• Book review: ‘Red Leviathan’ by Ryan Tucker Jones

    ‘Red Leviathan: The Secret History of Soviet Whaling’ by Ryan Tucker Jones (University of Chicago Press, £24.55, ISBN 9780226628851) struck me as unexpectedly topical for this particular moment in my life. And not only because I’ve just returned from a spectacular Aurora Expeditions cruise to the remote Scottish Islands on board MV Greg Mortimer, during which I was able to take a close look for the first time ever at one of the world’s living wonders - the magnificent Minke whales in their natural habitat in the North Atlantic. In fact, it was not one whale but three, playing joyfully just 20 metres away from our inflatable and unsinkable Zodiac shuttle boat near the island of St Kilda, casually showing their greyish glistening bulks, then diving again and waving at us with the huge fans…

  • Arctic thaw will open cheaper, greener shipping routes

    The routes could also bypass the Russian-controlled Northern Sea Route, say Brown University researchers said. Climate models show that parts of the Arctic that were once covered in ice year-round are warming so quickly that they will be reliably ice-free for months on end in as little as two decades. Projections show that by 2065, the Arctic’s navigability will increase so greatly that it could yield new trade routes in international waters – not only reducing the shipping industry’s carbon footprint but also weakening Russia’s control over trade in the Arctic. “There’s no scenario in which melting ice in the Arctic is good news,” said Amanda Lynch, the study’s lead author. “But the unfortunate reality is that the ice is already retreating, these routes are opening up, and we need to…

  • Ofgem unveils plans to prevent energy supplier collapse amid price volatility

    The plans set out tough new measures to improve the financial health of energy suppliers so that they can withstand future shocks in the energy market, especially over the autumn and winter. The proposed changes include protecting consumer credit balances and green levies when suppliers fail, to prevent the costs being picked up by consumers. There will also be new requirements for suppliers to have better control over the key assets they need to run their supply business, and a tightening of the rules on the level of direct debits suppliers can charge customers, to ensure credit balances do not become excessive. These changes will reduce the risk of suppliers going bust and protect the credit balances of energy customers if this does happen, preventing a repeat of last year’s failures…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • UK decarbonisation will lead to job changes rather than losses, report finds

    Some 1.3 million people are employed in carbon-intensive ‘brown’ jobs that will need to adapt to cleaner technologies and processes. In its report, the Resolution Foundation said that the share of ‘green jobs’ has grown by just 1.3 percentage points over the past decade, but it anticipates that this change will accelerate over the course of this decade as firms replace emissions-intense processes with new, clean technologies and practices. The sheer pace of change coming has led some to claim that the decarbonisation drive of the 2020s and 2030s will lead to a repeat of the job destruction of deindustrialisation that saw manufacturing shrink as a share of employment by 5 percentage points a decade in the 1970s and 1980s. But the research shows that the labour market will see changes from…

  • Sponsored: How electrification can accelerate industrial transport’s net zero journey

    While most vehicle traffic is for passenger transport, we often overlook the environmental impact of industrial vehicles. For example, in the European Union, lorries, buses, and coaches account for only 5 per cent of traffic but 25 per cent of total vehicle carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions. The heaviest vehicles, while less common, account for nearly 50 per cent of these emissions. So, improving the energy efficiency of industrial vehicles offers a significant opportunity to radically reduce global emissions. The transportation of people, goods and raw materials accounts for over 25 per cent of the world’s total energy consumption and almost 30 per cent of global CO 2 emissions. In addition to CO 2 emissions, diesel-powered vehicles also emit other harmful gases and particulates. In the US…

  • £43m awarded to develop electric motorbikes and delivery trucks

    The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said the projects could secure more than 550 jobs across the UK while saving nearly 27.6 million tonnes of carbon emissions. The projects were awarded funding through the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), which collaborates with the UK government and the automotive industry to accelerate the industrialisation of net-zero-emission vehicles. The APC allocated £8.5m in funding towards Project Zero Emission Norton, based in Solihull, to develop an electric motorbike that delivers a high level of race performance and touring range. A further £8.5m was allocated to the OX Delivers CLEAN project in Leamington Spa to develop an all-terrain electric delivery truck (pictured below) designed for emerging markets and manufactured in…

  • CERN will cease collaboration with Russia and Belarus from 2024

    The CERN Council, which oversees the world's largest particle accelerator, has publicly opposed the “illegal” military invasion of Ukraine, supported by Belarus, and is looking to cut ties with both nations. In its latest meeting, the Council announced its plans to terminate the organisation’s International Cooperation Agreements (ICAs) with the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus after their 2024 expiration dates. However, the Council is open to amending this decision in the light of developments in Ukraine. The ICA with Belarus will last until June 2024, while the one with Russia expires in December 2024. “CERN was established in the aftermath of World War II to bring nations and people together for the peaceful pursuit of science,” the statement said. “Member States recalled…

  • UK will fail to meet 2030 air-pollution goal without ‘robust’ action

    The UK has legal air-quality limits for major pollutants at a local and national level, covering pollution from ammonia, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides (NO 2 ), non-methane volatile organic compounds, sulphur dioxide, and more. An NAO report assessing the effectiveness of policies designed to tackle these pollutants has found that only sluggish national action has been taken to tackle the challenges on major roads and motorways, which means overall compliance cannot be achieved until after 2030. This is more than four years later than the government expected when it published its plan for tackling NO 2 in 2017. Furthermore, the NAO said there is particular concern about the health risks from particulate matter and ammonia. “Government is not yet clear how it will meet existing…

  • US dismantles Russian hacking botnet that attacked millions of devices

    The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has confirmed authorities have dismantled the RSOCKS botnet, which connected millions of hacked computers and devices worldwide, including 'Internet of Things' gadgets like routers and smart garage openers. Several unnamed large public and private entities have been victims of RSOCKS, including a university, a hotel, a television studio and an electronics manufacturer, the department said. “It is believed that the users of this type of proxy service were conducting large-scale attacks against authentication services, also known as credential stuffing, and anonymising themselves when accessing compromised social media accounts, or sending malicious email, such as phishing messages,” a DoJ statement said. RSOCKS users paid a fee that ranged from $30 (…

  • Sponsored: What Does The Future Of EV Adoption Look Like?

    According to the "Future Energy Scenarios" report from National Grid, there are expected to be as many as 11 million electric vehicles on our roads by 2030 and 36 million by 2040. We caught up with two EV experts and champions - Shamala Evans-Gadgil, Senior Programme/Project Manager and consultant working on behalf of Coventry City Council, and Claire Miller, Director of Technology & Innovation at Octopus Electric Vehicles – ahead of their talks at PEMD 2022 (Power Electronics, Machines and Drives), to discuss the positive impact of electric vehicles, the obstacles we are having to overcome to encourage more widespread adoption and what an electric future might look like What, in your view, are the biggest barriers to increased EV adoption? According to Shamala Evans-Gadgil, who is currently…

  • Gatwick Airport to cut summer flights as staff shortages take their toll

    It plans to slowly increase the number over July and August by gradually raising capacity level at the airport as long as staffing number support it. During the peak holiday period, the airport will see 825 flights a day take off in July and then up to 850 flights a day in August. The move follows a rapid upturn in air traffic levels at Gatwick, with the Jubilee holiday week seeing around 800 flights use the runway on average each day. Gatwick has already seen over 10 million passengers travel through the airport in the first six months of this year as numbers rise after the Covid-19 pandemic, which badly affected the aviation sector. Despite the rebounding of the sector, Heathrow Airport recently revealed that passenger numbers had only reached 79 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in…

  • Government disputes £330bn price tag for net-zero infrastructure

    A report published in March, commissioned by the trade association for energy infrastructure companies, BEAMA – found that without this level of investment “the prospect of electric vehicles not being changed, heat pumps not having sufficient power, or renewable generation not connecting are real possibilities”. As part of the government’s net-zero drive, up to 30 million electric vehicle chargers and 20 million heat pumps or hybrid systems could be required by 2050. This could increase electricity demand by more than 70 per cent, according to the report, which was drawn up by the independent not-for-profit group Catapult Energy Systems. To cater for this increased demand, Catapult Energy Systems said a rapid growth in local and distribution lines and cables is required. Without active…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Sponsored: Low Voltage Circuit Breaker Testing and the role of new software

    Most of today’s circuit breakers designed for simple protection functions in final distribution applications are non-adjustable, so they do not require any unique configuration. However, circuit breakers designed for LV applications above 100 A in main switchboards  typically integrate protection for many fault conditions, like overload, short circuit, and earth fault. Many of these breakers configure to coordinate protection between each other – using selectivity and cascading – to help minimise impacts of electrical faults while preserving supply continuity for the rest of a facility. Circuit breakers offering this level of protection and reliability have adjustable settings that need configuration. During the design phase of a new facility, upgrade, or expansion,…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Could AI protect renewable energy sources on the grid?

    According to experts, solar panels and wind turbines, now projected to produce 44 per cent of America’s electricity by 2050, present cyber-security challenges. Many of these renewables have sensors, controllers, actuators or inverters that are directly or indirectly connected to the internet, and they’re distributed far and wide across the country and the countryside. Many have insecure connectivity to legacy electric grid systems, therefore making them subject to advanced persistent threats. More of these systems will also be online over the next few years. So there’s a need for cyber-security systems that “prevent, detect and mitigate” attacks on renewable sources sending power to the grid, said Gelli Ravikumar, a research assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at…

  • Why businesses must cultivate an innovation-centric culture

    Staying competitive in today’s tech-first climate requires businesses to innovate continuously. But innovation is no longer a linear project that can be mapped out and approached piecemeal. Instead, companies must be ready to act quickly and adapt their strategy as demand changes and external factors come into play. Many businesses are struggling to keep up, with just 6 per cent of executives saying they are satisfied with their organisation’s innovation performance. A lot of companies are still playing it too safe and focusing on the specifics of delivery timelines and dates, lines of codes and tickets, when they should be thinking more broadly about how their product will land in the market. Truly successful innovation is only possible when businesses see product development as part…

  • A third of people in the UK are open to using robots, survey says

    A new national survey commissioned by the EPSRC UK Robotics and Autonomous Systems (UK-RAS) Network has shed light on the UK population's current attitude towards robotics technology. The research revealed many Brits are still unsure about what exactly constitutes a 'robot', and the potential ways in which the technology could aid our everyday lives. “This year’s survey has uncovered some quite surprising responses about what people consider to be robots and robotic technology, and raises some really interesting questions about our relationship to this technology as it develops,” said EPSRC UK-RAS network chair Professor Robert Richardson. Robots are defined as automated machines that can successfully execute specific tasks with little or no human intervention. When asked to name a…

  • Book review: ‘Artificial Communication’ by Elena Esposito

    When it comes to the algorithms that work with deep learning and big data there’s a strange paradox emerging, says Elena Esposito in ‘Artificial Communication’ (The MIT Press, £22.50, ISBN 9780262046664). The better they become at driving cars, composing music and scanning books, the more our discomfort increases. You only have to type an email or peck at a text to find that the untrustworthy predictive text of yesteryear has given way to a spookily accurate set of suggestions about what your next word might be in your linear narrative. Or even how to complete your sentence. This eerie feeling of machines or software behaving in a way that’s too similar to our own human thought processes has given rise to the expression ‘uncanny valley’. Esposito, who is a professor of sociology working in…

  • The eccentric engineer: dreaming up the sewing machine

    Elias Howe had dreams of a career in the textile industry and became an apprentice in a textile factory in 1835. However, his ambitions did not pan out quite as he had hoped. Just two years into his apprenticeship, the financial panic of 1837 bankrupted his factory, and he was forced to move to Cambridge Massachusetts, where he worked in a carding factory before finding an apprenticeship with a master engineer who specialised in the construction and repair of scientific instruments. The combination of working in precision engineering and a background in cloth production seems to have inspired Howe’s great idea. He would invent a machine for sewing. There was a problem with this, of course. The sewing machine had already been invented – lots of times. The first patented machine appeared in…

  • View from India: New job avenues in the offing

    The PM’s announcement seems like a breather for the employment sector but it could also be an opportunity for those seeking employment to up-skill and re-skill their digital working knowledge. Remote working could also be part of the upcoming agenda. Newer openings in the departments and ministries may even open up indirect avenues. For instance, collaborations with the private sector or startups for outsourcing work are likely to happen. Allied services may be required to support the ecosystem. Technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, data analytics and automation may be leveraged for precision and accuracy in operations. Better employment options could translate into economic growth; the multiplier effect could be a move towards the PM’s vision of a US$5tn economy…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Almost 400 automated vehicle crashes reported in the USA in the last year

    The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has revealed that carmakers reported nearly 400 crashes involving automated vehicles in the last 11 months. Tesla alone reported 273 crashes.  The regulator asked manufacturers to report crashes involving these cars from July 2021 through to 15 May this year, with the goal of examining the status of the technology in detail for the first time. After publishing the findings, the authority cautioned against using the numbers to compare automakers, saying it didn't weigh them by the number of vehicles from each manufacturer that uses the systems, or how many miles those vehicles travelled. "As we gather more data, NHTSA will be able to better identify any emerging risks or trends and learn more about how these technologies are…

  • Spanish airline reserves Airlander 10 blimps for 2026 passenger service

    The 44m wide and 26m high airship was originally developed for the US government as a long-endurance surveillance aircraft. The US later scrapped the programme due to defence funding cuts, prompting Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) to redesign and redevelop the craft for civilian purposes. However, in 2016, during what was supposed to be the beginning of 200 hours of test flights, the prototype aircraft crashed setting back its commercial deployment. The Airlander 10 fleet is now set for initial operations across Spain from 2026, with production of the aircraft expected to start this year in South Yorkshire. Air Nostrum said the project would create “thousands of skilled jobs in green aerospace technologies” as well as supporting the UK government’s levelling up agenda in the region. The reservation…

  • ‘People still think of sensors as devices that will steal their data’

    By 2025 there will probably be a trillion sensors on the planet. It’s not an exact figure, but for Chris Slater it hardly matters: they’re going to outnumber humans by orders of magnitude. What matters more to the author of ‘Sensing Machines’ is that the public – who are becoming more reliant on the interconnected world of sensing devices – don’t really understand them. “People still think of sensors as devices that will steal their data. But they’re just transducers that take a signal out of the world and change it into another form of energy so that a computer can read it.” What people are thinking of, he says, is the machines connected to the sensors; they’re thinking about the corporations that harvest data to create wealth. For Salter, sensors are the bridge that provides the interface…

  • Book review: ‘Elon Musk: Risking it All’ by Michael Vlismas

    It’s a safe bet that there will be barely a single reader of E&T who has not heard the name of arguably the most famous person in the world of technology today. But let’s imagine for a minute that there is; asking the question that journalist Michael Vlismas has set out to answer - who is Elon Musk? The short response is readily available on virtually any newsfeed you care to consult, for the co-founder and CEO of Tesla – depending on how you measure it, probably the richest human on Earth – can’t be accused of staying out of the limelight. The longer answer comes in the form of ‘Elon Musk: Risking it All’ (Icon Books (£14.99, ISBN 9781776191857), which depicts the entrepreneur as a boundary-pushing tech-cult billionaire. He’s also a trigger-happy tweeter with a ‘will he/won’t he?’ starring…

  • UK plans £1bn insulation scheme for low-income homes

    The UK government is reportedly working on a project to help low-income households insulate their homes, in order to protect them from the cost of living crisis. The plans would require the government to remove £1bn in funding from other initiatives in order to expand the Energy Company Obligation scheme, which helps fuel-poor customers insulate their homes. The expansion is expected to allow middle-income households to access the programme. According to The Times, the funds necessary for the project might be taken out of the Public Sector Decarbonisation scheme, which aims to increase the energy efficiency of schools, hospitals and other public buildings. “The fastest and simplest way to tackle the cost-of-living crisis is to invest in insulation which has the potential to save £150…

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