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Environment & sustainability

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A circular sample of a material containing blue glowing microalgae, with coral-like patterns
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Design & manufacturing
  • Opinion
  • Issue 100

The art and science of engineering with living things

Christopher Bellamy trained as an engineer at the University of Cambridge and worked for Jaguar Land Rover and Salomon. Now, he's a biodesigner working with living things to create materials that make us feel closer to nature.

Quick read

Two engineers wearing hi-vis jackets and hard hats standing talking on a solar panelled roof with a city skyline in the background
  • Civil & structural
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Opinion
  • Issue 100

How can we reimagine building performance?

The built environment – and what we need from it – plays a large role in everybody’s lives. But how do we measure its performance, especially in the face of pressing challenges such as the climate crisis? Here, Fiona Cousins, President of CIBSE (the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers), shares the key points from her presidential address looking at how we reframe the idea of building performance.

Quick read

A woman in a colourful dress stands with her arms crossed opposite a man wearing a green t-shirt
  • Design & manufacturing
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Innovation Watch
  • Issue 100

The engineers turning surplus feathers into packaging

London-based startup Aeropowder is turning surplus feathers into a biodegradable thermal packaging material, designed to keep items such as medicines or vaccines insulated and cold during transport.

Image shows the fingers from a hand, which is slightly in water having scooped up grains of sand that contain small colourful microplastics
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Materials
  • Issue 99

How engineers are fighting microplastic pollution

From the deepest reaches of the sea to the innermost tissues of our bodies, humans have found microplastics everywhere we’ve looked for them. Now, engineers are trying to stop microplastics from getting into our water systems and the environment.

An artist's depiction of drilling for brine underneath volcanoes to extract useful metals and minerals needed for green technologies
  • Materials
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Issue 98

Mining volcanoes for metals

Green technologies depend on a range of metals and minerals. With concerns about environmental damage from conventional mining, scientists and engineers are seeking alternative sources. Could metal-rich magmatic brines underneath volcanoes have the answer?

Quick read

Harvey Hudson wearing a hard hat and yellow jacket from Vital Energi, standing on the roof of the Christie Hospital which is covered in solar panels.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • How I got here

Q&A: Harvey Hudson, building services engineering apprentice

Family inspiration and diagnosing problems on his mountain bike set Harvey Hudson on the engineering apprenticeship route. He was since named the National Apprentice of the Year and featured in the Royal Academy of Engineering’s ‘This is Engineering’ campaign.

Quick read

  • Software & computer science
  • Environment & sustainability
  • How I got here

Q&A: Meng Wu, PhD student in data science

Having studied computer science and AI at university, Meng Wu has applied his skills in a wide range of fields. He’s now a PhD student based in Orkney, applying software and data engineering to help local fishing communities become more sustainable.

Professor Simon Pollard standing in a university research department.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Profiles
  • Issue 97

A champion of the green economy

Professor Simon Pollard OBE FREng’s confidence in the idea of a circular economy began when he set out to turn harmful waste into useful materials. His career as an environmental engineer has encompassed many aspects of the waste and water utility sectors.

Two container ships at harbour viewed from above, with green cranes on the dock.
  • Maritime & naval
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Issue 97

Decarbonising the shipping industry

About 90% of traded goods are transported on the world’s oceans, with total trade volumes likely to triple by 2050, however, shipping is currently reliant on fossil fuels. Leonie Mercedes explores the different possibilities for a green future for the industry.

  • Chemical
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Issue 97

How to remediate forever chemicals

Move over, microplastics, there’s a troubling new pollutant in town, used to manufacture iPhone chips, firefighting foams and many more everyday items. So how do we get rid of forever chemicals for good?

Quick read

  • Design & manufacturing
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Profiles

Q&A: Deborah Meaden

Ahead of this year’s National Engineering Day, green Dragon, Deborah Meaden emerged from the Dragon’s Den to share a few secrets of success with Ingenia.

Quick read

A man standing in front of a display that says "Welcome to COP26" on several shelves full of different plants.
  • Energy
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Electricals & electronics
  • How I got here

Q&A: Mark Goudie, electrical engineer

Mark Goudie is one of the youngest engineering Fellows in the UK, an inventor, and an engineer in the energy sector.

Quick read

  • Civil & structural
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Opinion
  • Issue 95

Building a greener future

Will Arnold, Head of Climate Action at the IStructE, says we need a total rethink of how we create, maintain and power our buildings to better protect our planet.

A green tape measure lying on top of green-coloured denim
  • Design & manufacturing
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Issue 95

Turning jeans green

The engineering behind the trusty wardrobe staple, and how new technologies are attempting to lessen their well-documented environmental burden.

Quick read

A wind turbine on a hillside in the mountains
  • Energy
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Chemical
  • How does that work?
  • Issue 96

How do electrolysers work?

Electrolysers are a critical net zero technology used to produce green hydrogen.

Quick read

An aerial photo of a wind farm producing renewable energy, which is used by electrolysers to make green hydrogen.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Energy
  • Innovation Watch
  • Issue 96

The clean energy pioneers

Ceres Power have found a way to make green hydrogen – thought to be an essential part of our energy transition – at scale.

Four houses pictured on a cliff edge, with a pebble beach below it.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Civil & structural
  • Issue 96

Protecting the UK’s coasts

Settlements on the UK’s coastlines are increasingly at risk of being lost to erosion. How can different engineering approaches protect them?

A wind turbine with fields of sunflowers in front of it
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Issue 95

How do we pay for net zero technologies?

Engineering holds an abundance of answers to our decarbonisation problems. But how do we finance it all? Find out in our demystifier.

An artist's impression of a home in the future made using mycelium-based materials, which are represented by hyphae-like white tendrils
  • Civil & structural
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Issue 95

Building with fungi

Materials made from mycelium, the hair-like threads that sustain all fungi, are now finding uses in construction.

  • Design & manufacturing
  • Chemical
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Materials
  • Innovation Watch

Kicking single-use plastics to the curb

This spider-silk inspired plastic alternative produces no plastic alternatives – unlike existing "compostable" plastics.

A row of three cube-shaped blocks for artificial reef structures on a beach. They have patterned sides and a hollow passage to help marine life flourish.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Maritime & naval
  • Issue 94

How artificial reefs boost biodiversity

Coral reefs and coastlines face growing challenges from climate change. Two UK startups are developing artificial reefs that protect and renew marine ecosystems.

Quick read

A woman standing in front of a sign for COP27 that says "Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt 2022"
  • Chemical
  • Environment & sustainability
  • How I got here
  • Issue 94

Q&A: Isabelle Pickett, chemical engineering student

A chemical engineering degree set Isabelle Pickett on a path to advocating for girls in STEM and net zero careers – and setting up her own tutoring business along the way.

  • Electricals & electronics
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Materials
  • Issue 94

Powering the pursuit of net zero

It's electrifying: what’s needed before emerging battery technologies are fully charged for a clean green future?

Quick read

An engineer working with steel for a foundation, wearing a hard hat.
  • Chemical
  • Energy
  • Environment & sustainability

Why safety engineering is key for green hydrogen and net zero

When engineering goes wrong, it makes the headlines. Thankfully, there’s a whole field dedicated to making sure it goes right: safety engineering.

Quick read

A woman standing in front of a sign for COP27 that says "Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt 2022"
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Opinion

A young engineer’s perspective on the good, the bad and the ugly of COP27

Engineering Leaders Scholar Isabelle Pickett attended COP27. She wrote about some of her takeaways for Ingenia, including important actions for the future that engineers can take.

Quick read

Two people stand on the side of a hill writing on clipboards with other hills in the background
  • Energy
  • Environment & sustainability
  • How I got here
  • Issue 93

Q&A: Katie Ireland

On coming back from a career break, Katie Ireland switched fields from oil and gas to renewables, and was awarded ‘Returner of the Year’ at the 2022 Engineering Talent Awards.

An aerial photograph of the Orbital O2 tidal turbine in the ocean.
  • Energy
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Issue 93

Making sure tidal power blades are fit for purpose

For tidal power to become a renewable energy source, engineers need to be able to test the components that will have to operate in the severe offshore conditions around the British Isles. FastBlade is a new facility that can help with this.

Quick read

  • Environment & sustainability
  • Materials
  • Innovation Watch
  • Issue 92

Imaging the plastic recycling process

Chemical engineer Dr Kit Windows-Yule is using an innovative imaging technique to improve the chemical process of breaking plastics down into oil.

Quick read

A street in a UK village that has been flooded, with floodwaters rising over a metre from the ground.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Civil & structural
  • Opinion
  • Issue 92

How do we make the UK more resilient to flooding?

Extreme flooding is becoming a regular occurrence across the UK, with flash floods causing significant damage to homes and businesses.

The top of a wind turbine peaking through orange mists in the sky.
  • Design & manufacturing
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Issue 91

Breathing new life into wind turbine blades

For years, the world’s blade-makers have been looking to save composite decommissioned blades from landfill but significant progress has been made in the breakthrough development of RecyclableBlades, which has found a way to repurpose retired blades.

Beech trees lining the road in Dorset.
  • Civil & structural
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Issue 91

Engineering biodiversity

If engineers planning, designing or implementing new infrastructure works are not familiar with natural capital and biodiversity net gain, they will have to learn fast. Under the Environment Act, new developments are required to demonstrate ‘biodiversity net gain’, requiring important changes to the way engineers work.

Quick read

Ryan Mario Yasin in the studio behind a desk. He holds a ruler over his clothing designs and clothing samples can be seen on the desk in front of him.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Arts & culture
  • Innovation Watch
  • Issue 91

Clothes that grow with children

By the time they reach the age of two, babies go through seven clothing sizes, only adding to the fashion industry’s impact on the planet. London-based Petit Pli is on a mission to lessen the burden, with childrenswear that grows with the wearer.

An open washing machine appliance, containing a mixture of different blue fabrics.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Opinion
  • Issue 91

Repair or replace – what drives a circular economy?

Right to repair legislation is being enacted around the world, designed to help governments achieve their net zero targets and meet obligations to reduce the environmental impact of waste. Paul Hide, CEO of AMDEA, sets out why sometimes the alternative might be a more sustainable approach.

An aerial view of solar panels on a roof with an apprentice engineer in a high visibility jacket and helmet inspecting them.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Opinion
  • Issue 89

A system is needed to deliver on COP26

Professor Sir Jim McDonald FREng FRSE, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, reflects on his experience at COP26, hosted in his hometown of Glasgow, and outlines how engineers stand ready to deliver on the commitments made.

Quick read

  • Chemical
  • Environment & sustainability
  • How does that work?
  • Issue 88

Compostable plastics

Compostable plastics can be turned – alongside food and other organic waste – into compost. But how environmentally friendly are they really?

A photograph of a ploughed bare field.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Issue 88

Keeping carbon grounded

Agriculture started by trial and error but today, the fields we see are the result of an engineering system approach to manage fertility, crop production and, increasingly importantly, the carbon emissions and sequestration that are an inevitable part of the biosystem.

Quick read

A male engineer standing behind a desk with scientific equipment, wearing goggles and gloves, working in a room that is lit up with bright bulbs on the ceiling.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Opinion
  • Issue 88

Preparing future engineers for the net zero challenge

Engineers will face ever-growing and ever-changing challenges as they tackle climate change and build a sustainable future. There is now an urgent need to ensure they will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to do so, writes Professor Roger Kemp MBE FREng.

A concept image of ZeroAvia's 19 seat plane in the sky.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Aerospace
  • Issue 88

Towards zero carbon aviation

As with any energy-using industry, the aerospace industry shares the problem of eliminating carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, however they may find it the hardest of all. Val Miftakhov, Founder and CEO of California-based startup ZeroAvia discusses the first step on the road towards hydrogen-powered aircraft.

Quick read

Six blocks of varying height showing the various stages and consistency of product between seaweed and sustainable packaging.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Food & agriculture
  • Innovation Watch
  • Issue 87

Edible packaging

Half of plastic packaging is used once and thrown away. Notpla has developed sustainably sourced seaweed packaging to hold liquids, which decomposes in less than six weeks.

The design of an urban square in Shanghai that can serve to store storm water during flooding.
  • Civil & structural
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Opinion
  • Issue 87

Rethinking the future through design

Dr Mark Fletcher FREng, Global Water Business Leader at Arup, argues that engineers need to rethink design and embrace systems thinking now more than ever, to accelerate regenerative outcomes for people, places and the planet.

Dr Rajapillai (RV) Ahilan on a sunny beachside promenade in Italy.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Maritime & naval
  • Profiles
  • Issue 87

Sound moorings for a renewable career

For Dr RV Ahilan FREng, a career that started in offshore oil and gas has turned him into a champion for renewable energy. He used his knowledge of fluid mechanics and marine experience to push the commercialisation of offshore renewables.

A digital rendering of a futuristic building in a green landscape.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Issue 87

Nuclear designs on a low-carbon future

We must abandon fossil fuels as an energy source if we are to achieve the UK’s target of net zero by 2050. Low-carbon energy sources now provide less than 15% of the world’s energy. Paul Stein FREng and Sophie Macfarlane-Smith at Rolls-Royce explain how SMRs could help to achieve net zero.

Wind turbines standing in the ocean.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Maritime & naval
  • Issue 86

Helping the green revolution

Hornsea One, the world’s largest offshore wind farm can generate enough electricity to supply over one million UK homes and led to the construction of Hornsea Two. Ørsted engineers faced substantial challenges in creating the record-breaking offshore wind farm.

Quick read

A pair of glasses made from food waste on a stand.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Arts & culture
  • Innovation Watch
  • Issue 86

From food waste to fashion

Chip[s] Board is turning potato peel into sustainable bioplastics for the fashion and interior design industries to simultaneously tackle the problems of food waste and plastic pollution.

Aakeen Parikh looking at an off-grid washing machine outside a building in Minazi, Rwanda,.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Issue 86

Lessons from the field

Many young engineers spend time working with communities and engineers in other countries to help develop their skills at the start of their careers. Abigail Beall talked to three engineers about the impact working abroad has had on their career paths and outlooks, gaining valuable experience that they couldn’t have gained in the UK.

A tractor on top of a pile of rubbish at a landfill site.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Issue 86

Life after landfills

UK households produce over 25 million tonnes of waste a year, around 400 kilograms per person (roughly equivalent to four giant pandas). Around 45% of this is recycled, but what happens to the waste that can neither be recycled nor reused? Dominic Joyeux discovered how waste going to landfill is contributing to the circular economy.

  • Environment & sustainability
  • Electricals & electronics
  • Issue 85

Charging into the future

The all-electric Jaguar I-PACE has collected many awards since it first left car showrooms in 2018, including its engineering team being recognised as MacRobert Award finalists. Find out about the challenges of developing the company's fist electric vehicle.

Green liquid bubbling around brightly lit transparent cylinders that are going into the water at an algae wastewater treatment plant.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Issue 85

Cleaning wastewater with algae

When a toilet is flushed, bath emptied or washing machine finishes, that wastewater needs to be treated and discharged safely into the environment. Industrial Phycology have developed a technique to use algae for purification.

An electric JCB placed inside of a house, with two people reading books around it to demonstrate it's quietness.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Mechanical
  • Issue 84

Groundbreaking digging

The world’s first electric mini digger showcases a leap towards fossil fuel-free construction machinery. JCB's Chief Innovation and Growth Officer Tim Burnhope FREng and Director of Advanced Engineering Bob Womersley speak about the engineering behind this award-winning achievement.

  • Environment & sustainability
  • Opinion
  • Issue 83

Net zero - aspiration or reality?

Professor Sir Ian Boyd, Chairman at the UK research Integrity Office, contemplates the accountability and collective actions that are actually needed to make the transition for net zero carbon emissions by 2050 a reality and warns against efforts underpinned by short-term interests.

Quick read

A ground air source heat pump outside of a building.
  • Energy
  • Environment & sustainability
  • How does that work?
  • Issue 82

Ground source heat pumps

Ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) have been used for many years in North America, Sweden and Germany. These geothermal systems harness natural heat from underground to provide heating for buildings. Now they are being increasingly deployed in homes and commercial buildings in the UK.

A headshot of Sir Jim McDonald FREng FRSE.
  • Electricals & electronics
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Profiles
  • Issue 82

Life in electrifying times

Professor Sir Jim McDonald FREng FRSE, elected President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, has worked as a transmission and distribution engineer. He joined the academic world when the electric industry was going through a business and technology revolution, becoming immersed in sustainable energy policy issues.

Jo da Silva sitting at a table, having a conversation with another person.
  • Civil & structural
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Profiles
  • Issue 80

Structures for a sustainable society

The growth of megacities and factors such as climate change have changed the nature of the challenges engineers face. Jo da Silva OBE FREng warns of the growing need to consider the resilience of the infrastructure that sustains cities and their inhabitants.

An electric plane taking off in a city from a helicopter landing pad.
  • Aerospace
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Opinion
  • Issue 79

Can electrification solve aviation’s emissions problem?

Paul Stein FREng, Chief Technology Officer at Rolls-Royce, sets out why the industry and policymakers should be looking at electrification to address the challenges of the aviation industry's green credentials among a growing population experiencing decreasing costs of air travel.

Quick read

Dr Anh Tran crouching down with a mask and gloves on, with chemical bottles in front of her on the ground, being watched by local people in Cambodia.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • How I got here
  • Issue 78

Q&A: Dr Anh Tran

Dr Anh Tran is a humanitarian engineering researcher and lecturer at Coventry University. Her research focuses on energy, water, food, and computer technologies with resource-limited communities.

An aerial view of the RRS Sir David Attenborough breaking through ice. People and crates are seen standing on the ice and a helicopter is seen flying above the landing pad on the ship.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Maritime & naval
  • Issue 76

A great British polar explorer

The rapid melting of polar ice caps could have catastrophic consequences for oceans across the globe. To understand the role that the polar oceans play in our changing world, Britain is debuting the RRS Sir David Attenborough – one of the most advanced polar research vessels in the world.

Plastic waste covering a beach.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Issue 75

Processing the plastic problem

Plastic waste is an increasing global problem. While efforts are being made to encourage recycling and less usage, plastics – especially those that are hard to recycle – are still causing pollution. Recycling Technologies is using a chemical process to create a high-value product from plastic waste.

A crop tractor loading elephant grass in a field.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Food & agriculture
  • Opinion
  • Issue 72

What role for biofuels in low-carbon UK transport?

Biofuels have a role to play in meeting the UK’s climate change commitments. Sustainable Chemical Engineering Professor Adisa Azapagic FREng sets out why biofuels made from wastes and by-products in different sectors are particularly important to these efforts.

A wind turbine inside a testing factory.
  • Design & manufacturing
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Issue 70

Future-proofing the next generation of wind turbine blades

Before deploying new equipment in an offshore environment, testing is vital and can reduce the time and cost of manufacturing longer blades. Replicating the harsh conditions within the confines of a test hall requires access to specialist, purpose-built facilities.

Julia King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge DBE FREng speaking at Aston University.
  • Materials
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Profiles
  • Issue 70

Forging links between academia and industry

For Julia King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge DBE FREng, materials science has been a common theme in a career that has taken in the academic world at all levels, to becoming a vice-chancellor, along with time in the higher echelons of corporate engineering at Rolls-Roce.

The Gobbler boat with a person on it at Southampton Port.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Maritime & naval
  • Innovation Watch
  • Issue 69

An appetite for oil

The Gobbler boat’s compact and lightweight dimensions coupled with complex oil-skimming technology provide a safer and more effective way of containing and cleaning up oil spills, both in harbour and at sea.

Two engineer colleagues speaking to each other on top of a building with solar panels, with a skyline in the background.
  • Civil & structural
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Opinion
  • Issue 65

Upgrade existing buildings to reduce emissions

Much of the UK’s existing buildings predate modern energy standards. Patrick Bellew of Atelier Ten, a company that pioneered environmental innovations, suggests that a National Infrastructure Project is needed to tackle waste and inefficiency.

Cubed stacks of plastic waste under a shelter.
  • Materials
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Issue 62

Recycling household waste

The percentage of waste recycled in the UK has risen rapidly over the past 20 years, thanks to breakthroughs in the way waste is processed. Find out about what happens to household waste and recent technological developments in the UK.