be to focus investment on strategic projects along the entire supply chain. "We will especially look at how to simplify and fast…

  • ‘Wrecking ball bill’ to weaken green protections could cost UK £82bn

    The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill is returning to the Commons today and if passed would make it easier for the government to amend, repeal and replace EU law retained after Brexit. It also allows nearly all remaining retained EU law to be either repealed or absorbed into UK domestic law by 31 December 2023. The Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL) has expressed concern that the bill could see the government changing over 1,000 environmental protections in the UK for the worse. The report, which was carried out by the Economics for the Environment Consultancy, found that weakening laws in just four of the areas covered by the Bill could cost £82.94bn over 30 years. These figures come from the damage that could be caused in areas including the health impacts of poorer air…

  • Sponsored: Traceability, productivity and sustainability, with a digital MIS

    Indeed, there is always more that can be done. Here, we explore the role that a digital management information system (MIS) can play in the journey to net zero. It’s a scary statistic that around 50% of a building’s total embodied carbon is specified during Stage Two of the RIBA Plan of Works (PoW): Concept Design. While this is a significant amount, structural and civil engineers are already taking the steps needed to make a change at this construction phase; yet there still remains another 50% of embodied carbon to be considered. Every stage of the RIBA PoW generates carbon, making it everyone’s responsibility to do their bit, make changes and work greener. One such way is to employ a management information system (MIS) at the fabrication and manufacturing stage. While primarily developed…

  • ‘Gamechanger’ technique cuts automotive manufacturing costs

    Aluminium typically plays a key role in reducing the weight of a car which also helps to reduce fuel consumption. A modern car contains large amounts of aluminium and use of the metal is on the increase. A new casting technology makes it possible to cast aluminium bolts with small diameters and high-quality surface properties which enables the metal to be used directly in the manufacture of parts such as suspension components in cars. By using cast material, the production of aluminium car components becomes less expensive, more eco-friendly and more efficient, while also reducing the amount of production scrap generated. The casting technology has been developed by the Norwegian aluminium producer Hydro and is carried out under vacuum conditions. Currently, a car component production…

  • Philanthropy drives competition and collaboration

    “Labour, capital, and ability are a three-legged stool... They are equal members of the great triple alliance which moves the industrial world,” said famous philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, who was the wealthiest man in the world at the beginning of the 20th century. He established the Carnegie Corporation of New York in 1911 dedicated to the principles of ‘scientific philanthropy’, but now his do-gooding baton has been passed to other billionaire entrepreneurs who might agree with Carnegie’s notion that “the man who dies thus rich dies disgraced”. This new generation includes Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who recently announced he will give away most of his $124bn fortune to help causes including fighting the climate crisis, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who established the Bill & Melinda…

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