• Fuel protesters bring M4 to standstill; other roads also affected

    Fuel campaigners focused on a stretch of motorway between Bristol and South Wales this morning, including the Prince of Wales Severn Bridge crossing, as part of action calling for a cut in fuel duty. The protests are understood to have been organised via social media under the banner 'Fuel Price Stand Against Tax'. The action comes as latest figures from Experian show the average price of petrol reached a new high of 191.5p per litre on Sunday. The average price of diesel was 199.0p per litre, with prices at many sites across the country exceeding the 200p mark for both types of fuel. Among those gathering at Magor services, near Caldicot, was Vicky Stamper, 41. The former HGV driver, from Cwmbran, said she and her partner Darren had to leave jobs in Bristol because they could not afford…

  • View from Brussels: Albania embraces a new energy dawn

    Most of Albania’s electricity is produced using hydropower generated by the network of dams along its mountainous rivers. The rest of the power comes from wind, solar and imported electrons. The statistics for overall energy are far less impressive though, as more than 60 per cent of demand is met by fossil fuels like oil and gas. But the current government has big plans to change that, partly prompted by ongoing price spikes and Russia’s war on Ukraine. Albania enjoys the most sunshine hours of any country in Europe, so is ideally placed to exploit the power of the sun. Last week, Prime Minister Edi Rama laid the foundation stone for a new 140 megawatt solar power plant. French firm Voltalia – which has installed more than 1 gigawatt of clean energy across 20 different countries, with…

  • Motorless sailplane design could take flight on Mars

    Inspired by the flight of the albatross, a team of researchers and space experts have designed the sailplane that could fly on Mars. The team aims to use the sailplane to analyse the Red Planet’s atmosphere and geology. "You have this really important, critical piece in this planetary boundary layer, like in the first few kilometres above the ground," said Alexandre Kling, a research scientist in Nasa's Mars Climate Modeling Centre. "This is where all the exchanges between the surface and atmosphere happen. This is where the dust is picked up and sent into the atmosphere, where trace gases are mixed, and where the modulation of large-scale winds by mountain-valley flows happens. And we just don't have very much data about it." At the moment, there are eight active spacecraft orbiting…

  • UK Infrastructure Bank has £5bn pipeline of investments one year after launch

    HM Treasury launched the bank in June 2021 to fund projects that will help tackle climate change and boost regional economic growth. In particular it has been asked to prioritise five sectors: clean energy, transport, digital, water and waste. Headed up by former HSBC chief executive John Flint, it was created partly in response to the UK’s exit from the European Investment Bank infrastructure following Brexit. It has been allocated £22bn in public funds for the first five years of its life for equity investments, loans, and guarantees to support infrastructure projects. The NAO found that the Treasury had “truncated some important elements of the usual process or deferred them until after launch” in order to set up the bank as quickly as possible. It is therefore relying on temporary staff…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Money & Markets: The randomness of markets

    Markets are said to be random by regulators and theoreticians, but none of the practitioners agree. They laugh at the thought that markets are random, all the while ignoring the fact that markets like the huge equity options complex are based on equations with probabilistic distributions at their heart. With practitioner laughter ringing in your ears, you can go dig the data and what do you know, the time series are random. Now as most don’t know, there are many shapes of random and almost obviously market prices are bounded. While oil can go into negative values, it cannot go to a billion dollars a barrel. I wrote that with conviction then realised it wouldn’t take too much Weimar-style inflation for it to do just that, but even hyperinflation hits the buffers after a dozen or so zeros finally…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Energy firms’ customer service plummets to record lows, Citizens Advice says

    With call waiting times rising and customers saying they can’t get hold of their supplier, the average score (2.8 stars) for the Citizens Advice’s ratings table is the lowest on record. Standards have plummeted since June 2021 when the energy market started to collapse, with millions of customers shifted to new suppliers as a result of their own provider failing. To prevent such a scenario occurring again, UK energy regulator Ofgem recently announced tough new measures to prevent waves of suppliers from failing during future periods of price volatility. Citizens Advice is warning the decline is happening at a time when people need good customer service the most. Between January and March 2022, the charity’s Consumer Service helpline saw more than 70,000 cases related to energy issues…

  • US Supreme Court restricts government's powers to regulate carbon emissions

    The administration of US President Joe Biden has suffered a significant blow, as the country's highest court has ruled that the country's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not have the authority to limit emissions that contribute to climate change across whole states. The court sided with 19 conservative states and fossil fuel companies in a case against the EPA brought by West Virginia. In its 6-3 ruling, the court said that only Congress, not the EPA, has the power to create a broad system of cap-and-trade regulations to limit emissions from existing power plants.   Biden called the ruling a "devastating decision" but said that it will not undermine his administration's efforts to curb climate change and reach the goal to completely cut all carbon emissions from power plants by…

  • Qatar World Cup will use semi-automated offside technology, Fifa announces

    The system will provide an automated offside alert to the on-field officials to help them make faster, more accurate and more consistent offside decisions. Video assistant referee (VAR) technology was first introduced at the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia and Fifa has spent the last few years improving the system. The new technology uses 12 dedicated tracking cameras mounted underneath the roof of the stadium to track the ball and up to 29 data points of each individual player, 50 times per second, calculating their exact position on the pitch. The 29 collected data points include all limbs and extremities that are relevant for making offside calls. The official match ball for the tournament, ' Al Rihila ', will also provide further data as it includes an inertial measurement unit (IMU…

  • EU agrees rules to rein in the ‘Wild West’ of crypto assets

    After hours of negotiations, the European Commission, EU lawmakers and member states have reached an agreement on a groundbreaking set of rules to guard against abuse and manipulation in the cryptocurrency market. The new regulations, known as the Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCA) law, will require cryptocurrency companies to obtain a licence and meet struct capital and consumer protection rules in order to be allowed to operate in the EU. Companies issuing or trading crypto assets such as stablecoins will be forced to provide customers with detailed information on the risks, costs and charges that they face by obtaining these assets. Under the new rules, stablecoins like T ether  and Circle’s  USDC  will be required to maintain ample reserves to meet redemption requests in the event of mass…

  • View from India: Bosch India inaugurates its first smart campus in the country

    Bosch India, which set up its first sales agency in Kolkata in 1922, has grown and established itself with its automotive technology, industrial technology, and consumer goods and building technology. Its India presence is the largest development centre outside Germany for end-to-end engineering and technology solutions. “Bosch has been part of the transformation in India for the last 100 years, and during this era we have revolutionised the mobility and the ‘beyond mobility’ ecosystem. With our new Spark.NXT campus, the company continues to invest in smart and sustainable solutions that are ‘Invented for Life’ and supports the government’s vision for an Atmanirbhar Bharat [Self-Reliant India],” said Soumitra Bhattacharya, managing director of Bosch Limited and president of the Bosch Group…

  • Jet fuel produced by common soil bacteria

    “In chemistry, everything that requires energy to make will release energy when it’s broken,” said lead author Pablo Cruz-Morales from the Technical University of Denmark. When petroleum jet fuel is ignited, it releases a tremendous amount of energy in order to give planes enough lift to escape gravity. The researchers recreated a molecule called Jawsamycin - named after the movie Jaws because of its bite-like indentations - by using the common bacteria streptomyces. “The recipe already exists in nature,” Cruz-Morales said. The jagged molecule is produced by native metabolism of the bacteria as they munch away on glucose. Image credit: Pablo Morales Cruz “As they eat sugar or amino acids, they break them down and convert them into building blocks for carbon…

  • Acoustic levitation system can assemble objects with no physical contact

    The research team has presented 'LeviPrint', a new system that uses acoustic manipulation for assembling objects without physical contact. LeviPrint is a "levitator", designed alongside a robotic arm and a liquid dispenser that allows the device to "manufacture complex objects without contact", explained Asier Marzo, lead researcher and member of the UPNA/NUP’s Smart Cities Institute (ISC).  The research was carried out by scientists at the PNA/NUP-Public University of Navarre, in collaboration with researchers at Ultraleap Ltd, UK, and the University of São Paulo, Brazil. The team's conclusions are due to be presented in August in Vancouver, Canada, at SIGGRAPH, the computer graphics and interactive techniques conference.  “We generate acoustic fields that trap small particles, glue…

  • Government fails to rule out EV tax as new regulations come into force

    However, the government failed to rule out introducing a new tax as a way of replacing almost £30bn of revenue it stands to lose in fossil fuel taxes as petrol and diesel cars are replaced by electric models. Under The Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021, that come into force today, all newly fitted EV charge points must have smart functionality. This will allow for the potential of 'electricity rationing' by deciding when EVs can be charged, helping to avoid overloading the National Grid at peak times. It will also enable EV charger usage to be billed at higher electricity prices than domestic electricity by operating with a dedicated smart meter. Currently, petrol and diesel drivers pay fuel duty at 52.95 pence per litre, which brought in £28bn for the government…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Samsung begins mass production of most advanced chip technology to date

    Samsung Electronics has become the first chipmaker in the world to mass-produce advanced 3-nanometer (nm) microchips, which are said to be smaller, as well as more powerful and efficient than currently used 5nm semiconductors. The announcement is a key milestone in Samsung’s efforts to compete with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company ( TSMC), which dominates the market for contract chip production and is the manufacturer of Apple’s chips for its iPhones, iPads, MacBooks and Macs. TSMC is set to b egin volume production of 3nm chips in the second half of 2022, and the company entered the development stage of 2nm technology last year, according to the TSMC's 2021 annual report. Samsung’s 3nm chips are expected to be used in “high-performance, low-power computing” applications before…

  • Switch to energy-efficient LED lighting now to mitigate energy crisis, company says

    Signify argues that the switch to LED lighting would help the millions of families pushed into fuel poverty due to the recent surge in energy prices by saving each household up to £250 per year. The move would also benefit businesses and could deliver a quick win for the UK’s net-zero ambitions. With the recent change in price cap introduced in April 2022, millions of households have been pushed into fuel poverty and several businesses are now facing added volatility due to its impact. Earlier this week, for example, it was reported that the automotive industry is facing a 50 per cent hike in energy costs this year. In response to the energy price squeeze, Signify – a long-established name in lighting – is advocating an accelerated transition to energy-efficient connected LED lighting.…

  • Digital-twin makeover

    On the face of it, the decision by Siemens and Nvidia to forge a link between their tools seems simple enough. So simple that executives from both companies were at pains to point out that it really isn’t that simple. The core of the agreement, presented at a joint event on Wednesday, will be to ensure Siemens tools that are used to design everything from chips to factories will ultimately be able to feed data to Nvidia’s virtual-world building software Omniverse to create more photorealistic visualisations.   “The digital twin is physics-based. It doesn’t just look like the real thing, it behaves like the real thing,” claimed Siemens CEO Roland Busch. “This is not about animation but simulation. If you don’t mimic the real world accurately, you don’t get the benefit out of it. The digital…

  • ‘Mammoth’ direct air capture facility under construction in Iceland

    With a nominal carbon capture capacity of 36,000 tons per year when fully operational, Mammoth represents a significant step in Climeworks’ plan to scale up its operations to deliver gigaton capture capacity by 2050. Construction is expected to last 18-24 months before operations start. The firm’s first direct air capture plant, which it claims is 1,000 times more efficient than photosynthesis, was built in Switzerland and went live in 2017 . It has previously sold its services to the likes of Shopify which used the carbon captured by its facilities to offset its own emissions. Climeworks said the Mammoth plant will capitalise on rising market demand, with several 10-year offtake agreements signed over the last months. Preparatory work at the site has already begun…

  • Urban drone trials underway to give cities ‘highways in the sky’

    The project could demonstrate the feasibility of using drones for delivery services, surveillance, or even unmanned transport in cities and other high-population areas. The AMU-LED project is carrying out co-ordination and testing on a system designed to manage airspace traffic and check safety, interoperability and feasibility. The air traffic management framework is known as U-space and is designed to ensure safe and efficient access to airspace for a large number of drones, based on high levels of digitalisation and automation. The researchers said that future city-dwellers could expect to see a variety of drones in the airspace above where they live designed for various different purposes. A key step towards this is performing flight demonstrations with various scenarios, situations…

  • UK’s first mass-produced hydrogen truck unveiled

    Truckmaker Tevva has launched the first hydrogen fuel cell-supported heavy goods vehicle (HGV) to be manufactured, designed and mass-produced in the UK. The hydrogen fuel cell system has been integrated into the firm’s battery-electric HGV design, enabling the hydrogen to top up the battery in order for the truck to carry heavier loads over longer distances. As a result, the 7.5-tonne hydrogen-electric truck can be driven for up to 310 miles, according to Tevva. “When a zero-emission truck is doing more miles per day, that is very good for the air we breathe, for the planet and for the economics of running electric trucks,” said Tevva’s CEO and founder Asher Bennett. “Every mile you drive on an electric truck, it’s so much cheaper than driving on a diesel truck.” …

  • Air quality sensor network offers highly detailed pollution map in Camden

    Developed by AirScape, the fixed network has 225 AirNode sensors that will provide 45 times more data points and refreshes 60 times more regularly than existing air-quality reference stations, to show a street-by-street picture of air quality in real time. The data collected will be made freely available online to enable individuals, businesses and local authorities to make quality-of-life decisions that improve air quality for all. The National Audit Office recently said that government initiatives to cut air pollution have “not moved as fast as expected” and it is unclear how current 2030 targets for the UK will be met. AirScape said the new project could form a blueprint for other London boroughs and cities around the world to improve the health and wellbeing of the public. Dr Matthew…

  • EU countries reach agreement on climate pledge

    After more than 16 hours of negotiations, environment ministers from the European Union's 27 member states have reached an agreement on five laws from a broader package of measures aimed at ensuring a 2035 phase-out of new fossil-fuel car sales and providing financial support to shield poorer citizens from the costs of carbon dioxide emissions. The new climate rules are expected to reduce EU carbon emissions by at least 55 per cent in 2030 compared with 1990 rather than by a previously agreed 40 per cent. “The climate crisis and its consequences are clear, and so policy is unavoidable,” said EU climate policy chief Frans Timmermans.  Some of the core parts of the package presented were first proposed by the European Commission last summer, including a law requiring new cars sold in the…

  • UK ‘urgently’ needs to regulate biometric technologies, warns review

    New laws governing biometric technologies are “urgently needed”, Matthew Ryder QC has found, as part of the conclusions of an independent review commissioned by the Ada Lovelace Institute. The use of biometric data - including faces, fingerprints, voices, DNA profiles and other measurements related to the body - is becoming increasingly common in new technologies, particularly those related to facial recognition. However, the review has ruled that the legislation currently in place in England and Wales has "not kept up" with developments in this technology, finding it to be "fragmented" and "unclear" regarding its use. Among the legal review’s ten recommendations are that public use of live facial recognition (LFR) technology be suspended pending the creation of a legally binding code of…

  • Government’s net-zero plans exhibit ‘major failures’, report shows

    In a 600-page assessment, it found that while policies are now in place for most sectors of the economy, there is “scant evidence” that the UK will achieve any of its climate change goals so far. UK emissions are now almost half (47 per cent) their 1990 levels. Emissions rose 4 per cent in 2021 as the economy began to recover from Covid-19 but were still 10 per cent below 2019 levels. While efforts to boost renewable energy deployment and increase uptake of electric vehicles were found to have progressed, other low-carbon options remain “in their infancy”, the report said. Home energy-efficiency was one area found to lacking, especially considering soaring energy prices, which have dominated household bills in recent months. While the government promised significant public spending on…

  • £1bn plan to install digital signalling on railways draws ire from unions

    The Department for Transport (DfT) said the plan will deliver safer and more reliable services on East Coast Main Line which is one of the UK’s busiest rail routes. The technology, which will be rolled out across the entire southern section of the line – from London’s King’s Cross to Stoke Tunnels, just south of Grantham – will mean faster, safer and more regular trains. As part of the announcement, transport secretary Grant Shapps took the opportunity to lay into railway workers who have carried out a series of strikes over the last week over pay disputes. “While union bosses waste time touring television studios and standing on picket lines, I am busy getting on with the job at hand and modernising our railway,” he said. “This £1bn investment will allow us to replace unreliable Victorian…

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