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Labour Party pledges to turn UK into a clean energy superpower by 2030

In a speech given in Scotland today (Monday), the Labour leader set out new targets to reduce the time taken to complete clean power projects from “years to months”, as one aspect of the party's 'Green Prosperity Plan'. The party has also committed to a local power plan which it says will allow households across the UK to receive discounts on their bills if their area signs up to new green initiatives. Sir Keir will set out how a new public body, called Great British Energy (aka GB Energy, an idea previously announced in September 2022), will collaborate with councils, communities and the private sector to bring down energy costs. The power plan would be directly owned by local people, with profits from the energy sold to the grid from local renewable energy schemes being returned to…

E+T Magazine in Renewable Energy
Scotland best placed to take advantage of UK’s green transition, report finds

In the document entitled 'The Cluster Effect', the Green Alliance think-tank calls on the UK government to bolster its decarbonisation efforts in the wake of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the US and the Net Zero Industry Act in the EU. It finds that due to its proximity to offshore wind and carbon capture and storage (CCS) sites in the North Sea, as well as pre-existing strengths in the sector, Scotland is likely to benefit strongly from the transition. East and North East Scotland are best placed to house renewable energy-generation clusters, while the Glasgow city region is well placed for a green services cluster, it said. The report singled out certain facilities as promising templates for future industry expansion, such as the Aberdeen Offshore Wind farm, which received £9.3m…

E+T Magazine in Renewable Energy
P&O launches double-ended hybrid ferry for Channel Crossing journeys

P&O Ferries’ newly commissioned Fusion Class vessel ‘P&O Pioneer’ has two bridges so that it does not need to turn around in ports, which saves fuel on every roundtrip. The firm said it forecasts a 40 per cent reduction in carbon emissions on the Dover-Calais route which crosses the English Channel from its first day in service. This makes it the “most sustainable ferry ever” to sail between Britain and the Continent, it added. The Fusion Class vessel, which cost about £111m, is propelled by a combination of fuel and battery power. Reductions in fuel usage and emissions are delivered by the hybrid system by allowing the Pioneer to operate from its energy storage system while manoeuvring or in port, and is designed to have the capacity to become fully carbon-neutral in the future. The…

E+T Magazine in Marine Transport
View from India: Cyclone hits, yet those affected already back on their feet

Economic consequences of the cyclone unfurled. Strong winds and heavy rainfall shook and knocked out a small bridge near the Bhavanipar village of Bhuj. Trains and flights were cancelled. The ravaging cyclonic storm damaged 5,120 electricity poles. Electricity snapped off in 4,600 villages. Yet almost immediately, the power supply has been restored in 3,580 villages. The remaining villages are due to have their power supplies restored by 20 June. Also interesting is that shops and business establishments in Gujarat’s Kutch district have already bounced back to near-normal service, opening their doors as the electricity was restored. Many trees were also uprooted by the cyclone - nearly 600 of them. The resulting road blockages are now being cleared to facilitate movement. The quantum of…

E+T Magazine
British manufacturing rebound eases recession fears

A survey published by Make UK showed that the transport and electronic sectors were doing particularly well, reflecting the continued recovery in the aerospace sector with the increase in passenger miles, together with a spate of large orders for new aircraft over the last year. Air India, for example, announced plans to buy 470 jets from Airbus and Boeing in February amid hot competition from domestic flight provider IndiGo. Airbus makes the wings and fuel systems for its A350 and A320 planes, which were part of the deal, in the UK. MakeUK said it also recorded strong balances for electronics manufacturers as companies invest in digitalisation and extra capacity to counter labour shortages. The investments are now translating into “consistently strong balances” for the South-East where…

E+T Magazine in Manufacturing
Transforming vibrations into electricity could facilitate self-powered IoT sensors

The new energy-generating device was made by combining piezoelectric composites with carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP), a commonly used material that is both light and strong. This composition allows it to transform vibrations from the surrounding environment into electricity. "Everyday items, from fridges to street lamps, are connected to the internet as part of the Internet of Things (IoT), and many of them are equipped with sensors that collect data," said Fumio Narita, co-author of the study and professor at Tohoku University. "But these IoT devices need power to function, which is challenging if they are in remote places or if there are lots of them." In order to leverage the vibrational energy, the team relied on piezoelectric materials' ability to generate electricity when…

E+T Magazine in Research and Innovation
The eccentric engineer: The darkest days in Rjukan

Rjukan, in Telemark, Norway, is a city that owes its existence to an engineer. Sam Eyde completed his engineering degree at Berlin in 1891, and went into business planning new railways first in Germany and then back in his native Norway, building up one of the largest civil engineering companies in Scandinavia. This business took him to the area of Rjukan in 1902. At the time, this wild area in the south of the country was only sparsely inhabited, and where the town would one day spring up was just a deep valley – so deep that for six months of the year sunlight does not even reach the bottom. What Rjukan did have was what Eyde was discovering to be one of Norway’s greatest assets – waterfalls – in particular, the eponymous 100-metre-tall Rjukan waterfall. Eyde realised that the power of…

E+T Magazine in History of Engineering
Lost Jerusalem neighbourhood recreated in 3D app

The Moroccan quarter of Jerusalem's Old City was located at the foot of the Western Wall and now serves as a plaza in front of one of Judaism's most sacred sites. Virtual tourists and residents will soon be able to walk around the streets of the neighbourhood - half a decade after it was destroyed by Israeli authorities - through a 3D version of the city accessible through a mobile app. Founded in 1187 by Saladin during the age of the Crusades, and once a place of settlement for Muslim pilgrims from North Africa, the Mughrabi quarter was demolished after Israeli forces captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War. Mughrabi Quarters destruction plan / Israel State Archives GL - 3847/4 Image credit: Israel State Archives GL - 3847/4 In January 2023, excavations

E+T Magazine in Research and Innovation
Scientists develop material that could harvest water from desert air

The rubbery material is made from hydrogel and can swell to absorb water vapour even in desert-like conditions, where there is only 30 per cent relative humidity in the air. Once absorbed by the gel, the water could be heated, condensed and collected as ultrapure water. The MIT researchers were able to achieve “record-breaking” vapour absorption by infusing the hydrogel with larger amounts of lithium chloride — a type of salt that is known to be a powerful desiccant. This new material can be developed at speed and scale, and could potentially be used as a source of drinking water in very dry climates. Moreover, the material c ould also be fitted into air conditioning units as an energy-saving, dehumidifying element. “We’ve been application-agnostic, in the sense that we mostly focus…

E+T Magazine in Research and Innovation
US Department of Energy funds $135m worth of decarbonisation projects

The move is part of efforts to shift towards a net-zero emissions economy by 2050, it said. “America’s industrial sector serves as the engine of the US economy, producing many of the products we rely on every day, but also produces a significant amount of the nation’s carbon emissions,” said US energy secretary Jennifer M Granholm. “These projects funded by President Biden’s Investing in American agenda will slash industrial emissions and accelerate next-generation technologies for a clean energy future that’s made in America.” The US industrial sector accounts for one-third of all energy-related domestic greenhouse gas emissions and is among the most difficult to decarbonise. The DOE has funded 40 projects that will be led by 36 different universities, national laboratories and companies…

E+T Magazine in Renewable Energy
Back Story: Fiona McGarry, ‘Diversity gives rise to better solutions’

Shini Somara: Is manufacturing in the UK diverse? Fiona McGarry: It’s probably one of the least diverse sectors within engineering. Only 29 per cent of the workforce and only 8 per cent of its apprentices are female. Less than 10 per cent of engineers and technicians come from an ethnic minority background. There’s a lot of work to be done in spite of a lot of work that has already been done over the last 15 years; unfortunately progress is slow. In the last couple of years, I have started to see a shift. Younger people and parents are understanding that it isn’t a dirty, horrible, male-dominated, environment. There are also lots of exciting digital AI prospects and it’s a progressive and supportive environment. The industry is aware of the necessity for diversity, because it enables…

E+T Magazine in Women in Engineering
The price of independence

Few got a ringside seat to the immense financial risks that surround chipmaking from its beginning as good as Arthur Rock’s. Instrumental in obtaining work for the team of engineering managers who “betrayed” transistor pioneer Williams Shockley in the late 1950s, Rock again helped some of them set up Intel a decade later and helped develop what sometimes gets called Moore’s Second Law. The corollary of the more famous law, Rock observed that the cost of fitting out a semiconductor fab doubles every four years. He identified in the late-1990s that the bill had risen to $12m from just $12,000 in the late 1960s. Today’s, it’s well north of $12bn. Even a single lithographic scanner, used to define circuit images one layer on one wafer every 30 seconds or so, costs in the order of $200m and…

E+T Magazine in Electronics Design
Vital element for extraterrestrial life found in Saturn’s moon

The presence of high concentrations of phosphorus in Enceladus could point towards the moon's potential to harbour life, according to the scientists. The discovery was based on data collected by Nasa's Cassini spacecraft, the first to orbit Saturn, during its 13-year landmark exploration of Saturn and its many moons from 2004 to 2017. The same team that worked on Cassini has previously confirmed that Enceladus' ice grains contain a rich assortment of minerals. However, phosphorus, the least abundant of six chemical elements considered necessary to all living things (carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulphur) had never been detected on the moon - until now. "It's the first time this essential element has been discovered in an ocean beyond Earth," the study's lead author, Frank Postberg…

E+T Magazine in Space
Aviation sector unconvinced it will meet 2050 decarbonisation target

Some 325 aviation decision-makers from companies across the world were interviewed for the survey. Just 46 per cent said they believed the industry will meet its net-zero goal by 2050, while 32 per cent said it will not, with 22 per cent unsure. On average, respondents believe the target will be met by 2055 and identify rising costs, budgetary pressure, supply issues and energy resources as the biggest hurdles. Just 29 per cent of respondents said that governments were the external group applying the most pressure to accelerate sustainability efforts, followed by investors at 17 per cent. As may have been expected, 61 per cent of those polled said they had a preference for incentives and policy support over mandates and regulation. Aviation, which accounts for approximately 3 per cent…

E+T Magazine in Aerospace
The measure of: Arosa electric hovercraft

VonMercier’s Arosa hovercraft is powered by a trio of electric engines with the capacity to glide 15-20cm above the ground, making it possible for the vehicle to move across gravel, grass, snow, sand and water. Its body and hull are moulded from carbon fibre and it has a three-seater open-air cockpit, with an optional teak deck and a ladder for use on water. Besides being easily chargeable via a standard EV charger, its electric powertrain also reduces noise, pollution and maintenance compared to a petrol version – and it is said to be quieter than a vacuum cleaner. Image credit: Arosa electric hovercraft VonMercier will produce only 25 models this year but is aiming to double production in 2024. The Arosa has a $200,000 price tag. Vital statistics: Arosa electric…

E+T Magazine in Marine Transport
View from India: Cyclone Biparjoy makes landfall on Indian coast

It’s a stormy scene out there. The cyclonic storm that formed in the Arabian Sea is now approximately 170km from Jakhau Port in Gujarat and 201km west of Devbhumi Dwarka in Gujarat, at time of writing. The storm is expected to cross the coast as a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm (VSCS), with a maximum sustained wind speed of 125-135kmph, gusting to 150kmph. The cyclone began in the low pressure area over a week ago before it rapidly grew into an Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm (ESCS). This storm seems to have been in the sea for a long time compared to many recent storms - probably the longest in the Arabian Sea. That’s how it has gathered abundant energy and moisture, making it extremely fierce and severe. Drones have captured images of dark clouds that have gathered over the Gujarat horizon…

E+T Magazine
EU calls for Google break up due to anticompetitive practices

EU regulators could force Google to sell part of its digital advertising (adtech) business, in order to address the bloc's competition concerns. The European Comission has published a preliminary conclusion of their investigation into the company's dominance of the adtech sector, The document stated that the search giant had abused its dominant position in the sector by shutting out competitors since at least 2014. It added that “only the mandatory divestment by Google of part of its services would address its competition concerns”. The preliminary view is a summary of a two-year-long investigation into Google's adtech practices, due to concerns that the company controlled almost all levels of the supply chain for online display advertising. In the report, the Comission stated that…

E+T Magazine in Cybersecurity
Medical engineers shortlisted for IET’s research prize revealed

The shortlist for the IET's A.F. Harvey Engineering Research Prize has been revealed. The prize is awarded annually in recognition of an outstanding achievement in engineering research in the fields of medical, microwave and radar or laser/optoelectronic engineering, with the prize fund awarded to support further research led by the recipient. “We’re incredibly proud, through the generous legacy from the late Dr A.F. Harvey, to be able to recognise and support the development of pioneering engineering research and the subsequent impact this has on advancing the world around us," said Sir John O’Reilly, chair of the IET’s Search and Selection Panel for the Prize. "I’d like to congratulate our six finalists for this year.” This year’s theme is medical engineering and technology. The shortlisted…

E+T Magazine in Research and Innovation
National Grid better prepared for next winter than last, operator says

According to National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO), the margin of excess energy on the grid will be better this coming winter than the last one. As well as the new generators that have come online since then, the margins have been increased due to improved data quality, the availability of generation units that were partially or fully unavailable last winter and the return to the capacity market of one of the coal contingency units used last winter, which will now operate in the normal electricity market for this year. The UK has pledged to phase out coal-fired power stations by 2025 , but last winter, three coal plants that are ready for retirement were placed on standby in order to make up for potential energy shortfalls in the wake of high prices. Following a request from…

E+T Magazine
Book review: ‘The Slow Traveller’ by Jo Tinsley

Some books are best read slowly – not perused or skipped through – with every page savoured, like a sip of a good vintage wine. In our age of supersonic speeds and unending rush, there is a growing tendency for slowness. You may have heard of the Slow Food movement, founded in 1986 by Carlo Petrini from the Italian town of Bra, home of the world’s only University of Gastronomic Sciences. On BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House, you can listen to a weekly slot of the Slow Radio: rhythmic sounds of machinery, birds or animals. And Slow Travel, of course... “The slower you travel – the further you get,” goes an old Russian proverb. In 2013, Dan Kieran, one of my fellow ‘elves’ on the question-setting team for BBC quiz show 'QI', published ‘The Idle Traveller – The Art of Slow Travel’, the first…

E+T Magazine
Renewables help countries weather economic shocks, study suggests

Researchers from Trinity College, Dublin, looked for patterns in data from 133 systemic economic crises that affected 98 countries over a 40-year span. Their analysis suggests that countries relying on a broader range of energy sources experience longer recovery times. However, the best predictor of economic recovery was the extent to which a country relied on renewable energy. The researchers said that while their findings came from a widely diverse set of societies and their economies, the extent of reliance on renewable energy consistently accounted for a major proportion of the variability in economic recovery time. They believe the analysis provides strong support for nations to strengthen their focus on the renewable transition. Professor Ian Donohue, lead author of the research…

E+T Magazine in Renewable Energy
Where should digital engineers focus their generative AI efforts?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has had a game-changing impact on industries far and wide, but we’re still only scratching the surface of what’s truly possible. Nowhere is that statement more relevant than in the field of digital engineering, where leaders are now facing tough decisions on where to focus their resources to best navigate the evolving AI landscape. Generative AI, natural language processing and tools like ChatGPT have become boardroom buzzwords, but investment in one area might lead to underinvestment in another. At a time when resources are stretched and opportunities are plenty, where should digital engineering companies be focusing their resources? AI is ubiquitous, but by most counts it’s still a nascent technology. We may have reached the point where the automation of processes…

E+T Magazine in Business Planning
Dear Evil Engineer: Could I drain the oceans and provide land for all?

Dear Evil Engineer, I am director of a global management consulting firm. I recently secured a contract to compile a report on leveraging emerging technologies to settle territorial disputes (‘Breaking New Ground: Territorial Dispute Resolution in the Digital Age’). I admit ending territorial disputes is not strictly aligned with our brand values, but it was too lucrative an opportunity to turn down. Anyway, I brought together my band of bright graduates – none of whom have any experience in the sector, but all of whom really know how to use a fish knife – for some out-of-the-box thinking on the problem. One consultant suggested generating and allocating virtual, non-fungible territory in the metaverse to compensate for real-world territorial concessions. This was unfortunately shot down…

E+T Magazine
Teardown: Fairphone Fairbuds XL

Dutch consumer electronics manufacturer Fairphone has been a pioneer in developing sustainable and easily repairable products, most notably smartphones. It celebrated its 10th anniversary at the beginning of the year and its latest offering are the Fairbuds XL over-the-ear headphones. Released for pre-order in mid-May, the units push the envelope for modular design as other more established brands also seek to offer their takes on the concept. The Fairbuds XL cost £219 excluding shipping (currently available to the UK and EU). The company recommends that consumers buy a 1.2m USB C-to-USB C cable for wired listening at £39.15 (though much cheaper alternatives are available). A port converter for a traditional 3.5mm headphone socket is also on offer for £11.95. What most catches the attention…

E+T Magazine in Signal Processing

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