• Europe to impose curbs on methane emissions

    The EU is set to pass its first-ever methane regulation. The law will require  fossil fuel firms to measure and report their methane emissions and to regularly check their sites for leaks of the powerful greenhouse gas. It will also outlaw most cases of flaring and venting by 2027.  “This first-of-its-kind regulation enables the EU to curb methane emissions in a cost-effective manner, and address venting and flaring of gas, which make economically and environmentally little sense,” said Kadri Simson, EU commissioner for energy. “This will benefit our planet and will also avoid wasted resources in tight global gas markets.” After carbon dioxide, methane is the biggest greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. It has more than 80 times the warming potential of CO2 over two decades and…

  • Steel industry urges government to cut electricity prices to stay competitive

    Trade body UK Steel has launched a report that finds a “vast chasm” between UK energy prices for industry and those in Europe. It found that steelmakers in the UK pay nearly two times as much as those in Germany and France, partly due to higher grid connection costs in the UK. China has also been accused of dumping cheap steel on the global market to beat out competitors. Steel production’s energy-intensive nature leads to high electricity consumption, and these costs can represent up to 180 per cent of steel producers’ gross value added (GVA) in the UK. The warning comes just two months after Port Talbot, which is owned by Tata Steel, announced as many as 3,000 job losses, as well as a plan to transition to producing low-carbon steel with electric arc furnaces. The switch to electric…

  • UK to pay 66 per cent more for offshore wind energy after failed auction

    Contracts for Difference (CFD) auctions invite companies to bid to develop renewable energy projects in the UK and give them a guaranteed minimum price for the electricity they will generate. The system also means that if electricity prices in the future rise above that level, the companies pay the excess back to the treasury. The last auction in September attracted no developers, with the industry saying that the government had set the price too low to make new projects worth pursuing. Industry experts had warned that this might be the case after ministers refused to increase the maximum price, despite a 40 per cent rise in the cost of manufacturing and installing turbines. The maximum strike price has now been increased by 66 per cent for offshore wind projects, from £44/MWh to £73…

  • Microsoft launches custom AI silicon chips

    Microsoft is following in the footsteps of its rivals and jumping into the production of homegrown artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors for its cloud infrastructure.  The company also announced new software that lets clients design their own AI assistants. The two new chips are named Azure Maia 100 and Cobalt 100. The company said it has no plans to sell the chips, which it intends to use to power its own subscription software offerings and as part of its Azure cloud computing service. The two models are expected to debut in some Microsoft data centres at the start of 2024. The Maia 100 chip is said to provide Microsoft Azure cloud customers with a new way to develop and run large language models that power AI applications. The company is already testing the chip with its Bing…

  • Climate engineering could slow down the melting of Antarctic ice sheets

    A team of researchers at Indiana University have looked at how climate engineering could be leveraged to protect Antarctica from melting and  reduce the risk of catastrophic sea-level rise. The study focused on stratospheric aerosol injection, a form of engineering in which large amounts of tiny sulfur droplets are released into the stratosphere by a fleet of aeroplanes. The method has been proposed as a potential strategy to keep global warming at bay. “Even if the world meets the ambitious target of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels – which we are not on track to do – we are going to see significant sea-level rise,” said Paul Goddard, an assistant research scientist and co-author of the study. “Exploring ways to reflect sunlight into space before it is absorbed…

  • DeepMind’s AI accurately forecasts weather in under a minute

    The weather forecasting AI algorithm developed by Google’s DeepMind, known as GraphCast, has outperformed the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) model on more than 90 per cent of 1,380 metrics, including temperature, pressure, wind speed and direction, and humidity at different levels of the atmosphere. The machine-learning model takes less than a minute to make 10-day weather forecasts worldwide on a desktop computer, and is more precise than other approaches. “GraphCast currently is leading the race among the AI models,” said computer scientist Aditya Grover at the University of California, Los Angeles. Traditional weather forecasts use numerical weather prediction (NWP), which uses mathematical models based on physical principles. These tools rely on data from…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • US and China to back new global renewables target

    The US and China will back a new global renewables target and work together to reduce methane emissions and plastic pollution. The announcement comes in advance of a meeting between the leaders of the two nations at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit later this week, and the COP28 global climate conference in late November.  In a joint statement, they declared the climate crisis “one of the greatest challenges of our time” and stressed their commitment to meeting the target established by the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, which aimed to limit the increase of global temperatures to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. To achieve this, the two countries said they would accelerate renewable energy deployment in their economies until the end of 2030 to speed up the substitution for…

  • Schoolgirls design the kit for the Moon’s first football team

    England Lioness and Women’s Euro 2022 winner Beth England, of Tottenham Hotspur, has unveiled the first official Moon United kit, designed by two talented schoolgirls.  Erim Ali, 13, and Ishaani Nair, 7, were the winners of the competition hosted by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), which asked school children aged 4 to 13 to design home and away kits for the lunar footballers of the future. The challenge was posed following a campaign in which engineers predicted humans could be playing a competitive game of football on the moon as early as 2035. The competition aimed to challenge outdated perceptions of engineering and showing children how they could combine a passion for football and space with a STEM-related career. Being chosen from over 500 entries, Erim and Ishaani…

  • UK to loosen restrictions to register new chemical products

    The UK has published a policy paper establishing its progress on the development of new chemical regulations that are expected to replace the European Union (EU) standards post-Brexit, known as UK Reach. However, experts have expressed concerns that the new rules would expose citizens to potentially dangerous substances. The government’s new plans will aim to reduce the “hazard” information that chemical companies must provide to register substances in the UK to an “irreducible minimum” in a bid to reduce business costs. The UK has not been part of the EU’s chemicals regulations since 202 1 . However, the country has yet to introduce its own version of the Reach system. The delays were mainly attributed to a government impact assessment that found that the cost of duplicating the safety…

  • Iceland to impose new property tax to pay for lava barriers following earthquake swarm

    Icelandic officials are preparing for a possible volcanic eruption following a “seismic swarm” that has seen the Reykjanes Peninsula be hit by about 1,400 earthquakes in 24 hours.  As part of the nation’s efforts to protect its infrastructure from geothermal activity, Iceland has passed a new law that establishes a tax of 0.08 per cent of a property’s fire insurance valuation on all homes for a reported duration of three years. The bill is expected to raise almost 1bn ISK (£5.7m) in revenue, which will fund the construction of lava barriers and other protections – including dikes, embankments and canals – around Svartsengi, a geothermal power station 65km from the capital Reykjavík. The power station is the main supplier of water and electricity to the Reykjanes Peninsula – the same region…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • China’s carbon emissions set to decrease from 2024

    China’s carbon emissions are set to fall in 2024, according to new analysis for Carbon Brief.  The country – the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter – is projected to account for 45 per cent of global CO2 emissions between 2023 and 2050. China has recently witnessed an increase in its CO2 emissions of 4.7 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2023. Scientists have interpreted this surge as a rebound from the nation’s ‘zero-Covid’ period. They have predicted that the country’s emissions will reach a peak this year, before beginning a structural decline from 2024.  China is aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 . As part of this effort, the country has made significant investments in renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. The country met its solar and wind installation…

  • University of Edinburgh launches generative AI laboratory

    The University of Edinburgh has unveiled a new multi-million pound initiative to create a generative AI laboratory (GAIL).  The initiative is expected to allow the university to “push the forefront of generative AI” as well as “benefit society and stimulate economic growth” by powering applications in areas including robotics, drug discovery, medical diagnoses, semiconductor development and tackling climate change.  GAIL’s researchers will also work in partnership with the university’s Centre for Technomoral Futures to address the ethical, legal and regulatory frameworks necessary to ensure the safe and responsible use of AI, the university said.  “GAIL builds on world-class research at the School of Informatics in AI and machine learning, which has been applied to a variety of fields…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • UK’s EG to buy Tesla’s ultra-fast EV charging technology

    EG Group has announced its plans to acquire Tesla’s ultra-fast EV charging units, with a view to expand its charging network from over 600 EV chargers to more than 20,000. The business is owned by the billionaire brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa, who also own UK supermarket Asda.  The company plans to use Tesla’s industry-leading technology for its new charge points, which will be branded ‘evpoint’ and supplied by 100 per cent renewable energy. However, the hardware will operate on an open network basis to allow drivers of any EV brand to access the chargers. “The rapid installation of reliable, easy-to-use EV charging infrastructure is the right step towards a sustainable future,” said Rebecca Tinucci, Tesla’s senior director of charging infrastructure.  EG’ s evpoint is one of Europe…

  • Wall Street works to recover from cyber attack that hit China’s largest bank

    ICBC Financial Services said it is recovering from a cyber attack that disrupted its systems and forced employees to trade with USB sticks. ICBC FS is the US unit of China’s biggest bank and the world’s largest commercial lender by total assets. The attack rendered the bank unable to clear many US Treasury trades and caused it to temporarily owe BNY Mellon $9bn (£7bn). It could only return the debt after a cash injection from its Chinese parent.   ICBC has said it is working with cyber-security firm MoxFive to set up secure systems that would allow it to resume normal business on Wall Street. However, the disruption caused by the hack has raised concerns about the resilience of the $26tn (£21tn) Treasury market. “Immediately upon discovering the incident, ICBC FS disconnected and isolated…

  • Airbus signs deal with the ESA on upcoming Starlab space station

    Starlab is a planned low-Earth orbit (LEO) space station designed by Nanoracks that is expected to launch in 2028. The station is seen as a successor to the International Space Station (ISS) after its deorbiting, which is currently planned for the early 2030s. The new agreement signed with ESA focuses on the firms’ intention to foster science and technology development, which could include astronaut missions and research activities, as well as the use of technology developed in Europe such as advanced robotics and AI. It also introduces plans to establish a complete ‘end-to-end’ system with the Starlab space station as an LEO destination and a potential ESA-developed European cargo and crew transportation system. European astronauts have been travelling to the ISS for over 20 years, offering…

  • Thames Water pumped 72 billion litres of sewage into the Thames in two years

    Thames  Water has pumped at least 72 billion litres of sewage into the River Thames since 2020 – an amount roughly equal to 29,000 Olympic swimming pools. The data was obtained by the Liberal Democrats through an environmental Freedom of Information request, as first reported by the BBC.  The water company discharged at least 14.3 billion litres of sewage into the Thames in 2022, and at least 32 billion in 2021 – making it the worst year on record for sewage discharges into the river. But the total volume of sewage discharged is likely to be far higher than this. Thames Water only has sewage monitors to measure volume in some locations, which it used during the construction of the Thames Tideway Tunnel.  Currently, water firms have no legal obligation to report the amount of sewage…

  • UK signs major deal with the US to develop nuclear fusion technology

    The UK has signed a deal with the US to further research into advanced fusion energy as part of efforts to tackle the climate crisis. In a joint statement, the UK’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the US Department of Energy said that fusion could provide “a low-carbon, safe, sustainable and reliable energy supply” with the potential to bolster global efforts to achieve net zero carbon emissions. The technology has been in development for decades but has yet to be commercialised. However, in December last year, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory were finally able to produce more energy than was consumed during a fusion energy reaction in a major breakthrough. This new partnership between the two countries aims to further cooperation on fusion…

  • Governments ‘doubling down’ on fossil fuels despite climate change goals

    The major new report from the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and other climate bodies found that 2030 production levels are 69 per cent more than what would be consistent with a less ambitious 2°C warming scenario. 151 national governments have pledged to achieve net zero emissions. The latest forecasts suggest that global coal, oil and gas demand will peak this decade, even without new policies. Despite this, current government plans would lead to an increase in global coal production until 2030, and in global oil and gas production until at least 2050. The Production Gap Report 2023 profiles 20 major fossil-fuel-producing countries including China, Germany, India, Saudi Arabia and the UK. It finds there are “uncertainties” around the viability…

  • Indonesia launches South-east Asia’s largest floating solar farm

    Indonesia has opened a $108m (£88m) floating solar plant in a significant renewable energy milestone for the country.  The project was developed by PLN Nusantara Power and the renewable energy company Masdar from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).  The plant was built on Cirata reservoir, 108km (67 miles) south-east of the capital Jakarta. It is the third-largest floating solar plant in the world and could be expanded up to 1,000MWp, PLN chief executive Darmawan Prasodjo said. The 13 arrays installed so far only occupy 4 per cent of the reservoir’s surface. “Today is a historical day, because our big dream to build a renewable energy plant on a big scale is finally achieved,” President Joko Widodo said. “ We managed to build the largest floating solar farm in South-east Asia, and the third…

  • Smartphone sensors able to detect alcohol intoxication with high accuracy

    Researchers at Stanford Medicine and the University of Toronto conducted a small study of 18 adults aged 21 or over. Participants were given a weight-based dose of alcohol and randomly assigned a series of tongue twisters – one before drinking, and one each hour up to seven hours after drinking. The participants were asked to read the tongue twister aloud, and a smartphone was placed on a table 1-2ft away to record their voices. Researchers also measured their breath alcohol concentration at the beginning of the study and every 30 minutes for up to seven hours. They used digital programs to isolate the speaker’s voices, broke them into one-second increments and analysed measures such as frequency and pitch. When checked against breath alcohol results, changes in the participants’ voice…

  • Ofcom unveils new rules to protect children online

    UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has published guidelines on how tech firms can comply with the long-awaited legislation and protect children from coming into contact with harmful content online. The guidance is part of the  first set of draft codes of practice under the OSA. This one focuses on how user-to-user (U2U) services – including social media platforms, online games and search engines – will be expected to respond to different types of illegal content.  OSA has been described as a “landmark” legislation , aimed at preventing the spread of child sexual abuse material, terrorism content and fraud. According to Ofcom,  its first priority will be protecting children. The codes recommend that platforms avoid presenting children with lists of suggested friends or allowing children to appear…

  • New legislation to hold carmakers responsible for self-driving vehicle crashes

    A new safety framework is to be introduced that will ensure companies producing self-driving vehicles are responsible for how their cars behave on the road. Every authorised self-driving vehicle will be given a corresponding ‘entity’ – often the manufacturer – which will be responsible for the car’s behaviour during operation. Companies will also have obligations to keep their vehicles safe and ensure that they continue to drive in accordance with UK laws.  Over the last decade, progress has stalled on autonomous vehicles on both sides of the Atlantic, despite predictions that they would be commonplace by now. While the technology already exists for autonomous vehicles to drive relatively safely on UK roads, legislation has held it back from hitting the mainstream. Some studies suggests…

  • Australia investigates network outage that left millions without internet

    The Australian government has launched an investigation into the nationwide communications outage that left residents without access to the internet for 12 hours on Wednesday 9 November. “It is critical that industry and governments take stock following large-scale outages, given no network is immune,” said communications minister Michelle Rowland, calling the failure “particularly concerning”.  Optus said a “configuration issue” may have been the cause of the outage, and stressed there was no evidence of a cyber attack. The outage disrupted countless services, including business transactions, phone lines used by emergency services and transport links such as t rain services in the state of Victoria. The Federal Department of Education, the Royal Melbourne Hospital and CommBank were…

  • 2023 set to become the warmest year on record, scientists say

    Copernicus, the Earth observation agency, has warned that last month was the hottest October on record globally, with temperatures 1.7°C above late-1800s levels. This paves the way for 2023 to become the warmest year since records began. “We can say with near certainty that 2023 will be the warmest year on record, and is currently 1.43°C above the pre-industrial average,” said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Copernicus Climate Change Service. “The sense of urgency for ambitious climate action going into COP28  has never been higher.” The EU agency said that g lobal average air temperatures in October 2023 were 0.4°C warmer than the previous high of October 2019. The rise in global temperatures was described as a result of increasing carbon emissions and an El Niño weather event. …

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