• View from Washington: For Zuck's sake, read the room

    According to one of her biographers, the writer Dorothy Parker would greet a ring at the door by declaring, “What fresh hell can this be?” Right now, writing about Facebook elicits much the same feeling. You sit down to author some, you hope, coherent thoughts on the company and... Ding-dong: Instagram damages the self-esteem of young women. Ding-dong: Backbone/DNS snafu leaves continents cut off for six hours. Ding-dong: Whistleblower claims Facebook is “tearing societies apart” and putting profit before people. Ding-dong: Mark Zuckerberg launches counterbid for Newcastle United. OK, I made one of those up, but you get my drift. And we’re not done yet. A report in The Verge says the troubled social media giant is to unveil a change-of-name, likely to be a new umbrella brand for all its…

  • Electronic fibre spun into clothing to teach breathing techniques

    Developed by researchers in the US and Sweden, the fabrics could be used in garments that help train singers or athletes to better control their breathing, or those that help patients recovering from disease or surgery to recover their breathing patterns. The multi-layered “OmniFibers” contain a fluid channel in the centre, which can be activated by a fluidic system. This system controls their geometry by pressurising and releasing a fluid medium, such as compressed air or water, into the channel, allowing the fibre to act as an artificial muscle. They also contain stretchable sensors that can detect and measure the degree of stretching. The resulting composite fibres are thin and flexible enough to be sewn, woven, or knitted using standard commercial machines, the researchers said. The…

  • UK’s ‘leading’ net-zero strategy published

    The 368-page strategy document (Net Zero Strategy: Build Back Greener) lays out government policy in areas including transport, waste, energy, heat, and fuel. “The UK leads the world in the race to net zero,” Johnson writes in the document’s foreword. “The likes of China and Russia are following our lead with their own net-zero targets, as prices tumble and green tech becomes the global norm.” He says that the transition will be fair (by making carbon-free alternatives cheaper) and will not compromise economic growth or quality of life. “This strategy shows how we can build back greener, without so much as a hair shirt in sight. In 2050, we will still be driving cars, flying planes, and heating our homes, but our cars will be electric gliding silently around our cities, our planes will…

  • Plans to provide £5,000 grants for low-carbon boiler upgrades are ‘inadequate’

    The £450m Boiler Upgrade Scheme is part of more than £3.9bn of new funding being announced today by the Government for decarbonising heat and buildings. It wants to incentivise people to install low-carbon heating systems by providing subsidies to make the technology more affordable. But the current plan only has enough funds to adequately help 30,000 homes upgrade their heating systems when the target is to install 600,000 heat pumps annually in order to reduce the UK’s household carbon emissions. Greenpeace UK’s head of climate, Kate Blagojevic, said: “While £5000 grants and a 2035 boiler phase-out date are a decent start, they aren’t ambitious enough to adequately tackle emissions from homes or support low income households to switch. “What’s also missing from these reports is any…

  • Novel theorem demonstrates scalability for quantum AI

    There is considerable interest in running convolutional neural networks on quantum computers, thanks to their potential ability to run quantum simulations far more effectively than classical computers can. However, the fundamental solvability problem of 'barren plateaus' has so far limited the application of these neural nets for large data sets. “The way you construct a quantum neural network can lead to a barren plateau, or not,” explained Dr Marco Cerezo, quantum computing expert at Los Alamos and co-author of the study. “We proved the absence of barren plateaus for a special type of quantum neural network. Our work provides trainability guarantees for this architecture, meaning that one can generically train its parameters.” Quantum convolutional neural networks are inspired by the…

  • View from India: EVs encourage last-mile delivery

    India imports lithium batteries, which has scaled up the cost of electric vehicles (EVs). Battery is the key energy supplier of EVs but it’s a challenge to ensure their long-term performance. “Two issues need to be addressed. First is the energy capacity of the batteries; the second hurdle to consider is the rate at which the energy can be discharged. We need a trade-off between energy control, and the cost and size of the batteries,” said Babu KSV, business head, e-mobility, Automotive motors, Cooling Solutions and Export, Lucas TVS, at the recent CII Karnataka Electric Mobility Conclave. The internal combustion engine is the core of mobility business, while battery is core to EV business. The price difference between the EV and internal combustion vehicle is steep and needs to be lowered…

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  • Loss-making gas-fired power plants 'are risky bet for investors'

    The financial think tank estimates that developers of most gas plants planned or under construction will never recover their initial investment and more than $24bn (£17.5bn) is at risk in the US and nearly £2.6bn in the UK, even if plants run for their full planned lifetime. Many governments are pledging to meet net zero carbon by 2050, which will force most gas plants to be closed before the end of their lifetime unless there is significant progress in technologies to reduce their emissions. US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson have both committed to deliver a carbon-free power sector by 2035, while the EU has also made clear that gas has no long-term future. The report calculates that if gas plants are phased out in line with a target of net zero by 2050, nearly…

  • How innovation can make the UK a global leader in offshore wind

    Home to a third of the world’s offshore wind farm installations and more installed capacity than any other country, the UK has clearly staked a claim as an offshore wind powerhouse. The Government’s plan to increase offshore energy to one-third of the total energy mix by 2030 puts the country well along the path to achieving its goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Despite the many offshore energy innovations that have brought it to the global table, the UK’s efforts are still often overshadowed by the European offshore energy giants. Being bigger, it seems, sometimes garners more attention than being better. The result - disproportionate reliance on European developers and technology. To attain market share that is commensurate with its contributions, the UK offshore energy…

  • Fukushima study shows no radiation harm to local animals

    The plant suffered a meltdown in 2011 after it was hit by a tsunami that damaged several of its reactor cores, leaving the surrounding area largely inaccessible to humans without suffering health consequences. In the decade since the incident, multiple generations of local animals have been exposed to the radiation. But a team at Colorado State University have studied wild boar and rat snakes across a range of radiation exposures and did not find any significant adverse health effects. First author Dr Kelly Cunningham said their findings could suggest that people do not need to be as fearful of moving back into the remediated areas as they thought. The wildlife study particularly relevant to humans because human physiology is relatively similar to wild boar, said co-author James Beasley…

  • COP26: subsidies, carbon trade and other hard choices

    Can our leaders save the world? Put like that, it doesn’t sound very likely, does it? But as they gather in Glasgow this month for COP26 – the Conference of Parties 26 meeting – that’s what we’re all hoping. It feels almost like the planet’s last chance. The mess we’re in certainly demands a global response, because while everyone can make a difference, no one can do it alone. However, some populations and even some individuals can make a bigger difference than others. As the Earth’s environment worsens, it’s becoming clearer we are not going to reverse global warming without drastic action and some ingenious moves. COP26 must agree more concerted, coordinated action and get on with it. We need global agreements and national policies to cut consumption and to support technologies that mean…

  • Ford to electrify Halewood plant with £230m investment

    The company said its Halewood plant in Merseyside will be “transformed” for the purposes of building electric power units for future all-electric passenger and commercial vehicles for European customers. It will the first of Ford’s EV component in-house assembly site in the region. Production will begin mid-2024, with capacity planned to rise to around 250,000 units a year. Ford confirmed the £230m investment is subject to, and includes a reported £30m of Government support through its £1bn automotive transformation fund. The fund aims to support the development of a high-value end-to-end domestic EV supply chain. “This is an important step, marking Ford’s first in-house investment in all-electric vehicle component manufacturing in Europe,” said Stuart Rowley, president of Ford of Europe…

  • New UK nuclear power plant to get go-ahead before next election

    Citing “government insiders”, the paper said that the front runner for the new site would be Sizewell C, a project that has been under consideration since French energy giant EDF submitted an application for it in May last year. EDF wants the plant to be able generate around 3.2GW of electricity and it will be a “near replica” of Hinkley Point C in Somerset in order to reduce construction costs and risks. The power station, which will also be part owned by the China General Nuclear (CGN), is expected to meet seven per cent of the UK's demand when it comes into service. However, amid growing uncertainty around Chinese-backed infrastructure projects, it emerged last month that the Government was trying to strike a new deal that would prevent CGN from being involved in the project. “Nuclear…

  • Global policymakers rapidly scaling up climate change mitigation efforts

    Under its 'Forecast Policy Scenario' (FPS), which it believes is the most likely outcome for near-future climate policy announcements, PRI expects sweeping changes across energy systems and transport over the next decade. It predicts that zero-emission vehicles will make up around 30 per cent of all vehicles on the road by 2030, accelerating the demise of oil, which is already near its all-time peak and is expected to decline significantly after 2026/27. Wind and solar power will represent over 30 per cent of global electricity generation by 2030, more than three times today’s levels (around 10 per cent). The FPS also anticipates rapid changes in the food and land systems, often overlooked in climate scenarios, that will see land use becoming a net carbon sink within 30 years as the world…

  • Ineos to invest €2bn in European electrolysis plants

    Its new electrolysis plants will be built in Norway, Germany and Belgium over the next decade, with further plants planned for France and the UK. Ineos said it intends to work closely with EU governments. The bloc has made hydrogen a key part of its decarbonisation strategy, and plans to install capacity of 40GW of electrolysers by 2030; at present, there is not yet 0.1GW installed. Sir Jim Ratcliffe, founder and chair of Ineos, penned an editorial for the Sunday Telegraph extolling the benefits of hydrogen: “Hydrogen is the dream fuel. You can heat your home with it. You can drive your car on it. Burn it and all it produces is energy and the only by-product is water. We can all live with that. the world has committed to hugely reducing its carbon emissions and hydrogen is unquestionably…

  • The measure of: Wingcopter 198

    Air medical service provider Air Methods has partnered with German drone manufacturer Wingcopter to create a drone-based network that can fly medical supplies across the USA. The new network, dubbed Spright, will help ease shortages of blood products, medicines, diagnostics, or small medical devices, Air Methods says. It will achieve this by deploying fleets of Wingcopter’s new flagship delivery drone, the Wingcopter 198. With the proven technology and production capacity to create a nationwide network built around Air Methods’ existing infrastructure of over 300 bases, Wingcopter says Spright can serve hundreds of hospitals across 48 states in predominantly rural areas.   Image credit: ,     An initial pilot project using Wingcopter’s delivery drones will…

  • The eccentric engineer: Sarah Guppy

    Sarah Guppy had the three things that were essential in the early 19th century for a woman to be taken seriously in the very male world of engineering – money, an excellent education, and social contacts. The daughter of a wealthy brass founder and sugar importer, she grew up surrounded by the prosperous new class of Bristol merchant keen not only to flaunt their new wealth, but to ‘improve’ the lot of the people of Bristol and the country in general. Having married Samuel Guppy, a builder of agricultural machinery, she immediately immersed herself in his trade, helping to run the business and negotiating contracts but also turning her hand to the practicalities of engineering. Samuel had fingers in many pies, from nail manufacture to the sale of tea urns, and Sarah seems to have taken…

  • Virgin Galactic delays commercial space travel service after FAA investigation

    The Sir Richard Branson-owned firm has faced a number of hurdles in trying to launch a commercial service, with repeated delays over the years. The firm launched Branson and five other passengers into space in July this year on its SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity. While this flight was a success, US regulators were concerned that the spaceship deviated from its intended path on its return to Earth. This meant that SpaceShipTwo was temporarily barred from flight while an investigation was conducted. On 29 September, the Federal Aviation Administration closed its investigation into the launch and lifted a grounding order it had imposed. But Virgin has still opted not to continue with another proposed test flight of SpaceShipTwo which was expected to take place as early as mid-October this year.…

  • Hydrogen’s energy promise

    “Hydrogen is just a means of storing solar energy,” says Marco Alverà, “it’s as simple as that.” It’s not as versatile as electricity, probably won’t have the same sort of business-to-consumer profile that electricity has, and will certainly be one of those technologies that operates ‘behind the curtain’. When it comes to how it will heat our homes, Alverà thinks that “the jury is still out on that”. What he does know is that as the price of solar energy decreases, hydrogen will – or should – play a bigger part in how we power the world with clean energy. Author of ‘The Hydrogen Revolution’, Alverà has spent more than two decades in the energy industry and is currently CEO of Snam, one of the world’s largest energy infrastructure operators. A leading advocate for hydrogen, he is also author…

  • General Motors to use only renewable energy at its US sites from 2030

    The firm originally made the pledge to hit 100 per cent renewables by 2030 but has now started working with US power grid operator PJM Interconnection to track the carbon emissions from its US facilities. GM’s goal is to become a carbon-neutral firm by 2040 and eliminate exhaust emissions from new light-duty vehicles by 2035. This commitment was made earlier this year, just days after President Joe Biden took office and immediately signed a set of executive orders that tightened up environmental regulations that were relaxed under the previous administration. As well as a hastening of its renewable energy plans, the firm also intends to become the most significant electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer in the US and plans for more than 50 per cent of the its US and China manufacturing footprint…

  • Engineers create glass and crystal nanostructures with 3D printer

    The electronics industry is built on silicon: the basic semiconducting substrate for microprocessors. There are certain limitations of top-down semiconductor manufacturing, which this study sought to address using a bottom-up approach, harnessing additive manufacturing. “It’s very tough to make complicated, three-dimensional geometries with traditional photolithography techniques,” said Professor Jun Lou, a materials science expert and lead author of the Nature Materials study. “It’s also not very green because it requires a lot of chemicals and a lot of steps. And even with all that effort, some structures are impossible to make with those methods. “In principle, we can print arbitrary 3D shapes, which could be very interesting for making exotic photonic devices. That’s what we’re trying…

  • Nasa’s asteroid mission prepares for journey to outer solar system

    The $980m, 12-year mission will explore more asteroids than ever before. If all goes according to plan, the spacecraft will reach its first flyby (an asteroid in the main asteroid belt) in April 2025, followed by seven Trojan asteroids beginning in August 2027. Its path will circle back to Earth three times for gravity assists before landing, making it the first spacecraft to return to Earth from the outer solar system. The Trojan asteroids orbit the Sun in two elongated swarms: one group ahead of Jupiter in its path, the other behind it. These two regions contain approximately as many asteroids as the main asteroid belt. Observations of these asteroids have led to the suggestion that they may be coated in certain organic polymers formed by solar radiation, and that they may have been captured…

  • UK railway electrification needs to ramp up to meet net zero carbon targets

    According to new data published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), just 179km of track was electrified in the 2020-2021 period, less than half the 448km required each year to meet Network Rail’s target of a Net Zero railway by 2050, the RIA said. Ultimately, 13,000km of track needs to be electrified by 2050 to meet the targets; today, just 38 per cent of the Britain’s railways are electrified. It’s not the first time such a criticism has been levelled about the Government’s commitment to the railway electrification programme. In July, MPs on the Public Accounts Committee said the UK’s rail system lacks “strategic direction” for the project. Electric trains have been estimated to emit 20-35 per cent less carbon emissions than those powered by diesel. David Clarke, technical director…

  • View from Brussels: A well-timed energy crisis?

    It has been all hands on deck for the European Commission this month, as the EU’s executive branch tries to make it perfectly clear that clean energy policies are not responsible for the spike in prices. Politicians like Hungary’s Viktor Orban, the Czech Republic’s Andrej Babis and Russia’s Vladimir Putin have in recent weeks suggested that the EU’s “misguided” attempts to decarbonise have burdened their citizens with inflated energy bills. But that theory has already been widely debunked by both the Commission and energy analysts, who have calculated that the price spike is predominantly due to fossil gas shortages. The EU’s carbon market, which charges big emitters for every tonne of pollution, has been trading at record highs but is only marginally responsible for pushing the price…

  • ‘You can absolutely think of transport as an enabler’: Sara Sharples, chief scientific advisor, Department for Transport

    When it comes to the UK’s transport system, “we’ve got some really big and important decisions to make”, says Professor Sarah Sharples. “Some of those decisions might be about which of the number of alternative solutions that are out there are the best to help us on the path to decarbonisation – a path I think we are all aware that we need to progress through.” Sharples, who is chief scientific adviser (CSA) for the UK’s Department for Transport, is referring to the recently published plan for transport decarbonisation, a term that Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps has gone on record as saying is “a dull way of describing something much more exciting”. If Shapps’s choice of vocabulary is perhaps unfortunate, Sharples is nothing but upbeat: “It is the articulation of where we need…

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