• Proposed solar farm restrictions would slap £5bn energy bill on UK households

    The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), which based its findings on an analysis of the government’s 70GW solar energy target, said this is equivalent to up to £180 per UK household per year. It is estimated that between 24GW and 39GW of the target in England is likely to be generated by ground-mounted solar panels. But proposed amendments to the Energy Bill suggest placing further restrictions on solar farm developments, following moves by the Liz Truss government to effectively ban them last year. If the amendments were successful, energy costs for bill-payers could be between £3bn and £5bn higher each year, as the electricity would probably be produced using more expensive gas instead. At the top end, this is equivalent to gas required to heat around 6.5 million homes for a…

  • IFA 2023: Honor, Lenovo, Anker and more unveil devices at Europe’s largest tech show

    Honor In the first keynote of the show, Honor announced its latest foldable – the Honor Magic V2 – which, according to the Chinese firm, is the slimmest of its type at just 9.9mm thick when closed. The device was announced just six months after the Honor Magic Vs , although it is not expected to be released commercially until early next year. Image credit: jack loughran Boasting a triple lens camera setup on the back and two front-facing cameras, the Magic V2 is powered by Qualcomm’s latest flagship chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. It also comes with a 5000mAh silicon-carbon battery – relatively new technology that achieves around 12.8 per cent higher energy density than regular batteries. Honor also unveiled the Honor V Purse, a concept device with a screen that…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Schools across England forced to close over risk of collapse

    The new school year is beginning, but many students in England will not return to their classrooms after the Department of Education (DfE) ordered more than 100 schools to shut some of their buildings, citing the risks of crumbling concrete.  The reason for the measure was the detection of dangerous levels of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), a material described as “80 per cent air” and “like an Aero Bar”, which could cause buildings to collapse. The material was widely used in roofs, floors and walls between the 1950s and 1990s. The list of affected schools containing RAAC has reached 156; 104 of these require urgent action, the government said, while 52 have already received repair works. However, this number could rise as survey work continues. So far, an estimated 24 schools…

  • Rented electric scooters removed from Paris as ban enters into force

    Electric scooter operators have removed all their 15,000 vehicles from the streets of Paris following a controversial public vote.  Five years after it become the first city in Europe to open to the e-scooter market, the French capital has also become the first to end the experiment after r esidents voted to ban e-scooters in an April referendum with a 7.5 per cent turnout.  Since 2018 the service has become very popular, particularly with those under 35. However, it also faced strong criticism, as the vehicles were often left discarded on the streets, blocking pavements and stressing pedestrians. In 2022 alone, the Paris police reported 400 accidents involving e-scooters.  The city’s authorities attempted to address the issue in 2020, issuing strict e-scooter legislation, which limited…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • DeepMind develops watermark to identify AI images

    The tool, named SynthID, will embed changes to individual pixels in images, creating a watermark that can be identified by computers but remains invisible to the human eye.  Nonetheless, DeepMind has warned that the tool is not “foolproof against extreme image manipulation”. The beta version of SynthID is currently available for select users of Vertex AI (Google’s platform for building AI apps and models) and can only be applied to Imagen, Google’s AI image generator. “While generative AI can unlock huge creative potential, it also presents new risks, like enabling creators to spread false information – both intentionally or unintentionally,” DeepMind writes in a blog post. “Being able to identify AI-generated content is critical to empowering people with knowledge of when they’re interacting…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Zinc-air batteries could revolutionise EV charging, research finds

    The team of scientists at Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Australia has found that zinc-air batteries could be a better option than lithium-ion batteries for powering EVs. These new types of batteries consist of a negative electrode made of zinc and a positive electrode made of air. Since they have a higher energy density than lithium-ion batteries, zinc-air batteries could store more energy in a smaller space, potentially making them capable of powering EVs for longer distances. U ntil now, their use has been limited due to the poor performance of air electrodes and their short lifespans. However, researchers could have found a solution.  The ECU team said it was able to enhance the performance of zinc-air batteries by incorporating new materials such as carbon, iron and cobalt-based…

  • UK must regulate AI or risk falling behind, MPs warn

    The UK’s plan to become a leader on AI technologies could be curtailed by the legislative advances of other nations, according to ministers on the Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee. The MPs have urged Sunak to introduce the legislation on the King’s Speech, scheduled for 7 November. Otherwise the earliest legislation could become law would be 2025, and then it would risk being overshadowed by international bills such as the EU’s AI Act, which would “become the de facto standard and be hard to displace”. The MP’s report highlighted the government ’ s w hite paper published in March, which set out five AI guiding principles: safety, transparency, fairness, accountability and the ability of newcomers to challenge established players in AI. However, the document stated…

  • Government to revamp heat pump grants in bid to decarbonise UK heating

    The new measures, laid out by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, would see grants of up to £6,000 made available depending on the customer’s property type or existing fuel source. A heat pump takes heat at a low temperature from the air or ground and increases it to a higher temperature, before transferring the heat into homes for heating and hot water. The technology is significantly more efficient than traditional boilers and, unlike gas boilers, can be run on clean electricity rather than fossil fuels. A recent analysis found that domestic gas use in the UK would have been significantly lower last winter if heat pump installations had kept pace with the rest of Europe. In January, the government’s net zero review concluded that no new homes should be built with a gas…

  • US extends AI chip export restrictions to Middle East nations

    The chipmaker has revealed that certain types of its artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors now require licensing agreements to be sold in certain countries of the Middle East, but did not specify which.  The semiconductors developed by Nvidia power technologies including ChatGPT and other generative AI tools. For this reason, the US has aimed to limit China’s access to the technology, claiming national security concerns.  “During the second quarter of fiscal year 2024, the US government informed us of an additional licensing requirement for a subset of A100 and H100 products destined to certain customers and other regions, including some countries in the Middle East,” the company said in a statement. Nvidia added that the controls, which affect its A100 and H100 chips, would not…

  • New pipeline proposed to export Scotland hydrogen to mainland Europe

    The country already boasts one of the most developed wind power sectors globally – the energy can be used to produce carbon-neutral ‘green’ hydrogen, which is produced by splitting water via electrolysis into hydrogen and oxygen. It also has access to considerable supplies of oil and gas in the North Sea. This can be used to make ‘blue’ hydrogen, which is not carbon neutral. The Hydrogen Backbone Link (HBL) project, proposed by the Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC), would connect Scotland’s east coast with Emden in Germany to deliver a direct link to a growing European market for hydrogen. It is estimated to cost around £2.7bn to build and has already received some initial funding from the Scottish government’s Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (SIETF)  and match funding from…

  • Eye tracking system determines drivers’ ability to take back control from autopilot

    The research found that people’s attention levels and how engrossed they are in on-screen activities can be detected from their eye movements. Although fully autonomous driverless cars are not yet available for personal use, cars with a ‘driverless’ autopilot mode are available for commercial private use in some locations, including Germany and certain US states. Tesla, for example, has an ‘Autopilot’ mode, which can steer, accelerate and brake within lanes, while ‘Full Self-Driving’ lets vehicles obey traffic signals and change lanes. But both technologies “require active driver supervision”, with a “fully attentive” driver whose hands are on the wheel, “and do not make the vehicle autonomous”. Drivers can, for example, use the limited driverless functionality during a traffic jam on…

  • Europe's reliance on fossil fuel energy falls to record low, study finds

    The amount of electricity that the EU generated from fossil fuels in 2023 has hit a record low, according to clean energy thinktank Ember.  The 27-nation bloc produced 410TWh of electricity from polluting sources, amounting to 33 per cent of the EU’s total power in the first half of this year . This is the lowest amount based on available data.  The drop in fossil fuel generation was driven by a 4.6 per cent (-61TWh) fall in demand for electricity, prompted by high gas and power prices, as well as some growth in clean power, the study found. “We’re glad to see fossil fuels down, but in the long-term it is not going to be sustainable to rely on the fall in demand to do this,” said Matt Ewen, author of the report. “We have to be replacing this energy rather than just expecting it to go…

  • FBI and European partners dismantle global malware network

    ‘Operation Duck Hunt’ was a multinational effort that was able to infiltrate and dismantle Qakbot, a malware that could remotely control over 700,000 computers around the world. The operation has been described as “o ne of the largest US-led disruptions of a botnet infrastructure”. It was l ed by FBI forces, with a collaboration of partners in F rance, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Latvia and the UK.  After seizing control of the botnet, officials remotely removed the malicious software agent from thousands of infected computers. “The FBI neutralised this far-reaching criminal supply chain, cutting it off at the knees,” said FBI director Christopher Wray. “The victims ranged from financial institutions on the East Coast to a critical infrastructure government contractor in the Midwest…

  • £340m cash injection into Sizewell C takes government stake above £1bn

    Ministers have made available a further £341m of previously allocated funding for development work on the project, adding to the £170m the project was granted just last month. The money will be used to ramp up activity at the Suffolk site, supporting continued preparation works such as constructing onsite training facilities for apprentices, further development of the plant’s engineering design, and investments in the local community. The money builds on the government’s existing £870m stake and will help drive progress towards the long-standing objective of reaching a Final Investment Decision on a new large-scale nuclear project this parliament. Once complete, the facility is expected to cost at least £20bn and generate energy at a more expensive price when compared to renewables such…

  • Location data needed to help build optimal charging network for EVs

    Given the sluggish pace at which the government is rolling out new chargers, the UK is expected to miss its target of having six or more rapid or ultra-rapid electric vehicle chargers at every motorway service area in England by the end of 2023. The location of chargepoints is as important as the absolute number, as well-located chargers give drivers the confidence that they will not run out of battery power on longer journeys. The new report identifies five opportunities to better use existing location data so that chargers can be optimally placed. This includes improving understanding of the location of existing chargepoints, consumer charging behaviour and travel patterns, and identifying the location of EVs by using commercially-held data about leased vehicles. It also calls for electricity…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • ‘Technical issue’ causes travel chaos across UK airports

    The UK’s National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said the technical fault was “identified and remedied” on Monday evening, but “significant disruptions” are set to continue over the next few days as airlines work to clear the flight backlog.  The technical problem was revealed at 12.15pm on Monday, causing staff to have to input flight plans manually until the automatic system was recovered at 3.15pm.  The network-wide outage caused the worst day of flight disruptions in the country since the eruptions of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull in 2010. In total, 790 departures and 785 arrivals were cancelled on Monday, according to flight analytics company Cirium. The number is equivalent to around 27 per cent of planned flights to and from the UK.  “[The fault] was fixed earlier on this…

  • Hubble and James Webb telescopes team up to study Jupiter’s volcanic moon

    The study will complement the upcoming flybys of Io by Nasa’s Juno spacecraft and will provide insights into its contributions to the plasma environment around Jupiter. Juno made its closest flyby of Io in July, when it came within 22,000 km of it. “The timing of this project is critical. Over the next year, Juno will buzz past Io several times, offering rare opportunities to combine in situ and remote observations of this complex system,” said Dr Kurt Retherford, from Southwest Research Institute (SWRI), which is helping fund the project. The team will use around 4.7 per cent of available time for Hubble observations this cycle, which will be supplemented with 4.8 hours of Webb observing time. While both are designed to study the cosmos, Webb and Hubble do not have identical capabilities…

  • Lack of access to defibrillators in deprived areas risks lives, study finds

    A defibrillator delivers a dose of electric current – often called a counter-shock – to the heart in order to restart it during a cardiac event. Using research from The Circuit, which aims to map all public access defibrillators in the UK, the nearest 24/7 accessible defibrillator is, on average, a round trip of over a mile away. While in Wales there was no link between defibrillator location and deprivation, the picture in England and Scotland revealed that more deprived areas are typically further away from a 24/7-accessible defibrillator. With nearly three in 10 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in England happening on the weekend, and four in 10 happening between 6pm and 6am, quick access to a defibrillator at any time of day is crucial.  In 2022, there were 20,557 deaths due to acute…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Potholes could be prevented with ground source heat pumps, researchers say

    The initiative could keep roads from melting in the summer and freezing in the winter, therefore preventing the creation of potholes and improving road safety.  The project has been awarded a £800,000 research fellowship from the Royal Academy of Engineering, with the hopes it coul d improve how major roads across the UK are maintained and upgraded – even as climate change “increases the challenge of keeping them fit for purpose,” the university said.   As part of the trial, the researchers plan to introduce ground source heat pumps to cool roads in the summer and warm them in the winter.  “At the moment, a typical motorway or A-road surface lasts 20 years, but this is likely to reduce as extreme weather increases,” said project lead Dr Benyi Cao . “However, by regulating the temperature…

  • Energy cap to fall below £2,000 from October

    The new energy price cap set by Ofgem, the British energy regulator, is below £2,000 for the first time in 18 months, but it remains significantly higher than during 2020 and 2021 before the Russian invasion of Ukraine pushed up energy prices. The cap does not set the maximum a household will pay for their energy but establishes a maximum amount providers can charge per unit of gas or electricity. At its peak, the price cap reached £4,279.  In the period between July and October 2023 the price cap was set at £2,074.  The new cap has reached the lowest level since October 2021. According to the regulator, this reflects further falls in wholesale energy prices as the market stabilises and suppliers return to a healthier financial position. However, Ofgem has warned that, o ver the last…

  • Low-cost cube satellite offers solution to space junk problem

    Current estimates suggest there are over 100 million pieces of space junk orbiting the Earth, ranging from debris the size of a penny to an entire rocket booster. The number of satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO) is also expected to increase dramatically over the next few years, which is raising concerns that involuntary collisions between operational payloads and space debris could occur in orbit. The student-made cube satellite was built on a shoestring budget using off-the-shelf supplies available at most hardware stores, including 48 Energizer AA batteries. Called SBUDNIC, the prototype was blasted into space on Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket last May as part of the Transporter 5 ridesharing mission and was designed to tackle the growing issue of space junk. For that purpose, the students…

  • UK risks £65m in exports without switch to heat pumps, energy analysts warn

    According to new analysis from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), this could cost the UK a total of £1.3bn in lost exports between 2030 and 2050. In January, the government’s net zero review concluded that no new homes should be built with a gas boiler from 2025. It also proposed a 10-year plan to ensure heat pumps become more widespread throughout the UK. But Michael Gove, who is the secretary of state for levelling up, has expressed doubts that the UK will make the shift over to heat pumps anytime soon due to the ongoing cost of living crisis. Nevertheless, a previous ECIU analysis found that domestic gas use in the UK would have been significantly lower last winter if it had kept pace with Europe on heat pump installations. In 2022, the UK exported around £85m worth…

  • Europe's landmark rules for online platforms kick into effect

    The EU’s historic regulations, which aim to promote a safer experience of the online world, came into effect on Friday 25 August.  The DSA is the bloc's first step in creating  a “rulebook” for online platforms , with the goal of creating “a safer and more open digital space, grounded in respect for fundamental rights”.  The rules will regulate companies’ content moderation policies and advertising practices. They will also require platforms to share details of their algorithms with regulators and, in certain cases,  with independent researchers. In particular, the DSA bans targeted advertising that is aimed at children or based on sensitive data such as religion, gender, race or political opinions. It also forbids “dark patterns” – tactics that mislead people into giving personal data…

  • Carbon offset schemes ‘significantly’ overestimate forest preservation

    The global market for voluntary carbon offsets – the removal of emissions of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases in order to compensate for emissions made elsewhere – has grown rapidly in recent years. Countries established the REDD+ framework to protect forests as part of the 2015 Paris Agreement. REDD stands for ‘reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries’. Many of these schemes generate carbon credits by investing in the protection of parts of the world’s most important forests – from the Congo to the Amazon. But an analysis of 18 major carbon offset projects matched with sites that offer a real-world benchmark for deforestation levels found that more than 60 million carbon credits came from projects that barely reduced deforestation, if…

Community Rules & Guidelines