• Europe unprepared for barrage of climate change risks, EU agency warns

    Europe is not prepared for a barrage of climate change risks, says the European Environment Agency (EEA). Potential catastrophes including extreme heat, drought, wildfires and flooding threaten the stability of Europe’s energy and food security, ecosystems, infrastructure, water resources, financial stability and people’s health. Previous research from the World Meteorological Organization has found that Europe is the fastest-warming continent in the world, which leaves it particularly exposed to climate risks. The new assessment found that many of the risks have already reached “critical levels” and could become catastrophic without “urgent and decisive action”. It said that Europe’s policies and adaptation actions were not keeping pace with the growing risks. In many cases, incremental…

  • 10 tech innovations to grow the UK tidal industry – report

    The Tidal Stream Technology Roadmap report, published by the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, demonstrates how costs can be reduced through 10 technology innovations, and lead to significant growth in the UK tidal industry. The Marine Energy Council (MEC), the representative body for the UK’s tidal stream and wave energy industries, has set a target for UK wave and tidal stream energy capacity to reach 1GW by 2035. To reach this ambitious target, tidal technology innovations need to become a commercial reality. The 10 innovations include subsea hubs, anchors for floating devices, controllers to optimise lifetime turbine performance, cable monitoring and tidal array optimisation. The report also demonstrates how cost reduction is crucial in enabling an accelerated growth trajectory…

  • Unmanned, hypersonic aircraft completes test flight before planned ocean crash

    Stratolaunch has completed the first powered flight of its unmanned, hypersonic test aircraft dubbed Talon-A. Hypersonic refers to aircraft that can achieve speeds of at least five times the speed of sound, or 3,836mph. The privately funded firm wanted to test various capabilities of its reusable aircraft including engine ignition, acceleration, sustained climb in altitude and a controlled water landing. Talon-A, which is powered by a liquid-fuel rocket engine, ended its flight by descending into the ocean as planned. While the aircraft was considered expendable in this testing phase, a future version will be capable of landing on a runway for reuse. “While I can’t share the specific altitude and speed TA-1 reached due to proprietary agreements with our customers, we are pleased to…

  • US ocean drone company Saildrone launches long-endurance USV to map the ocean floor

    Contracted to the US Navy for initial testing, SD-3000 is an aluminium Surveyor unmanned surface vehicle (USV) that has been designed to map the seafloor to depths of 11,000 metres. As humans we know relatively little about vast areas of our ocean. Mapping the open ocean comes with various challenges – not least of all, it requires sophisticated equipment and crew that need to be at sea for long periods of time. US ocean drone company Saildrone has solved both of these challenges. The most recent vehicle to join its fleet of uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) is the SD-3000, which, like the rest of the fleet, is powered by renewable wind and solar power. It is designed to scale ocean data collection with a minimum carbon footprint. Leveraging the advanced manufacturing production techniques…

  • NatPower allocates £10bn to expand the UK’s grid-scale battery storage

    NatPower says it will build over £10bn worth of battery storage amounting to around 15-20% of the UK’s needs by 2040. The UK-based firm, a division of NatPower Group, which is headquartered in Luxembourg, plans to start with three “GigaParks” to be licensed by 2024 and another 10 by 2025. It also said that £600m has been allocated to develop new substations in the electricity grid in preparation for the battery facilities. It is expected that batteries will play an increasingly big role on the grid as they allow energy produced from renewables to be used at times when they are not generating electricity. They also help to avoid problems of excess electricity production – currently, wind or solar energy producers are sometimes forced to suspend energy production so that the grid is not overloaded…

  • What the ‘Budget for long-term growth’ means for the engineering and tech industries

    In his Spring Statement, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt set out a plan to deliver long-term growth for the UK with a number of key investments, including a £160m nuclear power deal, £120m for the Green Industries Growth Accelerator, £3.4bn towards digital transformation in the NHS, £270m for R&D projects and £650m investment in a vaccine manufacturing hub. However, some spokespeople in the engineering and tech industries think more could have been done. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt began his speech to parliament by saying that “the policies I announce today mean more investment, more jobs, better public services and lower taxes in a budget for long-term growth”. However, he was quick to point out that this growth would not be sustained by immigration. In the lead up to the budget – the Chancellor’s final…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • How to bounce back after losing your job

    Losing your job is never easy and most of the time, not a very positive experience at all. People lose their jobs for a variety of reasons but whether it’s because your contract is ending, you’ve been made redundant or you’ve just moved on, it’s never an easy process. If you do lose your job, most people are in a situation where they need to find a new one, but you may not feel up to the challenge straight away. It’s important to start this by saying that everything should be done at the speed you feel comfortable with. Try not to compare yourself to others and work at your own pace. Life throws all kinds of different things at us and they’re all a learning experience. Afterall, it’s what you make of a situation, so try and turn a bad one into a positive. Letting go of the disappointment…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Summertime Arctic ice could be completely depleted within two years

    Arctic ice is becoming so depleted that there could be practically no sea ice during the peak of summer as early as the next two years, researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder (UC Boulder) have said. The findings suggest that the first ice-free day in the Arctic could occur over 10 years earlier than previous projections, which focused on when the region would be ice-free for a month or more. The trend remains consistent under all future emission scenarios. It is expected that by 2050, the Arctic could see an entire month without floating ice during September, when the region’s sea ice coverage is at its minimum. By the end of the century, the ice-free season could last several months a year, depending on future emissions scenarios. Under a high-emissions, or business-as-usual…

  • Air taxis closer to launching in the UK as vertiport testbed plans unveiled

    The UK’s first vertiport testbed for developing the next generation of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft is being launched at a 444-acre estate in Oxfordshire. The facility will include a compact 160 square metre passenger terminal and will be used to test ground infrastructure and flight operations. Skyports Infrastructure, the firm behind the project, has previously launched two services to deliver vital supplies to remote Scottish islands using drones: the first in 2020 delivering PPE and coronavirus test kits, and then a contract with Royal Mail last year. The new vertiport will be positioned next to existing general aviation grass runways owned by aviation firm Bicester Motion. The compact terminal, which is only 0.42 acres, has been designed to demonstrate…

  • Greenpeace analysis reveals the UK is ‘utterly failing’ at green investment

    Of the top five western European economies – France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK – the UK government has invested the least in green spending, and also comes out worst in terms of per capita green energy investment. Greenpeace based its analysis on the International Energy Agency (IEA) government energy spending tracker, which focuses on investment over the period April 2020 to April 2023. The analysis revealed that France, which has a similar population size to the UK, spends almost twice as much on green spending as a whole at $952.40 per capita, compared to the UK’s $494.43 per capita. When breaking it down into sectors, the UK ranks worst out of the top five for total spend on low carbon and efficient transport, despite transport being the UK’s largest emitting sector for greenhouse…

  • Testing rules require car makers to ditch touchscreen for physical buttons for top rating

    From 2026, the European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP) will introduce new testing rules that will require vehicles to have physical controls for basic functions like turn signals and windscreen wipers to earn a full five-star safety rating. Touchscreens inside vehicles have become commonplace. More and more basic vehicle controls have moved away from physical buttons to an icon on a touchscreen. While using a touchscreen is easy to access and user-friendly, it does require the user to take their eyes off the road, however brief that may be. This has become a concern for Euro NCAP – an independent safety body for the automotive industry, which assesses vehicles and provides a five-star safety rating system to help users compare vehicles and identify the safest choice for their…

  • Three Red Sea underwater data cables cut as Houthis launch more attacks

    Three telecommunication lines running under the Red Sea have been cut as Yemen’s Houthi rebels continue to target the waterway. A statement by Hong Kong-based HGC Global Communications acknowledged the cuts but did not say what caused the lines to be severed. There has been concern about the cables being targeted in the Houthi campaign, which the rebels describe as an effort to pressure Israel to end its war on Hamas in Gaza. However, the Houthis have denied attacking the lines. The severed lines include Asia-Africa-Europe 1, the Europe India Gateway, Seacom and TGN-Gulf. According to HGC Global Communications, the cuts are affecting 25% of the traffic flowing through the Red Sea. It described the Red Sea route as crucial for data moving from Asia to Europe and said it had begun rerouting…

  • Reducing atmospheric carbon with direct air capture will cost double previous estimates

    The cost of removing carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere could be double previous estimates. Researchers from the university ETH Zurich also warn that the technology should not be treated as a substitute for carbon reduction policies. Carbon removal is considered a possible solution to the problem of limiting global warming to within 2°C above pre-industrial levels. It could be particularly useful for sectors such as aviation and agriculture, which are particularly hard to abate using current technologies. The researchers compared the potential costs of three direct air capture (DAC) technologies already in use. These included the method used by ETH spinoff Climeworks, as well as carbon capture using aqueous solutions and calcium oxide. They estimate that the cost of removing…

  • New satellite will use data combined with AI to map methane leaks worldwide

    The MethaneSAT satellite, developed by the Environmental Defense Fund in partnership with Google, has launched onboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the aim of putting the biggest methane-emitting culprits on the map. Methane leaks cause plumes of potent greenhouse gas to escape into our atmosphere, sometimes for days on end. Slashing it, therefore, is imperative to limit global warming. While methane has 80 times the warming power of CO2 in the first 20 years after reaching the atmosphere, unlike CO2 it does not remain in our atmosphere for as long. This means that reducing methane emissions will have a significant impact in lowering global temperatures. Tracking methane leaks will help identify the sources of these emissions, produced from oil and gas, landfill, agriculture and other…

  • Apple receives €1.8bn EU fine for promoting its music streaming service over rivals

    The EU has levied a €1.8bn (£1.5bn) fine against Apple for making it difficult for European users to find out pricing information for alternative music streaming services such as Spotify and YouTube Music. The tech giant has its own Apple Music service that it promotes heavily to iPhone users. But the European Commission (EC) found that it applied restrictions on app developers that prevented them from informing iOS users about alternative and cheaper music subscription services available outside of the app. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules. An investigation found that Apple bans music streaming app developers from fully informing iOS users about alternative and cheaper music subscription services available outside of the app and from providing any instructions about how to subscribe…

  • AI should be human-focused rather than tech-driven, experts warn

    With AI increasingly set to permeate all areas of our lives, a soon-to-be-published book focuses on how to make AI more human-centred in a range of sectors and industries. We are constantly bombarded with news about how AI is going to transform our lives. Technology companies are making huge strides in developing technology-driven AI, and it gives the impression that, as humans, we have to give way to this technology and adapt our lives to fit with it. However, global experts warn AI should instead fit with what humans need. In a new book – Human-Centered AI: A multidisciplinary perspective for policy-makers, auditors, and users – 50 experts from a variety of backgrounds, sectors, disciplines and countries contribute to an exploration of human-centred AI. It looks at why and how AI should…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Norway’s offshore carbon storage plans – safe solution or environmental risk?

    Plans to inject carbon under the seabed are growing at an unprecedented rate. Norway’s Longship project aims to create large-scale offshore carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities, but critics claim that “despite the fanfare around CCS, it is a costly and risky endeavour”. In CCS, CO2 emissions from various industries are captured, and stored indefinitely deep underground. Many industries, particularly oil and gas, claim that CCS is an effective tool in reducing atmospheric carbon emissions. According to the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), a Washington-based non-profit, by mid-2023 more than 50 new offshore CCS projects had been announced globally. In a report published towards the end of last year – Deep Trouble: The Risks of Offshore Carbon Capture and Storage…

  • Budget 2024: mobile networks call for taxpayer help to close £25bn investment gap

    UK mobile network operators have said the sector may not keep up with expanding usage and data consumption without government support. According to industry body Mobile UK, which represents O2, Vodafone, Three and EE, the mobile industry is facing several pressing challenges, including rising costs due to inflation following a decade of flat or declining revenues. The industry must also accommodate rising demands for data – which will require major investments in network capacity infrastructure – and demands from the government such as social tariffs for people who can’t afford data plans. Mobile UK said that “it cannot be overstated how important it is that we have a positive investment environment” if the sector is to expand both 5G coverage and capacity across the country. A series…

  • IET and WISE join forces to accelerate gender equality in STEM

    Women into Science and Engineering (WISE) Campaign, a non-profit organisation focused on gender parity for women in STEM from classroom to boardroom, is now under the ownership of the IET. It is a well known fact that women only fill a proportionately small percentage of STEM roles in the UK. According to recent government statistics, women make up 29% of the STEM workforce. Much has been made about how to tackle this gender inequality. While the number of women in STEM occupations has certainly grown over past decades, there’s still a long way to go. IET and WISE Campaign have each worked on various campaigns and initiatives focused on increasing diversity in the sector and attracting young women to pursue a STEM career. Now, having joined forces, they feel that together they can increase…

  • Siemens to build £100m R&D centre for the UK’s next-gen rail technology

    Siemens Mobility has announced a £100m R&D centre in the UK while the Chancellor has promised a £360m package to boost British manufacturing in a series of pre-Budget announcements. The Siemens facility will employ around 800 workers to build next-generation signalling and control systems for Britain’s rail systems. It will replace the firm’s existing factory in Chippenham, Wiltshire, in 2026 and all its staff will be transferred. The firm has long been a major contractor for building UK trains. In recent years, this has included trains for the London Underground as well as the Great Northern franchise. The company’s existing Chippenham factory has been producing equipment for rail infrastructure since the 19th century. Rob Morris, joint CEO of Siemens Mobility UK & Ireland, said: …

  • Odysseus spacecraft loses power one week after landing on the moon

    The first US spacecraft to land on the surface of the Moon for over 50 years has sent a “farewell transmission” and gone quiet. On Thursday 15 February, Houston-based Intuitive Machines launched its robotic lunar lander mounted on a SpaceX rocket. The 1,908kg Nova-C lander – known as Odysseus or ‘Odie’ - was heading for the crater Malapert A, 300km from the Moon’s south pole. Intuitive Machines’ mission, IM-1, was tasked with delivering six Nasa instruments to the lunar surface as part of Nasa’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services programme, with the contract reportedly worth $118m. These instruments were intended to collect data to help develop Nasa’s Artemis programme – which aims to establish a crewed base near the lunar south pole, where subsurface water ice is likely to be abundant,…

  • UK tax policy encourages polluting SUVs on British roads, green campaigners say

    The UK tax system is failing to address the cost of the emissions, air pollution and safety concerns of large luxury cars, which is causing their proliferation on British roads, green campaigners Transport & Environment (T&E) have found. The body said that current legislation could see the UK become “a tax haven” for car manufacturers keen to sell larger cars. Previous T&E research found that cars in the UK are getting so big for British roads that many now exceed the 180cm minimum for on-street parking. On average, cars were widening by 1cm every two years. An analysis of the tax systems of countries across the EU and the UK found that the gap in tax paid in the UK between battery electric SUVs and petrol SUVs ranks 24th out of 31 European countries. This is largely down to the UK…

  • Global carbon emissions rose less sharply in 2023 due to clean energy surge, reports IEA

    New data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) reveals that global energy-related carbon emissions slowed down in 2023 because of the continued expansion of renewables, nuclear power and electric vehicles. In 2023, global energy-related carbon emissions reached a record level of 37.4 billion tonnes. However, according to the IEA’s latest report, 2023’s rise of 410 million tonnes, or 1.1%, is lower than 2022’s rise of 490 million tonnes. The reason why emissions grew more weakly is down to the continued growth of clean energy technologies, such as solar PV, wind power, nuclear power and electric cars. According to the IEA, without these technologies, the global increase in CO2 emissions in the last five years would have been three times larger. The overall rise in energy-related emissions…

  • US State Department fines Boeing $51m for leaking defence tech in China

    Boeing has been fined $51m by the US State Department for a number of export violations, including technical US military data being downloaded by Chinese employees in China. An “extensive” compliance review into the company found that Boeing was responsible for 199 violations of the Arms Export Control Act. This included the period 2013-17, which saw three Chinese employees at Boeing-run facilities in China downloading technical data related to the F-18, F-15 and F-22 fighter jets, the E-3 airborne warning and control system, the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter and the AGM-84E cruise missile. It also emerged that “an indeterminate number” of international employees and contractors at Boeing sites across countries, including Russia, downloaded technical data 80 times over five years. …

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