• Energy demand soared in 2024 as heat waves drove consumption

    Consumption of energy from renewables and fossil fuels surged in 2024 because of rising global demand for electricity, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has said. In the latest edition of its annual Global Energy Review, the IEA found that global energy demand rose by 2.2% last year – considerably faster than the average annual demand increase of 1.3% between 2013 and 2023. While emerging and developing economies accounted for more than 80% of the increase in global energy demand in 2024, even advanced economies saw rising consumption after years of decline. The last few years have been particularly sluggish, with the Covid-19 pandemic impacting economies worldwide and massively reducing energy demand in 2020, albeit on a temporary basis. While growth soon returned, the Ukraine war…

  • UK installs 25m smart meters but roll-out still below government targets

    The smart meter roll-out saw its 25-millionth installation in February, according to energy insight from telecommunications service provider ElectraLink. This news comes as outdated Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS) meters stop working in June 2025. ElectraLink, which manages the Data Transfer Service and facilitates data transfer between energy companies in the UK, has been tracking the smart meter roll-out since 2012. In February 2025, its data revealed that a major milestone had been reached in the UK as the 25-millionth smart meter had been installed. February 2025 saw 194,000 smart meters installed – around 4% fewer than February 2024. East England saw the most installations at 23,000, followed by southern England with 21,000 installations and the East Midlands with 19,000. The…

  • UK unveils plan to decarbonise shipping by 2050 with green technologies and clean fuels

    The government has said that all vessels that operate in UK waters and dock at UK ports should be carbon free by 2050 as part of its climate change goals. A new decarbonisation strategy for the maritime sector sets out goals to reduce GHG emissions by 30% by 2030, 80% by 2040 and to zero by 2050. This will see the UK match the highest level of the goals agreed by the International Maritime Organization in its 2023 strategy on reduction of emissions from ships. Global shipping is responsible for around 3% of the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and, with global trade predicted to quadruple by 2050, these emissions will increase rapidly without urgent action. The shipping sector is considered hard to decarbonise, as electrifying ships is considerably more challenging than electrifying…

  • UK government commits £600m to train over 60,000 construction workers

    The government has announced that up to 60,000 more engineers, brickies, sparkies and chippies are to be trained by 2029 to deliver its housing ambitions. In her Budget speech last autumn, Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed that the government is committed to building 1.5 million “safe and decent” homes over the next five years. Ahead of the Spring Statement, she has announced £600m worth of investment to train up to 60,000 more skilled construction workers. Reeves said: “We are determined to get Britain building again – that’s why we are taking on the blockers to build 1.5 million new homes and rebuild our roads, rail and energy infrastructure.” According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), there is a significant shortage of those with the skills needed to construct new housing…

  • National Grid says Heathrow had enough power capacity despite substation fire

    Britain’s electricity transmission network was capable of providing enough power to Heathrow Airport to keep it operating despite a fire at a substation that forced it to close for nearly 24 hours last week, National Grid’s CEO has said. A fire at the North Hyde substation, which feeds most of Heathrow Airport with most of its electricity, resulted in the closure of the airport and led to concerns about the resilience of key arteries in Britain’s transport network. The closure caused aviation chaos due to the cancellation of more than 1,300 flights, affecting hundreds of thousands of passengers. But according to National Grid chief executive John Pettigrew, two other substations also feed the airport, with each able to meet Heathrow’s electricity needs. “There was no lack of capacity…

  • European start-up set to launch orbital rocket from Norwegian spaceport today

    Isar Aerospace to launch its first test flight mission, ‘Going Full Spectrum’, from Andøya Spaceport in Norway. The European space company, which is headquartered in Munich, is making final preparations to launch its orbital launch vehicle Spectrum. The 28-metre Spectrum is a two-stage launch vehicle designed for small and medium-sized satellites. Andøya is the first operational spaceport in continental Europe. The launch window opens from 12.30 to 15.30 CET today (24 March), subject to weather, safety and range infrastructure. The first test flight is the culmination of a seven-year journey of developing the launch vehicle in-house. It will mark the first integrated test of all systems and tens of thousands of components. While Isar Aerospace says that the possibility of this vehicle…

  • Demining Ukraine will take decades. Can technology help?

    Within three years of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine has become the most mine-contaminated country in the world. Clearing up the lethal landscape will take decades – unless new technologies speed up the process. It has been almost two and a half years since a Ukrainian counteroffensive liberated Kherson. But for hundreds of farmers in the battered region in the south-east of the country, life is still standing still. Nine months of Russian occupation had ravaged towns and villages, leaving behind a ghastly treasure hunt of scattered landmines. Land is not safe to work on, yet some carry on regardless – sometimes with catastrophic consequences. Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion in February 2022, 128 farmers have been killed by forgotten explosive devices, according to the website of the…

  • Researchers in South Africa and China transmit quantum-encrypted images nearly 13,000km

    Researchers have broken a distance record in quantum communication by transmitting ultra-secure quantum-encrypted images nearly 13,000km from China to South Africa. Researchers from Stellenbosch University in South Africa and the University of Science and Technology, Hefei, in China have successfully established the world's longest intercontinental ultra-secure quantum satellite link, spanning 12,900km. Using the Chinese quantum microsatellite Jinan-1, launched into low-Earth orbit, this milestone marks the first-ever quantum satellite communication link established in the Southern Hemisphere. The microsatellite was able to send pulses of laser light, put into special quantum states, from a rooftop in Beijing to another at Stellenbosch University near Cape Town. The pulses formed a…

  • Tesla recalls 46,000 Cybertrucks in the US over faulty glue issue

    Tesla has issued a notice to recall 46,000 Cybertrucks in the US after admitting to using the incorrect glue during assembly. While not all vehicles in the range are impacted, the firm confirmed that certain models manufactured from 13 November 2023 to 27 February 2025 were at risk. The manufacturing defect could cause the stainless steel panels of the cantrail assembly to delaminate at the adhesive joint and separate from the vehicle, Tesla said. Affected customers are advised that they can still drive their vehicles in the meantime and that they would be contacted to arrange a service appointment. The announcement is just the latest mishap for a firm that has had a difficult start to the year. Since CEO Elon Musk took up a position at the White House, Tesla sales have been in freefall…

  • Hundreds of schools and hospitals across the UK to get rooftop solar panels

    Great British Energy has announced that schools and hospitals across the UK are to benefit from £180m of rooftop solar investment. The first project from Great British Energy, the UK government’s new state-owned energy company, will be £180m of investment to install rooftop solar panels on 200 schools and 200 hospitals in the UK. This will help save hundreds of millions on energy bills, with savings reinvested back into schools and NHS sites, the government said in a statement. “Right now, money that should be spent on your children’s education or your family’s healthcare is instead being wasted on sky-high energy bills,” said energy secretary Ed Miliband. “Great British Energy’s first major project will be to help our vital public institutions save hundreds of millions on bills to…

  • Seafloor telecom cable used to detect earthquakes in the Pacific Ocean

    Researchers have detected earthquakes in the Pacific Ocean for the first time using a subsea telecommunications cable. The Southern Cross Next seafloor cable, which connects New Zealand to Australia, was converted into an array of sensors for earthquakes and ocean currents. The technique uses the optical fibre inside the cable as the sensing element and gathers environmental data from the seabed, where no other permanent sensors exist. Measurements only started in October, but the team has already recorded more than 50 earthquakes in the Pacific Ocean even when the epicentre was tens to hundreds of kilometres from the cable. The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) team says the high rate of detection could “drastically accelerate” the research and the refinement of the technique, which…

  • Next month’s 3G switch-off will create torrent of UK e-waste, study finds

    O2’s decision to switch off its legacy 3G network next month will create £13.7m worth of e-waste, researchers have said. Networks are phasing out 3G to free up spectrum for faster, more efficient 4G and 5G networks, which are in higher demand for data-intensive services and applications. Vodafone and EE completed their 3G switch-off in early 2024, and while Three still has a small number of 3G sites operational, most were also shut down last year. Research by BusinessWaste.co.uk found that some older devices only able to connect to data services through 3G will effectively become unusable. Those devices will no longer be able to make calls, send texts or connect to the internet. According to data from the UN’s Global E-Waste Monitor, just 30% of the e-waste generated by the UK is properly…

  • Northrop Grumman awarded $24.9m from US Navy to develop next-gen undersea drone

    The US Department of Defense has awarded Northrop Grumman a $24.9m contract for a new autonomous undersea sensing research and development programme. Northrop Grumman, the multinational aerospace and defense technology company, has secured a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to advance the ‘Full Spectrum Undersea Warfare Innovative Naval Prototype Autonomous Undersea Exploitation’ initiative. This initiative aims to enhance the US Navy’s ability to perceive and respond to undersea threats autonomously. The contract, managed by the Office of Naval Research within the US Department of the Navy, provides investment for advanced research and development activities focused on autonomous undersea capabilities. According to a statement on the Department of Defense’s website, the development of…

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  • Robot dogs could help decommission Sellafield nuclear plant after successful trials

    Remote-controlled robot dogs could help decommission the defunct Sellafield nuclear plant after successful trials. Operators working from the Westlakes Science Park in Whitehaven, around eight miles from Sellafield, remotely operated “safely and securely” a custom Boston Dynamics Spot Quadrupedal Robot ‘dog’ that could carry out tasks such as remote inspections, data gathering and clean-up work. Energy generation at the plant stopped in 2003, but the painstaking decommissioning process typically takes decades and presents radioactive hazards to workers. Sellafield is unusual in that the decommissioning challenge also encompasses early nuclear research and nuclear weapons programmes that took place on the site. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is not expecting full site remediation…

  • Industry insight: How generative AI is used for financial fraud detection

    The fight against fraud is evolving into a digital arms race, where both criminals and financial institutions (FIs) are leveraging artificial intelligence in attempts to outmanoeuvre one another. Fraudsters are using generative AI (GenAI) to create scams that are increasingly challenging to detect and disprove, while anti-fraud teams are deploying AI-powered solutions of their own to sniff out and prevent these threats. In this escalating battle, FIs must adopt the tools of the enemy to stay ahead. The rise of GenAI has transformed fraud from a game of pure deception into one of adaptation and counter-adaptation. Fraudsters are no longer limited to traditional scams – they can now generate highly realistic fake documents, clone voices, and even create convincing deepfake videos to exploit…

  • Local authorities need £17bn to tackle their ‘pothole-plagued’ roads

    The cost of repairs to rid England and Wales of their pothole problems and bring the road network up to ‘ideal’ conditions has reached almost £17bn. Pothole fury has come to the fore in recent years. Last year, figures from the AA found that pothole damage to vehicles had reached a five-year high. When the Labour government came to power last year, it pledged to repair an additional one million potholes across England in each year of the next parliament. At the end of last year, the government promised an extra £1.6bn investment that will be distributed to local councils, but a new report from the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) has found that far more than this is needed to tackle road repairs. The AIA’s annual local authority road maintenance (Alarm) report gathers information on…

  • BASF switches on Europe’s largest green hydrogen project at chemicals site in Germany

    Europe’s largest completed green hydrogen project has started operations at BASF’s Ludwigshafen site in south-west Germany. The 54MW proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser has overtaken the 24MW PEM electrolyser based at Yara, a Norwegian chemical company, which previously held the title. Hydrogen is a vital gas for BASF and is used as a raw material for many applications at the site, including the production of ammonia. Previously, hydrogen was produced at the site from hydrocarbons using natural gas-based steam reforming. This process – known as grey hydrogen – emits high levels of CO2. BASF set itself a mission of producing hydrogen without CO2. For the past two years it has partnered with Siemens Energy to build the €124m Hy4Chem PEM electrolyser project. The electrolyser…

  • BYD unveils EV fast charger that can boost range by 400km on a 5-minute charge

    Chinese EV maker BYD says its new platform has charging speeds of 1,000kW, twice the power of Tesla’s superchargers. The Shenzhen-headquartered firm has unveiled a new charging and battery system that makes it as quick to charge an EV as it does to refill an internal combustion engine car with petrol. The announcement of the ‘Super e-Platform’ was made during a live-streamed event on Monday at BYD’s headquarters. Wang Chuanfu, BYD’s founder, chairman and CEO, said the platform offers peak charging power of 1,000kW, enough to give a vehicle 400km of driving range in just five minutes. He said that the goal of the platform was to eliminate charging anxiety among EV users, making the transition from internal combustion engine vehicles to EVs more appealing. The BYD technology also marks…

  • Audi to cut 7,500 jobs by 2029 amid stiff competition from China and weak demand

    German car maker Audi has said it plans to cut 7,500 jobs by 2029 as it contends with hot competition from China and dampened demand for new vehicles. Rather than making major cuts now – equivalent to about 8% of the firm’s global workforce – Audi said it would handle the job reductions gradually over the next four years. Audi CEO Gernot Döllner said the move was part of efforts to increase competitiveness and boost profitability at its German sites. It’s not just Audi facing significant challenges – many car makers across the sector reported lower earnings last year. In November, Nissan said it would cut global production capacity by 20% and reduce its workforce by 9,000 after failing to meet financial targets. Meanwhile, Audi’s parent company VW narrowly avoided closing three German…

  • EU tech companies call for reduced reliance on foreign-owned digital infrastructure

    A European tech industry coalition has called for ‘radical action’ from the EU to reduce reliance on foreign-owned digital infrastructure and services – especially US big tech. In an open letter to the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and the EU’s digital chief Henna Virkkunen, around 100 European tech firms are calling for the EU to support “sovereign digital infrastructure”. This means less reliance on foreign-owned infrastructure – especially from the US – to prevent EU countries becoming subservient to foreign tech companies. As well as tech heavyweights Airbus and Dassault Systèmes, signatories span many areas of the tech industry including cloud, telecoms, defence, investment banks and start-ups. The motivation for the letter comes from recent US and EU developments…

  • Astronauts stranded on the ISS for nine months are finally set to return

    Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will finally make the return trip from the International Space Station (ISS) after their 10-day mission unexpectedly turned into a nine-month residency. The astronauts, who have been aboard the ISS since June 2024, were transported to the ISS in Boeing’s Starliner, which suffered a lengthy, troubled development period. Plans went awry when, during docking, Starliner suffered thruster failures and helium leaks that meant Nasa was not confident enough to let them take the return trip. They will now be brought back down to Earth on a SpaceX rocket alongside Nasa astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the ISS over the weekend, delivering four astronauts who will…

  • Driverless minibus transports commuters in Barcelona city centre

    China-based autonomous driving start-up WeRide and French car maker Renault Group have teamed up to trial an experimental autonomous bus in Barcelona. For the past week, commuters in the Spanish city have been able to catch a free ride on a new driverless minibus that has been running a 1.3 mile circular route with four stops in the city centre. Operating during daylight hours, the experimental bus drives up to the stop and allows passengers to disembark and embark, before pulling away and easing into traffic. Tony Han, founder and CEO at WeRide, said: ”This collaboration with Renault Group underscores our shared vision for making smart, sustainable mobility solutions accessible worldwide.” In May 2024, Renault Group announced it was partnering with WeRide on its autonomous vehicle…

  • Social media firms face hefty fines under new UK online safety rules

    Social media platforms will face significant fines if they fail to protect users from criminal content online under new powers that have come into effect today. In December, Ofcom published the first edition of its codes of practice and guidance on tackling illegal harms, which include terror, hate, fraud, child sexual abuse and assisting or encouraging suicide. The regulations form part of the UK’s Online Safety Act, which was finally signed into law last year. Social media firms must now carry out ‘illegal harms risk assessments’ to ascertain how likely it is that users could encounter illegal content on their service, or, in the case of ‘user-to-user’ services, how they could be used to commit or facilitate certain criminal offences. Ofcom said it would begin assessing platforms’ compliance…

  • Australian man lives with titanium heart for over 100 days

    An Australian man in his mid-40s with severe heart failure has survived 105 days with an artificial heart made of titanium. The implant, known as the BiVACOR Total Artificial Heart, was fitted in November 2024 following a six-hour procedure at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney. The titanium device was invented by biomedical engineer Dr Daniel Timms, founder and chief technical officer of US-based BiVACOR. It has so far been successfully implanted into five patients in the US, the first taking place on 9 July 2024 at the Texas Heart Institute at Baylor St Luke’s Medical Center in the Texas Medical Center. The device is used as a stopgap for people with heart failure who are waiting for a donor heart. The Australian man is the sixth person to be fitted with the device, and the first outside…

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