• Chinese province plans ban on sale of petrol and diesel cars

    China is the world's leading market for electric vehicles, accounting for approximately 46 per cent of the global fleet, according to data from June this year, when 10 million highway-legal plug-in passenger cars were on Chinese roads. The ruling Communist Party is promoting electric cars to help clean up China’s smog-choked cities and gain an early lead in a growing industry. The Hainan provincial government declared that sales of fossil fuel-powered cars will be banned on the island by 2030 and that electric vehicles will be promoted with tax breaks and by expanding the charging network, as described in its 'Carbon Peak Implementation Plan'. “By 2030, the whole province will ban sales of fuelled vehicles,” according to the plan, which goes on to state that Hainan aims to have electric…

  • UK businesses to delay net zero transition as energy bills soar

    In a survey of businesses, 69 per cent said they expected their energy costs to increase in the next three months, with almost a third anticipating rises of more than 30 per cent. Firms are doing their best to absorb higher bills, with around a third saying they do not expect to pass on additional energy costs to consumers. But 30 per cent said that energy prices would be likely to negatively impact their current or planned investment in net zero measures. The CBI also warned that energy-intensive industries are already feeling the pinch and further energy price rises could push many viable businesses to the brink unless urgent action is taken to support them and their supply chains. The body called on the government to “urgently” introduce targeted interventions for the most vulnerable…

  • UK-built satellite to ‘weigh’ Earth's forests

    The European Space Agency’s Biomass satellite, which   is currently being assembled by prime contractor Airbus UK in its Stevenage space facility, will measure the carbon stored in the world’s forests Biomass is the first satellite to carry a fully polarimetric P-band radar. The radar has a 70cm wavelength that will allow it to go through the whole forest layer and map the trunks and branches hidden below, unlike previous missions. This will help scientists better assess the effects of deforestation on climate change more accurately, significantly reducing the uncertainty around current measures. The mission is expected to last five years, scanning the world’s forests every six months. People will be able to track the satellite as it orbits the Earth. Maria Cody, head of ESA policy at…

  • Business needs should drive choice of building information software

    A building information modelling (BIM) approach brings a multitude of different benefits to the built environment, from enhanced team communication to improved efficiency. However, to fully realise the potential of BIM, choosing the right software is essential. There’s much debate about what qualifies as true BIM software, and organisations are likely to find conflicting information when searching online. The reality is that BIM software in the literal sense does not exist. BIM can leverage any software, but it’s not software in itself. Additionally, there’s no silver bullet out there that gives companies the upper hand or is universally recommended by the BIM community. However, there is a vast range of software available that enables businesses in the built environment to generate, share…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Book review: ‘Volt Rush’ by Henry Sanderson

    Throughout the 20th century, access to oil equalled power. This century, argues Financial Times journalist Henry Sanderson, what will matter is access to the finite raw materials that power our devices and, increasingly, our vehicles and homes. 'Volt Rush: The Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green’ (OneWorld, £20.00, ISBN 9780861543755) examines this new gold rush. For many, ‘mining’ is evocative of a grimier, poorer, polluting past. However, we are mining more minerals now than at any time in history, and this can only increase as the world phases out fossil fuels and builds new clean energy infrastructure. “Despite talk of artificial intelligence, the internet of things, and an imminent takeover by robots, our societies have in many ways not moved on from the practices of the past…

  • British Airways’ San Francisco flights to use sustainable aviation fuel from 2025

    Renewable fuels company Aemetis has announced a multi-year agreement with International Airlines Group (IAG), which owns BA and Irish carrier Aer Lingus. The agreement follows experimental usage of the fuels by BA last year, which sourced SAF to cover the requirements for all its flights between London, Glasgow and Edinburgh during the COP26 climate conference in October. SAFs are typically derived by combining jet fuel with alternatives such as bio-fuels or recycled oils from industrial food facilities. IAG will purchase a total of 78,400 tonnes of SAF over seven years, enough to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 248,000 tonnes across the same time period. Eric McAfee, chairman and CEO of Aemetis, said: “Sustainable aviation fuel continues to be shown to be a great solution to decarbonise…

  • Autism in young children could be detected early with AI tool

    A team of scientists with expertise in food science and computer science/computer engineering are collaborating to develop a machine learning tool that can assist doctors and parents in the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in young children.  The researchers have looked at biometric data and behavioural responses to strong smells and tastes as a way of detecting indicators of autism. The University of Arkansas' Han-Seok Seo and Khoa Luu have created a deep-learning algorithm that could potentially identify sensory cues from various foods in both neurotypical children and those known to be on the spectrum. The AI then analyses these responses, detecting the cases in which they correlate with behaviours associated with autism.  In addition to difficulties in certain social interactions…

  • Rishi Sunak pledges to make the UK a ‘science superpower’ if made PM

    Rishi Sunak has promised UK scientists a £15bn version of the Horizon Europe research programme, with the UK's associate membership of that EU programme still in limbo due to Brexit.  The former chancellor - believed to be trailing rival Liz Truss in the race to succeed Boris Johnson as leader of the Tory party, and thus become de facto prime minister until at least the next general election - made the announcement ahead of the latest Tory hustings in Birmingham, where he called the West Midlands the “birthplace of the first Industrial Revolution”.  The EU's flagship Horizon programme has been at the centre of Brexit controversies over the past few months, with the UK government recently writing to the European Commission demanding that the bloc ends “persistent delays”   to the approval…

  • James Webb Telescope uncovers the secrets of Jupiter’s atmosphere

    The telescope discovered giant storms raging inside its atmosphere, powerful winds, auroras, and extreme temperature and pressure conditions. “We hadn’t really expected it to be this good, to be honest,” said planetary astronomer Imke de Pater, professor emerita at the University of California, Berkeley. “It’s really remarkable that we can see details on Jupiter together with its rings, tiny satellites, and even galaxies in one image.” The two images come from the observatory’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), which has three specialised infrared filters that showcase details of the planet. Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team Since infrared light is invisible to the human eye, the light has been mapped onto the visible spectrum. Generally, the longest…

  • Drying technique helps flat wooden objects morph into 3D shapes

    In nature, plants and some animals can alter their own shapes or textures. Even after the cutting down of trees, the wood can change shape as it dries. It shrinks unevenly and warps because of variations in fibre orientation within the wood. Doron Kam, a graduate student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said despite warping being an obstacle, the research team behind the technique sought to understand this phenomenon and “harness it into a desirable morphing”. Unlike some natural objects, artificial structures can’t typically shape themselves, said Eran Sharon, one of the project’s principal investigators. In recent years, scientists have printed flat sheets that could form themselves into 3D shapes after a stimulus, such as a change in temperature, pH or moisture content. However…

  • 12 companies blamed for 70 per cent of UK’s branded packaging waste

    In a new study, the charity named Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, McDonalds, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Mondelez International, Nestlé, Tesco, Red Bull GmbH, Suntory, Carlsberg Group, Heineken Holding and Mars as the companies most likely to have their name branded on UK litter. Thousands of volunteers have been collecting packaging pollution through the charity's 'Million Mile Clean' over the last year, uncovering over 264 companies fuelling the packaging pollution crisis and filling up rivers and seas. Some 28,727 items were recorded overall, including both branded and unbranded items. Surfers Against Sewage said there had been little change in this year’s so-called 'Dirty Dozen', the charity's annual survey identifying the firms creating the most packaging pollution. It said the finding “makes a mockery…

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  • China drafts roadmap to boost its civilian drone industry

    The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has published a detailed plan, outlining the targets the regulator wanted its unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) industry to reach by the years 2025, 2030 and 2035 in order to become the largest drone market in the world, closing the gap with the US.    The roadmap is currently open to public comment and it includes improving regulations and expanding airspace capacity for civilian UAVs, Reuters has reported. The CAAC said the plan will be open for comment until September 5 2022. The goal is to "enhance China's international competitiveness in the field of unmanned aviation as well as the country's right to speak on international civil aviation rules and standards... and reach the goal of becoming a global civil aviation power," a representative…

  • Six vital questions for the UK offshore wind sector

    Generating more electricity from offshore wind than anywhere else in the world, the UK is at the forefront of exploiting the fastest-growing source of energy. However, with an ever-more congested onshore grid, supply chains under pressure and an increasingly competitive global scene, there are several major issues that industry needs to consider as it enters the next phase of developing infrastructure. As demand increases, what will offshore-to-onshore connection look like? More than 20 years after the first offshore wind farm was installed in the UK, many of the connection points to the onshore grid are becoming saturated, so there is a question as to what shape the offshore part of the network will take. National Grid ESO has identified within the Holistic Network Design for 2030 onwards…

  • Wind turbine blades could be recycled into sweets

    Wind power is a popular form of renewable energy, but disposal becomes an issue when it’s time to replace the huge turbine blades. To tackle this, scientists have created a new composite resin suitable for making these behemoths that could later be recycled into new turbine blades or a variety of other products, including countertops, car taillights, nappies, and even gummy bears. “The beauty of our resin system is that at the end of its use cycle, we can dissolve it, and that releases it from whatever matrix it’s in so that it can be used repeatedly in an infinite loop,” said John Dorgan, a professor at Michigan State University (MSU). “That’s the goal of the circular economy.” Most wind turbine blades are made of fibreglass, and can be half the size of a football pitch. And although…

  • Liquid crystals could be used to make computers, MIT study says

    A pair of researchers have found evidence suggesting that a new kind of computer could be built based on liquid crystals rather than silicon. According to the article published in the journal Science Advances , the computer would be built using the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules - similar to those found in LCD TVs – to store data, with calculations expected to look like "ripples" through the liquid.  If successful, the computer design made by Žiga Kos  at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia and  Jörn Dunkel at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology would provide an alternative to electronics for the building of computers. Liquid crystals consist of rod-shaped molecules that slosh around like a fluid. In the case of nematic liquid crystals, these molecules are mostly…

  • Electric vehicles could be fully charged in 10 minutes with machine learning method

    Charging the lithium-ion batteries that fuel electric vehicles is a delicate balancing act. Ideally, drivers want to power up as quickly as possible to get back on the motorway, but with current technology, speeding up the process can cause damage to the battery. When a lithium-ion battery is being charged, lithium ions migrate from one side of the device, the cathode, to the other, the anode. By making the lithium ions migrate faster, the battery is charged more quickly, but sometimes the lithium ions don’t fully move into the anode. In this situation, lithium metal can build up, and this can trigger early battery failure or cause the cathode to wear and crack. All of these issues will reduce the lifetime of the battery and the effective range of the vehicle — expensive and frustrating…

  • Book review: ‘Joined-Up Thinking’ by Hannah Critchlow

    For years, when asked to illustrate the difference between the typical Russian and British character I would contrast the English saying “Great minds think alike” with its Russian counterpart, “U durakov misli skhodiatsya” - “Fools think alike.” Now, having read the latest book by Hannah Critchlow, science outreach fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge and one of this country’s most prominent young neuroscientists, I will never be tempted to quote that saying again. Why? Because in the excellent ‘Joined-Up Thinking’ (Hodder & Stoughton, £22, ISBN 9781529398397), Critchlow proves beyond doubt that despite appearing to contradict each other, both expressions can be regarded as a manifestation of one and the same growing phenomenon - ‘joined-up thinking’ - whereby an individual’s thinking is…

  • Britons could be rewarded for turning off appliances to help with energy crisis

    T he National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) is said to be preparing to announce a scheme in which households with smart meters could be paid for turning off high-energy appliances such as washing machines during peak times, the Sunday Times has reported.  The initiative is expected to attempt to ease the burden of rising energy costs on UK households, a s experts predict electricity costs could rise by as much as £6,000 per year for the average family from next April.  ESO is reportedly in the process of applying for Ofgem approval of the programme, which would allow households that minimise the use of appliances such as tumble dryers, dishwashers and games consoles during the peak hours of 5pm and 8pm to save up to £6 per kWh. According to The Sunday Times, the company hopes to…

  • Vehicle-to-grid system test confirms EV batteries could balance grid

    Octopus Energy Group and the National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) said the tests demonstrated the viability of the technology which could allow consumers to save energy and bring down their household bills. The experiment used a test environment of the ‘Balancing Mechanism’, the primary tool used by National Grid ESO to balance Britain’s electricity system in real-time. This is the first time that V2G technology has been demonstrated in the UK to show that electric vehicles can receive a direct signal from the ESO to support system balancing. In a series of initial tests run this month, Octopus charged and discharged the batteries of up to 20 electric cars from participating customers at times of grid imbalance. The tests demonstrated the potential benefit of V2G charging…

  • Robot boat maps underwater volcano in South Pacific

    The Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) Maxlimer is part way through mapping the opening, or caldera, of the submarine Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha’apai (HTHH) volcano in the South Pacific. The boat was developed by British company Sea-Kit International and is part of the second phase of the Tonga Eruption Seabed Mapping Project (TESMaP), led by New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) and funded by the Nippon Foundation of Japan. Data collected from the USV so far has confirmed earlier reports of continuing volcanic activity from HTHH. A winch on the boat allows instruments to be deployed at depths, reaching 300m, to collect data from the entire water column. The boat is gradually building up an elevation map of the volcano’s opening, or caldera…

  • Heat pump uptake could be boosted with stamp duty rebate, report finds

    In its ‘ Going Green ’ report, Onward said the UK will not reach net zero by 2050 unless people rapidly adopt new technologies and change their behaviours. In February, research from Wunderflats ranked the UK near the bottom of 28 European nations for having the coldest, oldest and leakiest housing stock. To accelerate energy efficiency installations, Onward suggested that any homeowner who installs a heat pump within 24 months of moving in should get a stamp duty rebate. The report found that individuals “going green” will be responsible for one-third of the changes that need to be made if the UK is to reach net zero by 2050. Of the three biggest changes needed to reach net zero – decarbonisation of the electricity supply; uptake of electric vehicles (EVs), and adoption of low-carbon…

  • Boris Johnson greenlights funding for Sizewell C nuclear plant

    Whitehall sources have confirmed the Prime Minister and Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi have given the go-ahead for the financing of the construction of the Sizewell C nuclear reactor in Suffolk.  The UK government is expected to buy a 20 per cent stake in the plant for £6bn and seek private funding to finance the remaining cost of the project, estimated at £20-30bn, although a final decision on the figures will be made early next year.  The project, mainly funded by the French energy company EDF, aims to generate about 7 per cent of the UK's electricity needs and operate for 60 years. The new plant would be built next to the existing Sizewell B, which is still generating electricity, and Sizewell A, which has been decommissioned, according to Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng. To date, the government…

  • Solid refrigerants help create eco-friendly cooling system

    People across the US are turning up their air conditioners to beat the summer heat. But the hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants in these products and other cooling devices are potent greenhouse gases and major drivers of climate change, experts have said. “Just installing an air conditioner or throwing one away is a huge driver of global warming,” said Adam Slavney from Harvard University. “The refrigerants used in these systems are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide and can accidentally leak out of systems when they are being handled or disposed of.” Traditional cooling systems such as air conditioners (A/Cs) work by causing a refrigerant to cycle between being a gas or a liquid. When the liquid becomes a gas, it expands and absorbs heat, cooling a room or the interior of a…

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