• Canada to back turboprop hybrid engine technology

    Canada to back turboprop hybrid engine technology

    The unspecified “co-investment” toward a demonstration flight of the hybrid engine for regional turboprops is part of a wider announcement for aerospace expected today (15 July), sources told Reuters. It would also be Canada’s latest support for the local branch of the US engine maker, a division of Raytheon Technologies Corp. Canada is part of a select group of aircraft-producing nations, but its most well-known planemaker, Bombardier, exited commercial aviation in 2020. Pratt & Whitney, which dominates the turboprop market, has been working towards a flight demonstration of an integrated hybrid engine under an effort called Project 804. Testing is to be performed on a De Havilland Canada Dash-8 100 turboprop. Previously, Pratt said the hybrid-electric propulsion system could yield average…

  • European Central Bank to investigate digital euro

    European Central Bank to investigate digital euro

    The central bank is proceeding with considerable caution as its counterparts around the world – such as the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England – weigh up how to manage the growing popularity of digital currencies, including volatile cryptocurrencies. A digital currency issued by a central bank would be distinct from cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin because they would be legal tender and usable for any transaction with a stable value. A Bank for International Settlements survey showed that 86 per cent of central banks are researching the potential for digital currency, 60 per cent were experimenting with the technology and 14 per cent were deploying pilot projects. It explained that digital currencies issued by central banks could promote diversity in payment options…

    IET EngX
    IET EngX
  • Microsoft offers cloud-based version of Windows as home working ramps up

    Microsoft offers cloud-based version of Windows as home working ramps up

    Dubbed Windows 365, the service will allow the full Windows 10 experience, including apps, data and settings, to be accessed directly from Microsoft’s Azure cloud. It will secure and store information in the cloud rather than on the device. Windows 365 will also create a new hybrid personal computing category called Cloud PC, which uses both the power of the cloud and the capabilities of the device it’s being used on. “With Windows 365, we’re creating a new category: the Cloud PC,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. “Just like applications were brought to the cloud with SaaS [software as a service], we are now bringing the operating system to the cloud, providing organisations with greater flexibility and a secure way to empower their workforce to be more productive and connected, regardless…

    IET EngX
    IET EngX
  • Strive for diversity and inclusion in the workplace

    Strive for diversity and inclusion in the workplace

    Back in the 1960s, campaigning lawyer Lord Lester devised a simple test to discover whether employers were prejudiced. He’d apply for a job under the name of Smith and then again with identical qualifications, but as Mr Singh. That employers all those decades ago weren’t interested in the Singhs comes as no surprise. What has astonished social scientists is that more than half a century later, some UK employers remain just as biased, research shows. And there are stark differences in how white and minority ethnic young engineering professionals fare. Britain has been a pioneer in developing anti-discrimination legislation but now falls behind most of Europe, says Dr Valentina Di Stasio, who has researched racial discrimination among employers. She found that people from Nigerian, Middle…

  • View from India: Airport sustainability is a journey

    View from India: Airport sustainability is a journey

    The aviation industry attributes about 2.5 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions. Though the pandemic has made a dent in business, still airports in India are undertaking green initiatives to become sustainable. Stakeholders of aviation and airports are interlinked through complex processes: many functions require carbon-neutral measures and emission-reduction strategies, hence it’s only appropriate that airport operations scale-up operational efficiencies and adopt new technologies for improving air navigation. Fuel-efficient procedures are being implemented. The investments in emission-reduction initiatives and energy-efficient measures are part of the long-term growth. “As part of our sustainability practices, we have put up solar panels and parallel runways in our airports. Social…

  • Scientists tune in to the Sun to monitor melting ice sheets

    Scientists tune in to the Sun to monitor melting ice sheets

    The Sun and other stars are colossal sources of electromagnetic radiation across the spectrum. In this chaos of signals, Stanford researchers have identified the potential for monitoring ice and polar changes on Earth and across the solar system. At present, information about the polar subsurface is collected by flying aeroplanes over ice sheets, transmitting an 'active' radar signal from a system on board (airborne ice-penetrating radar). This is a resource-intensive technique which only provides information about conditions at the time of flight and contributions to carbon emissions with every trip. However, the Stanford researchers have demonstrated a battery-powered receiver with an antenna placed on the ice; this detects solar radio waves as they reach Earth and pass through the ice…

  • Welsh train system needs urgent upgrades and electrification, MPs say

    Welsh train system needs urgent upgrades and electrification, MPs say

    In a report, it said the Victorian system is failing to live up to modern expectations, with passengers experiencing slow services and inadequate stations. It believes urgent upgrades should be made, backed up by sufficient investment from central Government. In particular, a full strategic case for the upgrade and electrification of the North Wales main line should be prepared. Electrification of the railways is expected to play a key role in the UK Government’s transport decarbonisation agenda, which was announced today. In March, MPs called for 30-year rolling programme of electrification across the UK as a matter of priority. The Committee said the decision to cancel the electrification of the Great Western main line from Cardiff to Swansea was “short-sighted” and urged the UK Government…

  • Future flight: air travel after a pandemic

    Future flight: air travel after a pandemic

    Remember airports? Or boarding passes and safety demonstrations? How about   luggage conveyor belts, security checks or even sunny beaches? It’s been at least a year and a half since most of us took a flight anywhere. Instead, we’ve been visiting virtual exhibitions, attending online conferences or making video calls. Organisers have got better at doing them and we’ve learnt to get along with them out of necessity, but they don’t always beat actually being there. And you can’t actually get sand between your toes or really experience another culture without immersing yourself in the real thing. We may not miss business travel too much, but we sure miss those foreign holidays. Lockdowns, closed borders and quarantines have hit the   airline business   hard over the last 18 months. How has…

  • Engineering places: Sydney Opera House

    Engineering places: Sydney Opera House

    The iconic white sails seen from Sydney Harbour are a mesmerising sight to many who visit the ‘Land Down Under’. The sculptural elegance of the Sydney Opera House, which fuses ancient and modern influence, made it one of the most recognisable buildings of the 20th century, and it still stands at the harbour in all its architectural glory. Built to “help mould a better and more enlightened community”, in the words of New South Wales (NSW) Labour Party Premier Joseph Cahill in 1954, the Sydney Opera House has hosted many of the world’s greatest artists and performers, and has been a meeting place for matters of local and international significance since opening in 1973. How was this magnificent structure made? In 1952, Cahill announced the government’s intention of putting Sydney on the world…

    IET EngX
    IET EngX
  • The bigger picture: smart bus shelter

    The bigger picture: smart bus shelter

    A smart bus shelter that filters polluted city air, removes airborne allergens and kills viruses, bacteria and fungi within seconds has been on display at Central and Western District Promenade, Hong Kong. CAPS 2.0, designed by Charis NG in collaboration with Sino Inno Lab and Arup, works by drawing in polluted air, creating an invisible shield-​like air curtain from the underside of the canopy, while concurrently generating air currents to clean up the air. Image credit: . Polluted air is internally purified with its dual-protection technology, Plascide proprietary air sanitiser and multi-HEPA filters, which removes suspended particles and eliminates coronaviruses. The shelter will now move to a Kowloon shopping mall, with students from a local university analysing…

  • Book review: ‘Phosphate Rocks: A Death in Ten Objects’ by Fiona Erskine

    Book review: ‘Phosphate Rocks: A Death in Ten Objects’ by Fiona Erskine

    For those who believe there’s not enough fiction out there written by engineers for engineers, the emergence a few years ago of E&T’s favourite novelist Fiona Erskine was something of a breath of fresh air. Her two ‘Chemical Detective’ novels, released in rapid succession, introduced a new folk heroine to our world in the form of the irresistible Jaq Silver, whose international crime-busting antics drew on every molecule of her encyclopaedically nerdish knowledge of chemistry, as well as something of a Lara Croft-ish approach to all things cloak-and-dagger. While aficionados of Erskine’s work hotly await the third instalment of her Jaq Silver series, they will possibly be frustrated that her latest offering –  ‘Phosphate Rocks: A Death in Ten Objects’ (Sandstone Press, £8.99, ISBN 9781913207526…

    IET EngX
    IET EngX
  • Shock treatment: can the pandemic turn the NHS digital?

    Shock treatment: can the pandemic turn the NHS digital?

    Last year, we all experienced the overnight transformation of our lives and the way we work wrought by the pandemic. Every organisation felt the pressure, though none more so than the National Health Service. Not just because it was Britain’s frontline fighting force against Covid-19, but because it had to perform its new and urgent mission while still maintaining the great majority of non-Covid healthcare services. All while it was potentially deadly for a doctor and a patient to be in the same room together. It also turned out that this challenging mission had an unintended consequence: it forced a health service that has long been sclerotic in its approach to new technology to change how it works. “Things that would have taken a long time suddenly got adopted within the space of weeks…

  • Green transport plan targets net-zero domestic aviation by 2040

    Green transport plan targets net-zero domestic aviation by 2040

    The government describes the decarbonisation plan as a “world-leading greenprint” for cutting emissions from road, rail, marine, and air transport through a “credible pathway” for the transport sector to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. One of the major announcements is the planned phase-out of the sale of new diesel and petrol heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) by 2040, subject to a consultation. The consultation proposes a 2035 deadline to end sales of vehicles from 3.5 to 26 tonnes and 2040 – at the latest – for vehicles over 26 tonnes. The government said in a statement that the production of zero-emission road vehicles alone could support tens of thousands of jobs worth up to £9.7bn gross value added in 2050 while also improving air quality and reducing time wasted in traffic…

  • How Venice intends to keep the Adriatic Sea at bay

    How Venice intends to keep the Adriatic Sea at bay

    The natural phenomenon of acqua alta (‘high water’) happens several times a year in Venice when high tides from the Adriatic Sea combine with winds and long waves to flood the city. In 2019, Venice experienced the worst acqua alta since 1966, with 1.87m-high tides flooding two-thirds of the city. The number of high tides over 1.4m has been increasing, with 14 in the last 20 years. In 1984, a scheme to protect the historic city’s inhabitants and buildings was designed, consisting of barriers at the mouths of each of the three inlets to the Venice Lagoon. The MOSE (Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico, or Experimental Electromechanical Module) is a network of barriers located at the Malamocco, Chioggia and Lido harbours. Each barrier is a series of metal gates, which are raised when the high…

    IET EngX
    IET EngX
  • Risk of violence to railway workers over Government’s ‘chaotic’ face mask rules

    Risk of violence to railway workers over Government’s ‘chaotic’ face mask rules

    While the Government is scrapping the mask mandate in public indoor areas in England from next week, Mayor Sadiq Khan is making an exception to this rule in London. Further adding to the confusion, the Transport Secretary has offered his support for the decision saying the move is “very much in line” with what ministers want to happen despite the broad lifting of restrictions next Monday. He told Sky News: “Whilst we are going from this being a legal requirement to guidelines, we do expect individual carriers to make sure they are putting in place whatever is appropriate for their network.” Khan said he was “not prepared” to put Tube, tram and bus users in the capital “at risk” by removing the rules on face coverings after so-called “freedom day”. Under the terms of use, enforcement…

  • Novel material to be made into mosquito-bite-proof clothing

    Novel material to be made into mosquito-bite-proof clothing

    They started to develop the materials using a computational model to describe the biting behaviour of Aedes aegypti: the infamous mosquito that carries viruses responsible for diseases like Zika, Dengue fever, and yellow fever. To develop the model, the researchers investigated the dimensions of the head, antenna and mouth of the insect, and the mechanics of its bite. They used the model to predict textile materials that may be able to prevent bites, depending on their thickness and pore size. They put the model’s predictions to the test in experiments with live, disease-free mosquitoes. A blood reservoir was surrounded with plastic materials made according to parameters produced from the model; the researchers then counted how many mosquitoes became engorged with blood. One material…

    IET EngX
    IET EngX
  • Fingertip sweat used to power wearable devices

    Fingertip sweat used to power wearable devices

    The team claims their device is “the most efficient on-body energy harvester ever invented” as it has been shown to produce 300 millijoules (mJ) of energy per square centimetre without any mechanical energy input during a 10-hour sleep, as well as an additional 30mJ of energy with a single press of a finger. They believe it could represent “a significant step forward” for self-sustainable wearable electronics. “Normally, you want maximum return on investment in energy. You don’t want to expend a lot of energy through exercise to get only a little energy back,” said Joseph Wang, the paper’s senior author. “We wanted to create a device adapted to daily activity that requires almost no energy investment: you can completely forget about the device and go to sleep or do desk work like typing…

  • Bizarre Tech: robotic puppet, Moff wearable and MōFU toy

    Bizarre Tech: robotic puppet, Moff wearable and MōFU toy

    TJ* puppet Have some nightmare fuel. I’m unsure as to whether TJ* is still a thing... it was last updated in late 2013 on Kickstarter, where it received quite a bit of financial backing for some reason, other than to scare children. TJ* the robotic puppet is an ‘education tool’ for kids, is remote-controlled, and is a ‘tinkering platform for electronic hackers’. The head is about three-fifths the size of a normal human noggin and made of fibreboard or coloured plastic, whatever you prefer your Chucky Doll to be. According to TJ*’s creator Jeff Kessler, its eyes move up and down, left and right, but unfortunately not round and round, and the mouth opens and closes. The bot’s moving parts are driven by three micro servos, aka tiny motors with position control circuits built in. On the…

    IET EngX
    IET EngX
  • After All: You are invited to a meeting at 5pm... yesterday!

    After All: You are invited to a meeting at 5pm... yesterday!

    Have you heard the one about the engineer? At work, an engineer was offered a course about time management, but he was too busy to go. Ha-ha-ha. Seriously, though, I have always believed that engineers were punctual by definition and regarded time as an important engineering concept - but do they? Well, it depends. Punctuality, it appears, can be conditional on a number of factors, including where you live, for, believe it or not, there are a number of places on our guilty Earth where being on time is much easier said than done. As a punctual person myself, I’ve been meticulously collecting such time-defying (and time-deviant!) places for many years and have managed to visit several of them too. Let me introduce you to some, starting with Australia, where many of our readers are based and…

    IET EngX
    IET EngX
  • How green tech is driving alternatives to energy consumerism

    How green tech is driving alternatives to energy consumerism

    For decades, consumerism has been the ‘order of the day’. In the early part of the 20th century, the mass production of the Industrial Revolution turned to overproduction. Supply was greater than demand as consumers couldn’t afford or didn’t need more goods. Planned obsolescence and advertising were deployed to encourage consumption and boost faltering economies. From there on, consumerism was born – the belief that we could find fulfilment and happiness in the increasingly superior goods and services we had come to depend on. For a time, consumerism was seen as good. It was wildly popular. It’s only in the last few decades that we’ve truly recognised the toll this has taken on the planet. Today, many of the environmental challenges we face are driven by overconsumption and waste. Going forward…

  • EU aims to lead climate efforts with ‘Fit for 55’ package

    EU aims to lead climate efforts with ‘Fit for 55’ package

    The package of measures, which have been dubbed the 'Fit for 55' policies, will face many months of negotiations between the European Parliament and heads of the 27 member states. The measures are among the most ambitious, aiming to more than halve emissions in the medium-term (by the end of the decade) rather than looking ahead to 2040, 2050 or even further to meet decarbonisation targets. By 2019, the EU had cut its emissions by 24 per cent from 1990 levels. “Everybody has a target, but translating it into policies that lead to real emissions reductions, that’s the most difficult part,” said Jos Delbeke, a policymaker who was involved with developing some of the EU’s flagship climate measures. In addition to electricity generation – which is already cutting emissions quickly – the 12…

  • Water firms still failing to adequately reduce pollution incidents, regulator says

    Water firms still failing to adequately reduce pollution incidents, regulator says

    The Environment Agency's report found that whilst there were improvements in 2020, no single company achieved all its expectations for the period 2015 to 2020. These included the reduction of total pollution incidents by at least one-third compared with 2012 and for incident self-reporting to be at least 75 per cent. The report also found that the sector coped well with Covid-19 pressures in 2020 and recently committed over £850m to help contribute to a green recovery from the pandemic. It added that a number of companies are still failing to live up to their responsibilities to regulators, their customers and the environment. Southern Water and South West Water were rated as the companies least likely to meet environmental expectations, followed by Anglian Water and Thames Water. The…

  • Electric vehicles need to be charged in the right way to maximise carbon benefits

    Electric vehicles need to be charged in the right way to maximise carbon benefits

    The researchers looked at the emerging use of EVs in delivery fleets, which are getting larger due to the rise of online shopping and just-in-time shipping. Though EVs represent a small fraction of delivery vehicles today, the number is growing. In 2019, Amazon announced plans to obtain 100,000 electric delivery vehicles. UPS has ordered 10,000 of them and FedEx plans to be fully electric by 2040. The study found that the emissions directly tied to charging the vehicles and emissions that result from manufacturing the batteries must be considered to maximise their environmental benefits. For example, charging practices that shorten a battery’s lifetime will lead to early battery replacement, adding to the total greenhouse gas emissions associated with that vehicle. The researchers found…

  • Treat climate change with urgency of pandemic, researchers say

    Treat climate change with urgency of pandemic, researchers say

    The study focused on the experiences of policymakers in parts of sub-Saharan Africa. The research consortium included the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance and other academic partners in the region. It included a literature review, an online survey and semi-structured interviews with participants from a range of organisations in the Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa. The researchers looked at how the pandemic has affected the implementation of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs): the national plans for climate action submitted by countries as an obligation under the 2015 Paris Agreement. A concern frequently raised by participants was that resources channelled towards handling the pandemic would detract from resources previously…

Join us to get the best from IET EngX.

Joining EngX lets you personalise your experience so you stay up to date on the topics that interest you, plus you’ll be able to make connections who are looking to collaborate, exchange ideas and more.

Join us Not now

Community Rules & Guidelines