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Electrification to drive 60% of UK’s carbon cuts by 2040, say climate advisors

The government’s climate advisors have said that electrifying key parts of the UK economy will be responsible for an estimated 60% of the planned cuts to carbon emissions by 2040. The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has presented its recommendations on how to achieve this goal, which include broad uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) by consumers and business as well as the mass installation of heat pumps. It said that near-term investments in the low-carbon economy would yield savings later on, and that by 2050 household energy bills could be £700 cheaper than today, with household driving bills also predicted to be £700 cheaper. Energy price shocks have been responsible for over half of recessions since the 1970s, but it said a decarbonised electricity system would hedge against major spikes…

E+T Magazine in Ethical Aspects
SpaceX identifies cause of Starship explosion and plans design changes

SpaceX has identified why its Starship super heavy rocket exploded during a test flight last month. On 16 January, Starship lifted off from a launchpad in Texas and all 33 of its Raptor engines started up successfully. But after several minutes of flight time the upper stage dramatically broke up and disintegrated over Caribbean airspace, forcing several planned flights to alter their course to avoid falling debris. SpaceX said the “most probable root cause” for the failure was identified as a harmonic response several times stronger in flight than had been seen during testing, which led to increased stress on hardware in the propulsion system. “The subsequent propellant leaks exceeded the venting capability of the ship’s attic area and resulted in sustained fires,” it said in a blog…

E+T Magazine in Space
Mercedes starts road testing its 620-mile range solid-state battery

Mercedes’ EQS prototype electric vehicle (EV), equipped with a lithium-metal solid-state battery, has begun real-world testing. While car makers including Volkswagen, Toyota and Nissan have all announced plans to produce solid-state EVs, Mercedes-Benz claims it has launched the “world’s first solid-state battery vehicle from a global OEM”. To develop the solid-state battery, engineers came together from both the company’s passenger car and Formula 1 teams. These engineers also collaborated with Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains (HPP), a UK-based subsidiary specialising in F1 technologies, as well as the Mercedes-Benz Centre of Competence for Battery Systems in Stuttgart. A key partnership in the battery’s development was with US-based Factorial Energy, which provided the cells…

E+T Magazine in Power Conversion
AI tool to help extend lifespan of railway bridges

An AI tool designed to keep bridges in operation for longer has been developed by ETH Zurich researchers. The team developed a model for railway bridges made of reinforced concrete – which are particularly common in Switzerland – that provides an initial assessment of structural safety. They also developed an AI assistant that helps engineers to design new bridges. The average lifespan of a bridge is typically considered to be around 75-100 years depending on the materials used and the amount of traffic, although this can be extended through careful maintenance. “Switzerland is facing a situation in which a considerable proportion of its infrastructure is nearing the end of its planned service life and must be inspected and strengthened if necessary,” said doctoral researcher Sophia Kuhn…

E+T Magazine in Research and Innovation
Swarms of small underwater drones to attract marine life to artificial 3D-printed reefs

A swarm of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) will be used to monitor artificial reefs off the coast of Cyprus. Equipped with sensors and high-definition cameras, the AUVs will feed data from the reefs to scientists in the EONIOS project. The project, launched in June 2024, brings together French AUV developer Arkeocean, the Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute (CMMI), Cypriot tech firm SignalGeneriX and French consulting company Lanego. This R&D partnership aims to develop a micro-AUV swarm system with docking stations embedded into nature-based artificial reefs. The reefs have been designed and built by CMMI with 3D printing techniques using an eco cement mixture. The aim of the reefs is to help restore marine habitats because high sea surface temperatures have killed off many…

E+T Magazine in Marine Transport
Interview: SkedGo CEO says ‘mobility as a service’ is evolving to put people first

Mobility as a service (MaaS) apps are ‘changing the way the world moves’, says SkedGo CEO John Nuutinen. But if we are to achieve greater accessibility and travel equity, systems must evolve to become more tailored to individual and local needs. “We’re now in the second phase of MaaS,” says John Nuutinen. “The first was interesting because it bounced around ideas like how to make a profit. But one of the things we started to discover is that the value of MaaS can’t be assessed on profit alone.” The CEO of SkedGo, headquartered in Sydney, Australia, maintains that there’s now an increased recognition of the value of subsidised MaaS capabilities in terms of societal and environmental benefit. “And that’s a good thing,” he adds. “In the future we’ll see the commercialisation of these systems…

E+T Magazine in Road transport systems
Laser-powered tool could help Mars rovers find signs of ancient life

Scientists have developed a laser-based device that could be installed on a future Mars rover as a tool for finding signs of former life on the Red Planet. The University of Bern team has developed a miniature, laser-powered mass spectrometer that can analyse the chemical composition of a rock sample in detail as fine as a micrometre (one-thousandth of a millimetre). The tool has already been used to sample gypsum from a quarry in Algeria in an attempt to replicate the kind of materials and conditions that might be experienced on Mars. The team analysed the rock using the tool to understand its ability to distinguish between potential microbial fossils and natural rock formations. These include morphology – which is irregular, sinuous and potentially hollow – as well as the presence of…

E+T Magazine in Space
1.8GW LionLink interconnector project announces preferred UK landfall location

LionLink, a subsea interconnector project between the UK and the Netherlands, has selected Walberswick, Suffolk, as its preferred landfall location. In November 2024, energy regulator Ofgem approved five major new undersea energy links, one of which is LionLink. The LionLink interconnector will deliver a new 1.8GW electricity link between the UK and the Netherlands. It is being developed by Dutch transmission system operator TenneT and its UK project partner National Grid Ventures, the investment arm of the National Grid. The project is referred to as a multi-purpose or hybrid interconnector because for the first time it will connect the Dutch and UK energy grids via a 2GW offshore wind farm in Dutch waters. An offshore converter platform at the wind farm will feed energy into the electricity…

E+T Magazine in Renewable Energy
Hackers steal $1.5bn in the ‘biggest cryptocurrency heist ever recorded’

On 21 February 2025, hackers stole approximately $1.5bn in digital assets from Bybit’s Ethereum wallet. The Dubai-based cryptocurrency platform Bybit has called it the “biggest cryptocurrency heist ever recorded”. Bybit was founded in 2018 and has more than 60 million users worldwide. It offers access to various cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum. Ethereum is the second-biggest cryptocurrency by market value after Bitcoin. An Ethereum wallet is a software or hardware interface that allows users to store and manage their Ethereum-based tokens securely. However, a hacker managed to gain control of an Ethereum wallet and transfer the contents to an unknown address. According to Bybit, the hack occurred when the company was making a routine transfer of Ethereum from an offline “cold…

E+T Magazine in Business Planning
UK’s net zero economy grows 10% in a year, adding £83bn and nearly a million jobs

The UK’s net zero economy has grown 10% in the past year alone, providing an £83.1bn uplift to the economy, analysis has revealed. The study, which was carried out by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) on behalf of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), suggested that the sector was “vital” for the government’s efforts to boost the UK’s economic growth. Net zero businesses now support the equivalent of 951,000 full-time jobs, which are typically better paid than the UK average, with employees earning an average of £43,076 per year. This compares to median gross annual earnings for full-time employees across the UK of £37,430 in April 2024. The ECIU estimated that they generate £105,500 in economic value, which is 38% above the UK average. It also found that the economic…

E+T Magazine in Business Planning
TfL trials electric construction vehicles to cut carbon emissions

Transport for London (TfL) is trialling a new way to cut its carbon emissions by utilising zero-emission construction vehicles. For future works, TfL will begin employing an electric excavator and wheel loader to replace equipment traditionally powered by fossil fuels. It has already trialled the vehicles at three locations in Redcliffe Gardens in the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The electric vehicles use a method of recharging provided by Charge Fairy, a British electric charging start-up. It provides real-time updates on the machines’ charging levels when on-site – this feeds into a team that can then send a charging van to the site. This method of bringing the charger to the vehicle allows the construction machines to be recharged in an hour. TfL said that developments in how…

E+T Magazine in Electric Vehicles
Musk suggests deorbiting ISS early after clash with Danish astronaut

Elon Musk has recommended that the International Space Station (ISS) be deorbited earlier than currently planned after getting into a spat with a Danish astronaut. Nasa is currently planning to decommission the ISS in 2031, instead supporting the creation of private Earth-orbiting space stations with the agency as one of many customers. But writing on X (formerly Twitter), Musk said: “It is time to begin preparations for deorbiting the Space Station. It has served its purpose. There is very little incremental utility.” “Let’s go to Mars,” he added. When pushed on his comment by another user on the platform, Musk said he recommended the ISS be deorbited “2 years from now”, which would be at least three years earlier than currently planned, but said it was ultimately “up to the President…

E+T Magazine in Space
Accelerating the development of next-gen perovskite solar cells

A new manufacturing technique paves the way for low-cost and scaleable solar generation, according to new research by the University of Sheffield. While solar power is deemed an environmentally friendly technology, the materials used to manufacture solar panels may have a significant environmental impact. Often these are scarce and expensive elements, such as copper and indium, that need to be mined and refined. UK-based solar tech firm Power Roll is developing lightweight and flexible solar cells made from perovskite materials. The use of perovskite materials in solar energy is the subject of increasing research and investment, as these materials are flexible, lightweight, cheap to produce, scalable and as efficient as today’s leading solar photovoltaic materials, which are mainly silicon…

E+T Magazine in Renewable Energy
Vodafone trialling drones that can remotely repair network outages

Vodafone has trialled a suite of next-generation drones that can restore connectivity to malfunctioning mobile masts in a bid to cut network down time. Backhaul fibre cables linking masts are typically buried in the ground, making them susceptible to damage by mechanical diggers and vandalism. Across Europe, Vodafone on average deals with between 75 and 100 such cable breaks every year. This suite of drones would be able to create a wireless link between masts when an underground cable is severed. In a test earlier this month in Spain, Vodafone worked with Google-affiliated firm Taara to demonstrate how two industrial-grade drones equipped with Taara’s light beam terminals could be used to deliver a temporary connection. In the test, one drone was securely tethered to a mast, and the…

E+T Magazine in Aerospace
Trump’s fast-tracking of fossil fuel projects puts US wetlands and waterways at risk

US President Donald Trump’s decision to fast-track a number of fossil fuel projects could cause significant damage to the US’s wetlands and waterways, green campaigners have warned. During his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order – “Declaring a National Energy Emergency” – that required the US Army Corps of Engineers to “facilitate the nation’s energy supply”, including permitting under the Clean Water Act the filling of wetlands and dredging or building in waterways. In a press briefing, the White House said the decision was needed to meet the rising domestic energy demand, strengthen economic security and prop up the American energy industry. But according to the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), more than 600 applications earmarked to be fast-tracked risk destroying…

E+T Magazine in Management of Technology
Microsoft launches new chip that offers a ‘breakthrough in quantum computing’

Microsoft claims its new Majorana 1 chip shows that quantum computers capable of solving meaningful, industrial-scale problems are just years away, not decades. Quantum computing is heralded as the next frontier of computing technology. While it is still in its infancy, scientists believe that with its ability to solve problems that are unsolvable on classic computers, the technology could help power innovation in a range of fields, from drug discovery and smarter encryption software to manufacturing and AI. The race to develop quantum computing chips is on. IBM launched the IBM Heron quantum chip over a year ago, and in December 2024 Google launched its 105-qubit Willow quantum chip that it claims demonstrates “state-of-the-art performance across a number of metrics”. The biggest challenge…

E+T Magazine in Computing
Industry insight: Accelerating silicon photonics innovation

Professor Graham Reed, a globally recognised leader in silicon photonics at the University of Southampton and one of the driving forces behind the UK’s Cornerstone Photonics Innovation Centre, discusses how this field has evolved over the past few decades and what is in store for its future. Silicon photonics (SiPh) is an exciting field. It is the application of photonic systems with silicon as the optical medium. Over the years, SiPh has developed into a mainstream technology driven by advances in optical communications. It can be used in a wide variety of applications ranging from telecoms and sensing to lidar, AI and quantum. The Cornerstone Photonics Innovation Centre (C-PIC) based at the the University of Southampton has been established as the UK’s technology hub for SiPh. As an open…

E+T Magazine in Research and Innovation
France sets fusion energy milestone by maintaining a plasma reaction for 1,337 seconds

France has achieved a milestone in the development of fusion energy having maintained a high-confinement plasma operation for 1,337 seconds – surpassing the recent Chinese record of 1,066 seconds. The milestone was reached on 12 February 2025 at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). A plasma reaction was successfully sustained for over 22 minutes inside the WEST Tokamak reactor located at the CEA Cadarache facility in southern France. This marks a 25% improvement on the record set just a few weeks prior at the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak located at China’s Hefei Institutes of Physical Science. Fusion is a potential source of almost limitless clean energy, which is seen as vital for energy security and the climate crisis. It uses the same…

E+T Magazine in Nuclear Power
Low-cost method could tackle climate change by permanently storing CO2 in rocks

A cheap method of permanently removing atmospheric carbon dioxide by sequestering it in specially made minerals has been developed by Stanford University chemists. Climate experts believe that preventing additional global warming will require both slashing the use of fossil fuels and permanently removing billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. But technologies for carbon removal remain costly, energy-intensive or both – and unproven at large scale. The new process uses heat to transform common minerals into materials that spontaneously pull carbon from the atmosphere and permanently sequester it. These reactive materials can be produced in conventional kilns, like those used to make cement. “The Earth has an inexhaustible supply of minerals that are capable of removing CO2 from the…

E+T Magazine in Research and Innovation
Flying Whales cargo airship closer to taking to the skies following latest supplier contract

Finnish-based Exel Composites has signed a contract with French-Canadian airship manufacturer Flying Whales to supply its airship with 75km of pull-wound carbon fibre tubes. Launched in Paris in 2012, Flying Whales is an aeronautic start-up that aims to develop an airship capable of transporting heavy loads. Its first large-capacity airship – LCA60T – will be able to carry 60 tonnes of cargo at a time. It’s specifically aimed at cargo that is challenging to transport by road or rail, such as wood logs, shipping containers and wind-turbine blades. The 200-metre-long and 50-metre-high vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) airship will use helium technology to lift its weight and cargo. It will be powered by a hybrid-electric propulsion system integrated with a generator supplied by Honeywell…

E+T Magazine in Aerospace
‘City killer’ asteroid now has 3.1% chance of hitting the Earth in 2032

The YR4 asteroid, which has been dubbed the “city killer”, now has a 3.1% chance of hitting the Earth in 2032, making it the most threatening space body recorded in modern times. The asteroid was first discovered by the El Sauce Observatory in Chile at the end of December and is estimated to be 40 to 90 metres in diameter. While asteroids of that size do not pose a threat to humanity overall, it would be large enough to flatten a city and cause major damage and disruption in a localised area. Its discovery triggered the first step in planetary defence responses, prompting several major telescopes to gather data about the object and leading United Nations-endorsed space agencies to begin planning asteroid threat mitigation. It made a close approach of the Earth at the end of December two…

E+T Magazine in Space
Meta plans world’s longest subsea data cable to connect five continents

Meta is planning to build the world’s longest subsea data cable, which will link the US with India, South Africa, Brazil and other regions along the way. Dubbed Project Waterworth, the project will link five major continents together and span over 50,000km in total, making it the world’s longest subsea cable project. Subsea cable projects such as this are the backbone of global digital infrastructure, accounting for more than 95% of intercontinental traffic across the world’s oceans. Meta already has involvement in other subsea cables, including the Echo, Bifrost, Havhingsten, Amite and Anjana cables. Meanwhile, the 2Africa cable, which circumnavigates the coastline of Africa to interconnect Europe and the Middle East, is now partly operational. Other tech giants such as Google have…

E+T Magazine in Computing
Under construction for four years, Everton FC’s new stadium plays host to first match

Everton Football Club has welcomed the first supporters into its new 52,888-seat stadium in Bramley-Moore dock, Liverpool. The new £555m venue was constructed by engineers Laing O’Rourke. Both on schedule and within budget, nearly 12,000 construction staff were required during the build. The Toffees are scheduled to kick off the 2025/26 Premier League season at the new arena, relocating from Goodison Park, but first the stadium is playing host to a few test events. The first of these was an under-18s friendly against Wigan Athletic on Monday (17 February). In front of 10,000 fans – all packing out the South Stand – the Young Blues were edged out in a 2-1 defeat. The loss didn’t put a dampener on what was a “fantastic occasion”, according to Everton under-18s head coach Keith Southern…

E+T Magazine in Construction Industry
AI system could help aircraft recover from midair stalls and altitude drops

Aircraft could be equipped with an onboard AI system to help with midair stalls and sharp altitude drops, researchers have said. A team from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden has conducted tests on an AI system designed to enhance the effectiveness of experimental technologies for manipulating airflow on wing surfaces. An AI technique known as deep reinforcement learning (DRL) allows the programme to use previous experiences to guide the way it controls the airflow technologies in real time. The AI control system zeroes in on one particularly dangerous aerodynamic phenomenon known as flow detachment, or turbulent separation bubbles. To stay aloft, aircraft need slow-moving air underneath the wing, and fast-moving air above it. The air moving over the wing surface needs to follow…

E+T Magazine in Research and Innovation

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