• Researchers crack of mystery of why Roman concrete lasts so long

    Many Roman structures made from concrete, which includes roads, aqueducts, ports, and massive buildings, still remain some two millennia after they were first built. Rome’s famous Pantheon, which has the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome and was dedicated in AD 128, is still intact, and some ancient Roman aqueducts still deliver water to Rome today. Despite this, modern concrete structures can start to crumble just a few decades after construction. Researchers have spent decades trying to figure out the secret of this ultradurable ancient construction material, particularly in structures that endured especially harsh conditions, such as docks, sewers, and seawalls, or those constructed in seismically active locations. Researchers from MIT, Harvard University, and laboratories…

  • Mercedes-Benz announces proprietary EV charging network

    Announced at CES 2023, in Las Vegas, the German luxury automaker revealed it will start building its own electric vehicle charging network this year. The project will allow Mercedes to compete with Tesla, at an initial projected cost of around $1.05bn (£880bn).  Mercedes said it expects to have a network with 400 charging stations and more than 2,500 high-power plugs across the US and Canada completed within six or seven years.  Eventually, the full network is expected to consist of 10,000 chargers and will be available to EV owners in North America, Europe and China, the world’s three largest markets for battery-electric vehicles.  “To accelerate the electric transformation, we need to ensure that the charging experience keeps pace as well,” said Mercedes chairman Ola Källenius. “We…

  • India pledges £1.78bn for green hydrogen projects

    The large investment in green hydrogen aims to help one of the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2070. The aim of the funding initiative is “to make green hydrogen affordable and bring down its cost over the next five years. It will also help India reduce its emissions and become a major exporter in the field,” said Anurag Thakur, India’s minister for information and broadcasting. The funding will also serve to help establish the capacity to make at least five million metric tons of green hydrogen by 2030, which would add about 125 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity, the government has revealed.  As of October 2022, India had about 166 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity. While hydrogen is a potentially zero-carbon fuel source, it can…

  • 40 per cent of Earth’s glaciers could be lost due to fossil fuel use

    Even if global emissions targets are met, much of the planet's glacial mass would still vanish, according to an international study led by Pittsburgh's College of Engineering.  Assistant professor David Rounce led an international effort to produce new projections of glacier mass loss through the century under different emissions scenarios. The work showed that the world could lose as much as 41 per cent of its total glacier mass this century or as little as 26 per cent, depending on the success - or otherwise - of today’s climate change mitigation efforts. The worst-case scenario would mean more than two-thirds of the total number of glaciers would vanish by the end of the century, contributing to ever-increasing sea levels around the world. This scenario would be triggered by continued…

  • Zero-carbon energy broke raft of British records in 2022

    According to National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO), wind power generated over 20GW of electricity for the first time in 2022 and February was the lowest carbon intensity month since records began. The greenest day on record, with a carbon intensity of just 52gCO2/kWh, occurred last week on 28 December. Nevertheless, gas continued to play an important role in providing most of the electricity used across Great Britain in 2022, which caused continued pain for consumers due to high wholesale prices in the wake of the Ukraine war. The share of electricity from wind turbines continued to grow – it provided over 70 per cent of the country’s demand on 30 December, when it reached nearly 21GW of generation. Over 50 per cent of electricity was generated by zero-carbon sources in the…

  • Future 6G tech could be used to power wearables via the human body

    While 6G wireless networks are still some way off, Visible Light Communication (VLC) is seen as a possible alternative to using the radio spectrum. VLC is like a wireless version of fibre optics, using flashes of light to transmit information. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have invented a low-cost, innovative way to harvest the waste energy from VLC by using the human body as an antenna. This waste energy can be recycled to power an array of wearable devices, or potentially even larger electronics. “VLC is quite simple and interesting,” said Jie Xiong, a professor at UMass Amherst and the paper’s senior author. “Instead of using radio signals to send information wirelessly, it uses the light from LEDs that can turn on and off, up to one million times per second…

  • Money & Markets: AI is the investors’ Next Big Thing

    Back when I was a child the first published piece I wrote was an AI short story in the July 1982 issue of Practical Computing. AI is rapidly becoming the next big thing in financial markets, and it's not hard to see why. With the ability to analyse vast amounts of data and make decisions faster than any human could, AI is transforming the way that financial institutions operate. No wait… I didn’t write the above paragraph; OpenAI’s ChatGPT did, and if you type ‘Write an 800 word article about AI being the next big thing in financial markets’ you will get an article the length I’m writing that will take you through the whole enchilada, without the use of the cliché, ‘the whole enchilada.’ ChatGPT is blowing people away and frightening and delighting humanity at all levels. Google is apparently…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • UK to pay farmers to protect their local environment

    The changes mean farmers could receive up to a further £1,000 per year for taking nature-friendly action through the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI). This new Management Payment will be made for the first 50 hectares of farm (£20/ha), to cover the administrative costs of participation. SFI is already paying farmers to improve soil and moorlands, and an expanded set of standards for 2023 will be published shortly. The announcement follows a joint letter to Rishi Sunak in November urging him not to backtrack on reforms to agriculture policy that are designed to help farmers improve the environment and nature. Farmers with a Countryside Stewardship (CS) agreement will also see an average increase of 10 per cent to their revenue payment rates – covering ongoing activity such as habitat…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Scientists use human touch to power electronics

    Using the human body as an antenna, the team of researchers has developed a low-cost, innovative way to harvest waste energy from V isible Light Communication (VLC), a wireless version of fibre optics that uses flashes of light to transmit information.  This waste energy collected can then be recycled to power an array of wearable devices, or even, perhaps, larger electronics. “VLC is quite simple and interesting,” said Jie Xiong , professor of information and computer sciences at UMass Amherst.  “Instead of using radio signals to send information wirelessly, it uses the light from LEDs that can turn on and off, up to one million times per second.” Part of the appeal of VLC is that the infrastructure is already everywhere. Homes, vehicles, streetlights and offices are all lit by LED bulbs…

  • MPs recommend ‘national mobilisation’ to reach net zero

    In a recent report, a cross-party committee of MPs has asked for a “national mobilisation” that would improve home insulation and accelerate the transition towards net-zero. The document has also called on ministers to set ambitious targets for rolling-out onshore wind and tidal energy, as well as recommending the government should set an end date for domestic oil and gas licensing. “To reduce the UK’s demand on fossil fuels, we must stop consuming more than we need," said Philip Dunne MP, the committee chairman.  “We must fix our leaky housing stock, which is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, and wastes our constituents’ hard-earned cash: we must make homes warmer and retain heat for longer." At the moment, the UK remains dependent on fossil fuels for 78 per cent of its…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • New York City buys 900 EVs to replace government fleets

    The US Transportation Department has granted $10.1m (£8.4m) for the change, which is part of efforts to improve air quality across the city. New York City’s air quality has improved in recent decades, as the City and State have worked to lower emissions from regional and local sources. But despite this progress, air pollution remains a leading environmental health threat to citizens. “When New Yorkers see cars, trucks and vans with the ‘NYC’ logo on the side, they can rest assured that those vehicles are contributing to a greener city,” Adams said. “We are already ahead of schedule in transitioning city vehicles away from fossil fuels, and this new grant will allow us to take nearly 1,000 fossil-fuel vehicles off our roads, helping us reduce carbon emissions, make our air cleaner and save…

  • UK smashes temperature records in 2022 with an average over 10°C

    In a new study, the Met Office also concluded that human-induced climate change made the record-breaking temperatures around 160 times more likely. Without climate change, it was estimated that such temperatures would only be experienced in around one in 500 years, but it is now likely they will recur every three to four years under current climate conditions. The full annual UK mean temperature data for 2022 resulted in a provisional figure of 10.03°C, the highest yet in records dating back to 1884. This made 2022 0.89°C above the 1991-2020 average and 0.15°C higher than the previous record of 9.88°C set in 2014. Dr Nikos Christidis, Met Office climate attribution scientist, said: “We also used climate models to project how often this sort of temperature could be recorded in the future…

  • Dell to phase out Chinese semiconductors with a year

    Dell is said to be taking significant steps to end its use of Chinese-made components, starting with silicon chips.  The technology company has set out to stop using semiconductors made in China - including those produced in facilities owned by non-Chinese chipmakers - by 2024. It has also told its suppliers to reduce the amount of other made-in-China components in its products.  The world's third-largest computer maker by shipments told suppliers late last year that it aims to "meaningfully lower" the amount of China-made chips it uses, three people with direct knowledge of the matter told Nikkei Asia. Dell's goal is to have all chips used in its products produced in plants located outside China by 2024, they said.  The move is the latest development in a long-running trade dispute…

  • Hands-on review: SnapGrip Creator Kit

    ShiftCam has introduced several products aimed at making the most of the phenomenal photographic power of modern smartphones. The latest is the SnapGrip Creators Kit. So, what’s in the SnapGrip Creators Kit? Principally there are three components to what ShiftCam rather grandly calls an ecosystem: SnapGrip, SnapPod and SnapLight. SnapGrip is a device that magnetically docks to a smartphone. Upon making a Bluetooth connection, users can hold the phone more like a camera, with no fingers getting in the way of the picture. It also charges the phone – which could be viewed as useful backup or a way of prolonging your photo session. It’s a well-balanced device as well and can act as a stand, although not tested on the biggest phones. For sturdier and more flexible mounting we have the second…

  • Sony and Honda unveil Afeela electric car brand

    The technology and car giant’s joint venture is called Afeela, with a prototype electric car appearing on-stage at Sony’s press conference ahead of CES 2023 in Las Vegas, which opens today (Thursday). Many of the car’s key specifications are still to be revealed, but Yasuhide Mizuno, chief executive of the Sony Honda Mobility Group, said that it would combine “Sony sensors and Honda safety”, with the car set to feature 45 cameras and sensors inside and out which will monitor the car’s condition and surroundings, as well as the driver. Sony also said it would use its expertise in gaming and entertainment to create a unique in-car experience for passengers – concept images of the inside of the car show an array of screens and interactive environments. The front of the car also includes…

  • Improve Twitter passwords, experts warn, after minister’s account hacked

    The Twitter account of Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has become the latest to be compromised as a string of offensive messages was posted before being deleted. It comes only days after the Twitter profile of education secretary Gillian Keegan also fell victim to hackers. In a string of high-profile hacking incidents, Piers Morgan’s account has also been compromised in recent weeks. In the wake of Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media platform and the departure of around half the company’s staff amid a ‘chaotic’ staff restructuring, there have been concerns raised over the strength and responsiveness of Twitter’s security systems. There have also been reports of millions of user email addresses being scraped from the platform as part of a data leak and offered to hackers…

  • UK employers determined to keep hiring in battle to retain talent, survey says

    In the context of high inflation and an economic downturn, UK employers have signalled they are determined to keep hiring in the New Year, with the Net Employment Outlook remaining positive at +19 per cent for Q1 2023, according to the latest survey from ManpowerGroup. The survey is based on responses from 2,030 UK employers and asks whether they intend to hire additional workers, maintain current headcount, or reduce the size of their workforce in the coming quarter (January to March 2023). Although UK employers stated an intention to keep hiring at pace to maintain productivity and business as usual, the latest Outlook marks a decline of five percentage points on the fourth quarter of 2022. With a stretched and tightened labour market to contend with, retaining skilled talent will be…

  • Friends of the Earth to launch legal action against Cumbria coal mine

    The £165m project, which was approved in December nearly two years after it was first proposed, has faced significant criticism over its potential environmental impact and its clash with UK climate targets. The mine is expected to produce nearly 2.8 million tonnes of coking coal annually which will be used in the production of steel, rather than electricity generation. South Lakes Action on Climate Change (SLACC) - the other main opponent of the mine - is also considering legal action and sent a letter to the levelling-up secretary, Michael Gove, in December seeking more information and setting out some of the errors in law in his decision. When approving the decision, Gove said the government was “satisfied that there is currently a UK and European market for the coal” and that it was…

  • Scientist develop safe alternative refrigeration method

    Based on the science behind the practice of adding salt to roads to prevent ice from forming, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a new method of heating and cooling. Ionocaloric cooling takes advantage of the process by which energy, or heat, is stored or released when a material changes phase – such as changing from a solid to a liquid state. For example, while  material absorbs heat from the surroundings, solidifying it releases heat. Following a similar process, the Berkeley Lab team used salt ions to cause changes in temperature. They expect this new method could eventually provide efficient heating and cooling and help phase out current 'vapor compression' systems, which use gases with high global warming potential…

  • UK set several clean energy records in 2022

    RenewableUK and National Grid ESO have highlighted two wind energy records achieved in the UK at the end of 2022: one related to wind energy generation and another regarding the overall percentage of low-carbon electricity produced.  On 30 December, a new record for wind generation was set in Britain for the third time in the year.  The record saw 20.91 gigawatts (GW) of power being produced from offshore and onshore wind turbines in Britain, in the half-hour period between 6 and 6.30pm on the second-to-last day of the year.  This metric beat the previous record of 20.896GW set on 2 November 2022.  "The fact that the UK's onshore and offshore wind farms keep setting new electricity generation records shows just how important this technology has become in our modern energy system," said…

  • Europe’s largest carbon emitter failed to curb emissions in 2022

    According to climate think tank Agora Energiewende, Europe’s largest CO2 emitter needs to “urgently” implement structural measures to achieve both climate targets and energy security. Greenhouse gas emissions stagnated at around 761 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent, which means last year was the second time that the country has failed to meet its target. “CO2 emissions are stagnating at a high level, despite significantly lower energy consumption by households and industry. This is an alarm signal with regard to the climate goals,” said Simon Müller, a director at Agora Energiewende. According to an evaluation by the firm, energy consumption in Germany fell by 4.7 per cent or 162 terawatt-hours compared to 2021, partly as a result of the massive price increases for natural gas and electricity…

  • Self-powered, printable smart sensors could mean cheaper, greener Internet of Things

    Powering the increasing number of sensor nodes used in the IoT creates a technological challenge. The economic and sustainability issues of battery-powered devices mean that wirelessly powered operation – combined with environmentally friendly circuit technologies – will be needed. Large-area electronics – which can be based on organic semiconductors, amorphous metal oxide semiconductors, semiconducting carbon nanotubes and two-dimensional semiconductors – could provide a solution. Simon Fraser University (SFU) professor Vincenzo Pecunia believes that emerging alternative semiconductors that are printable, low-cost and eco-friendly could lead the way to a cheaper and more sustainable IoT. Leading a multinational team of experts in various areas of printable electronics from SFU's campus…

  • BT confirms £5m deal to launch the UK’s first drone superhighway

    Traffic management firm Altitude Angel wants to create a drone superhighway that would be the largest and longest network of its kind in the world. Its Unified Traffic Management (UTM) software has been designed to allow drones to fly safely, without a pilot, over large distances. The deal with BT will accelerate the roll-out of technology which detects and identifies drones to allow them to safely share the airspace with crewed aviation. It is estimated that the UK’s drone cargo delivery could be worth £45bn by 2030 and enable drones to transform how essential services function – from supporting the emergency services with real-time search and rescue, fast transportation of medical supplies, farming analysis, and architectural planning. The long-term aim of the project is to connect…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Caltech launches solar power prototype into space

    The 110lb SSPD prototype was launched into space on the Transporter-6 mission, which lifted off from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday 3 January 2023.  The demonstrator is part of the Caltech Space Solar Power Project (SSPP). The scientists behind the mission have designed three experiments to test several key components of an ambitious plan to harvest solar power in space and beam the energy back to Earth.   Satellites in geosynchronous orbit receive sunlight for more than 99 per cent of the time – as they are not subjected to the cycles of a day and changes in weather – and at a much greater intensity than solar panels on Earth, making them a much more efficient source of energy.  The launch of SSPD is the first step on a mission that could see the deployment of a constellation of space solar…

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