• Net zero goals need solutions from broader range of sectors, report says

    The Landscape Decisions Programme, led by the University of Leicester, has called for more involvement from those knowledgeable in the arts, business owners, farmers, landowners, developers and investors, the study says. The UKRI-funded report stresses the potential negative impact of existing pathways to net zero climate targets, which include losses in the benefits of biodiversity, human wellbeing and cultural knowledge of the landscape. The UK government has previously set a net zero target of 2050, through a proposed reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and better management of so-called ‘carbon sinks’, such as peatlands and forests , and with new carbon capture technologies. Recommendations made by the interdisciplinary group include a greater focus on locally devolved decisions…

  • View from India: Neuroscience taps into AI to engender brand loyalty

    Technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning can be leveraged to create personalised experiences. The marketing and advertising industries are relying on them for that. “Brands can build intelligent machines and make it learn using machine learning. This can generate customer data which can be fine-tuned for their preferences. Customer engagement can happen through chat and voice bots, speech recognition, computer vision and natural language processing or NLP,” said Santosh Bhat, head of data science, PolicyBazaar.com, speakingat the ASSOCHAM 'Virtual Summit on Branding and Marketing'. Customer preference may be followed by customer engagement, but not necessarily brand loyalty. People may not be loyal to a particular brand in the digital age. It’s then crucial to use…

  • Network Rail warns of climate change risk to rail network

    In its third 'Adaption Report', Network Rail sets out the progress made from 2016 to 2021 on making the network more resilient to extreme weather conditions caused by climate change and what further actions can be taken as these events increase in frequency. The impact of the changing climate has been increasingly evident in recent years, with the railway suffering more frequent and more severe extreme weather events, the report states. Weather trends also point towards an increased frequency of extreme drier periods, followed by prolonged and extreme wet weather, in the coming years. These factors accelerate the “deterioration of earthworks and put pressure on drainage systems and other rail infrastructure,” the report said. Network Rail has deployed a 'Weather Risk Task Force', which…

  • Aberdeen Harbour gets £30m to expand in support of new offshore wind facilities

    The expansion will be the largest marine infrastructure project in the UK and will include greater land and water access for offshore wind developers. The increased capacity will also play a role in delivering the supply chain benefits from the recently announced ScotWind leasing round which saw 17 new offshore wind projects approved with an eventual generating capacity of 25GW. Adjacent to the new development will be  Aberdeen’s Energy Transition Zone (ETZ), which is helping the area to move away from fossil fuels. Following the discovery of significant oil deposits in the North Sea during the mid-20th century, Aberdeen became one of Europe’s most significant oil hubs. The number of jobs created by the energy industry in and around Aberdeen has been estimated at half a million but the…

  • Environmental impact of e-waste targeted by sustainable electronics research

    The amount of electronics produced is expected to increase considerably in the coming years, with the use of raw materials in the sector expected to double by 2050. The amount of electronic waste has also almost doubled over the past 16 years and only 20 per cent of this waste is collected efficiently. The EU is calling for more sustainable solutions from the electronics industry. The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is helping to develop them by combining printed electronics, bio-based materials and ecodesign thinking. The environmental load of the electronics industry can be significantly reduced by moving from traditional manufacturing processes to printed electronics and from fossil-based materials to bio-based materials. By using printing processes, up to 90 per cent of fossil…

  • National Trust buys up land for Bath ‘green corridor’ that links centre to the outskirts

    By connecting towpaths, parks, woodlands and green spaces the conservation charity aims to remove barriers that might prevent people from inner city neighbourhoods feeling like they can access large green areas. Bath residents will benefit from a new three-mile recognised route connecting the historic city to the surrounding green spaces. While the first confirmed corridor will be in Bath, the organisation eventually wants to take the concept to other cities in the UK. The announcement follows two years after the National Trust’s director-general, Hilary McGrady, first announced its ambitions to create 20 accessible 'green corridors' across England, Wales and Northern Ireland by 2030.  McGrady said: “These routes will improve access to nature for those living in urban areas who may…

  • Robot successfully performs surgery on a pig without human assistance

    The project was designed by a team of Johns Hopkins University researchers who believe their Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (Star) it is a significant step toward fully automated surgery on humans. “Our findings show that we can automate one of the most intricate and delicate tasks in surgery: the reconnection of two ends of an intestine,” said senior author on the study Axel Krieger. “The Star performed the procedure in four animals and it produced significantly better results than humans performing the same procedure.” The robot excelled at intestinal anastomosis, a procedure that requires a high level of repetitive motion and precision. It involves connecting two ends of an intestine in gastrointestinal surgery, typically requiring a surgeon to suture with high accuracy and consistency…

  • Are you doing enough to hang on to your workers?

    Staff retention is one of the biggest concerns for businesses across the UK in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, as demand for workers continues to hit new records. According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 1,172,000 vacant jobs in the UK  between August and October 2021. The competition for labour created by this increased demand means that employees are likely to switch jobs to pursue new opportunities that their current company doesn’t offer. According to a survey by recruitment firm Randstad UK, 24 per cent of workers are planning to change their employer in the next few months. As the UK pursues its ambition to 'build back better’, construction and engineering will play a key part in economic recovery, with roles in the oil, gas and renewables sector being pivotal…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Recycling process developed to tackle mounting Covid-19 PPE waste

    Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the amount of PPE being produced and used has soared. An estimated 8.4 million tonnes of plastic waste has been generated from 193 countries including respirators and masks that have been thrown away, the majority of which ends up in landfill or, in some areas, the ocean. Globus Group, a UK-based firm that makes PPE, has teamed up with researchers at Heriot-Watt University to develop a new process that can turn used PPE into a secondary raw material called pyrolysis oil, which can then be refined into commercial products such as new PPE products or fuels. The project, which aims to create a robust circular economy approach for plastics, will run for two years. Globus Group said it had produced one billion medical masks and 300 million FFP respirators…

  • Benefits of hydrogen blending in gas networks highly variable, study finds

    Fraunhofer IEE has assessed the technical feasibility, emission savings and cost impacts from plans to add hydrogen to the existing gas transport network. The process, known as 'hydrogen blending', is currently being discussed by the EU as a way to lower carbon emissions from gas networks across its member states. But the study found that the carbon benefits of such a practice are highly variable depending on the type of hydrogen used and believes that other industries may be more suited to using the fuel. Furthermore, the measures for hydrogen blending are currently estimated to increase costs for end users by up to 43 per cent for industry and up to 16 per cent for households at a blending level of 20 per cent of the total gas volume. Hydrogen production is typically delineated into…

  • Sizewell C nuclear plant to receive £100m boost from UK government

    The funding commitment from Business and Energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng will be used to continue the development of the project, which will aim to attract further financing from private investors and, subject to value for money and relevant approvals, the UK government. “Considering high global gas prices, we need to ensure Britain’s future energy supply is bolstered by reliable, affordable, low-carbon power that is generated,” Kwarteng said. “New nuclear is not only an important part of our plans to ensure greater energy independence, but to create high-quality jobs and drive economic growth.” Kwarteng added the funding will also further support the development of Sizewell C during this important phase of negotiations as the government seeks to maximise investor confidence in this “nationally…

  • Carmaker alliance pours billions into electric vehicles, as UK car production tanks

    The French-Japanese Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance said it will jointly launch 35 new electric vehicles over the next five years based on five common platforms, including a successor to the Nissan Micra. They also signalled a huge increase in global battery production. Jean-Dominique Senard, chairman of the Alliance, told a news conference: “Today the Alliance is accelerating to lead the mobility revolution and deliver more value to customers, our people, our shareholders and all our stakeholders. The three member companies have defined a common road map towards 2030, sharing investments in future electrification and connectivity projects. “These are massive investments that none of the three companies could make alone. Together, we are making the difference for a new and global sustainable…

  • Suddenly, everyone wants fabs

    I doubt that Ohio was the top of the list of possible locations for an advanced semiconductor fab for many people. In the end, after a lengthy beauty contest that doubtless involved many incentives, Intel picked the midwestern as the site for its next US-homed fab and a long way from existing fabs in the country that almost all lie west of the Rockies in Oregon and Arizona.   The outlier in Intel’s current canon is a small R&D facility in Massachusetts. The planned fab near Columbus will be far larger and, along with TSMC’s construction of a somewhat smaller facility the other side of Phoenix from Intel’s existing plants there, represents an apparent change in the geopolitics of chipmaking – in an industry that has long had a relationship with geopolitics it never wanted.   In the past…

  • Ocado unveils ‘game-changing’ innovations to ramp up grocery initiatives

    According to the Ocado Group, the technologies announced will collectively mean that its OSP partners will meet the full range of customer missions faster and with lower operating costs; enable short lead-time deliveries for a larger proportion of sales, and drive a faster speed to market. The company described the initiative as an “evolution” of OSP and will be one of the most significant steps forward in technology in Ocado’s history. They said it will also re-affirm OSP as the fastest, most flexible, most sustainable and most cost-effective suite of solutions for operating online grocery businesses. “These new capabilities will propel the entire online grocery market forward across different missions, and will enable our partners to take a greater share of the grocery market thanks to…

  • Bentley to make its first electric car in Crewe for 2025 release

    The UK-based carmaker, which is now a subsidiary of Volkswagen (VW), said that its first electric vehicles are expected to roll off production lines in about three years’ time. The firm said its approach will make Bentley exclusively electric and end-to-end carbon neutral by 2030, a full 20 years ahead of the same ambition from its parent company VW. In fiscal year 2019, Bentley manufactured just 12,430 vehicles compared to 11 million from VW. Bentley will also commit £2.5bn to sustainability initiatives over the next decade. The announcement helps secure Bentley’s first step into electrification at the production plant, where around 4,000 people are employed and all Bentley models are built. The investment programme will result in a complete transformation of Bentley’s entire product…

  • Carmakers should be responsible for driverless offences, Law Commission says

    The Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission have published joint report making recommendations for the safe and responsible introduction of self-driving vehicles. It suggests the creation of a new Automated Vehicles Act which regulates vehicles that can drive themselves and creates a clear distinction between features which just assist drivers, such as adaptive cruise control, and those that are self-driving. Under the Law Commissions’ proposals, when a car is authorised by a regulatory agency as having “self-driving features” and those features are in use, the person in the driving seat would no longer be responsible for how the car drives. Instead, the company or body that obtained the authorisation would face regulatory sanctions if anything goes wrong.…

  • Egg yolks and human hairs handled with care by delicate robotic grippers

    The work draws on the Japanese art of kirigami – a variation on the more well-known art of origami paper-folding – which involves both cutting and folding two-dimensional (2D) sheets of material to form three-dimensional (3D) shapes. Specifically, the researchers have developed a new technique that involves using kirigami to convert 2D sheets into curved 3D structures by cutting parallel slits across much of the material. The final shape of the 3D structure is determined in large part by the outer boundary of the material. For example, a 2D material that has a circular boundary would form a spherical 3D shape. “We have defined and demonstrated a model that allows users to work backwards,” said Yaoye Hong, first author of a paper on the work and a PhD student at NC State. “If users know…

  • EV infrastructure roll-out reveals huge regional variations due to funding gaps

    According to data published by the Department for Transport (DfT) last week, 7,600 new charger installations were added to the UK’s network last year, taking the total to 28,375 public plug-in points. Since the figures were last updated in October 2021, an additional 2,448 charging points were installed, marking a 9 per cent increase. However, the DfT acknowledged that there was an “uneven geographical distribution of charging devices within the UK”. For example, in London - as of January 1 2022 - there were 102 public charging devices per 100,000 people, while in the North West there were just 24 charging devices per 100,000 people. Scotland had the second-highest level of charging provision with 52 devices per 100,000 and Northern Ireland had the lowest level in the UK with just 18…

  • Installing heat pumps into homes should be a priority this decade, report suggests

    Ministers have set out plans to roll out 600,000 heat pumps, a low-carbon alternative to gas boilers, per year by 2028, and develop hydrogen supplies, which are also being touted as an option for cutting climate emissions from home heating systems currently run on natural gas. But a report from Imperial College London’s Energy Futures Lab said it was likely that using hydrogen as an energy source in the gas grid would only be workable from the early to mid-2030s, at the earliest. With tough climate goals to cut emissions within the decade, the research calls for a focus on making UK homes more efficient, electrifying domestic heating through heat pumps, and deploying heat networks in the next 10 years. The report was commissioned by the MCS Charitable Foundation, which aims to drive the…

  • When cutting costs on defending your networks isn’t an option

    Access-management and authentication processes are a necessity in any modern enterprise in almost every industry on Earth. The information held within a corporate network is valuable enough that nefarious actors will continue to target it mercilessly. The ability to properly protect these assets is the difference between a strong, compliant organisation and one that ends up hauled in front of a regulatory board to answer for its failings. For the gas and oil industries, secure authentication can be an even more serious consideration. For as long as gas and oil have been important commodities on the global stage, they have been political footballs to be kicked around. An appropriate security posture is not just important for safety, security and prosperity, but is also an important way for…

  • Electricity costs could rise by a quarter in move to net zero

    The global effort to reach net zero carbon by 2050, not just limited to the energy sector, is expected to cost around $9.2tr (£6.7tr) annually, equivalent to one-quarter of total tax revenue or half of global corporate profits, the report entitled 'The Net Zero Transition' has found. This figure represents an annual increase of as much as $3.5tr from today’s levels as well as an additional $1tr of current annual spend that would need to be reallocated from high-emissions to low-emissions assets. Governments are facing increasing pressure to announce more stringent policies to tackle climate change in order to provide a pathway for the world to stick below 2°C global warming. Last year, researchers found that even though some of the world’s most polluting countries have made stronger climate…

  • Almost all e-waste in Latin America is ‘improperly managed’, says UN report

    According to the report, e-waste in 13 Latin American countries analysed rose by 49 per cent between 2010 and 2019, roughly the world average, but just three per cent was collected and safely managed, a fraction of the 17.4 per cent global average. In 2019, e-waste generated by 206 million citizens in the 13 countries reached 1,300,000 tonnes (1.3 megatonnes, of which almost 30 per cent was plastic) – equal in weight to a 670km line of fully loaded 40-ton trucks. The comparable figure in 2010 was 900,000 tonnes, generated by about 185 million citizens. The 13 countries included in the study were Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, El Salvador, Uruguay, and Venezuela. While informal recyclers “cherry-pick” some valuable elements…

  • Possible sites for UK’s first fusion power plant revealed

    The Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) programme is seeking to ease the development of commercial fusion power plants that are capable of producing a limitless supply of low-carbon, clean energy. It will also showcase how a future fusion power station will be operated and maintained. The government committed £220m for the conceptual design of the power station in 2020 as part of efforts to move the UK towards a zero-carbon energy network. STEP has been conceived as a successor of sorts to the ITER tokamak proof-of-concept fusion plant that has been under construction in France since 2013. ITER’s main reactor is planned to be completed in late 2025 and is designed to create and sustain a plasma of 500MW (thermal power) for 20 minutes, with just 50MW of thermal power injected…

  • Get more done: why now is the time to automate

    Economic indicators are mixed but worrying. Towards the end of last year, the government began to talk up the post-pandemic, post-Brexit economy as the dawn of a high-wage, high-tech, high-skills economy. Can they really make such a cause-and-effect link? What might be missing from the equation? The UK’s missing productivity is a long running economic mystery and a hugely complex problem. Chris Edwards kicks of our special issue on productivity and investment by examining the roots of the problem and the range of measures that will be needed to lift the UK out of its decades long productivity slump in ‘Zombie Nation’ . The UK lags behind most of its competitors in automation and robotics. Is the post-pandemic and post-Brexit environment of rising wages and vacancies the pressure industry…

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