• Digital twin boosts railway station’s energy performance

    The Berkshire station is one of the busiest rail hubs in Britain, used by nearly 20 million passengers a year, of whom nearly four million change trains there. Sensors are set to be installed across the site to capture live, real-time data on energy use, which will be fed into a ‘digital twin’ of the station that has been developed on a specialist computer-modelling platform. Using historical data and modelling, a number of opportunities have been identified that are predicted could result in around a 20 per cent improvement on the station’s carbon emissions and energy performance. Network Rail has teamed up with engineering and design consultancy Atkins, and Cardiff University to develop a ‘digital twin’ of Reading station, utilising Cardiff University’s Computational Urban Sustainability…

  • How to vanquish the fatberg menace

    We barely give a second thought to the greasy monsters that lurk in sewers beneath our streets, growing larger every day. We might even feed them without realising it. This might sound like the plot of a cheesy Hollywood film, but it’s the strange reality of a growing waste problem in the 21 st century – and engineers, not film stars, are the heroes fighting back with new inventions to vanquish the fatberg monsters. Fatbergs are rock-like heaps of waste that build up in sewer systems thanks to the unsavoury and lazy habits of humans. Cooking fat and oils poured down sinks congeal in the sewers, forming a thick layer around pipes. This fatty build-up stops sewage from flowing freely, which can cause it to back up. But it’s the addition of non-biodegradable solids such as wet wipes and nappies…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • From rotting potatoes to nourishing prebiotics

    Food waste is a problem of supersized proportions. One third of the food we grow – 1.3 billion tonnes – is wasted. Not only is this shameful when 690 million people go to bed hungry every night, but it also produces an estimated 1.8 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. Turning our noses up at leftovers is part of the problem. The priority is to minimise waste, by eating wonky veg, for example, or redistributing surplus food to hungry people, or animals if it is of lesser quality. But the bulk of wasted food doesn’t even reach our plates. Some food is inedible because it has gone off, become contaminated, or is an inedible by-product of the food industry such as onion skins. These products are then either recycled for fertiliser, burned for energy, or simply go to landfill. But thankfully…

  • UK launches first licensing round for carbon storage projects

    The UK has opened its first licensing round of large-scale carbon capture projects in the North Sea. It could be the first of many, as estimates suggest up to 100 carbon dioxide (CO2) stores could be needed if the UK is to meet its target of reaching net-zero by 2050. Operated by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), the licensing round is inviting bids for projects in 13 areas within the North Sea, specifically in locations off the coast of Aberdeen, Teesside, Liverpool and Lincolnshire. The chosen 13 areas are “a mixture of saline aquifers and depleted oil and gas field storage opportunities”, the NSTA said, adding that it has “fully considered issues including co-location with offshore wind… environmental issues and potential overlaps with existing or future [oil and gas] licences…

  • The carbon cure: how to cut our waste emissions

    Greenhouse gas emissions from waste management plummeted 73 per cent between 1990 and 2020, according to the UK government’s latest data. The waste management sector is now responsible for around 4 per cent of the country’s emissions (17.6MtCO2e of 404.5MtCO2e) compared to 8.5 per cent in 2000. The progress is impressive, with landfill tax driving waste out of holes in the ground – a treatment that sits at the bottom of the ‘waste hierarchy’ and produces the potent global warming gas methane. But where has all this waste gone, with its accompanying emissions? There have been improvements in the standards of landfilling, changes to the types of waste going to landfill (such as reducing the amount of biodegradable waste), and an increase in the amount of landfill gas being used for energy…

  • ‘Digital Strategy’ published; UK must ‘embrace new technologies’ to grow

    Dorries used the annual Tech Week event to announce the government’s newly updated Digital Strategy , which details a road map towards making the UK a tech superpower, boosting the economy as a result. Dorries said the Strategy would also involve creating a new Digital Skills Council to help “plug the skills gap” in the tech sector, as well as looking to “capitalise on the freedoms we now have to set our own standards and regulations” now that the UK has left the EU. The policy paper states that the UK will be "the best place in the world to start and grow a technology business". It also claims that "estimates commissioned by the Government suggest that our approach to supporting and strengthening the digital economy could grow the UK tech sector’s annual gross value added (GVA) by an additional…

  • Device provides 5G signal and wireless power to IoT devices simultaneously

    The number of IoT devices is anticipated to rise alongside global improvements to 5G network coverage. However, such devices typically face hurdles regarding their connectivity and power supply; namely, short transmission distances and a fixed direction from which power can be received wirelessly. The researchers have reported the production of a wirelessly powered transmitter-receiver for 5G networks that overcomes both of these problems. Dr Atsushi Shirane, who led the project, said: “The millimetre-wave wireless power transfer system is a promising solution for massive Internet of Things, yet it has been hampered by technical problems. We were thus able to make a breakthrough by producing a 5G transceiver with high efficiency at big angles and distances.” The transmitter-receiver produced…

  • World’s largest companies lack ‘credibility’ in their net zero plans

    The climate charity analysed the Forbes 2000 largest companies list and found that more than one third (702) now have net zero targets, up from one fifth (417) in December 2020. However, 65 per cent of corporate targets do not yet meet minimum procedural reporting standards, it said. Recent years have seen an increasing number of countries setting and strengthening their carbon reduction commitments, with some 91 per cent of global GDP now captured by net zero targets proposed national by governments, up from 68 per cent in December 2020. But in contrast to the near-universal coverage of country-level net zero targets, the robustness of targets set by “non-state actors” is “alarmingly weak”, Net Zero Tracker said. Frederic Hans, the report’s co-lead author and climate policy analyst at…

  • View from Brussels: Ukraine’s brightest get EU windfall

    The European Innovation Council (EIC) last week announced the €20m fund dedicated solely to helping Ukraine’s start-up sector become more closely aligned with the rest of Europe’s. Under the new fund, grants of up to €60,000 and non-financial support will be made available. The first call for applications will launch on 23 June and the European Commission hopes that applicants will be emboldened to then apply for more funding from the EIC. "Ukraine has a vibrant deep-tech community and strong potential for creating breakthrough innovations," said EU research chief Mariya Gabriel, who also added that the sector will play an essential role in rebuilding the country’s destroyed infrastructure. According to the Ukrainian government, more than 70 per cent of start-ups are still going about…

  • CBI’s economic forecast demands government investment in business

    With the cost-of-living crunch showing no sign of abating, airports struggling to cope, national rail strikes on the horizon and 'Groundhog Day' battles with the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol, there is a real risk that the economy stays a ‘distant second to politics’ this summer, according to the CBI report. Growth has been downgraded to 1 per cent in 2023 as consumer spending weakens: real household incomes are predicted to fall at their fastest pace on record since the 1950s. With this impending household recession, investment in business is even more essential, the CBI said. The CBI’s outlook suggests that growth will soften as household spending turns downwards amid dented business and consumer confidence. As a result, the CBI has downgraded its GDP growth outlook significantly…

  • View from India: Conserve the soil for a better tomorrow

    Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, founder of Isha Foundation, has been named one of India’s 50 most influential people. His transformational programmes have touched the lives of millions the world over. This time, he has set out on a global mission to motivate people in diverse parts of the globe to save the soil from extinction. The visionary has embarked on this expansive 30,000km #JourneyForSoil on a motorcycle. The 100-day global journey kick-started in London earlier in the year, crisscrossed 27 nations in Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East and is now spreading the message on the Indian terrain. The movement is envisioned to initiate policy-driven action to address land degradation, advocate for healthy soil and save it from extinction. There’s a pressing need for saving the soil everywhere…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Mining the bonepile of precious rubbish

    Waste electronics are piling up around the world, whether they are lost in drawers, cupboards and attics just in case the devices might be useful one day or dispatched to the growing mounds of landfill in Africa and South-East Asia. The United Nations Global E-Waste Monitor estimated that consumers, governments and companies threw away some 53.6 million tonnes of unwanted electronics in 2019. That represented an increase of 21 per cent over the amount discarded five years earlier. By 2030, the world could easily be dumping 74 million tonnes of e-waste “fuelled mainly by higher consumption rates of electric and electronic equipment, short life cycles and few options for repair”. Out of 2019’s haul, only 17.4 per cent of the waste was collected and recycled in some way. It is a situation…

  • The problem with packaging

    The conveyor belt whizzes past, carrying waste that residents have put in their recycling bins. Moving almost as fast, a handful of pickers remove items that shouldn’t be there (a negative pick) or collect ones that should (a positive pick). Cardboard packaging, aluminium cans and plastic bottles all fly by and will be recycled. But so too do keyboards, baking trays, dustpans, and an awful lot of flexible packaging – sweet wrappers, bread bags and the like – all of which are ‘contaminants’. “The cleaner the stream, the quicker you can run everything,” explains Richard Hinchcliffe, regional manager at Suez Recycling and Recovery UK, which operates the plant near Bedlington under a contract with Northumberland County Council, “and the less residual waste we send to energy from waste [incineration…

  • After All: brazen, innovative, and sure as Eigg is Eigg

    In an article on Ukraine that I contributed to a national political monthly shortly after the Russian invasion, I surmised that after a while, the amount of British media war coverage was likely to dwindle. The public would get used to the war and start seeing it as an unfortunate, yet distant, reality, having little to do with themselves. Two months later, I must admit that I was right and wrong: media coverage of the war has indeed gone down, but public support for my long-suffering, yet brave and proud, motherland stays strong and unanimous. Life goes on, and human nature is such that it cannot focus on wars and conflicts alone. To function properly, we require regular intakes of positivity and hope. Having devoted my last four columns to the war, I have chosen a different topic this…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Bizarre Tech: MyndHub, Garbage Can Fly Trap and ReadySip

    MyndHub Tap into your midi-chlorians! According to its creators, MyndHub lets you move, power and control electrical gadgets and devices using the POWAAAA OF YOUR MIIIIIND. It’s an alleged bridge between your mind and the physical world, and your brain becomes a controller: things “act or react to your concentration (focus) and meditation (calm) in real-time. “Simply plug and play to train your brain... “Mindhacks without coding... “Used by top athletes and brands.” Well that sounds like a recipe for JEDI MIND TRICKS. By using the MyndHub, you train your focus, improve mental health, combat burnout, all while using real-life neurofeedback. The team says they are here to help you harness your brain, which faces daily digital distraction, leading to poor focus, lack of mental clarity…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Big Tech spends millions in campaign against antitrust bill

    Since January 2021, the largest players in the technology industry have been lobbying against antitrust legislation reform that will ban such platforms from favouring their own products and services, The Wall Street Journal has reported. In total, the group of companies has spent over $36.4m (£29.5m) on their advertising efforts. Almost 40 per cent of the sum has been spent on television and internet advertising since May 1, according to data from ad-tracking service AdImpact. By contrast, groups supporting the legislation have spent around $193,000 (£156,000). The sums involved have made it one of the biggest ad campaigns by the technology industry in recent years, reflecting the potentially game-changing nature of the proposed law. The ad campaign opposes the passing of the  American…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Cacao Eco Village

    Designs have been unveiled for a modular and sustainable village made from 3D-printed cacao waste. Cacao Eco Village will be located on the coast of Ecuador’s Manabi province, where farmers produce chocolate by extracting cocoa butter and solids from cacao beans. Designed by New York-based architectural practice Valentino Gareri Atelier for Ecuadorian chocolate manufacturer Muze and non-profit organisation Avanti, the village will boast 3D-printed structures built from recycled elements of agricultural crops. Construction will also incorporate other local materials such as bamboo and wood. The modular design will create a self-sufficient village, with building facades drawing inspiration from the wide range of multi-coloured Ecuadorian houses and from the cacao trees’ colourful fruits. Decorative…

  • HS2’s green tunnels designed to blend into landscape

    The one-and-a-half-mile-long structure in Chipping Warden, Northamptonshire, is being built on the surface of the ground to speed up the process, HS2 project leads have said. Over 5,000 concrete segments made in a factory in Derbyshire will be assembled on-site before being covered by earth, trees, shrubs and hedgerows to blend in better with the surrounding countryside. The HS2 project has faced fierce criticism about the environmental impact it will have along the full route of the high-speed rail line. The green tunnel will be an M-shaped double arch with separate halves for northbound and southbound trains. Both halves will be approximately the height of two double-decker buses. Image credit: HS2 Ltd According to those involved in the project, the tunnel…

  • Plans to burn £4bn of unusable PPE raise environmental concerns

    According to the cross-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the Department for Health & Social Care (DHSC) lost 75 per cent of the £12bn it spent on PPE in the first year of the pandemic to inflated prices and kit that did not meet requirements. This included £4bn of PPE that will not be used in the NHS and needs to be disposed of, such as 50 million face masks with ear loops rather than head loops that were not fit for purpose. There is no clear disposal strategy for this excess, but the Department currently plans to burn significant volumes of it in order to generate power, although there are concerns about the cost-effectiveness and environmental impact of this “strategy”. In its latest report, the PAC said that as a result of DHSC’s “haphazard purchasing strategy” 24 per cent of…

  • Real-time remote control of smart factory achieved between Korea and Finland

    The ETRI team announced that it has succeeded in demonstrating its Industrial Internet of Things service, which controls and monitors smart factory facilities and robots in real-time at home and abroad at the same time. The core of successfully demonstrating the technology is ultra-low latency communication technology. The communication delay between a distance of over 10,000km is less than 0.3 seconds. The team demonstrated that factory facilities in Gyeongsan, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea, could be controlled in real-time seamlessly from the University of Oulu in Finland. A smart factory refers to an intelligent factory which increases productivity and reduces defect rates to enhance industrial competitiveness by applying information and communication technology (ICT) to the entire manufacturing…

  • Many companies exaggerate their renewable energy claims, research finds

    Companies might be overestimating their use of renewable energy, new research  shows. Many businesses rely on renewable energy certificates (RECs) to support their green energy claims. However, a scientific analysis suggests that  corporate REC purchases are unlikely to lead to additional renewable energy production, and can jeopardise global efforts to stop climate change.  When companies purchase RECs, they are supporting renewable energy projects around the world. By doing this, businesses can continue to use electricity generated by fossil fuels, and use the certificates to offset those emissions.  “Too many consumers, media, even investors, might actually think that the company is physically using 100 per cent renewables. And that is just not the case,” said Anders Bjørn, a postdoctoral…

  • Plastic-eating worms offer solution to waste crisis

    University of Queensland researchers discovered the common Zophobas morio ‘superworm’ can eat through polystyrene, thanks to a bacterial enzyme in their gut. They fed superworms different diets over a three-week period, with some given polystyrene foam, some bran and others put on a fasting diet. “We found the superworms fed a diet of just polystyrene not only survived, but even had marginal weight gains,” Dr Rinke said. “This suggests the worms can derive energy from the polystyrene, most likely with the help of their gut microbes.” Image credit: University of Queensland The researchers used a technique called metagenomics to find several encoded enzymes with the ability to degrade polystyrene and styrene. The long-term goal is to engineer enzymes to degrade…

  • Scientists give robots living human skin

    In Japan, a team of scientists has pushed forward the field of robotics, by crafting living human skin on robots. With the aim of making robots more human-like, the researchers from the University of Tokyo submerged a robotic finger in a cylinder filled with a solution of collagen and human dermal fibroblasts, the two main components that make up the skin’s connective tissues. Due to the natural shrinking tendency of this collagen and fibroblast mixture, the solution adapted to the shape of the robotic finger, providing a uniform foundation for the next coat of cells — human epidermal keratinocytes — to stick to. These cells make up 90 per cent of the outermost layer of skin, giving the robot a skin-like texture and moisture-retaining barrier properties.  The results, described in the…

  • Nasa launches scientific study into UFOs

    The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) has commissioned a study into unidentified flying objects (UFOs), also known as UAPs (unidentified aerial phenomena). The investigation will analyse all the information publicly available on these events from a scientific perspective, as well as look into how Nasa can best make use of this data to understand the unexplained sightings. “We are not shying away from reputational risk,” said Nasa’s science mission chief, Thomas Zurbuchen, acknowledging that this decision might be perceived as if the organisation is “selling out”, by giving credit to the phenomena. “Our strong belief is that the biggest challenge of these phenomena is that it’s a data-poor field,” he added. The study will begin later this year and last nine months…

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