Developments
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Concrete batteries? It seems that civil engineering and mechanical engineering have met in the middle for a new type of energy storage.
A Swiss startup named Energy Vault has showcased an unorthodox experiment — they have stacked concrete blocks via an electric crane, and in doing this, stored energy.
The startup compares the phenomena to pumped hydroelectric energy storage. Quartz reports that 96 percent of the world's energy storage capacity comes from pumped hydro. This means whenever there is a surplus of electricity, the excess is used to pump the water up into a dam. Then when there is a demand for electricity to be generated, the water falls with the help of gravity. As it descends, the water turns the turbines to produce potential energy.
However, this method can be problematic. What about areas that don't have access to dam water and the subsequent turbines that enable pumped hydro? Well, Energy Vault says stacked concrete could be the answer.
Simply put: when you elevate something against gravity, it stores energy. When it falls, you recover that energy. This is the theory behind Energy Vault's
new system. A crane, with an electric motor, picks up concrete blocks and stacks them in a tower, storing excess energy. Then, the blocks can be dropped from the stack while the motors are run backward and a generator shaft is used to produce the electricity. The startup envisions a 120 meter (400 foot) tall crane that lifts and stacks blocks all around it. The crane is powered by renewable energy like solar or wind — a computer then tells the crane where the concrete blocks are, and a camera assists, too. The block is then lifted, and a stack of concrete blocks begins.
The total energy in a full tower of concrete blocks as pictured above is 20 megawatt-hours (MWh). Quartz reports that it's enough to ‘power 2,000 Swiss homes for a whole day'. The startup is confident that a lower quality concrete can be produced for the plants specifically so they can continue generating energy all day long.
The experimentation is still in its early stages and being performed on a small scale. But, any energy storage applications that could be applied worldwide would be welcomed by governments who are trying to rely less and less on fossil fuel technologies to keep the lights on.
Gravity trains
Some electrical engineers on social media have questioned how viable the concrete block stacking is. Some other engineers point to train regenerative braking as a better option. In California, a company named ARES (Advanced Rail Energy Storage System) has implemented a grid-scale energy management system that is capable of providing utility balance when it is needed.
The system utilizes 300-tonne autonomous train-like vehicles on a train track. When a power utility is in need of power, the vehicles - who would have made their way uphill when the utility had an excess of power - would begin their descent downhill. Their motors then become energy generators and generate electricity in the act of traveling downhill and then braking. The cabs have rocks in them so that they are weighted down and faster when coming downhill.
Here is an example of what it looks like:
Works Cited
Rathi, Akshat. “Stacking Concrete Blocks Is a Surprisingly Efficient Way to Store Energy.” Quartz, Quartz, 30 Aug. 2018, qz.com/1355672/stacking-concrete-blocks-is-a-surprisingly-efficient-way-to-store-energy/.
“Surplus Energy Rides the 'Gravity Train' - BBC News.” BBC, BBC, 28 June 2018, www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/technology-44549962/surplus-energy-rides-the-gravity-train.
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Electrical engineering professionals will have to roll with the punches as new technology takes over the quarrying business and sends the industry into the future. Volvo Construction Equipment and partner Skanska are testing an Electric Site project — a quarrying operation of the future that will look completely different to anything that has come before it.
It's all going down at Vikan Kross quarry. The group is experimenting with new concept machines, work methods, and brand new site management systems, which have never been tested at a quarry before. They are focusing on electromobility and automation to meet new emissions targets — a move that will set the bar for the mining industry for some time to come.
Gunnar Hagman, CEO of Skanska Sweden said:
“This is the first time that anything like this has been attempted in the quarrying industry and, if successful, Electric Site could serve as a blueprint for transforming the efficiency, safety and environmental impact of quarries around the world.”
On 29 August 2018, the engineers were ready to debut their new Electric Site. For ten weeks, the autonomous Volvo machines will engage in production. They will only emit 95 percent of the emissions that a normal mining setup would produce. The companies will also spend 25 percent less than they would have with the old technology. The engineers have electrified each level of the transport stages in the quarry. Hagman said:
"We have to completely rethink the way we work and how we look upon machine efficiency — pushing the boundaries of our competence. The total site solution we developed together with our customer Skanska is not a commercial solution for sale today and we will evaluate the outcome of the tests but we have learnt so much already, elements of which will be fed into our future product development."
The quarry is utilizing eight prototype HX2 autonomous battery-electric load carriers. These fully electromobile vehicles will carry the extracted resources from the quarry. The engineers had initially tested out a first iteration of the load carrier called HX1. Once they had confirmed the electric drivetrain was capable of being driven by the battery technology they went ahead with producing the HX2.
The engineers then went on to fit previously emission-emitting technologies with electric motors. A primary crusher excavator prototype was born, ready to work on the site. One benefit of electric motors is that the site is much quieter than a normal quarrying site. But Chief Project Manager for Electric Site at Volvo CE Uwe Muller explains just how complicated an electric upgrade to an excavator is:
"To fit the new components in the machine without increasing its size required a significant amount of repackaging work. However, in terms of the operator interface and controls, nothing has changed - it's operated in exactly the same way as a conventional Volvo extractor. If the cable is connected, the machine will automatically start in electric mode. If it's not, it will start in diesel mode. Because the machine will be relatively static - only moving a few meters once or twice a day as the excavator works its way through the blasted rock - it's ideally suited as a fully electric machine on a cable."
The thinking behind this reflects the kind of renewable energy setups at mining setups. Some mines have solar panels and diesel setups so that when the renewables cannot pick up the slack, it can default back to diesel generators and continue powering the mining operation. Muller continues:
“This has allowed us to make it a zero-emission excavator when it’s plugged into the grid. However, we’ve designed it with flexibility in mind, so that we can have the option of using the diesel engine when it’s needed, for example, to reposition the machine or quickly movie it prior to blasting.”
Works Cited
Casey, JP. “Volvo and Skanska Begin Tests at Prototype All-Electric Mining Site.” Mining Technology, 4 Sept. 2018, www.mining-technology.com/news/volvo-skanska-begin-tests-prototype-electric-mining-site/.
“Testing Begins at World's First 'Emission-Free' Quarry.” Volvo Construction Equipment, www.volvoce.com/global/en/news-and-events/news-and-press-releases/2018/testing-begins-at-worlds-first-emission-free-quarry/.
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A lot of infrastructure lies underneath bodies of water. Take, for example, the SEACOM Subsea Cable system that provides Internet infrastructure to the African continent — any maintenance on it is done undersea. Presently, a fleet of ships remain ready to be sent out when a fault occurs, with repairs performed by divers.
Underwater bridge and structure inspections are also vital activities conducted by engineering specialists. Oil rigs and wind turbines are no different — they too need to be studied and maintained underneath water.
In future, underwater infrastructure monitoring, maintenance, and repair will — and probably should — be conducted by waterproof robots.
However, what robots face underneath the ocean surface is often treacherous. There are many factors that they have to deal with when undersea, such as; waves, currents and eddies.
Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, Brendan Englot, said robots naturally struggle to get their bearings underwater, which presents a unique challenge for artificial intelligence.
“There are so many difficult disturbances pushing the robot around, and there is often very poor visibility, making it hard to give a vehicle underwater the same situational awareness that a person would have just walking around on the ground or being up in the air,” he said.
Englot and his team have decided that instead of programming robots to achieve outcomes, they will let the machine do the learning instead. They purportedly do this through the use of an algorithm.
The team puts a robot in the water with the task of mapping a particular area. They collect the data and design an algorithm that provides the robot with new situational awareness when it is put underwater again.
Despite the changing underwater environment, the robot does indeed traverse the area more ably. This method is known as ‘reinforcement learning’ — a method that doesn’t rely on finalized mathematical models and Englot’s team concedes there is still room for improvement.
Utilizing sonar technology, the robot emits high frequency noises and calculates its position with reference to the sounds bouncing off surrounding objects. The team of engineers indicates that the robot could be sent for a second pass-by, utilizing a camera as well. They believe that combining the sonar measurements, corroborated by what a camera can see, could lead to some pretty efficient situational awareness for underwater robots.
Englot recently sent a robot to map out a pier in Manhattan.
“We didn’t have a prior model of that pier. We were able to send our robot down and it was able to come back and successfully locate itself throughout the whole mission,” he explained.
The algorithm is still in its early stages and the technology is still developing, but the future looks bright for self-learning robots that can be sent into dangerous underwater situations.
Works Cited
Editor, Ryan Daws. “AI Robots Will Solve Underwater Infrastructure Damage Checks.” AI News, 20 July 2018, www.artificialintelligence-news.com/2018/07/20/ai-robots-underwater-infrastructure/.
Loughran, Jack. “Robots Taught to Navigate Complex Sea Currents with Algorithms.” RSS, 20 July 2018, eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2018/07/robots-taught-to-navigate-complex-sea-currents-with-algorithms/.
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Those kids with their laptops could just change the world!
Millennials are the first generation to have the best of technology at their fingertips. Some are using it to tackle projects in a world of aging and often inadequate infrastructure.
With climate change overwhelming drainage systems all over the world, for instance, a downpour can lead to flooding. South Africa, Japan, and the United States have recently seen flooding in areas with infrastructure that was designed for more moderate weather patterns. Storm water drains simply can’t keep up with the volume of water in a climate worsened by fossil fuel emissions and general climate change.
The Department of Civil Engineering at McMaster University in Canada in 2015 released a report in the Journal of Hydrology. Author James D. Miller wrote:
“A number of future climate projections indicate a likelihood of increased magnitude and frequency of hydrological extremes for many regions around the world. The urban storm-water management infrastructures are designed to mitigate the effect of extreme hydrological events. Changes in extreme rainfall events will have a significant implication on the design of stormwater management infrastructures.”
Startups, millennials and entrepreneurship
Brazil is a country facing such challenges. And even if there was a solution, the country would not be able to afford to implement it.
Enter two engineers based in São Paolo, Brazil: Diogo Tolezano and Pedro Godoy. They have initiated a startup called Pluvi.On. They have developed a weatherproof tool that can measure rain and predict if floods are expected — a type of rain gauge called a Pluvi. If a flood is forecast, preventative measures can be taken or warnings can be given, based on the data recorded by the device.
They outlined the dire situation in Brazil and provided some insight into their own motivation:
“….today approximately 30 million Brazilians are directly impacted by floods every year. And there is a projection…. by 2030 a loss of US$4 billion...lost homes, furniture, vehicles…”
The startup is being assisted financially through the Red Bull Basement hacker residency. The residency develops projects that offer solutions to issues in urban spaces. They assist with spaces to create, mentorships and more.
Their foresight and funding of projects for engineering startups will help empower other millennials endeavoring to create technologies that could greatly help the globe.
Tolezano and Godoy were determined to act rather than wait for their government to do something. They decided to develop the technology themselves and get extra backing from Red Bull to implement the technology and test it out. The engineers told Red Bull:
“When we look at the impact of floods, it really is a relevant problem. We wanted to use our knowledge to make a positive impact on cities. If we don’t get our hands dirty, it’ll take a long time before anything happens.”
They developed the rain gauge and opened it up to the public as an open source project. Now members of the public can find all the information necessary to create a Pluvi of their own.
The gauge is made up of a plastic box that allows rain in. The water goes into a plastic bucket that measures the amount of rain coming down. Using an ESP chip inside the box, data is generated and sent to the cloud, ready to be perused. The tilts of the plastic bucket inside the enclosure are measured, the number that is generated assists with the flood predictions.
In the two months of the Red Bull residency, they built the enclosure, put in a data integration platform, and ensured that they could get the data forwarded to the people who needed it most.
When their first prototype debuted the entire setup cost US$190. This was subsequently reduced to US$130. Development of the fourth prototype only cost US$50. Thanks to these inventive, proactive and community-spirited men, a network of 20 gauges around the city are generating and uploading data.
Being an entrepreneurial engineer is within reach. Starting with very little, as Tolezano and Godoy have shown, improvements to one’s immediate community are possible.
Diogo Tolezano said:
“The idea is to have real time information. So, as soon as the rain starts we can identify its behaviors and patterns, and then, mainly according to its intensity, we can let the population know with some time in advance.”
Works Cited
Red Bull, www.redbull.com/za-en/projects/red-bull-basement.
“The Impacts of Urbanisation and Climate Change on Urban Flooding and Urban Water Quality: A Review of the Evidence Concerning the United Kingdom.” Egyptian Journal of Medical Human Genetics, Elsevier, 8 July 2017, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581817300435.
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Robots the size of a human egg cell, with the ability to sense their environment, have been created by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It’s hoped that they can eventually be used to monitor pipelines in the oil and gas industry to check for leaks and other issues. It’s also possible that they could be used for diagnostic purposes, by passing through the digestive track to check for inflammation or other signs of disease.
These robots consist of tiny electronic circuits made from two-dimensional materials, which piggyback on miniscule particles, known as colloids. These insoluble particles can be anywhere from one millionth to one billionth of a metre across. Their tiny size enables them to stay suspended indefinitely in liquid or air.
Senior author of the study Michael Strano said the research team had wanted to find a way to graft complete electronic circuits onto colloidal particles.
“Colloids can access environments and travel in ways that other materials can’t,” he said.
While they may be the smallest robots ever, they have the ability to store data and complete computational tasks. They are self-powered by a simple photodiode, which provides them with enough electricity to function. This means they don’t require an internal battery or an external power source.
Currently, leaks and other issues within pipelines are found when crews physically drive along them using expensive equipment. In theory, these new robots could be inserted into one end of a pipeline, carried along with the flow, and then removed at the other end. During that time, they would have recorded the conditions they encountered, such as contaminants or the location of problem areas.
Right now the devices don’t have a timing circuit with the ability to indicate the location of the data readings. However, this is something the research team is working on.
Other research teams have been working on creating similar robots; however, Strano said their focus is on developing ways to control movement. For example, may teams have worked on creating tail-like flagellae; inspired by the way some microbial organisms propel themselves. Strano said he believes this isn’t the best approach as these movement systems are mostly used for local-scale positioning rather than for significant movement. He suggested it’s more important to make these robots functional rather than mobile.
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Battery life. If we could figure out how to lengthen it exponentially, the world would be a better place. And that seems to be what the researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have - almost –achieved. They have invented a smart microchip that can continue powering a device even when the battery of the said device has been depleted.
In the not-so-distant future the technologies associated with the Internet of Things (IoT) will demand connectivity around the clock; to assure the safety and efficiency of businesses’ hardware.
Sensors, for example, are technologies that require 24/7 uptime; they need power sources to continue running. Because any number of sensors are required in a single process, they also need to be as small and as unimposing as possible – a significant challenge because smaller batteries do not have the capacity of their bigger counterparts.
The engineers from NUS designed a microchip to circumnavigate the battery life problem in batteries - and they’ve called it ‘BATLESS’. Using a tiny chip with an even tinier solar cell placed on top of it, the microchip uses light (even if its dim) to continue powering itself when the battery is depleted.
Associate Professor Massimo Alioto from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the NUS Faculty of Engineering said:
“We have demonstrated that batteries used for IoT devices can be shrunk substantially, as they do not always need to be available to maintain continuous operation. Tackling this fundamental problem is a major advancement towards the ultimate vision of IoT sensor nodes without the use of batteries, and will pave the way for a world with a trillion IoT devices.”
The batteries that these microchips can help power are ten times smaller than existing IoT node batteries and are consequently ten times cheaper to produce.
How it works
The battery and microchip power management solution is truly fascinating. The battery works as a normal battery would: The battery utilizes all its energy when powering something. However, when the battery life runs out, the smart-chip switches into a mode known as ‘minimum-power’. The chip then uses half a nanoWatt until a new battery can be replaced, but continues to power optimally.
Professor Alioto says:
“BATLESS is the first example of a new class of chips that are indifferent to battery charge availability. In minimum-power mode, it uses 1,000 to 100,000 times less power, compared to the best existing microcontrollers designed for a fixed minimum-energy operation. At the same time, our 16-bit microcontroller can also operate 100,000 times faster than others that have recently been designed for fixed minimum-power operation. In short, the BATLESS microchip covers a wide range of possible energy, power, and speed trade-offs, as allowed by the flexibility offered through the two different modes.”
The engineers say that the BATLESS microchip will be a perfect fit for ‘smart buildings, environmental monitoring, energy management, and adaptation of living spaces to occupants’ needs’. Utilizing the minimum power mode, the microchip can still ensure that data gets sent to the relevant mechanisms even when battery life isn’t present.
Works Cited
NUSingapore. “NUS Engineers Invent Smart Microchip That Can Self-Start and Operate When Battery Runs Out.” EurekAlert!, www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-05/nuos-nei050318.php.
“Smart Microchip Keeps Going When Batteries Run Dry.” Futurity, 26 June 2018, www.futurity.org/smart-microchip-batless-1794752/.
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In the 22 March edition of the Nature Partner journal of Flexible Electronics, a report was published that might just redefine our clothing of the future.
The Swedish School of Textiles and research institute, Swerea IVF, conducted studies on how electrostatic power can be generated from textiles. Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology put those studies to the test.
The researchers used what is known as a piezoelectric material. These are materials that generate an electric charge when put under mechanical stress. Cigarette lighters utilize Piezo ignition by slamming a hammer into a crystal that then ignites the gas. It also powers camping stoves, gas lights, and gas grills.
Engineers have envisioned, for some time, a world where piezoelectricity could power everyday items through kinetic energy.
Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have designed a fabric that converts kinetic energy into electric power using piezoelectric means. Using piezoelectric yarn the researches have designed a textile which carries an electric current when stretched (this applies the mechanical stress to the material).
One of the researchers, Anja Lund explains:
“The textile is flexible and soft and becomes even more efficient when moist or wet. To demonstrate the results from our research we use a piece of the textile in the shoulder strap of a bag. The heavier the weight packed in the bag and the more of the bag that consists of our fabric, the more electric power we obtain. When our bag is loaded with 3 kilos of books, we produce a continuous output of 4 µW. That’s enough to intermittently light an LED. By making an entire bag from our textile, we could get enough energy to transmit wireless signals.”
The researchers say the stretching of the textile has generated a charge that produces enough power to ‘light an LED, send wireless signals or drive small electric units such as a pocket calculator or a digital watch’. The only problem? The signals are intermittent.
Using a heavy bag with the piezoelectric textile fitted to the shoulder strap, the researchers demonstrated how they could power an LED. Lund believes that sensors can be ultimately powered by the textiles.
The textile works even better when it becomes wet and therefore heavier. It follows then that when exercising and sweating while wearing these textiles, they have the potential to power sensors and generate enough power to connect via Wi-Fi to an Internet of Things network (freely available around every corner in the future).
Works cited:
Electric textile lights a lamp when stretched. https://www.chalmers.se/en/departments/chem/news/Pages/Electric-textile.aspx
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Imagine for a second the kinds of innovation that could occur if MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and BMW joined forces. Well, stop imagining. The two have joined forces. But, not necessarily in the way you might have thought. The university and the car manufacturer have linked arms, and are ready to harvest their latest obsession: air.
The engineers from MIT’s Self Assembly Lab and BMW have created a new 3D printed structure utilizing a process known as ‘Liquid Printed Pneumatics’.
The interdisciplinary collaboration between engineers and labs has created the first material that can morph from one shape into another shape - thanks to air...and rapid liquid printing. The printer emits the necessary liquid material into a mould which then hardens.
The printer is able to print 100 percent silicone rubber into sophisticated structures, structures like air chambers. These ‘air pockets’ can inflate or deflate based on how they are ‘programmed’. Traditional 3D printers have struggled to perfect sizeable prints and have stuck to small-time hard plastic prints. But now, with the new fabrication process, bigger prints are guaranteed.
Skylar Tibbits, the co-director and founder of the Self-Assembly Lab refers to the work they do as ‘4D printing’; 3D printed objects that can adapt, morph and assemble based on necessity. Talking about their new air-bubble 3D printed innovation, Tibbits spoke to FastCompany, saying:
“It’s programming it with air. Instead of zeros and ones, you’re sending different pulses of air.”
The result is a material that appears to be alive and moving. Now, BMW just needs to find a use for the technology on the inside or outside of their cars. But something tells us they won’t have a problem coming up with a concept.
Historical adaptive designs
This isn’t the first time BMW has flirted with the idea of a vehicle that could adapt to the needs of the driver, and even the needs of the environment it is driving in. In 2008, the company introduced a concept car that had a body of fabric.
The car’s name was GINA (Geometry and functions in ‘N’ Adaptations). Flexibility and stretchability was a big focus for the engineering team - which had begun work on the car as far back as 2001. The idea, however, is a novel one. If a car’s exterior was stretchable, flexible and non-rigid, it could - if the technology was more fleshed out - heal itself after an accident.
Aerodynamics was also a focus. The car would change shape at different speeds to make the car as aerodynamic as possible, literally morphing and adapting on-the-fly.
What is apparent is that BMW has been attempting to innovate within the exterior and interior designs of cars for ten years now. The engineers at BMW and MIT believe that the inflatable materials they have recently designed could be used in the interior of the vehicles in the future - an adaptable material that could be tailor made for the customer.
Tibbits explains that the customer could ‘programme’ the kind of interior design they would want on any given day inside their car. He said:
“The interior could be different every time you got in, for every person who got in. By using pressure differential inside and out, you can make it morph around a human or object.”
Thereby, when cars are autonomous and the driver felt like having a nap, they could program the many airbags in the interior to morph into a more relaxing environment for the passenger inside.
Works Cited
Schwab, Katharine. “MIT and BMW Are Building the Stretchy, Inflatable Future of Cars.” Co.Design, Co.Design, 22 May 2018, www.fastcodesign.com/90173037/mit-and-bmw-are-building-the-stretchy-inflatable-future-of-cars.
Squatriglia, Chuck. “BMW Builds a Shape-Shifting Car Out of Cloth.” Wired, Conde Nast, 10 June 2008, www.wired.com/2008/06/bmw-builds-a-ca/.
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Last month we took a look at the (new) tallest building in the world which belongs to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is The Jeddah Tower, which is set to trump the previous record holder for the tallest building in the world - the Burj Khalifa. But, this isn’t the only impressive feat of civil engineering currently solidifying its place in the history books.
The projects detailed here are all projects that are utilizing new technologies, using new design philosophies, or simply becoming the biggest of their kind in the world. What remains clear is, civil engineering, globally, is ‘reaching new heights’ every year.
Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge
This year marks the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge which crosses Lingdingyang in China. It has been dubbed the Longest Sea-Bridge ever built - it spans 34 miles (55 kilometers).
How long does a bridge like this take from the idea phase to the final construction phase? Only 15 years. The Chinese government tasked the engineers with testing the feasibility of a bridge that would traverse the Pearl River Delta in 2003. The bridge would be essential to China’s Greater Bay area and lead to economic prosperity. The bridge has been completed and is ready for use this month.
The bridge utilizes a bridge-tunnel system, which consists of a series of three cable-stayed bridges, and one undersea tunnel. There are also three artificial islands that now link Hong Kong, Macau, and Zhuhai - three metropolitan cities.
Normally, the commute from one city to the next would take commuters three to four hours. Now, with the bridge in place, the travel time between cities will only be 30 minutes. The bridge construction cost: an estimated USD$15 billion.
The engineers of BYME Engineering brought together the latest in bridge building materials to construct the bridge.
Central Park Tower
A project that will also reach the billion dollar mark when completed is set to be Manhattan’s new jewel in its crown. It’s the Central Park Tower. It is located at 217 West 57th Street.
adrian__smith__and__gordon__gill__architecture(1).jpg "Central Park Tower")
The building is set to be a mixed-use building of the future. The architects and engineers have been closely following a construction philosophy called ‘Global Environmental Contextualism’ - a philosophy that will become increasingly popular. The idea is to design and construct with the natural environment in mind; using nature as an inspiration for designing.
The building, still under construction, will reach ‘supertall’ status (which is above 985 feet or 300 meters) upon completion. The Shanghai Municipal Investment Group and the Extell Development Company are behind the construction.
The construction will use the latest in cutting-edge engineering technologies and ensure the carbon footprint is as small as possible. It is expected to open in 2020.
Heathrow
The United Kingdom intends to expand Heathrow International Airport; an airport which has been in existence for 100 years. The expansion will officially make Heathrow the biggest airport in the world.
The airport will add a third runway. Heathrow currently has 80 million passengers through it every year; the expansion will see the number rise to 110 million passengers by 2030. This will also make the airport the busiest in the world. According to CNN Travel, the airport is currently only the 7th busiest in the world.
The UK government obviously foresees an increase in the number of people flying locally and internationally and it will be a necessary injection of funds in a post-Brexit UK. British members of Parliament have just given the go-ahead for the new Heathrow runway, despite historical opposition.
The expanded Heathrow is expected to cost £14.3 billion (US$20 billion) and another hurdle: the houses that are presently located where the build is proposed. The villages of Longford, Sipson and Harmondsworth would need to be demolished if the airport goes ahead.
The expansion has been hotly contested, understandably. But the civil engineers are gearing up to start building this state-of-the-art runway at Heathrow. The move will generate many temporary and some permanent jobs too.
Works Cited
“11 Civil Engineering Projects That Might Define the Future.” Interesting Engineering, 26 June 2018, interestingengineering.com/11-civil-engineering-projects-that-might-define-the-future.
“11 Civil Engineering Projects That Might Define the Future.” Interesting Engineering, 26 June 2018, interestingengineering.com/11-civil-engineering-projects-that-might-define-the-future.
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The world’s first driverless ferry is set to replace footbridges in the Norwegian city of Trondheim. Soon pedestrians will be able to cross the canal that separates the Ravnkloa fish market and the Vestre Kanalhavn dock much quicker than they’ve ever been able to before.
With the population growing steadily, engineers have been faced with the challenge of creating more river and canal crossings — however bridges can be costly to build and obstruct the flow of boat traffic. A team at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has designed a self-propelled Autoferry to solve this problem.
There’s currently a small number of unmanned cable ferries located at various locations in Norway. However, this project aims to remove the cable, which will reduce operating costs and revitalize coastal areas.
So how does this ferry work? An on board Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) will help the vessel to self-navigate from one bank to another. Four integrated light sensors — a radar unit, an infrared camera, an optical camera and a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) unit —will allow the ferry to detect and avoid kayakers and other boats. If it’s on the opposite side of the canal to waiting passengers, they can call it over with the press of a button.
While researchers at NTNU have been working with autonomous vessel management systems for years, they’ve never trained a computer to predict movements or read complex traffic scenarios in such great detail before.
The Autoferry takes approximately one minute to cross the canal, which is just less than 100 metres wide. It currently takes pedestrians 10-15 minutes to cross using the footbridge. The watercraft will be able to hold 12 passengers, plus bicycles and baby strollers.
Speaking to Gemini Research News, the head of NTNU’s department of engineering cybernetics Morten Breivik said the project has had its share of obstacles.
“One of the challenges of the project is that all these systems need to work well together. We also want to have sensors on land that can monitor blind zones,” he said.
The Autoferry isn’t quite ready to carry members of the public across the canal. Engineers are currently conducting a series of tests to ensure its safety. In phase one, the boat traffic in the canal was monitored and recorded. Phase two saw the construction of a half-scale ferry (five metres long). The propulsion systems, batteries and charging systems were all tested. Researchers are now developing the navigation system, automatic docking and testing the ferry’s anti-collision sensors.
Phase three will commence soon: it will involve putting the full-scale ferry into action and final testing of the technology.
NTNU’s head of department of electronic systems associate professor Egil Eide is in charge of operations for the Autoferry. He told Gemini Research News that he believes the driverless ferry will improve the quality of life for citizens.
“Driverless ferries can help develop regions that previously haven’t been linked to cities and towns due to a lack of infrastructure, for example,” he said.
“We believe that an industry will evolve from this project. The driverless ferries can become a new tool in community planners’ toolboxes.”
Researchers hope these ferries can one day connect to a city’s existing forms of transport and be used as an alternative form of emissions-free passage. They are also optimistic that these ferries could revitalize small island communities by providing a cheap form of transport. Researchers are now investigating a way to make the technology scalable, so ferries can be used over longer distances in rural areas.
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- Written by: Elyse Simich
The Tottenham Hotspur Football Club has recently announced their new stadium has been “future-proofed” to accommodate safe standing, should the legislation in the UK change.
Standing during games has been banned at in the top two divisions of English football since
As a result, the Football Supporters’ Federation launched a petition to overturn the ban and give football clubs a choice to implement safe-standing areas for fans. The now-closed petition garnered over 112,000 signatures and sparked a debate in Parliament on June 25.
The English Football League and the Premier League both hold the position that clubs should have a choice as to whether their fans can sit or stand during a match. The Labour Party has also called for the law to be changed.
The Hillsborough Justice Campaign (HJC) was established in order to seek justice for those who were injured or killed in the crush, and their families. In a blog post for metro.co.uk, HJC campaigner Sheila Coleman expressed her concern that some people are against safe-standing because of the Hillsborough disaster. She said this is disingenuous as it implies that standing was a factor that led to the tragedy.
“It remains the collective view of the HJC that standing never killed anyone at a football match,” she said.
“Within the
Tottenham Hotspur executive director Donna-Maria Cullen echoed these sentiments in a press release from the club.
“As a Club, we did not engage on this until the Hillsborough Inquiry was concluded, which showed that the tragedy in April 1989 had not been caused by standing,” she said.
“We then conducted research with our fan base which showed overwhelming support for safe standing. The main reasons given were choice and atmosphere - fans cannot sing sitting down.”
Designing the new stadium to accommodate safe standing has sparked the question as to whether it’s possible to convert seated areas to standing areas in old stadiums. These safe standing areas are characterised by rail seating — fixed rail barriers with attached fold-up seats to designate each standing slot.
Speaking to New Civil Engineer WSP UK’s head of stadium Peter Chipchase said this shouldn’t be an issue provided the stadium passes a number of stress tests first.
“In terms of converting an existing
“Modern stadia are designed at 4kN/m² but currently only holds 2kN/m², so increasing capacity would be no
Dynamics would also need to be tested, according to Chipchase, to avoid the stands from vibrating underneath the crowd.
“In Frankfurt, the Eintracht fans know that if they all jump at the same time they can get the stands to move up and down with them. It is pretty scary to watch and they could be resonating the tier to collapse,” he said.
“They are able to get it going because the stands are designed with a frequency of 2Hz. That wouldn’t be possible in a modern stadium, as they are all designed with a frequency of 6Hz.
“I can’t think of a single stadium in the UK that would have an issue with dynamics, but they would still have to be tested before being converted.”
While dynamics and capacity may not be a problem, sightlines and old terraces could cause issues.
Mott MacDonald technical director Nick Ling told New Civil Engineer that visibility of the field could be reduced, as people wouldn’t necessarily be able to see over the person in front of them.
“Standing sections increase the risk of reduced C values or even negative values,” he said.
“So sightline and C value issues could mean that tiers need reprofiling which could result in a change to the structure and retracing.
“It is feasible for some stadia, but more difficult for others. If sightlines are tight, it could be difficult to make the alterations required.”
Another issue he flagged was that fixing barriers to old terraces could be structurally challenging and require more capital investment.
These rail seats have been trialled at Scotland’s Celtic Park and across Europe, where they are particularly popular in Germany. Reasons for this are that they increase the stadiums’ capacity and allow fans to safely stand throughout the game if they choose to.
The new 62,000 seat stadium is set to open later this year.
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- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
Some highways (and most sidewalks) in the United States are made out of concrete. Mark Weaver, a Professional Engineer in California, writing on website Quora, explains:
“The main reason is that highways have much higher volumes of traffic than surface streets. Highways also have much heavier vehicles traveling on them than surface streets. The combination of higher volumes and higher weights of vehicles causes serious durability issues for asphalt concrete pavement.”
The problem with concrete? It isn’t very flexible. For building roads, the material of choice is usually asphalt due to its flexibility - but concrete is cheaper to install. A lot of other U.S. infrastructure is made with concrete - and it is starting to show its age.
The brittleness of concrete is not one of its favorable attributes, but what if engineers could cheaply install concrete and it could last longer than any rival material?
Bendable concrete would contribute to more stable bridges and it would help prevent them from collapsing. Sometimes it’s not the older bridges that are in trouble of collapsing, but the new ones.
In March 2018, a bridge collapsed at Florida International University in the United States that unfortunately led to loss of life. Engineers had discussed a crack that had formed on the bridge hours before the bridge collapsed. The crack has still not been confirmed as the root cause of the collapse, however, a bendable concrete that could survive more stresses may have prevented a collapse. The bridge is said to have been built via a quicker construction method and utilized a new form of concrete known as ‘self-cleaning concrete’.
Solutions
Engineers at the University of Michigan believe they have the answer to offsetting the brittleness of concrete. Their discovery was inspired by seashells. In their Conversation article, they write:
“To develop ductile concrete, our laboratory borrowed ideas from nacre, also known as mother of pearl - the iridescent material on the inside of abalone shells.”
Mimicking the nanoscale architecture of an abalone shell - which the engineers say looks like a brick wall - makes what seems to be a small shell, quite rigid.
“The ‘bricks’ are thin layers of aragonite platelets, and the ‘mortar’ between them is a natural polymer that is very elastic. The polymer holds the rigid aragonite layers together, but allows them to slip from side to side under stress. This structure makes nacre both strong and flexible.”
Their new concrete has been given a name: Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) or strain-hardening cementitious composite. When using tiny fibres within concrete that is under pressure, the composite emulates the flexible rigidness of the nacre.
Scientists in Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University have also been experimenting with putting ‘thin-as-human-hair’ fibres into their mix of concrete. The result? A new material known as ConFlexPave. The distribution of the polymers reportedly makes the concrete stronger and more durable.
The researchers say instead of pouring the concrete on site, the concrete could be prefabricated at a factory and transported to the construction site and simply laid in place. The engineers will test the concrete around their campus over the next three years.
Professor Yang En-Hua from NTU’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, leading the charge on the research said:
“The hard materials give a non-slip surface texture while the microfibres which are thinner than the width of a human hair, distribute the load across the whole slab, resulting in a concrete that is tough as metal and at least twice as strong as conventional concrete under bending.”
Works Cited
Coxworth, Ben. “Next-Gen Concrete Bends Instead of Cracking.” New Atlas - New Technology & Science News, New Atlas, 17 Aug. 2016, newatlas.com/bendable-concrete-sidewalks/44950/.
Li, Victor C. “Bendable Concrete, with a Design Inspired by Seashells, Can Make US Infrastructure Safer and More Durable.” The Conversation, The Conversation, 11 June 2018, theconversation.com/bendable-concrete-with-a-design-inspired-by-seashells-can-make-us-infrastructure-safer-and-more-durable-93621.
Weaver, M. (2018). In the United States, why are most highways made of concrete, while most streets are made of asphalt?. [online] Quora. Available at: https://www.quora.com/In-the-United-States-why-are-most-highways-made-of-concrete-while-most-streets-are-made-of-asphalt [Accessed 11 Jun. 2018].
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- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
With population numbers expected to rise exponentially, and the global growth of the middle class to continue, the topic of the sustainability of resources becomes more pertinent. More cities are needed, functioning infrastructure must be available, and it must all reflect the hallmarks of modern civilization.
However, it has become apparent that populations are growing faster than cities can be constructed.
Some philosophers and thinkers have started looking to the sea to solve some of these problems. And if their ideas are to become reality, it should present civil engineers some unique challenges. The main challenge: how to build a floating city.
The result is a futuristic movement blending civil engineering and marine engineering; seasteading.
A case for floating
Blue Frontiers, a Singaporean startup has linked arms with a California-based nonprofit named the Seasteading Institute to make seasteading a reality in the near future. They are formalizing their efforts on a project dubbed ‘The Floating Island Project’.
Thanks to their unique governing frameworks, these floating cities will create utopias, says the company’s promotional material.
“Seasteaders plan to provide you with the technology to found your own floating nation on the ocean. And seasteading is already happening,” said president of the Seasteading Institute Joe Quirk, at a futurism conference named Voice & Exit in 2015.
Quirk explains that floating cities are not a new idea - engineers have been engaged in building floating communities for a variety of reasons.
Shell has a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility 475km north-north east of Broome, Western Australia. It is the largest floating facility ever built and is an indicator that a floating life at sea is possible. The floating facility employs 260 local workers. The facility will produce liquefied natural gas for the next 25 years.
Similarly, cruise ships are commonly referred to as floating cities. The existence of floating nuclear-powered military submarines, ships and even floating nuclear power plants are becoming a reality.
“Nearly half the world’s surface is a blank slate, unclaimed by existing governments, and we want to create a thousand startup governments on the sea,” Quirk said. A floating city might also have a unique advantage that may just attract the environmentalists; solar power.
Engineers are currently building an energy producing system utilizing a process known as ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC). Essentially, it turns the ocean into one big solar panel.
With seawater absorbing a lot of the sun’s emitted energy, the thinking is that the heat at the surface of the ocean can be captured and converted into electricity. The process includes deep cold seawater, heat exchangers, refrigerants, and a turbine. The lead engineers of Makai Ocean Engineering explain in this video:
Soon a reality?
In January 2017, the Seasteading Institute and the government of French Polynesia signed a Memorandum of Understanding, setting the stage for a seastead to be constructed. Blue Frontiers, the company spearheading the project, alongside the Seasteading Institute, must, however, raise all the funds.
The company in charge of constructing the floating city s a company named DeltaSync. Quirk says that humanity could be uplifted because of future floating cities. He is advocating a mantra of ‘ocean first, space second’.
He also reflects on rising sea levels in French Polynesia, thanks to global warming. A future which includes floating cities could save entire communities from being swept away by the ever encroaching sea.
“Is it doable? We walked on the moon 45 years ago. It’s easier to float than fly. It’s cheaper to build seastations than space stations.”
Blue Frontiers has even created its own crypto-currency for the floating city they plan to build in French Polynesian waters. They hope to have a functioning example by 2020, but still have a long way to go and a lot more money to raise before the project truly sees the light of day.
Quirk believes they could have a functioning floating city completed by 2050 if all goes according to plan.
However, Silicon Valley billionaire investor, Peter Thiel, is a little skeptical, he feels that the seastead is “not quite feasible from an engineering perspective”. He previously invested $1.7 million into the Seasteading Institute but has since extricated himself from the project.
Nonetheless, engineers are at the forefront of creating sustainable solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. With technological growth experiencing great leaps every decade, which in turn is making technology much more affordable, solutions to dire infrastructural problems are being presented.
Works Cited
“Atlantis Rising: Why Floating Cities Are the Next Frontier (Joe Quirk).” YouTube, 16 Mar. 2015, youtu.be/Jr8Iw4o7Gic.
“Prelude FLNG.” Shell Global, www.shell.com/about-us/major-projects/prelude-flng.html.
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- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
As Vladimir Putin gets another six years in the seat as the Russian President, Russian engineers tow something through the Baltic Sea, something the world has never seen before.
The metal giant in tow has the symbol of an atom tattooed to its exterior, which onlookers know can only mean one thing; it’s nuclear. The Russians correctly assert that it will be the world’s only functioning floating nuclear power plant. Floating nuclear technologies are not new, but this is an impressive feat of engineering.
Russia’s state nuclear power company Rosatom is behind the construction of the unit.
Construction on the unit began in 2009 - the first stage of the build does not include any nuclear fuel. But, in 2019 it will reach stage two. The Deputy Head of the Directorate for the Floating NPP Construction and Operation Dmitriy Alekseenko said:
“At the first stage, the FPU with no nuclear fuel on board will be towed from the territory of Baltiysky Zavod to the landing of Atomflot FSUE in Murmansk. Then, at the second stage - roughly in the summer of 2019 - it will be sent from Murmansk to the seaport of Pevek, loaded with nuclear fuel and with the crew on board.”
Its final destination will be the Arctic town of Chukotka.
Critics abound
Russia is not a stranger to media coverage, much of which is overly negative. As a consequence this new floating nuclear power unit has been dubbed the ‘floating Chernobyl’. Greenpeace went as far as calling it ‘Chernobyl on ice’.
Some critics have said taking a nuclear reactor to an Arctic town may pose a danger to the environment. But Rachel Becker, writing for the Verge, makes a pertinent point - some critics are making risk assessments on the project, but conveniently overlooking the fact that submarines have been powered by nuclear means for 60 years.
Furthermore, experts warn that judging one nuclear plant by heavily publicized historical plant meltdowns is damaging the future of an energy source that should be part of a country’s energy mix.
Usefulness
According to Rosatom, the floating nuclear unit would be providing electricity for 100,000 people through its 70 megawatt capability. After the nuclear unit goes live in the coastal town of Pevek, it will be the most northerly located nuclear plant in the world.
The Russian government doesn’t intend slowing down; the Akademik Lomonosov is one of many mobile transportable low-power units planned to provide electricity. The mobile units can be used to power “remote industrial plants, port cities” and offshore gas and oil platforms.
The mobile unit currently traversing the Baltic Sea is a Floating Nuclear Thermal Power Plant (FNPP). The nuclear reactors the plant will utilize include technologies first devised in 1980 to power Russian icebreaker ships.
Bringing ship building and nuclear technologies together is now the pride of Russian engineers. To attempt to quell critics of the technology, the engineers of the state-run nuclear company put out some assurances in a press release:
“The FNPP is designed with the great margin of safety that exceeds all possible threats and makes nuclear reactors invincible to tsunamis and other natural disasters.”
Works Cited
Becker, Rachel. “The Scary Part of the Russian Nuclear Power Plant Isn't That It Floats.” The Verge, The Verge, 2 May 2018, www.theverge.com/2018/5/2/17313174/floating-nuclear-power-plant-russia-academik-lomonosov-chernobyl-titanic.
“The World's Only Floating Power Unit 'Akademik Lomonosov' Takes the Sea.” Benefits of Nuclear Energy, www.rosatom.ru/en/press-centre/news/the-world-s-only-floating-power-unit-akademik-lomonosov-takes-the-sea/.
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- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
1969 was a big year for the engineers and scientists at NASA; the year they enabled humans to reach the Moon. Next year, it will be 50 years since Apollo 11 touched down on that lunar surface.
This year the goal is Mars, although the players look a little different to 50 years ago. Now it seems that billion dollar private companies and government agencies are all competing in the space race.
SpaceX, the aerospace engineering company headed up by Elon Musk, is soon to launch their BFR (Big Falcon Rocket); the test before sending astronauts to Mars.
SpaceX has been innovating feverishly in the aerospace engineering industry. They have perfected the landing of rockets after launch, and they have mastered the reusing of previously launched rockets. They have also been firing rockets into space at almost a tenth of the cost of those sent by NASA.
Instead of remaining the stuff of dreams and science fiction tales, Elon Musk believes that a human colony on Mars will become a reality one day. He predicts SpaceX will be sending spacecraft to Mars in 2019.
Human missions
Getting spacecraft to Mars is one thing, but getting humans there is quite another. At the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), in the small US town of Hanksville, in Utah, engineers and scientists are collecting data that will be used on future Mars missions. The research station and program were set up by the Mars Society.
Zac Trolley is a Canadian Electrical Engineer and future Mars settler. Since childhood he has dreamed of reaching the Red Planet. He has been close; he was part of a two week Martian Simulation at MDRS in February 2018. During this time his engineering skills were used to help the team prepare for a future Mars mission. Zac tells us:
“Mars was the original target for the consecutive missions after Apollo, but that all got canceled. So, the architectures are all there, what’s missing is political will and funding. A lot of that political will is coming from the private sector, you know, with these billionaire entrepreneurs who are bringing their billions of dollars with them.”
He says that the conceptual ideas are finally moving into the engineering feasibility phase; these were missing from the science fiction pipe dreams of the past. Zac worked as the Crew Engineer for the project; he was tasked with maintaining the infrastructure of the Habitat. The Habitat (or Hab) is a two story 8 meter cylindrical building that houses the spacesuit simulators, has an exterior airlock, offers a shower room, toilet room and rear airlock. The rear airlock opens up to tunnels that lead to other structures at the research station.
During the two week simulation he also assisted others in their research projects. He explained:
“We conducted research on NASA plant growth systems, dust accumulation, material abrasion for space suits, and participated in many outreach activities including recording 360 video for VR applications.”
Donning some Hollywood-prop-esque space suits, Zac and his fellow team members navigated the desert areas of Utah, pretending to be astronauts. The location was picked due to its geology - it is similar to Mars’ dusty surface.
Everyone should be an engineer
Zac was part of the 188th iteration of the Martian simulation. He says that the knowledge being harvested from the Mars simulations will be invaluable to future missions. He explains:
“When a Mars mission happens, the engineers, the assembly team, and all the people that are involved, all the surrounding teams; they’re going to have to have an intricate knowledge of the mission as well. The more people that go through these simulation missions, and get an idea of how they operate and the mindset of the crew, even if they don’t go to Mars, their designs and their decisions regarding the rockets and the Habitat are going to be influenced by that. And it makes a better mission.”
Zac, as the Crew Engineer, had to keep the power grid working, the water system functioning, and all the other “bits and bobs and bolts” maintained. Nonetheless, Zac stresses that everyone who travels to Mars will need basic engineering knowledge so they can troubleshoot any on-board technologies. They will also have to master first aid training!
He believes that the first mission to Mars will need to be made up of members who are well-versed at working as a team. Zac noted that the MDRS simulation mission focused on the social aspects of working in a team more than the technical engineering feasibility.
Zac may be a little more conservative than Musk, he believes that aerospace engineering is still two decades away from putting humans on Mars. He believes firmly, however, that when a mission is at last undertaken, the technical and human elements must be aligned.
When asked what engineering education can do to fully equip engineers for future Mars missions, Zac said that engineering education should inject creativity and risk tolerance into the curriculum. He said:
“When I was doing my engineering degree, one of the most valuable things to me was extracurricular activities. I joined some clubs and I did some things outside of class and that was where I was able to really show my creativity.”
Works Cited
Applied Futurism, zactrolley.com/.
“Mars Desert Research Station.” Mars Desert Research Station, mdrs.marssociety.org/.
“There's a Starman, Sitting in a Car ... and It's All to Do with Elon Musk.” ABC News, 7 Feb. 2018, www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-07/spacex-rocket-takes-sports-car-into-space/9403618.
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- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
Engineers wait with bated breath for a call they may never get. Earlier this year, the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, proposed a 22-mile bridge to span the English Channel.
Eleven tunnel boring machines and engineering expertise created the 50.45 kilometer (31.35 mile) Channel Tunnel link between England and France.The tunnel took five years to build with a total of 13,000 workers from both England and France. If the building of a bridge is announced it would mean a sizeable payday for engineers attached to the project.
Some have dismissed Johnson’s intention to build the bridge - calling it a fantasy that will never come to fruition. However, Channel Tunnel operators Eurotunnel have expressed interest in the project.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Johnson said:
“It is a curiosity that two of the most powerful economies in the world, separated by barely 21 miles of water, are connected by only one railway line. And I think it is a matter for legitimate reflection by our two countries on the way forward.”
The bridge would be an impressive feat, not just considering the engineering prowess it would involve, but because it would be a post-Brexit achievement for the country which is due to leave the European Union, but still retain its business connections with France.
What they’ll need
If the plan to build the bridge goes forward, engineering professionals will either be tasked with creating a cable stayed bridge or a suspension bridge. There is just one glaring problem that is already causing speculators some consternation: boats.
Wanda Lewis, Emeritus Professor in Civil Engineering at the University of Warwick took to The Conversation, to explain. She writes:
“The channel is between 40m and 60m deep and some passenger ships are more than 70m tall. So to let ships pass underneath, the pylons supporting the bridge would have to be around 150m tall. To support the cables you would have to add pylons above the deck, which would mean a total pylon height well above 500m. Again, nothing this tall has ever been built.”
If the bridge does get built, it will be the world’s tallest bridge, and may just get recognition as a marvel of the modern world. However, with height comes wind and this strengthens with greater height. The bridge could be poised to deal with a number of wind-related engineering challenges.
With the longest bridge in the world as a case study, the Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge in China, the Daily Mail estimates that the bridge would cost approximately £824 million (USD 1.150 billion).
The Boris Bridge - as it has now been humorously dubbed - has received a great deal of backlash. The UK Government may indeed scrap the idea, but they are not ruling out the possibility of another tunnel.
Eurotunnel maintain that building a second link to England is not a matter of ‘if’ but a matter of ‘when’. Chief Executive of Eurotunnel Jacques Gounon wrote in a letter:
“The idea of a second fixed link is something that we regularly consider in our long term plans, and we would be delighted to engage with your officials to explore the possibility further.”
Works Cited
Lewis, Wanda. “Boris Johnson's English Channel Bridge: an Engineering Expert's View.” The Conversation, 12 Mar. 2018, theconversation.com/boris-johnsons-english-channel-bridge-an-engineering-experts-view-90409.
Ravenscroft, Tom. “Eurotunnel ‘Very Interested’ in Boris Bridge between England and France.” Dezeen, Dezeen, 14 Feb. 2018, www.dezeen.com/2018/02/14/eurotunnel-channel-tunnel-interested-boris-bridge-england-france/.
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- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
The speed at which a lithium-ion battery charges, remains a unique scientific and engineering challenge. Historically, slow charging has been responsible for limiting the development of vehicles and technologies that need to constantly recharge. This is, however, changing as technology advances.
The safety of lithium-ion batteries has also been a sore point in the history of battery technology. But with new sensor technology these batteries are becoming less risky.
Ensuring no thermal runaway occurs in Li-ion batteries is important for the future of vehicles and other technologies dependent on them. In fact temperature control, the speed of charging and general battery safety is paramount.
Interestingly University of Warwick researchers claim that Li-ion batteries already sold in commercial settings can be charged faster than previously thought. They also assert that this could improve their safety. With new sensor technology embedded into the battery a speedier charge and reduction in risk will result, they believe.
The researchers have published their findings in a journal named Electrochimica Acta under the title: “Understanding the limits of rapid charging using instrumented commercial 18650 high energy Li-ion cells.”
18650 high energy Li-ion cells are the ones found in our electronics, future electric vehicles and our energy storage units. Now, with new sensor technology, the inner-workings of the Li-ion battery can be monitored and will open a new pathway to battery flexibility.
Lead researcher Dr Tazdin Amietszajew says:
“This could bring huge benefits to areas such as motor racing, which would gain obvious benefits from being able to push the performance limits, but it also creates massive opportunities for consumers and energy storage providers.
The Warwick University researchers say the new sensor technology will allow for flexible charging functionality, but has revealed that we have been charging the batteries more slowly than necessary. Amietszajew said:
“Faster charging as always comes at the expense of overall battery life, but many consumers would welcome the ability to charge a vehicle battery quickly when short journey times are required and then to switch to standard charge periods at other times. This technology is ready to apply now to commercial batteries, but we would need to ensure that battery management systems on vehicles, and that the infrastructure being put in for electric vehicles, are able to accommodate variable charging rates that would include these new precisely tuned profiles/limits.”
It may even ensure that the Li-ion batteries do not overcharge. There are already measures in place to prevent electronics’ Li-ion batteries from overcharging, although it still occurs in certain Li-ion applications.
The Battery University explains:
“Prolonged charging above 4.30 volts on a Li-ion designed for a 4.20V/cell will plate metallic lithium on the anode. The cathode material becomes an oxidizing agent, loses stability and produces carbon dioxide (CO2). The cell pressure rises and if the charge is allowed to continue, the current interrupt device (CID) responsible for cell safety disconnects at 1000-1,380kPa (145-200psi). Should the pressure rise further, a safety membrane on some Li-ion bursts open at about 3,450kPa (500psi) and the cell might eventually vent with flame.”
The research into how to get Li-ion batteries performing more efficiently, being charged up more quickly and living longer, is important research. This glimpse into the future, thanks to Li-ion batteries, has already signaled a new ‘gold rush’ - with lithium being the gold. The future of clean, renewable energy applications may indeed depend on Li-ion batteries performing better than they already do.
Works Cited
“Charging Lithium-Ion Batteries.” Charging Lithium-Ion Batteries – Battery University, batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/charging_lithium_ion_batteries.
Posted March 11, 2018 by Travis Horesh & filed under Newswire, The Tech. “New Li-Ion Battery Sensor Tech Promises 5x Faster Charging.” Charged EVs, chargedevs.com/newswire/new-li-ion-battery-sensor-tech-promises-5x-faster-charging/.
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- Written by: Amber Allen
It is difficult to train for outdoor sports indoors. We can try to replicate naturally occurring factors such as hills, valleys, wind and rain; but nothing can adequately imitate what the outdoors is capable of producing (even when training outdoors). Cycling is no exception. Training is regularly conducted indoors, to control things such as resistance and drag when slopes are sparse. Or, when practise riding into a headwind is required and there’s not a breath of wind outside.
Previously, an ergo (stationary bike) was the option, where gears were simply changed to add resistance to the ride, slowing a cyclist down and causing him/her to push harder to achieve the same speed. A relatively new product has emerged, however; it is completely changing the training game.
AIRhub is a revolutionary cycling training device produced by Terrain Dynamics. It is an electromagnetic braking system which adds watts to your ride without adding mass. The AIRhub connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth, with the AIRhub app controlling your output in real time. “AIR” stands for automated integrated resistance, and hub of course being the 1.5kg physical attachment to the front wheel of the bike.
The aptly named Terrain Dynamics is the brainchild of Perth man Michael Freiberg, a gold and silver Commonwealth Games medallist himself and 2011 Omnium World Champion. Freiberg developed this remarkable feat of engineering after years of training for both track and road cycling. He was finding he couldn’t control and manipulate his training schedule exactly to his needs with the technology that was previously available; his routine was often dictated by his location or the weather on the day. As this inventor and managing director Freiberg says:
"With the AIRhub, we've created that. A smart, one-of-a-kind electromagnetic braking system that works with you and can be customised to suit your program and your terrain.”
AIRhub has a series of different modes to select from, each regulating the system in a different way.
- Manual mode: it can add up to 100 watts while riding. This mode is ideal when riding with slower cyclists; it allows for a slower speed, but with the use of more power.
- Heart rate mode: it monitors the heart rate and automatically adjusts resistance to keep the training in a specific zone. This mode is ideal if riding in a large group – it increases resistance when positioned in the middle/back of the pack and decreases it if at the front; it is designed to maintain a consistent heart rate.
- CDA mode: it increases coefficient of drag to simulate headwinds.
This product is versatile. It can be utilised by leisurely weekend riders - wanting to increase average speed by a couple of km/h, all the way up to elite athletes – wanting to hone in on specific heart rate targets, oxygen intake and output wattage. Sitting at a current price point of $1950 per unit, the AIRhub is a fairly significant financial investment, but one that when used correctly, can dramatically improve results in very broad or very specific areas.
“I hope everyone who's ever struggled to take their performance to the next level, whether it be because they live in a flat area, don't have safe roads to train on or have to train solo just to get in those hard sessions, can find their answer in the AIRhub.” M. Freiberg
The results speak for themselves, with riders demonstrating a 10-15% improvement in riding power with no additional effort.
References:
En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Michael Freiberg. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Freiberg [Accessed 12 Mar. 2018].
Rainmaker, D. (2017). Hands-on: The AIRhub on-road cycling resistance unit. [online] DC Rainmaker. Available at: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/01/airhub-cycling-resistance.html [Accessed 12 Mar. 2018].
Terrain Dynamics. (2018). AIRhub. [online] Available at: http://terraindynamics.com.au/airhub [Accessed 10 Mar. 2018].
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- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
Electricity, seemingly abundant in our world today, is something that we take for granted. The reality, however, is very different in the world.
It is estimated that 1.3 billion people still do not have access to electricity.
Electricity can mean many things for communities. Once electricity is established within a community, the access to power can lead to better health care, education, and self-determination. And prosperity soon follows.
Powering rural areas is an engineering work in progress. The remoteness of some communities means that relying on the grid is impossible.
The technologies that have been used to bring power to remote villages have historically been those which impact negatively on the environment; diesel generators have been a common source of power.
Powering the remotest villages on earth
Ladakh is inside the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir in the Kunlun mountain range within the Great Himalayas. A small number of inhabitants brave the cold in the area; Ladakh is 12,400 feet above sea level. Until a few years ago they had never used electricity.
A team known as the Global Himalayan Expedition trekked to the remotest village in Ladakh: the village of Shadé.
These wonderful and courageous volunteer engineers installed a Solar Nano-Grid to provide the inhabitants with electricity in 2017. This complimented one previously placed in the village. The first installation had never been robust enough to power the entire village.
It took the team four days to travel the 56 miles before reaching Shadé Village. The Kashmir Monitor wrote:
“The village has never received any grid based electricity. The villagers have been using Solar Home Lighting Systems and old kerosene oil lamps. In winters, the village remains cut-off from the outside world for about six to seven months. There is one satellite phone in the village, which was installed in 2013 and remains the only medium of communication between the village and the outside world.”
The team intends to provide nanogrids to surrounding villages as well. They have been working to electrify a dozen other villages in the Himalayas in an expedition that started in 2013. The citizens of the villages are understandably delighted.
The government has, however, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Centre of Development in India to get two mega solar parks built in the region of Ladakh. This will be enormously valuable to the inhabitants in the region; securing them with a sustainable supply of electricity.
To see more of the work being done in the Himalayas, here is a documentary on the projects from NDTV:
Works Cited
“Remotest Village in Ladakh Gets Electricity for the First Time.” Kashmir Monitor, 14 May 2015, kashmirmonitor.in/Details/129269/remotest-village-in-ladakh-gets-electricity-for-the-first-time.
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- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
If you don’t have steel you don’t have a country - so says the President of the United States Donald Trump. And, based on an investigation conducted by the American government, their country had drawn the short straw when it came to steel imports and exports. To ensure it did not impact the elusive ‘American Dream’l import tariffs were back on the table.
President Donald Trump has announced a 25 percent tariff on steel articles exported to the United States. In an official proclamation, he said:
“This relief will help our domestic steel industry to revive idled facilities, open closed mills, preserve necessary skills by hiring new steel workers, and maintain or increase production, which will reduce our Nation’s need to rely on foreign producers for steel and ensure that domestic producers can continue to supply all the steel necessary for critical industries and national defense.”
And yet American steelworkers have been wondering where they fit in into the future of the metalworking industries - the increasing automation of steel factories will inevitably hollow out traditional roles. Barack Obama, before the end of his presidency, was quizzed on the return of jobs to the steel sector. He was less optimistic than his successor.
President Donald Trump is making a concerted effort to refocus attention on metalworking factories; the new tariffs will add 25% to steel imports and 10% to aluminum. Tariffs on foreign washing machines and solar panels were also recently imposed by his government.
Trump, on March 7th, tweeted:
“From Bush 1 to present, our Country has lost more than 55,000 factories, 6,000, manufacturing jobs and accumulated Trade Deficits of more than 12 Trillion Dollars. Last year we had a Trade Deficit of almost 800 Billion Dollars. Bad Policies & Leadership. Must WIN again! #MAGA”
Car manufacturing and beyond
Whilst most people would decry the tweets as Trump’s notorious ‘alternative facts’, a CEO of multiple engineering companies on the cutting edge of modern day engineering agrees that American business has not been getting a fair deal.
CEO of Tesla Motors, Elon Musk, also took a seemingly pro-tariffs stance. Responding to Trump on Twitter, Musk tweeted:
“Do you think the US & China should have equal & fair rules for cars? Meaning, same import duties, ownership constraints & other factors. For example, an American car going to China pays 25% import duty, but a Chinese car coming to the US only pays 2.5%, a tenfold difference. We raised this with the prior administration and nothing happened. Just want a fair outcome, ideally where tariffs/rules are equally moderate. Nothing more. Hope this does not seem unreasonable.”
Trump read Musk’s tweets from a printed piece of paper as he announced the Presidential Proclamation on Adjusting Imports of Steel into the United States.
Chief Equity Strategist for Goldman Sachs David Kostin said
“Steel is the primary material used by Automobile manufacturers Ford and General Motors. Based on 2017 production mix, if the proposed tariff of 25% on imported steel translates into a similar magnitude of increase in steel prices, it would impact each firm by roughly US$1 billion, representing 12% and 7% of their 2017 adjusted operating income, respectively.”
Furthermore, there are of course fears that the suggested tariffs could start a trade war with other superpowers, something China has all but confirmed. BHP Billiton CEO Andrew Mackenzie too is disheartened by the talk of tariffs. At a business summit on Tuesday, the 6th of March 2018, the CEO hit out against Trump’s attacks on free trade, calling the announcements a ‘black day for the world’. He said:
“I am worried about this sentiment shift that people all around the world might suddenly say that free trade isn’t good for the world and that would be particularly bad for a trading company like BHP. We have to speak up loudly against these measures as being bad for America and bad for the world.”
Works Cited
Cheng, Evelyn. “Goldman: GM and Ford Could Take $1 Billion Hit Each from the Steel Tariffs.” CNBC, CNBC, 5 Mar. 2018, www.cnbc.com/2018/03/05/goldman-tariffs-to-knock-gm-terex.html.
Williams, Perry. “Trump Tariffs Are a Black Day for the World, Says BHP CEO.” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 5 Mar. 2018, www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-06/trump-tariffs-are-black-day-for-world-business-bhp-ceo-says.
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Victorien Erussard, an offshore racer and Merchant Navy officer has taken to the seas aboard the latest marvel of engineering. He has set aside six years of his life to travel around the world in a boat that will not generate any carbon.
50 engineers, designers and naval architects worked on the interdisciplinary, multifaceted ‘Energy Observer’ boat. The racing boat is powered by an assortment of renewable sources such as: a hydrogen fuel cell system, solar panels, and wind turbines.
The boat will visit 50 countries. 101 stopovers will be observed during the trip. It will be the first ‘hydrogen ship around the world’ the engineers behind the boat professed. At every stop, the team will investigate renewable energy projects and meet with leaders. So far they have met with Prince Albert of Monaco and the President of France Emmanuel Macron.
Documentary-maker Jerome Delafosse, is following the Energy Observer in its six year journey and keeping audiences entertained by releasing constant YouTube updates of its progress. In the intro video to their expedition, he said:
“The only way to combat global warming is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Today, we know that renewable energies and hydrogen is THE path forward. Energy Observer has taken up the challenge of becoming the symbol of energy transition to prove that a cleaner world is possible.”
The boat is 100 feet long and quite aesthetically pleasing. It is also a symbol of engineering change - a signal to other marine engineers that the times are a-changin’. The boat represents a hope that one day marine vessels may be powered only by renewable sources. The boat cost $5.25 million - and it’s easy to see why; there are 1,400 square feet of solar panels fitted on the surface of the boat.
Launched from Paris in May 2017, the boat is nearing its first full year at sea. The technology on board propelling the boat forward was developed by French research center CEA-LITEN. When the sun is shining and the wind is blowing it uses the solar panels and wind turbines. When the moon is in the night sky, it utilizes its hydrogen tanks to propel it.
The hydrogen fuel it uses is “three times” more efficient than regular fuel. The fuel is created through sea water electrolysis. Delafosse believes the technology powering the boat can be used in many more applications. He said:
“We can use this technology in hotels, houses, in cars...the idea is to be less dependent on the network. It shows how fast things can happen: as it did in London at the turn of the last century when moving from horses to cars, it will happen with renewable energy.”
Works Cited
Energy Observer, www.energy-observer.org/en/.
Dockrill, Peter. “This Self-Fuelling Boat Just Set Off on an Epic 6-Year Global Voyage.” ScienceAlert, www.sciencealert.com/this-self-fuelling-boat-just-embarked-on-an-epic-6-year-global-voyage.
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More engineering industry jobs are coming to South Africa. That is, if the country’s brand new president, Cyril Ramaphosa, is to be believed. Much like in the United States, the new sitting president is promising the renewed strengthening of manufacturing and mining jobs - whilst promising that the Fourth Industrial Revolution will be a focus as well.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has given his State of the Nation Address a day after being sworn in as president. This, after the country’s previous president, Jacob Zuma, resigned from his position. Zuma’s presidency had produced a legacy of corruption that had sent the country’s economy into freefall.
Ramaphosa was the founder of the Union of Mineworkers in South Africa. He is also a successful businessman, and was a key negotiator for the African National Congress, credited for being one of those who helped facilitate the end of Apartheid. He was Nelson Mandela’s choice for the future president of South Africa.
Now his time has come. Plaguing the country is a high unemployment rate. Nonetheless, Ramaphosa is promising a revival of South Africa. He has said a new dawn is here for the country. In his State of the Nation address, he spoke of the mechanisms that might make South Africa great again:
“We are going to address the decline over many years of our manufacturing capacity, which has deeply affected employment and exports. We will seek to re-industrialise on a scale and at a pace that draws millions of job seekers into the economy. We are going to promote greater investment in key manufacturing sectors through the strategic use of incentives and other measures.”
Mining is one of the largest and more archaic industries in South Africa. A gold rush in the late 1800s began turning South Africa into a resources haven. The rest is, as they say, history. However, mining has struggled in the last few years. Ramaphosa said:
“Mining is another area that has massive unrealised potential for growth and job creation. We need to see mining as a sunrise industry.”
With a soon-to-be revitalized economy, the best thing school leavers and wannabe students can do is find education and training that will prepare them for this new South Africa.
The level of technological expansion in the country may, however, impede growth in the economy and education. South African institutions are struggling to produce highly qualified, globally relevant engineering professionals, for example. Ramaphosa is proposing change here too. He said:
“We will soon establish a Digital Industrial Revolution Commission, which will include the private sector and civil society, to ensure that our country is in a position to seize the opportunities and manage the challenges of rapid advances in information and communication technology. The drive towards the digital industrial revolution will be underpinned by the availability of efficient networks.”
Works Cited
Eyewitness News. “[MUST READ] President Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address.” Eyewitness News, 17 Feb. 2018, ewn.co.za/2018/02/16/must-read-president-ramaphosa-s-state-of-the-nation-address.
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Students and professors in research and development teams in the United States are setting the standard for nature-inspired engineering designs. Using nature as an influence for design, and using engineering design to better understand nature, may produce fruitful outcomes for engineering and nature alike.
A mechanical engineering team at the University of Illinois is using butterflies and snake scales as a blueprint for creating a new surface that will be used for ‘fluid and light manipulation’.
The team says the surface could service the scientific and engineering communities. In their paper, entitled ‘Magnetically Responsive Elastomer-Silicon Hybrid Surfaces for Fluid Light Manipulation’, they write:
“Stimuli-responsive surfaces with tunable fluidic and optical properties utilizing switchable surface topography are of significant interest for both scientific and engineering research.”
The engineers say that with their surface as a base, materials can be laid atop it. They are nanostructures that copy, to some extent, the subtlety of butterfly and snake scales. The engineers designed what are called ‘ferromagnetic micropillars’ above a flexible bottom later.
Thereby, the surface can be used for a plethora of applications including: ‘tunable wetting, droplet manipulation, tunable optical transmissions, and structural correlation’.
It all sounds very complex, but with tunable optical transmissions, virtual blinds could be designed, for example. Imagine booking into a hotel room and darkening the room without physically having to pull down the blinds. The window itself would be fitted with the light manipulating technology utilizing the scale-like nanostructured surface.
Other applications include biomedical engineering applications, implantation into photovoltaic arrays and more. Seok Kim, the assistant professor of mechanical engineering, said that he wanted to ‘emulate’ designs found in nature.
Helping nature out
At the University of Colorado Boulder an aerospace engineering team has put their energy into figuring out how to study animals more closely. Their senior design project saw them designing technology for the preservation of nature.
They have designed a drone that can get the closest to sperm whales than any other apparatus before.
Previously, marine biologists have reportedly been limited to binoculars and hydrophones. What the biologists want to do is voyeuristically listen in on sperm whale communications to decipher the ‘language’ sperm whales are using. The project’s name is - whimsically - SHAMU (Search and Help Aquatic Mammals UAS), which was also the name of a killer whale that was held at SeaWorld in San Diego in the United States.
The team is hoping the unmanned aerial vehicle will contribute to lessening the number of sperm whale deaths per year. The university’s online publication asserts that pollution and ‘collisions with ships’ lead to 1,000 sperm whale deaths annually. With more data generated, the engineers are hoping it could give marine biologists something to work with.
Lauren McIntire, the head of safety on the project said:
“One of the main reasons most of us joined the project is the desire to use engineering to better the world. In aerospace there’s a focus on defense or commercial projects, but SHAMU is about conversation and helping all life on earth.”
Works Cited
“Pushing Boundaries: To Save the Whales, Engineering Students Take to the Skies.” CU Boulder Today, 14 Feb. 2018, www.colorado.edu/today/2018/02/14/pushing-boundaries-save-whales-engineering-students-take-skies.
Yang, Zining, et al. “Magnetically Responsive Elastomer–Silicon Hybrid Surfaces for Fluid and Light Manipulation.” Small, 24 Nov. 2017, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smll.201702839/full.
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“Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope”. - Princess Leia
In 1977, science fiction fans were treated to the very first Star Wars film. Years later, the series has branched off into comics, novels, more films, animation shows, and more. But back in ‘77 when Princess Leia spoke her very first words in the series, R2-D2, the robot relaying Leia’s three-dimensional recorded message, showed the world what the future of holograms could be.
A team of engineers at Brigham Young University, in Utah in the United States, have been working to make science fiction, science fact. Using the scene from Star Wars as an influence, the team started their ‘Princess Leia project’.
Using a phenomenon known as photopheresis, the engineers have manipulated unseen airborne particles with lasers to produce images in midair. The team has said the 3-D images are even more realistic than holograms.
They released a video to demonstrate their findings, and to give a sneak peak into the future of volumetric displays:
Historically holograms have been produced by using rotating or specially positioned glass displays with images projected onto them. Other methods have included using fog, mist, or dust on which to project 2D images - Disney has used these kinds of projection methods at their theme parks. But the Birgham University scholars have figured out a way to project 3D images onto thin air, making it significantly different to previous holography attempts.
Daniel Smalley, lead author of the photopheresis research, and an electrical and computer engineering professor, said that the new technique is tantamount to “printing something in space,” and then, “erasing it quickly.” The unseen specks are focused together by laser technology guided by mirrors.
The authors are ditching the ‘hologram’ name, due to its departure from holographic ideology and instead calling their invention the Optical Trap Display. They essentially trap particles and create a volumetric image in three-dimensional space.
100 years of research into these methods have been categorized as ‘volumetric display’ research. They have published their research in the Nature journal. The researchers fully intend getting this technology to market. In the report, they write:
“The reported prototypes use commercial hardware and have low cost relative to other free-space volumetric displays. We anticipate that the device can readily be scaled using parallelism and consider this platform to be a viable method for creating 3D images that share the same space as the user, as physical objects would.”
This means that the world is also closer to telepresence: much like the scene from Star Wars with Princess Leia, and a plethora of other science fiction novels and movies. We could soon see engineers perfect a ‘holographic’ Skype call – a bit like being in two places at one time. A Star Wars future might, therefore, not be far off.
Works Cited
Matt WarrenJan. 24, 2018 , 1:00 PM, et al. “'Princess Leia' Holograms One Step Closer to Reality.” Science | AAAS, 24 Jan. 2018, www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/01/princess-leia-holograms-one-step-closer-reality.
Smalley, D. E., et al. “A Photophoretic-Trap Volumetric Display.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 24 Jan. 2018, www.nature.com/articles/nature25176.
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There is nothing quite as spectacular as a successful rocket launch; it is a wonderment of aerospace engineering. We have also now as a species become accustomed to seeing rockets landing after being fired - and then being reused again. This is all thanks to the aerospace engineering company known as SpaceX. They have just made engineering history with their spacecraft, the Falcon Heavy.
Their engineering prowess has sent the most powerful rocket in history up into lower earth orbit. SpaceX managed to get all of the rocket’s 140,000 lbs (63502.9318 kgs) into lower earth orbit. 27 engines and 5 million pounds of thrust is what it took to get Falcon Heavy up, up, and away.
The rocket is twice as powerful as any other rocket that has ever been engineered.
In an interview with The Verge, CEO of SpaceX, billionaire Elon Musk said:
“It’s going to show that we can do giant rockets again. Most space organizations - governmental or commercial - have set their sights too low; they’ve really built relatively small rockets. Falcon Heavy is the first time that there is something that is arguably in the super heavy class - or somewhere in between heavy and super heavy. Showing that you can launch a giant rocket and have it be commercially viable - carry satellites, potentially carry people.”
Floating in space
Falcon Heavy’s payload was fitted with something quite special; Elon Musk’s very first cherry red Tesla Roadster. Inside the Roadster sits an empty SpaceX spacesuit. The payload is now on its way into deep space and will pass Mars - a planet SpaceX wants to send astronauts to one day. Cameras captured the event which included the space-suited Starman (as SpaceX named him).
Taking to Twitter, Musk spoke about his excitement at sending a car into space. He wrote:
“I love the thought of a car drifting apparently endlessly through space and perhaps being discovered by an alien race million of years in the future.”
The fact that Falcon Heavy launched successfully is an anomaly in itself. Engineering experts doubted that it would take off, half expecting it to simply explode trying to launch. However, SpaceX has proven that heavy rocket launching at a lower cost is possible. It is a big moment for space exploration and for aerospace engineering.
Now it is all-hands-on-deck for crew Dragon, says Musk. This crew refers to the American astronauts being prepped for space. The Falcon 9 spacecraft rocket (which has seen much success in SpaceX launches), with a Dragon spacecraft fitted to it, is earmarked to take the humans into space soon.
Otherwise, Tesla is testing their BFR (Big Falcon Rocket) technology to gage the likelihood of sending astronauts to Mars. They have also single handedly started a new space race between government space agencies and commercial space companies. What is undeniable is that aerospace engineering is getting its day in the sun as orbits the sun.
Works Cited
“Elon Musk on How Falcon Heavy Will Change Space Travel.” YouTube, 7 Feb. 2018, youtu.be/I7LJIuB2CHE.
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The Chinese may be on their way to setting a new world record...for a railway construction job in the Fujian Province in Southern China.
On the 19th of January 2018 something quite remarkable happened when 1,500 workers were tasked with constructing a railway designed to connect the city of Longyan to three other pre-existing railways.
It was successfully completed in nine hours! From the evening of the 19th of January to the early hours of the 20th the teams worked through the night - showing off Chinese efficiency in a big way.
The all-nighter also included the installation of traffic signals and monitoring equipment.
Words may do this incredible feat of engineering a disservice. Look at this video to see the sheer spectacle of it:
The newly built Nanlong Railway will connect to Ganlong, Ganruilong, and Zhanglong railways. It is to become the main railway that links south-east China with Central China, reports Xinhua news.
Seven teams, working simultaneously, utilized the strength of 23 diggers and 7 trains to start the project which is expected to be completed at the end of 2018. If they work with this kind of stamina the project deadline will be achieved.
Chinese New Year
China depends on trains. On Friday 16th February 2018 China will observe their New Year. It is a time that signals travel, the Chunyun travel period or Spring Festival. People migrate to be present at the festival and to reunite with family in their original homelands. Chunyun will see 3 billion trips made between January 13th and February 21st. Of these, 300 million will be taken by train.
The China Railway Corporation’s website will be inundated, processing ticket sales, leading up to this period.
Zhu Jian Sheng, the associate director of the Institute of Computing Technologies at China Academy of Railway Science says:
“The average page views for 12,306 (the website) is 55.67 billion views per day and 81.34 billion views per day during the peak period. The highest clicks per hour is 5.93 billion with an average of 1.648 million clicks per second.”
The corporation will sell 10 to 15 million tickets a day on the lead up to Chunyun. Engineers are naturally on standby to ensure the efficiency of transportation and to repair any faults that may manifest during the 40-day holiday.
We wish all those celebrating the Chinese New Year a happy season and successful year ahead.
Works Cited
Tomarnstein. “China Railway Site Sees 5.93 Billion Clicks Per Hour as Busiest Travel Season Starts.” Tomarnstein, The Beijinger, 17 Jan. 2018, www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2018/01/18/china-railway-site-sees-593-billion-clicks-hour-busiest-travel-season-starts.
彭莹 . “Railway Project Involving 1,500 Workers Completed in Less than 9 Hours.” Railway Project Involving 1,500 Workers Completed in Less than 9 Hours - Xinhua | English.news.cn, www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-01/23/c_136917236_2.htm.
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Nikola Tesla was an electrical engineer, a master of invention, and a technological giant far beyond his years. An electric engineer for the ages. His influence on the engineering industry is continually being recognized in a world where alternative energy is becoming the status quo.
As his career matured, Tesla would turn into a polarizing figure; many were very skeptical about his belief in what humanity could achieve with electricity.
However, nothing immortalizes Tesla, and highlights his intentions for the application of electricity, more than the products produced by a company founded in 2003 and named after him: Tesla Inc.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Inc, speaking to HenryFord.org about innovation said:
“The car company’s called Tesla. The reason it’s called Tesla is because we use an AC induction motor, which is an architecture that Tesla developed - and the guy deserves a little more play than he gets in current society.”
Nikola Tesla, in a surreal epiphany, had the idea to design an alternating-current motor and electrical system that would revolutionize the power grid that Thomas Edison - the man that brought the world the incandescent light bulb - had built in the United States.
Tesla’s ideas for how electricity could solve the world’s problems wouldn’t all come to fruition in his lifetime, however, the work he did, paved the way for the kinds of electric-powered technology we know today.
Tesla’s Electrical Future
The founders of Tesla Inc. believe:
“Without Tesla’s vision and brilliance, our car wouldn’t be possible. We’re confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our 100 percent electric car and nod his head with both understanding and approval.”
Tesla Motors put out their first electric car, the Tesla Roadster, in 2008; it was the first automobile to be powered off of lithium-ion battery cells. They are now manufacturing the Model 3 and rolling it out to their high-paying customers.
Another one of Nikola’s seemingly ‘crazy’ ideas was that everyone should have access to an unlimited amount of energy that could power their homes indefinitely. He was hoping to achieve this with electricity.
In response to this idea of his Tesla Inc. has engineered and debuted two incredible energy storage products; they have released the Powerwall to power houses and the Powerpack for industrial-sized businesses. These ‘batteries’ are a clean, renewable source of energy; they store solar energy harvested by photovoltaic solar cells and are designed to be used in peak times.
The engineer’s voice in the world
Nikola Tesla was an opinionated electrical engineer as well. He wrote many letters to magazines to not only correct them on any inconsistencies, but also to respond to peers in the industry like Edison. If Tesla was alive today he might’ve used Twitter - which Tesla CEO Elon Musk uses as a platform to respond to questions and tweet his opinion.
Tesla’s best letters have been compiled in a book named Very Truly Yours, Nikola Tesla that can be purchased in e-book format or in hard copy.
Nikola Tesla’s life serves as an example of an electrical engineer who had dreams far too advanced to be realized in the era in which he was born. He was a genius who was driven by, but a little overwhelmed by his own ideas. Nikola Tesla said:
“With ideas it is like with dizzy heights you climb: At first they cause you discomfort and you are anxious to get down, distrustful of your own powers; but soon the remoteness of the turmoil of life and the inspiring influence of the altitude calm your blood; your step gets firm and sure and you begin to look - for dizzier heights.”
His legacy lives on in the minds of engineers who are pioneering new inventions to improve the world we live in.
Works Cited
“Elon Musk - Visionaries on Innovation.” The Henry Ford, www.thehenryford.org/explore/stories-of-innovation/visionaries/elon-musk/.
“Tesla.” Tesla, Inc, www.tesla.com/.
Wasik, John F. “Nikola Tesla: the Man Whose Name Lives on in the Tesla Car.” Financial Review, Financial Review, 8 Jan. 2018, www.afr.com/technology/the-man-whose-name-lives-on-in-the-tesla-car-20180103-h0d7yh.
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- Written by: Evangeline Newby
China’s solar highway shut down by thieves
A highway built out of robust solar panels that generate energy throughout the day has actually become a reality thanks to Chinese engineers. The engineers have dubbed it the very first photovoltaic highway the world has ever seen. (Although France opened one of their own back in 2016.)
Regardless, the Chinese opened the highway on the 28th of December 2017, in Shandong, a province in China. The highway involves a 2 kilometer stretch fitted with solar panels which the engineers say will also charge electric vehicles that drive over them through remote charging technology. Buried underneath a layer of transparent concrete and silicon, the photovoltaic cells stay intact whilst cars pass overhead.
Zhang Hongchao, Chief Scientist at Shandong Pavenergy, the company that built the highway, explained how the cells are kept safe. He said:
“The top layer has good flexibility which can both withstand the pressure of large vehicles and protect the fragile amorphous silicon boards underneath.”
Engineers expect the road to generate 1 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year through its 10,000 solar panels. The Daily Mail confirmed that the highway cost approximately US$2.7 million.
Thievery closes the highway
The only problem with solar PV installations is that every single solar panel, as part of a group, works together for the highest output possible. If one panel is removed it interrupts the production of electricity.
This is what happened at China’s new, shiny, solar highway. It was reported that during the construction of the solar highway, men were seen taking photos of the road. On the 1st of January, two weeks after the road was opened, a portion of the road had been expertly cut out and stolen. Seven other panels were also damaged in the illegal operation.
The road has subsequently been closed due to the thievery. Xu Dehao, a construction professional at Shadong Pavenergy, said:
“We can speculate the damage was not done by hand, nor does it appear it was done by a big vehicle. It was more likely done by a professional team.”
The thievery may highlight a worrying trend for future public technology installations.
Interestingly though, the stolen solar panels are set to be replaced at a lower cost - solar panel prices are dropping. For this reason and because China is trying to speedily curb its cities’ air pollution levels solar projects are taking off.
Works Cited
“China's Solar Expressway Meets Light of Day.” China's Solar Expressway Meets Light of Day - Xinhua | English.news.cn, www.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-12/29/c_136858183.htm.
Mailonline, Alex Matthews For. “Cutting-Edge £2million Solar-Panelled Highway Is Targeted by Thieves Less than Two Weeks after It Opened in China.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 7 Jan. 2018, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5243757/Cutting-edge-solar-panelled-highway-targeted-thieves.html.
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- Written by: Evangeline Newby
The fourth industrial revolution is here, making us a part of the Internet of Things (IoT), whether we like it or not.
Artificial intelligence, big data, data generating sensors, robotics and automation are the kinds of innovations that are currently disrupting and indeed benefiting industry. One issue which is facing increasingly interconnected and intelligent enterprises (filled as they are with complex technology), is the shortage of employees skilled enough to use and manipulate these new technologies.
Zebra Technologies is intrigued – they are building an Intelligent Enterprise Index to track the advancement of IoT-connected companies. According to their index, 62 percent of companies are on track to implementing IoT-initiatives throughout their establishments. It also confirmed that 42 percent of enterprises will pay US$3.1 million per year on IoT.
With the increasing demand for skilled and adaptable or nimble employees there I some concern that higher education providers may not ably keep pace with the needs of companies which embrace the IoT.
Further exacerbating the situation, and manifesting itself in students when they are relatively young, is a growing disinterest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics).
P.K. Agarwal, the Dean of the Northeastern University Silicon Valley thinks more can be done. He writes:
“I believe we should look to those who lack traditional STEM backgrounds. By taking someone with a liberal arts or humanities background, and opening up opportunities for them in development or IT, we can create some of the strongest candidates possible.”
The skills needed
A country that is embracing the future and trying to stay ahead of the curve is India. Their education institutions are attempting to build courses that will adequately prepare students for the demands of work in a world characterized by the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
IoT India Magazine put together a list of ten elements of IoT that technologists and engineers, should be focusing on:
|
Enterprise necessities |
Knowledge needed |
|
Embedded systems |
Electronic or electromechanical devices. I.e. Sensors within systems. |
|
Networking |
Communication hardware: bluetooth, Wi-Fi |
|
Computer programming |
Writing embedded code, perfecting data transfer. |
|
Machine learning |
Understanding artificial intelligence (AI), building self-learning computers |
|
Big data |
Analysis of enormous amounts of data created by sensors and automated processes. |
|
Network security |
Cybersecurity: the protection of valuable data |
|
UI/UX Design |
Creating user interfaces (UI) and user experience (UX) designs so that all members of the enterprise can see and understand the IoT processes. |
|
Mobile Development |
Controlling IoT equipment with mobile devices; allowing access via remote applications. |
|
Cloud computing |
Keeping backups securely in the cloud. Automating extensive data computation in the cloud. Making it available for analysis across enterprises. |
|
Soft skills |
Written and verbal communication skills. Humanities and liberal arts influences. |
Works Cited
“IoT Skill Shortage Ahead | EE Times.” EETimes, www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1332655.
Magazine, IoT India, et al. “Top 10 Skills Needed to Be an IoT Professional.” IoT India Magazine, 24 Mar. 2017, iotindiamag.com/2016/07/top-10-skills-needed-iot-professional/.
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- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
Singapore’s Changi Airport recently unveiled the airport terminal of the future; their brand new Terminal 4 with a fully automated check-in system.
ICM Airport Technics, a global leader in airport technology solutions, are at the forefront of transforming airport terminals and their hybrid technology was installed in the new Changi terminal. Their Group Chief Executive Officer, Richard Dinkelmann, was the very first passenger at the Singapore Airport to utilize the check-in system.
Image: New automated check-in system
Source: ICM Airport Technics
The flight was a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong. Dinkelmann took to LinkedIn to praise the new technology:
“50 of ICM’s Series 7 hybrid ABD units are now live in this terminal. I was privileged to have been the first passenger to drop off my bag surrounded by Cathay Pacific and Changi staff. Total transaction time was less than 40 seconds - including face-to-face-passport biometric validation.”
Ang Siew Min, the Vice President of Airport Operations Management at CAG, when awarding the contracts for automated, self-service bag-drop solutions, said:
“With the wider adoption of self-service bag-drop machines at Changi Airport, passengers can look forward to a faster and more convenient check-in experience.”
Teething pains soon followed the launch of the new automated systems, as some passengers struggled with the new technology. The facial recognition process proved particularly onerous for some travelers.
Source: AFP
The system will be checking in the passengers off 20 flights a day, 16 million passengers will utilize the terminal every year.
ICM Airport Technics mission was to build a user-friendly system that abides by all airport and airline security requirements, whilst being fast and efficient. The group recently installed check in systems in Munich airport as well.
Singapore’s Changi Airport is frequently called the best airport in the world. They are hoping that these automated processes and associated efficiencies will cement this reputation into place; in its entirety Terminal 4 cost US$723 million.
This is by no means the beginning or the end: the automated check-in system is a new addition to the plethora of automated technologies making their way into airports. In Terminal 4 there is also an automated tray return system at the Food Emporium: it retrieves customers’ trays post-meal. See the video below.
Works Cited
“ICM Airport Technics to Install Self-Service Auto Bag-Drops at Changi Airport.” International Airport Review, www.internationalairportreview.com/news/24757/icm-airport-technics-bag-drops-singapore-changi-airport/.
“Self Service Bag Drop.” Auto Bag Drop, autobagdrop.com.au/solutions/self-service-bag-drop/.
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Henry Petroski, an engineer who has specialized in failure analysis, and has written a dozen or so books on the subject, once said:
“Failure is central to engineering. Every single calculation that an engineer makes is a failure calculation. Successful engineering is all about understanding how things break or fail.”
Engineers are not only inundated with the potential mathematical design failure of their work, but also the organizational failures that could eliminate the chance of them ever getting their hard work out into the world.
There is no better example of how engineering and organizational miscalculations can lead to huge losses than Motorola's Iridium project. This project was headed up by Motorola’s Bary Bertiger and a handful of engineers; it has been singled out as the ‘biggest project failure in history’.
Bill McIntosh, a writer for the Independent, wrote in August of 1999:
“Behind the failure lies a salutary tale that shows how a potentially revolutionary product was hamstrung by unrealistic planning, insufficient management control, bungled marketing and, most surprisingly, technological pigheadedness.”
The story began in the mid-1980s when Bertiger’s wife complained about not being able to phone home during a trip to the Caribbean. So began a daring engineering initiative; a network of infrastructure to facilitate phone calls from one corner of the earth to the other. By 1997 the deployment of the satellites had begun.
Motorola Corporation planned to launch 77 satellites into orbit to achieve the gargantuan task. The company was pioneering - forging a path toward the interconnected, global village of communication we know today. The engineers raced to meet the technological demands of the satellites, their components, and the launch of them as well - all of this occurring after only 12 years of development.
Meanwhile, cellphone tower infrastructure was being perfected - it would lower the cost and achieve the same outcomes the engineers of Iridium were aiming to achieve with their satellite infrastructure. The GSM network was in the early stages of being born.
The price of the technology meant the Iridium handset cost consumers US$3,000 apiece and the call rates were extortionate at $30 a minute.
The company failed to find an effective marketing strategy to ensure the sale of these expensive products. To make matters worse the early versions of the cellphone experienced some technical issues. Soon afterwards, in 1999, Iridium filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The damage had been done. US$5 billion of investment had gone down the drain.
Exponential Organizations
Sam Ismail, an author and researcher, wrote a book entitled: Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better, faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it). In the book he outlines his investigation into Motorola's organizational missteps; he refers to the woeful project as the Iridium Moment. Ismail asserts that many companies and their engineering projects have followed the same very flawed understanding of technology and the market. He names another such company, the Eastman Kodak Company.
Image source: Exponential Organizations
Kodak declared bankruptcy in 2012 due to a technologically progressive market that saw consumers foregoing film and embracing digital. One of the reasons Kodak couldn’t recover, Ismail states in his book, was due to the rise of the app Instagram in 2012. The photography market had migrated to digital cameras, smartphones and apps.
Instagram, a company that had only been operational for only three years, completely disrupted Kodak, an industry heavyweight, and it had taken them years to grow. Ismail proved that a Fortune 500 company (of which Kodak was one) would have typically taken 20 years to be worth a billion, whereas smaller, more efficient companies, like Instagram, had done it in much less time. Ismail writes:
“We have entered the age of the billion-dollar startup and soon, the trillion-dollar corporation, where the best companies and institutions will be moving at seemingly light speed. If you haven’t transitioned into an Exponential Organization as well, it will not only seem as though your competition is racing away from you, but also, like Kodak, that you are sliding backwards at breakneck speed into oblivion.”
For engineers who are finding projects to be a part of, or beginning their own startup companies, it is important to bear in mind the missteps of the past. And there is proof everywhere that engineers succeed: they have been instrumental in the rise of Facebook, Uber, Instagram, and Snapchat; companies that have redefined how a company can grow exponentially through utilizing technologies in clever and different ways.
Works Cited
McIntosh, Bill. “Down to Earth Reasons for Iridium Failure.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 18 Aug. 1999, www.independent.co.uk/news/business/down-to-earth-reasons-for-iridium-failure-1113638.html.
“WHAT IS EXPONENTIAL ORGANIZATIONS?” Exponential Organizations, exponentialorgs.com/.
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Leading Australian artificial intelligence scientist Professor Toby Walsh is warning that we are "sleepwalking" into an AI future in which billions of machines and computers will be able to think.
Professor Walsh, from the University of New South Wales, is calling for a national discussion about whether society needs to adopt clear boundaries and guidelines around how AI is developed and how it's used in our lives.
In his book It's Alive: Artificial Intelligence From The Logic Piano to Killer Robots, he has highlighted key questions in a series of predictions that describe how our future could be far better or far worse because of AI.
Here's how he thinks society might change by 2050 thanks to artificial intelligence.
1. You are banned from driving
Humans drive drunk, tired and distracted and cause 95 per cent of accidents.
The roads will be much safer without human drivers and most likely far less congested, as networked vehicles service passengers 24/7.
Street parking and most car parks will disappear, transport will be cheaper and groups such the elderly and disabled will have greater personal mobility.
Most people won't bother buying cars and will lose driving skills. And autonomous vehicles will arrive quickly — within 15-20 years.
"By 2050, the year 2000 will look as quaintly old-fashioned as the horse drawn era of 1900 did to people in 1950," Professor Walsh said.
2. You see the doctor daily
Your personal 24/7 AI doctor will know your gene sequence and vulnerabilities to particular diseases.
It will continually monitor your blood pressure, sugar levels, sleep and exercise. It will process data from your toilet, which will automatically analyse your urine and stools.
Your future version of a smartphone or fitness watch will regularly take selfies to identify melanomas and eye disease. It will record your voice for signs of a cold, dementia or a stroke. It will call for help if you faint. It will also be a trillion-dollar global business.
"Our personal AI physician will have our life history, it will know far more about medicine than any single doctor, and it will stay on top of all the emerging medical literature," Professor Walsh said.
3. Marilyn Monroe is back in the movies
Avatars will be programmed to act and talk like anyone we choose in interactive movies, including ourselves or celebrities from recent history.
PHOTO: The view from inside a Volvo driverless car on its trial on Adelaide's Southern Expressway. (Australian Driverless Vehicle Initiative)
Where the story goes depends on what you do or say.
Hollywood and the computer games industry will merge and immerse us in hyper-real worlds.
But there will be increasing concern about the seductive nature of these unreal, alternate worlds.
There may be an underclass of addicts who spend every waking moment in them. And some who behave in distasteful or illegal ways.
"This problem will likely trouble our society greatly," Professor Walsh said.
"There will be calls that behaviours which are illegal in the real world should be made illegal or impossible in the virtual."
4. A computer hires and fires you
That's just the beginning. AI systems will also increasingly take over managing how you work: scheduling your activities, approving holidays, monitoring and rewarding your performance.
But should we hand over decisions like hiring and especially firing to a computer?
"We will have to learn when to say to computers: 'Sorry, I can't let you do that.' It's not enough for a machine to do a task better than a human. There are some decisions we simply should not allow machines to make."
5. You talk to rooms
You will walk into a room and say "lights on" and "who won the football?" and one of the many AI devices in your house will recognise your voice and understand you well enough to know which football code you follow.
A few people will resist and determinedly follow a disconnected 20th Century life. But most of us will take advantage of having just about everything in our lives connected: fridges, toasters, baths, door locks, windows, bicycles and pot plants.
AI will operate through the so-called Internet of Things using conversation instead of typing.
"Our privacy, diversity and democracy will be challenged," Professor Walsh said.
"[Government] intelligence [agencies] can't wait for every room to be listening to us. Marketers, too, would love all this data about our everyday lives.
"So, the next time you get asked to check your privacy settings, think long and hard about what you may be giving up."
6. A robot robs a bank
Cyber-crime to date has been relatively low-tech with phishing and malware attacks. But AI will surpass human hackers — and the only defence will be another AI program.
Warfare is also moving into cyberspace. But these technologies will also quickly find their way into the civilian sphere.
One of the challenges will be that many advances in AI used to defend systems will be quickly turned around to attack systems.
"The supposed hacking by Russians in order to influence the 2016 US presidential election demonstrates the impact that such cyber attacks can have," Professor Walsh said.
"Banks [and other companies and governments] will have no choice but to invest more and more in sophisticated AI systems to defend themselves from attack."
7. World soccer champions lose to a robot team
Robots will have superior ball skills, including unfailing accuracy in passes and penalties.
They will know precisely where all players are at all times and will know how to interpret that information because their AI system learned strategic play from watching every World Cup match ever recorded.
The human team will be soundly defeated. Even fans of the robots will call for the humans to be given a break. That's why most sporting teams will stay human.
But AI will change football and most other games with managers and players using AI to train and play better.
"Data scientists will be some of the best paid members of football [and other sporting] clubs," Professor Walsh said.
"Scouts will hang out at [top universities] to recruit young computer scientists."
8. Ghost ships, planes and trains cross the globe
PHOTO: Uber's first self-driving truck, Otto. (Supplied)
The oceans, skies and railroads of the planet will be filled with autonomous ships, planes and trains transporting cargo without any people on board, as driverless car technology spreads to other industries.
It will improve safety and efficiency. And children will no longer grow up wanting to be train drivers.
"Planes carrying people will probably continue to be piloted by humans," Professor Walsh said.
"But after several decades of safe flights by cargo planes, the debate will begin whether humans should still be airline pilots."
9. TV news is made without humans
Nearly every part of this prediction is already here — it's just that no-one has yet pulled all the pieces together.
Computers now write simple sport and financial stories but as technology improves, AI will write more complex stories.
Avatars and chatbots will play the role of presenters filmed by robotic cameras. And the news you watch will be narrowcast, or tailored to your personal preferences.
"There will be ongoing debate about the biases of algorithms, especially when humans take no part in deciding what news we see," Professor Walsh said.
"Our viewpoints are shaped by the lens through which we look at the world. Will algorithms challenge us enough? Will they understand lies and deception? Will they care about what we care about?"
10. Humans live on after death
It will be common to leave behind an AI chatbot that will talk like you, know the story of your life and comfort your family when you die.
Some people might give their chatbot the task of reading their will; settling old scores; or relieving grief through humour.
Digital doubles will also appear in place of the living. Celebrities will use bots to create social media; many of us will similarly use them to manage our diaries.
This digital outsourcing will fuel a lively debate.
Professor Walsh asked: "What redress do you have against an AI bot that pretends to be you? Do you have a right know if you're interacting with a computer rather than a real person? Should AI bots be prohibited from political discourse? Who can switch off your bot after you die? Do bots have freedom of speech? It will be an interesting future."
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The fight against cancer continues. Biomedical engineers have announced a new skin cancer diagnosis tool that will identify cancers in up to 30 seconds.
Presently, a dermatologist needs to remove potentially malignant skin from a patient and send it away for testing to assess whether or not the skin is cancerous. This can cause unnecessary scarring for some and dangerous delays for others. The key to stopping cancer in its tracks is quick diagnosis.
Non-melanoma skin cancer is the most common form of cancer we know today. The EU-funded group, the Automatic Detection of Vascular Networks for Cancer Evaluations (ADVANCE) has now made the process of identifying skin irregularities which pose potential health risks more efficient.
Now, with infrared laser technology, the new ‘Vivosight’ enables a specialist to see further into the skin than ever before. The technology employs advanced optical coherence tomography technology, similar to that found in retina scanning machinery.
The technology allows the experts to peer 1mm underneath the skin and create a 3D color image of microscopic blood vessels. It is the first time dermatologists have been able to see such a detailed picture of what blood and tissue are doing, in real time, with a handheld scanner.
Image: The Vivosight spotting skin cancer
Source: Vivosight
The technology is already being used in Europe and the United States of America.
Jon Holmes of Michelson Diagnostics, a partner of ADVANCE, speaking to Sci-News, lamented over the slow process of diagnosis that still exists today. He said:
“There has to be a better way: our scanner may radically improve the abilities of dermatologists to decide whether a melanoma is in the less malignant, non-spreading, early stage, or if it has already developed and requires immediate aggressive therapy. Further clinical trials will be needed to conclusively prove the technology.”
Because the scanner enables the viewing of blood vessel networks it may also assist with other diagnoses as well. Holmes says treatment of leg and foot ulcers could be a useful benefit that the technology’s capabilities provide; it would certainly determine how quickly or slowly a wound is healing.
With these kinds of advancements in biomedical engineering, increased investment and growth in the industry is a certainty. An increasing population demanding good health will drive efficiency of diagnosis and other beneficial medical tools which must be designed and manufactured by the biomedical engineering industry.
Works Cited
“Dynamic OCT: Introducing the VivoSight DX.” YouTube, YouTube, 15 May 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4sWYF_4txE.
Knight, Helen. “OCT Laser Scanner Detects Cancer in under 30 Seconds.” The Engineer, 31 Oct. 2017, www.theengineer.co.uk/laser-scanner-cancer-oct/.
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There are more than enough photographs of abandoned buildings on the internet to fill tome, but the history behind them is often overlooked. Oftentimes abandoned buildings speak of a troublesome past - a past where engineers, among others, were involved in constructing the next great thing which did not stand the test of time for various reasons. Engineers from a subsequent generation are then employed to take the abandoned husk of past infrastructure, and turn it into something new.
Abandoned buildings are, however, most often demolished; it is rare for them to be re-purposed for the arrival of new tenants. Despite this, the coastline of Rügen in Germany is experiencing just such a renewal. A seaside resort in Rügen, once belonging to the Nazi Party, is now being re-upholstered and turned into the sort of holiday destination Adolf Hitler could only have dreamed of.
German engineering
The original construction began in 1936. The entire resort stretched along the edge of the coast for an impressive 4.5 kilometers. Engineers were tasked to construct 8 identical buildings, each 450 meters in length, and build them to accommodate 20,000 inhabitants. The plans to make it into a fully functioning resort were halted when war began in 1939.
The buildings were built out of reinforced concrete, a very new and ‘cutting edge’ method of structural engineering at the time. (Proof that German engineering was churning along and innovating even in the 1930s.) 9,000 laborers were used to construct the eight blocks. A cinema and a theater were built as well.
Historian and tour guide Roger Moorhouse told Business Insider:
“The photos cannot physically do it justice. By all accounts, it would have been one of the most impressive structures in the world.”
It was purportedly built for the industrial workers of Nazi Germany, a resort for much needed holidays. Historians, however, believe it was also used for the indoctrination of German people and this more sinister reputation remains.
It was built as part of a Nazi expansion project known as Strength Through Joy. The most notable engineering endeavor that came out of this expansion project was the Volkswagen Beetle.
Constant re-purposing
The 8 buildings in Rügen underwent further changes after World War 2. The Soviets destroyed one of the buildings, but before that they occupied one of them as a military barracks from 1945 to 1955. Some buildings were then rebuilt, renovated and restored in 1990.
In 1993, the entire area, with exception to Block 3, was deserted after being used by military schools and political asylum seekers. Block 3, between 1995 and 2005, was used as an exhibition and museum area to educate people about the past. After 2004, after not being able to find permanent residents for the blocks, the resort was opened up to private investors.
Renovated Praro Resort
Credit: Business Insider
From 2006 onward, ownership of the blocks changed hands several times, but by 2013 the Praro Resort had emerged. The four buildings that remained standing were renovated into a hotel and re-purposed into elderly housing. Tennis courts and a swimming pool were added, and a shopping center was built. The project cost north of $131 million. A fifth block was turned into a youth hostel which is now considered to be one of Germany’s largest youth hostels.
A bright future for abandoned buildings?
Could abandoned buildings rise again in the smart city future? With global population growth and the expansion of cities, the demand for infrastructure and housing increases. Civil and structural engineers could find themselves attached to renovation projects like the Prora Resort in the near future; creating something new out of something old and forgotten, giving it new meaning, and being cognizant of the past.
Works Cited
Baranowski, Shelley. "Family Vacation for Workers: The Strength through Joy Resort at Prora | German History | Oxford Academic." OUP Academic. Oxford University Press, 01 Oct. 2007. Web. 24 July 2017.
Weller, Chris. "Hitler's 3-mile-long Abandoned Nazi Resort Is Transforming into a Luxury Getaway." Business Insider. Business Insider, 01 Sept. 2016. Web. 24 July 2017.
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In-ear EEG devices have become increasingly more popular in the later stages of the last decade. Carel Wessels, the top student of Electronic Engineering at the University of Pretoria for 2016, has now taken on a new challenge. He is designing and developing an in-ear EEG device that will revolutionize industries such as the truck driving industry and the infant care industry.
What follows is an in-depth conversation about how electronic engineering and biomedical engineering meet, and what those disciplines of engineering can achieve together.
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Your engineering qualifications could take you anywhere around the globe. Even to the southernmost continent.
This week we talk to a South African electrical engineer who overwintered in Antarctica. From December 2015 to February 2017, Paddy Riley, a graduate of the University of Cape Town, tells us how he spent 14 months in Antarctica, assisting with the operating electrical equipment at space weather research base, SANAE IV.
The South African National Space Agency sends electrical engineers (and other researchers) to Antarctica every year to ensure that the radars and core engineering equipment is still functioning in the bitterly cold temperatures. Riley talks about what the radars are used for and what overwintering in Antarctica is really like.
What follows is a conversation about the prospect of working in the coldest temperatures known to man and the challenges of working with a small team of people. But what remains clear is that engineering in Antarctica is an exciting, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and something that graduating engineers should consider signing up for.
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The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) state that 66% of Australians are university graduates or have completed an apprenticeship.
In Australia, getting a job without a degree in certain industries was once commonplace, however, employers are now requiring that all important piece of paper; the degree. Joshua Krook, a Doctoral Candidate in Law at the University of Adelaide, writing for The Conversation, alludes to the fact that the goalposts are continually being moved when it comes to higher education qualifications. He writes:
“Where a bachelor’s degree was sufficient to get a job in research, now a master’s degree is required. Where a master’s degree was sufficient to get a job in university tutoring, now a PhD is required.”
For the millennial generation, the reality is that they might have to be behind the books for a couple of years more than their parents were.
Are the 66% of Australians who hold some sort of qualification being snapped up by the work force? Are modern day companies interested in them? Or do they need to gain further education before landing the ideal job? It seems not. Many companies are, increasingly, altering their recruiting policies.
Changes in recruitment
Ernst & Young, one of the biggest accounting firms, and one of the biggest graduate recruiters in the United Kingdom, took a bold step in 2015. They decided to drop the degree prerequisite for prospective employees. They said they wanted to hire people regardless of their academic backgrounds. They opened up 1,600 graduate, school leaver and intern positions.
Their thinking was that they could train people from within the company without the need for the four year degrees behind their names. After a two year trial some of their feedback is interesting:
The company received 75% more applications as a result of their recruitment alterations - they received 37,000 applications for the 1,600 graduate, school leaver and intern vacancies. As a result, 18% of their 2016 graduate intake would have previously been unable to work at the company and now they do.
Malcolm Trobe, the deputy general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders told the Independent:
“Academic qualifications will always be vitally important but companies often want to ensure that the people they employ have strengths and skills they specifically require for their business. We fully support any system which opens up opportunities for people regardless of their background.”
Recruitment strategies have also been adjusted at companies like PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Ogilvy Group, Apple, and Google, according to Krook.
Engineering with no degree?
Dion Chang, a futurologist and South African trend analyst that founded an analysis company named Flux Trends argues that the traditional degree, at least in a South African context, is dead. However, he does concede that some professions still need the age-old approach. He said:
“Obviously there are many professions that still require traditional academic studies, but overall, the skills needed for future jobs and new templates of business point towards multiple and varied short courses (for example, coding or user experience design), internships and on-the-job learning.”
Chang says that with South Africa’s widening skills gap and its unemployment rates, an academic qualification will be valued less. Technical and vocational skills, and the skills from specialized short courses, might be the key to rebuilding the economy and producing effective graduates. Work experience seems to take precedence over a four-year degree in shaky socioeconomic times.
“All industries are experiencing some form of disruption. Digitization continues to collapse the traditional value chain of each industry,” he says. New skills are needed - skills that your run-of-the-mill degrees might not cover. “A degree no longer guarantees you a job,” Chang concludes.
Online, on time
For those industries that do still require academic endeavor, studying towards a degree is becoming simpler, thanks to the internet. Online degrees can offer more specialized modules and topics to prepare and reskill people for the changing world of employment. It is, however, becoming more difficult for on-campus universities to offer these specializations because without large groups of students the cost is just too great.
Online engineering education and training for those in employment is also an option that individuals and their companies are beginning to embrace. They are realizing that qualifications can be acquired through online universities and institutions, but with minimal or no disruption to full time work.
Those short courses that Chang believes are essential for the development of vital, industry-based skills are also available online. Furthermore, the connectivity of the world means that remote labs and simulation software can furnish trainees with most of the practical skills they need.
Laurence Brockliss, an historian and author at Oxford penned the book: The University of Oxford - A History. He warns that Oxford runs the risk of becoming irrelevant if they do not follow the trend of oncoming online education.
“I don’t think it’s a serious threat at the moment, but I could envisage 10 or 15 years down the road of the newer universities developing online undergraduate degrees in a serious and creative way. If that were to happen and if employers - and employers would determine the success or failure of this - were to feel the quality of the education was as good as residential universities were giving, then that kind of initiative would really take off.”
Works Cited
Adams, Richard. "Online Degrees Could Make Universities Redundant, Historian Warns." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 17 Apr. 2016. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.
Joshua Krook Doctoral Candidate in Law, University of Adelaide. "Degrees of Separation: Companies Shed Degree Requirements to Promote Merit over Qualifications." The Conversation. 17 Apr. 2017. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.
"The Death of the Degree." News24. 02 Oct. 2016. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.
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The breakthroughs in the biomedical engineering industry are staggering. For instance, the world has moved closer to a system of wearable diagnostic tools that are designed to continually monitor human health – consider the Fitbit for instance. And ideas that had previously been designated to the realm of science fiction are becoming reality.
One such advanced study involves ingestible robots, used for retrieving swallowed button batteries and also for the treatment of the wounds they cause. In the US alone 3,500 batteries are reportedly swallowed annually. These robots are controlled by magnets on the outside of the body, but some robots may eventually be powered by stomach acid.
With biomedical engineering technologies becoming more apt at generating data about the human body and with more accuracy, the world is edging closer to more precise medical diagnoses.
Robert F. Graboyes, a senior researcher at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, has said that wearable telemetry will redefine the future of doctors’ appointments. In his article, ‘Wearable Telemetry - Eating Health Care’, he writes:
“Wearable telemetry (Jawbone and Fitbit are familiar examples) is helping to overturn 2,500 years of medical tradition. For the first time, wearables offer convenient, passive, continuous monitoring of vast numbers of human bodies. Implications for the doctor-patient relationship are profound.”
Patients will be equipped with data that doctors might have to peruse and consider, before diagnosing a patient.
However, the affordability of wearables in a time when there is still a stark gap between rich and poor highlights the need for affordable novel applications for medical diagnosis in the biomedical engineering industry.
Smartphone apps
Credit: HearScreen.com
Audiologists in South Africa are making it as wallet-savvy as possible, by installing an app on your smartphone.
“Hearing loss is considered an invisible epidemic because people don’t see it or know that someone suffers from it,” said De Wet Swanepoel, a professor of audiology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, in an interview with the BBC.
The project that Prof Swanepoel worked on has led to the development of an app called HearScreen. All you need is your smartphone and a pair of headphones. The app uses a series of beeps that tests the hearing of the person through the headphones. Based on what they can and cannot hear, the app determines the extent of medical assistance required.
The app is not only ensuring that poorer rural communities get the diagnoses they need, but it also addresses the shortage of audiologists in South Africa.
“Mobile apps can serve a very useful role in raising awareness about hearing and making hearing care more accessible. But if a mobile app for hearing assessment is not accurate this can give incorrect information to the user, which can be harmful,” Dr Shelly Chadha, technical officer for deafness and hearing at the World Health Organization, speaking to BBC News.
A report compiled by Research2Guidance revealed that there are 259,000 health apps available on the app stores available to smartphone users.
But wait...there’s more
In a surgery first, a robot stitched up a pig’s small intestine. Relying on its own tools and artificial vision and intelligence it carried out the procedure without assistance. Furthermore, the procedure performed by this Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR) was deemed to have been completed more ably than by human surgeons who were given the same task.
One would predict that real, mortal surgeons might consider this robot dexterity and prowess threatening. On the contrary; one of the researchers on the STAR project, a paediatric surgeon, was not in the least concerned, saying, “Even though we surgeons take pride in our craft at doing procedures, to have a machine that works with us to improve outcomes and safety would be a tremendous benefit.”
And the sky is the limit: robots that allow doctors to login from around the world through internet connections, and perform surgeries from hundreds of miles away, are no longer merely futuristic notions.
It is indeed an exciting time for would-be students interested in both engineering and medicine. Biomedical engineering offers a number of options, from software design to the design, building and maintenance of machinery and gadgets for medical facilities.
Dean of Engineering at the Engineering Institute of Technology (EIT), Dr Steve Mackay, presented at the annual Biomedical Engineering Conference in Canberra, in Australia last week. As an educator he spoke of the challenges faced by EIT’s course designers endeavouring to expose students to just the right mix of content in this dynamic and broad field of engineering. He also spoke of his delight in the technologies available today which enable the instructors to reach students all around the world on a live, interactive platform.
The Engineering Institute of Technology offers an Advanced Diploma in Biomedical Engineering. The course brings together applied science and engineering, interspersed with electrical and electronic engineering. Advanced Diploma of Biomedical Engineering.
Works Cited
Jackson, Tom. "The 'invisible Epidemic' Afflicting Millions Globally." BBC News. BBC, 14 Mar. 2017. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.
"Wearable Telemetry - Eating Health Care – InsideSources." InsideSources. 21 Mar. 2017. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.
HearScreen. "Main." Hearscreen. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.
Hardesty, Larry. “Ingestible Origami Robots.” 12 May 2016
Strickland, Eliza. “Autonomous Robot Surgeon Bests Humans in World First.” 4 May 2016
http://remotesurgery.wiki-site.com/index.php/Main_Page
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- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
The United Arab Emirates have continually shown how deep pocketed they are when it comes to funding engineering endeavor.
In the last year, they impressively printed the world’s very first 3D office, and announced plans to build the largest concentrated solar power plant in the world.
Now, they’re moving on to their mobility engineering strategies. They seem convinced that flying taxis are the future. The country unveiled their intention to use EHang 184 drones as self-driving taxis in the near future. The EHang 184 is said to be the world’s first autonomous aerial vehicle.
The Vice President of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, says that by 2030, they hope that 25% of all passenger trips will be achieved in driverless vehicles.
In an interview with Bloomberg Business SpaceX and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, was dubious; he does not think that flying vehicles will fly – so to speak. He believes they will be a safety disaster. He said: “Obviously, I like flying things, but it’s difficult to imagine the flying car becoming a scalable solution. If somebody doesn’t maintain their flying car, it could drop a hubcap and guillotine you.”
Musk would rather utilize a tried-and-tested method of curbing congestion in the modern world: tunnels. The idea stemmed from Musk’s annoyance at being stuck in traffic. He tweeted: “Traffic is driving me nuts. Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging. It shall be called ‘The Boring Company’.
Credit: MartinJetpack.com
Another company believes that instead of hailing a cab, people will be hailing a jetpack via our smartphones. BBC News recently interviewed the vice-president of innovation at KuangChi Science. He said “Jetpacks will be part of future cities. I see it as being the Uber of the sky.”
The company is working with a New Zealand based aerospace company, the Martin Aircraft Company. They have manufactured an ‘Optionally Piloted Hovering Air Vehicle’ (OPHAV) that flies at 2,800 feet and can travel at 27 miles per hour. On their website, the company says:
“Without doubt the Martin Jetpack is one of the easiest aircraft to fly either manned or remotely with a fly-by-wire system that allows hands-free hover and position hold. When coupled with its advanced safety features, including a ballistic parachute that can open as low as six meters above the ground, the Martin Jetpack now gives operators true freedom for mission focus.”
How long could it be before you see public air-transportation? No one can be certain.
Nonetheless, if self-driving, human-carrying drones are not exciting enough, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid also announced the UAE’s intentions to build a city on Mars. The project entitled “Mars 2117” will be a project that will, according to the UAE, see international cooperation. Elon Musk’s SpaceX and NASA hoped to deliver a probe to Mars by 2018, but they have since delayed the operation until 2020.
“Human ambitions have no limits, and whoever looks into scientific breakthroughs in the current century believes that human abilities can realized the most important human dream,” said Sheikh Mohammed in a statement. “The new project is a seed that we plant today, and we expect future generation to reap the benefits, driven by its passion to learn to unveil a new knowledge.”
The ingenuity of man is endless and those who are dreamers often, with the help of engineering prowess, turn their dreams into reality. It will be interesting to keep an eye on these proposed projects. Some may merely be pie in the sky.
Only time will tell.
Works Cited
Jetpack, Martin. "Martin Jetpack." Martin Jetpack. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.
Video, Fortune. "This MegaDrone Will Be a Self-Flying Air Taxi in Dubai This Summer." Self-Flying Air Taxi: Ehang 184 Is Coming to Dubai This Summer | Fortune.com. Fortune, 16 Feb. 2017. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.
Wakefield, Jane. "Tomorrow's Cities: What It Feels like to Fly a Jetpack." BBC News. BBC, 11 Jan. 2017. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.
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- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has signed an executive order which stipulates that a wall along the US-Mexico border is to be constructed. The initial promise was that it would be 50-foot high and 2,000 miles long. The President is determined that a wall will be built, and that Mexico will pay for it. Needless to say, it has left civil engineers wide-eyed.
As envisaged the wall will span four states: California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
Trump’s concept of the ideal fortification has already begun to crumble. It cannot be one long, sprawling wall. In his first interview as President-elect, Trump spoke to CBS News show, 60 Minutes, admitting that some fencing might have to be erected as, in retrospect, one long wall might not be practical.
This is contradicts his initial stance on the wall, where he said: “A wall is better than fencing, and it’s much more powerful. It’s more secure. It’s taller.”
Credit: Estudio 3.14/ Agustin Avalos
A design firm in Mexico named Estudio 3.14 rendered an image of what a fully constructed wall would look like upon completion. The architects have titled the design renders: Prison Wall.
Building the Wall
With Trump winning the election civil engineers have been scratching their collective heads in contemplation of the wall’s build. If he wants the best result possible, experts say, he should use concrete masonry units (cinder or breeze blocks). Reinforcement bars to strengthen the wall may be necessary too.
The rumor is that, in total, it would result in a $25 billion bill, with the intensive labour required factored in. Although statistics from Business Insider, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has suggested that the wall would cost between $12 billion to $15 billion.
Trump might need to resort to a cheaper option; building the wall using inexpensive concrete blocks - 339 million cubic feet of it.
If fencing is indeed included in the construction it will reduce the costs, but what materials would work? It cannot be made out of steel wire mesh as this can be cut through by a range of tools including wire cutters. As a thinner defence it would be more vulnerable to breaches; even excavating underneath it would be a simpler operation.
The Paperwork
Engineers have to be prepared for the chance of being called up by the Trump administration to build the wall. After the designs have been agreed upon, and the materials gathered, President Trump faces even more paperwork.
Credit: CNN.com
Render of Trump’s Wall
The project would include relentless land surveying, environmental impact reviews and more. Conveniently, Trump has signed another executive order: environmental review processes are to be sped up for industrial projects - the wall could presumably be categorized as such.
Unsurprisingly, scientists and environmentalists have pointed out that constructing a wall of this stature will be environmentally damaging.
Trump is determined, however: “They use the environment to stop a lot of good things, not only energy; buildings, factories, plants. They use it to stop things. It’s like a roadblock, but that’s not going to happen anymore,” he said in an interview with Sean Hannity from Fox News.
Marc Rosenblum, the Deputy Director of the US Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute has indicated that the maintenance of the wall is likely to cost $700 million annually
Despite all it seems that Trump will be sticking to his guns and making good on the promises he made on the campaign trail.
Apparently he has been inspired by Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, who wanted to protect his newly founded Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) from the invading Huns.
In Trump’s words, “You know, the Great Wall of China, built a long time ago, is 13,000 miles. I mean, you’re talking about big stuff. We’re talking about peanuts, by comparison to that,” Trump said.
Works Cited
The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Web. 27 Jan. 2017.
"60 Minutes Interview: President-elect Donald Trump." CBS News. CBS Interactive, 13 Nov. 2016. Web. 27 Jan. 2017.
Engel, Pamela. "MCCONNELL: Here's How Much the Border Wall Will Probably Cost." Business Insider. Business Insider, 26 Jan. 2017. Web. 27 Jan. 2017.
"President Donald Trump Hannity FULL Interview 1/26/17." YouTube. YouTube, 26 Jan. 2017. Web. 27 Jan. 2017.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Great_Wall_of_China
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- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
Smart cities are much more than solar-powered street lights triggered when pedestrians walk beneath them.
Smart cities refer to cities that use the latest in technological innovation in infrastructure and IT systems, and the Internet of Things, interspersed with environmentally-friendly nature-inspired elements.
However, to design a smart city, a sizeable redesign to old infrastructure is usually required. Architecture needs rethinking and reforming, the traditional disciplines of engineering are stretched and smart technology is at the crux of it all. This is all in pursuit of a better quality of life for the humans who live in these bustling cities.
In the book ‘Human Smart Cities: Rethinking the Interplay between Design and Planning’, Louis Albrecht, a Professor in the Department of Architecture, Urbanism and Planning, at the Catholic University of Leuven writes:
“There is a growing awareness that a number of planning concepts (compact cities, livable cities, creative cities, multicultural cities, fair cities, just cities, smart cities) cannot be achievable solely through physical hard planning.”
Albrecht argues that the transformation of cities into smart cities has historically been overrun by the forces of free-market capitalism; by private companies seeing market opportunities that can be exploited. Instead governments, he suggests, should properly implement a move toward smart cities that benefit the humans that live and work in them. He writes:
“There is also awareness of the fact that (in addition to traditional land use regulation, urban maintenance, production and management of services) governments are being called upon to respond to new demands and to adopt a more entrepreneurial style of planning in order to enhance city and regional competitiveness.”
Governments are noticing that the technology-literate demand that everything, from electricity to water metering, become smart, efficient and data-analysis-friendly, so that they know where their money is going to when to pay their utilities.
Moreover, as smart cities pop-up, with more people gaining access to education and job opportunities (thanks to the smart-city benefit of a city-wide internet), new challenges arise. And most of these challenges are usually infrastructural.
More Cities, More Traffic
Engineers are called upon to rethink transportation because once a city becomes a hub of middle-income activity, it equates to an overcrowding of cars.
The congestion of city roads is unsustainable and is projected to worsen. The BBC reports that 70% of the world’s population “will live in urban areas by 2050”.
How do we cut congestion?
Auto Manufacturers Ford has recommended that cities address mobility challenges with a “fully integrated transportation operating system”. Their goals for the future of smart cities - or as they call it ‘The City of Tomorrow - are: No accidents, no emissions, no congestion and universal access to mobility - a fully automated approach to a city and its mobility.
The BBC spoke to Peter Coker, vice-president of innovation at KuangChi Science; he is quite certain that jetpacking around town will become a social norm. He said: “Jetpacks will be part of future cities. I see it as being the Uber of the sky.” Pigs might fly too, but if this futuristic innovation does eventuate, fewer drivers will remain on the roads and ease congestion there!
What about the more realistic driverless car, will they ease congestion? Perhaps. They will have the capacity to work out optimal routes and departure times and fewer accidents will certainly prevent resultant traffic jams. The Department of Transport in the United Kingdom says that once the technology is fully adopted, it could reduce congestion by 40%. However, experts believe the driverless vehicles could increase congestion in the short-term as the technology is interwoven with cars with drivers.
While the concept of a smart city is not a new concept, finding a clear definition that can be applied cross-continentally is the bigger challenge, as is applicability. Futurologists might get carried away with their vision of a unified, smart city future, but the emergence of these cities is likely to be impeded by practicalities including decision-makers seeing eye-to-eye and budget constraint.
Works Cited
Concilio, Grazia, and Francesca Rizzo. Human Smart Cities: Rethinking the Interplay between Design and Planning. Cham: Springer International, 2016. Print.
"Driverless Cars 'to Increase Congestion' Says Government." BBC News. BBC, 06 Jan. 2017. Web. 12 Jan. 2017.
"Media Log In." Ford Partnering with Global Cities on New Transportation; Chariot Shuttle to Be Acquired, Ford GoBike to Launch in San Francisco | Ford Media Center. Web. 13 Jan. 2017.
Wakefield, Jane. "Tomorrow's Cities: What It Feels like to Fly a Jetpack." BBC News. BBC, 11 Jan. 2017. Web. 12 Jan. 2017.
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- Written by: Evangeline Newby
A recent article (detailed below) in Engineering.com titled Engineering Implantable Devices for the Brain, caught our eye. It looks at the collaboration of a Paediatric Neurosurgeon and an Electrical Engineer determined to help eliminate brain disease by building brain implants. Biomedical engineering is in growing demand with shortages of both biomedical engineers and technicians in every part of the world. EIT's Advanced Diploma of Biomedical Engineering starting the week of June 06, 2016 is designed to impart solid knowledge in the area of biomedical engineering; to advance work skills and further job prospects. IN THIS INTENSIVE PART-TIME 18-MONTH LIVE ONLINE PROGRAM YOU WILL GAIN: Practical guidance from biomedical engineering experts in the field 'Hands on' knowledge from the extensive experience of the lecturers, rather than from only the theoretical information gained from books and college reading Credibility as a biomedical engineering expert in your firm Skills and know-how in the latest technologies in biomedical engineering Networking contacts in the industry Improved career prospects and income An Advanced Diploma of Biomedical Engineering To view full program details, click here. To apply for this program, email us at
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By Edwina Ross
“The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.” These are the words of Nikola Tesla (1856 – 1943) physicist, engineer and inventor.
Elon Musk, another scientist, engineer and inventor, may have recently set up his desk at the end of the Model X production line at the Tesla Motor factory in California (with his sleeping bag not too far away), but I don’t believe for a minute that he is insane. Absolute clarity of thought and passion, driven by a belief in the product, is a much more likely scenario.
And his dedication is not misguided. The company's first electric sedan, Model S, won the 2013 Car of the Year by Motor Trend magazine – it was capable of covering 265 miles or 426 kms between charges. It has more recently been refreshed and now Model X and Model 3 are hot on its (w)heels.
The company is, however, facing a hurdle - the sort of hurdle, I must just add, that every company would like to have to leap. To fill their enormous number of orders in a timely fashion is proving challenging, but then the orders are around the 400,000 mark. Even with the highly automated Tesla Factory’s 5.3 million square feet (325160.00 square meters) of manufacturing and office space this would take some doing.
A sign of the changes in the automotive industry (a change that is seeping into many others too), saw Musk, in January of this year, on a mission to recruit 1600 software engineers for his factory. They are to help develop the cars’ autopilot system with capabilities that would allow Tesla owners to summon their cars.
Their employment is part of a thrust by the company to have a fully self-driving car by 2018. (If I remember correctly this was a part of a slightly daunting, but tantalising discussion on the 2016 EIT Roadshow?) Clearly there will be avid observers of developments here.
Naming the all electric motor company after Nikola Tesla is a worthy posthumous badge of honour for the creator of the induction motor and alternating current (AC) power transmission.
According to an old post on the automaker’s website, the founders wrote, “Without Tesla’s vision and brilliance, our car wouldn’t be possible. We’re confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our 100 per cent electric car and nod his head with both understanding and approval.”
Unsurprisingly Tesla and Musk have similar views on risk and innovation; accounting for their very individual, but fearless drive and determination. In Musk’s words, "Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough." And then as Tesla is recorded as saying, “Our virtues and our failings are inseparable, like force and matter. When they separate, man is no more.”
There is a less than a subtle difference here though: Musk embraces failure to further and strengthen his ideas, whereas Tesla was referring to the essence of his nature.
Tesla’s clarity of thought was almost certainly combined with that depth of thought which he associated with insanity and which he warned against. His ‘virtues’ were his ingenuity, imagination and inventiveness. But his ‘failings’ involved an unhealthy preoccupation with his ideas, an obsessive scrutiny which ultimately led to his downfall and in his later years, a life lived in obscurity and relative poverty.
It does suggest that the genius inherent in inventors needs nurturing. Perhaps by those who can harness the creativity and bring a big dose of commercial wisdom to it. The problem of course is that those with this capability may also contain the greed that often drives commercial success and which could result in the exploitation of the creator. Nikola Tesla used numerous patents to help defend himself against unscrupulous people and behaviour, but without success.
Elon Musk, on the other hand, has both the inventor’s flair and the requisite commercial talent. But this man, who appears to have it all, has added good old fashioned hard work to the mix to ensure his star is in the ascendant.
Thanks to the following for their assistance in writing this:
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/who-is-tesla-named-for-2013-8
http://inventors.about.com/od/mstartinventions/p/Elon-Musk.htm
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-rise-and-fall-of-nikola-tesla-and-his-tower-11074324/?no-ist
http://www.biography.com/people/elon-musk-20837159#an-earnest-entrepreneur
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3398236/Tesla-bulks-IT-talent-car-future-fight.html
http://www.explainthatstuff.com/induction-motors.html
http://www.biography.com/people/nikola-tesla-9504443
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- Written by: Evangeline Newby
The Queen of England has already spent £600,000 ($748,932) of taxpayer money with trusted engineers and architectural designers that have compiled blueprints for what is being called a 'reservicing' of Buckingham Palace. The taxpayers have been informed that they will be expected to foot the bill of £369 million ($459 million) for a full update of the Palace. All of the bells and whistles! The main engineering company attached to the project is WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff. There are six Buckingham Palace old electric cabling organizations that will also lend their expertise to the reservicing. The refurbishment of the Palace would be the biggest update since World War II. There are aged boilers to repair, 20 miles of pipework and 100 miles of electrical cable that will need replacing.
Official pictures from the report showed the aged cabling and made a point that all of the electrical cabling needed to be redone. Furthermore, the heating of the Palace was installed 60 years ago. The official report read:
A series of detailed technical assessments have examined the material state of the Palace, including the electrical cabling, power generation, hot and cold water pipework and data systems (fire alarms, telephones and IT). These established that elements of the Palace's essential services are significantly beyond their maximum useful life and require urgent replacements to avoid the risk of devastating failure.
The Palace employs 300 staff that utilize offices and reportedly hosts 90,000 people per year due to events and functions. The Monarchy seems adamant that if the infrastructure of the Palace is not updated, the "catastrophic" failure of infrastructural mechanisms could result in a fire or a flood. The report says that the drainage system consists of a mixture of "lead and cast iron pipework" that needs to be overhauled. The reservicing would ensure that the Palace would not have to be updated in the next fifty years. The reservicing will start in April 2017 and continue for a decade, reservicing the Palace wing-by-wing. The report states that the reservicing presents a unique opportunity for the "new generation of construction professionals" who will work on the historic building through "apprenticeships and graduate programmes." It is also rumored that Buckingham Palace might be going solar.
A mock-up of what the Palace might look like with solar panels on the roofs give hope that the electricity bill might - at least - be significantly less in the next ten to fifteen years.
Here at the Engineering Institute of Technology we offer a range of Electrical and Structural Design Engineering programs. A few are listed below:
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Professional Certificate of Competency in Structural Design for Non-Structural Engineers
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Advanced Diploma of Applied Electrical Engineering (Electrical Systems)
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like more information.
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- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
Researchers in Columbia University Cochlear Implant Center are investigating a way to engineer music so that people who have cochlear implants might actually be able to enjoy music.
Cochlear implants are engineered to make speech sound clearer to people who are past the point of utilizing an amplifying hearing aid, however, it is reported by implantees that they have lost the ability to enjoy music.
The researchers from Columbia University intend to, "test the hypothesis that reengineering music to reduce its complexity can enhance the listening experience for the cochlear implant," they stated in an abstract of their official research article.
The group alleges that it is much simpler for implantees to process speech than the more complex nature of music. Anil Lalwani, MD, a Cochlear Implant Surgeon at Coloumbia University says, "A person who has lost hearing have lost not only some of the hair cells but they've lost some of the nerves that transmit that information to the brain."
The hope is that in the future a specialized type of music can exist for people who have cochlear implants so they could start or go back to enjoying music. Dr Lalwani believes software should exist that reengineers music so that it appeals solely to cochlear implantees.
Les Atlas, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Washington spoke to NPR, alluding to the fact that it would take a lot of computing power to achieve the encoding of the elements implantees require to listen to music normally.
The fact of the matter is that better implants need to be engineered and designed to facilitate listening to music for cochlear implantees.
For a clearer idea of what music sounds like to a person who has a cochlear implant, check out this video:
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- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
Working with the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive - already established names in the VR market - VR4CAD gives engineers the ability to walk through a virtual world and see a hypothetical example of what a design might eventually look like in a real world. It is a system that brings designs to life. Virtalis believes that there is a future for virtual reality in engineering.
Through an agreement with the University of Liverpool, Virtalis is showing how Continuing Professional Development programs are being strengthened by virtual reality hardware and software. The equipment supplied by Virtalis will help postgraduates who need further training in "architecture, urban planning, and industrial design".
The VR technology will assist students with staying up to date on a virtual platform that can keep engineers up to date with the latest standards of design. The VR technology allows for experimenting at will without the worry that money is being wasted on multiple physical prototypes for designed products.
Dr. Rab Scott, Head of Virtual Reality and Simulation from the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Center (AMRC & Nuclear AMRC) said:
"Virtual reality is one of the few tools that everyone can use throughout the product lifecycle. Whether it's in concept design or design, or design for manufacture, or design for assembly, or design for repair and maintenance, or design for operations."
Engineers can import data and metadata into the program and it can be displayed in a virtual engineering environment. It can achieve graphical representations as detailed as the latest video games, with the latest graphics card technology.
Hololens
Not only is virtual reality (VR) making its way into engineering circles, but augmented reality (AR) as well. Microsoft has promised that their mixed-reality headset, the Hololens, will be a perfect addition to any engineering workshop.
Autodesk Fusion 360 is can be fully integrated into the Hololens, making CAD designs come to life right before an engineers' eyes. Engineers from all different disciplines will are able to collaborate on CAD designs and the finished product with the Hololens. See the video below to see how it works.
It is revolutionizing civil engineering industries as well. Aecom's President, Stephen Kadenancy has previously said: "With this technology, we can gain clarity earlier in the design review process than with 2D drawings or 3D models on screen, and team members in different locations, each wearing a headset, can simultaneously explore the same holographic projections."
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- Written by: Quintus Potgieter
South Africa is celebrating their Wind Energy Week, this week. A week that will focus the minds of business leaders and engineers, all over the country, on the positive effect more wind energy infrastructure could have in the country. Most notably, a two-day conference is being held in Cape Town that will focus on the theme: Towards 100% Renewables. Three other events are also being held, all in the name of renewable energy with the specific focus on wind energy.
A report by Global Data predicted, by 2020, South Africa is looking to benefit from a further 3 gigawatts (GW) of 
wind energy, that would bring the country to 5.6 GW. They are joining the 82 other countries in the world that benefit from wind turbine provided energy. South Africa is also in the top 10 renewable energy investment countries in the world, according to a report issued by Bloomberg last year.
The country is currently chasing a goal of having 17.8 GW of production belonging to renewable energy, and natural gas supplying the other 3.1 GW. That would supply 82 percent of the power in the country. Presumably, the rest will be supplied via coal-fired power plants.
South Africa is moving towards natural gas and renewable energy production at a fast rate. A local ratings agency known as Moody's praised South Africa as the fastest-growing green economy in the world last year. Similarly, in the private sector, new malls and cities being built are all abiding by green standards.
South Africa's energy supply has struggled to cope with demand in recent years. Two coal-fired power stations - meant to bridge the gap - have seen construction delays for quite some time. As a result, loadshedding (forced rolling blackouts) had to be put into place to balance the grid. Therefore, engineers are looking to implement renewable solutions that could, in the future, power South African homes and businesses.
The demand from the public for further renewable energy innovation in South Africa reached a pinnacle this week, in the form of a protest by Greenpeace. The NGO's members protested outside of the Shoprite headquarters in Cape Town yesterday, to demand that the the retailer (Shoprite is South Africa's biggest retailer) power their stores with renewable energy. Greenpeace claims that Shoprite has the worst track record pertaining to the adoption of renewable energy. This according to their report, Shopping Clean: Retailers and Renewable Energy. In the report, the organization states that companies should be committing to an ambitious 100% renewable energy goal.
"If Woolworths, for example, were to be 100% renewable energy powered, this would liberate enough electricity for 55,000 households in South Africa. Pick n Pay's electricity consumption is enough to power 65,000 households while Massmart and Spar could power 53,000 and 5,400 households respectively," the NGO wrote. Therefore, their protest outside of Shoprite's headquarters begins to make more sense.
Thus, South African companies could look to the example being set by companies overseas. IKEA, the international home furnishing store, has made a pledge that would see all of the stores in their chain powered by renewable energy by 2020. According to the Guardian, IKEA enjoyed a comfortable profit of $33 billion in 2015. Some of the profits will go toward funding photovoltaic solar solutions and WIND POWER.
Companies making high profits could build their own wind farms and put solar panels on their roofs. Walmart secured a deal with Pattern Energy to power their stores through wind farms.Other companies have joined the RE100 climate group, along with IKEA, in pledging that they will power their buildings only through renewable means. The companies include Apple, BMW Group, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Facebook, General Electric, General Motors, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Philips, Tata Motors, Walmart and more.
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When Tesla bought solar panel manufacturing giant Solar City in August - for the cool sum of $2.6 billion - the benefits were clear. Tesla, who had been working on electric vehicles and the house and business-powering Powerwall and Powerpack needed the solar panels that would keep their batteries charged. The Chief Financial Officer of Tesla, Jason Wheeler, told Reuters, that the companies would save at least $150 million a year by merging. He also stated that Tesla and Solar City would be sharing "key technologies" if the merger went through - which it did.
The public was quite unaware of just how much and how quickly the two companies would be sharing their "key technologies". In Hollywood, on Friday, the 28th of October, Elon Musk (CEO of Tesla) delivered a speech in front of the old set of the hit show Desperate Housewives. Odd? Yes. Journalists walked amongst a collection of seemingly normal houses on a seemingly normal street. What they weren't ready for, was for Musk to tell them that all of the roofs were retrofitted with solar panels. Not just one or two solar panels. Every tile was a solar panel.
In a response to rising CO2 levels, Musk has made it part of his life mission to make sustainable, renewable energy technologies that would be less harmful to the planet. NASA has published a report that said that 2016 would be the hottest year on record. Musk - and by association, Tesla - are hoping to make solar panels (disguised as roof tiles) and home-powering batteries as alluring as their electric vehicles have become. Musk believes that people need to do as much as they can to work towards a world powered by sustainable energy.
"The goal is to have solar roofs that look better than a normal roof, that generate electricity, last longer, have better insulation, and actually have an installed cost that is less than a normal roof plus the cost of electricity. Why would you buy anything else?" Musk said.
The tiles are made of a super-durable glass that allows light to penetrate the cell that generates energy when shone upon by the sun. When viewed at a front-facing angle, the tiles seem to resemble normal roof tiles you would find on any roof you see today, however, when you tilt them slightly they become more transparent, and you're able to actually see the solar cell.
The tiles come in four different designs: Tuscan Glass Tile, Slate Glass Tile, Textured Glass Tile and, Smooth Glass Tile.
The tiles are hydrographically printed so that the different texture styles can be achieved. The glass Tesla is using is much more durable than conventional roof tiles.
The new Powerwall 2.0 will be powered by the Solar Roof. Customers will then be able to use the charged battery during dusk and dawn hours to minimize the amount of utility-provided grid-energy. The Powerwall 2 has twice as much energy as the first iteration. It will cost $5,500. The Powerwall powers lights, sockets, the refrigerator, and bedrooms of an average 4 bedroom house. Musk says with the Solar Roof installed, you would be able to power a house indefinitely. The company is also releasing the Powerpack 2 that will integrate with international power grids.
Will utilities go out of business once everyone is powering their houses with Solar Roofs and Powerwalls? Musk doesn't think so - he seems to think the "future is bright" for both the consumer and the utility.
"The solution is both local power generation and utility power generation. It's not one or the other. Sometimes the Solar Roof is positioned as a competitor to utilities, but, we're actually going to need utility power to increase and we're going to need local power generation," Musk said.
The announcement of the shingles sent Australian hearts aflutter. Some Australian households have already been enjoying the benefits of the first Powerwall thanks to pilot programs that saw households receiving Powerwalls to test the feasibility of solar microgrids. Now with added capabilities, grid-independency is within reach for some households once the Powerwall 2 starts shipping in January 2017.
Australia aims to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2020.
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General Electric is considered to be one of the world's leading industrial companies, who have played a leading role in building energy infrastructure. They do this through their Power department, formally known as GE Power. They are one of the world leaders in power generation and water technologies, supplying utilities around the world. With the recent advancement of renewable energy technology, the company has made a big investment into what they think would further the renewable energy mandate in the world of today.
Yesterday, General Electric announced that they would be purchasing LM Wind Power, a company based in Denmark who manufacture and supply rotor blades to the wind industry. GE would be purchasing the company for a sum of $1.65 billion. A GE spokesperson said: "LM Wind Power has a terrific team, with a strong passion for their mission to power a cleaner world. Their values of customer focus, teamwork, trust, and ownership are harmonious with our own values. [GE] is very optimistic that together we will help shape the future of energy."
The figures speak for themselves. According to Business Wire, in 2015, 50% of new electricity infrastructure was made up of renewable energy sources, with wind accounting for 35% of those additions. GE has said that buying the blade manufacturer will catapult them into a habit of in-house blade design and manufacturing that will compliment their renewable energy business. In another report by Markets and Markets, solar and wind renewable energy technologies accounted for 77% of the amount of renewable energy produced in the United States last year.
Jérôme Pécresse, chief executive of GE Renewable Energy told Wall Street Journal: "We'll be more local, have more flexibility and knowledge in turbine design and supply, and more ability to innovate and reduce product costs while improving turbine performance." LM Wind Power currently has 13 factories spread across 8 countries including Denmark, Spain, Poland, Canada, USA, India, China and Brazil. So, the purchasing of the company will put GE in a good position for being a leading supplier of wind turbine blade technology.
Innovative wind turbine technologies
In a video below, you can see a company known as Icewind, who are engineering novel wind turbines according to a design named the 'Savonius vertical axis' wind turbine. These are turbines that can spin for hours with minimal wind and generate electricity. Apparently, the design of Icewind's turbines ensures that the turbines cannot spin at speeds too fast for the turbine to handle. Conventional wind turbines sometimes pick up too much speed and break the turbines.