News

Congratulations to Professor Peter Guthrie who has been appointed Vice-President at the Royal Academy of Engineering.Peter Guthrie is the first Professor in Engineering for Sustainable Development in the UK, and was the Director of the Centre for Sustainable Development from 2000 to 2016. He continues to work on various research projects.  His rese…

Cambridge Zero was pleased to announce the launch of the “Green Recovery: A Blueprint for a Green Future” report this month at the Cambridge Zero Climate Change Festival 2020 . The report is an ambitious multidisciplinary report from the Cambridge Zero Policy Forum on how we can ensure a green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemicThe Forum is a colla…

Researchers have developed a new approach to printed electronics that allows ultra-low-power electronic devices which could recharge from ambient light or radiofrequency noise. The approach paves the way for low-cost printed electronics that could be seamlessly embedded in everyday objects and environments.Electronics that consume tiny amounts of p…

The Resource Efficiency Collective (Dept of Engineering) report, The 'P' Word, was released last week, which focusses on use of plastics in the UK. Plastics are ubiquitous in modern society, owing to their usefulness, durability and how cheap and easy they are to produce. This makes plastics both a blessing and a curse. We manufacture a myriad of p…

University plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2038. The University of Cambridge aims to divest from all direct and indirect investments in fossil fuels by 2030 as part of the University’s plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2038, more than a decade before the date set by the UK government.The £3.5 billion Cambridge Uni…

Last week HRH The Prince of Wales gave the opening address to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Turbo Expo conference, the largest annual conference on the subject of flight and land-based power generation, due to have been held in London earlier this year but which is being held online due to the pandemic.In the message His Royal Highne…

Using an alcohol mixture, researchers modified how ink droplets dry, enabling cheap industrial-scale printing of electronic devices at unprecedented scales.Have you ever spilled your coffee on your desk? You may then have observed one of the most puzzling phenomena of fluid mechanics – the coffee ring effect. This effect has hindered the industrial…

Researchers have identified a potential new degradation mechanism for electric vehicle batteries – a key step to designing effective methods to improve battery lifespan. The researchers, from the Universities of Cambridge and Liverpool, and the Diamond Light Source, have identified one of the reasons why state-of-the-art ‘nickel-rich’ battery mater…

by Eleanor Palmer, Cambridge ZeroCOVID-19 has led to a resurgence in plastic use across society, from PPE to the likes of Pret, Caffè Nero and Starbucks no longer accepting reusable cups and exclusively relying on disposables. However, Taylor Uekert (Department of Chemistry) is hopeful that this plastic renaissance will inspire more holistic thinki…

Startups funded by US agency Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) file patents at twice the rate of similar cleantech firms. The UK should trial its own climate-focused ARPA as part of COVID-19 recovery package.The “innovation advantage” bestowed by ARPA-E – an energy version of the legendary DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects A…

Researchers have identified a potential new degradation mechanism for electric vehicle batteries – a key step to designing effective methods to improve battery lifespan.The researchers, from the Universities of Cambridge and Liverpool, and the Diamond Light Source, have identified one of the reasons why state-of-the-art ‘nickel-rich’ battery materi…

Researchers have developed a standalone device that converts sunlight, carbon dioxide and water into a carbon-neutral fuel, without requiring any additional components or electricity.The device, developed by a team from the University of Cambridge, is a significant step toward achieving artificial photosynthesis – a process mimicking the ability of…

Researchers have demonstrated the use of tinted, semi-transparent solar panels to generate electricity and produce nutritionally-superior crops simultaneously, bringing the prospect of higher incomes for farmers and maximising use of agricultural land.By allowing farmers to diversify their portfolio, this novel system could offer financial protecti…

David Newbery wrote an article “Transport policy for a post-Covid19 UK” for Bennett Institute for Public Policy, University of Cambridge, that was published as a blogpost in August 2020. Professor David Newbery argues that the UK’s transport policy needs to change direction as the economy starts to exit from lockdown. Investment in transport infras…

Researchers at Cambridge, Imperial and Singapore have developed a method to print ultrathin coatings on next-generation solar cells, allowing them to work in tandem with silicon solar cells to boost efficiencies.Photovoltaics, or solar cells, work by absorbing sunlight to produce clean electricity. But photovoltaics can absorb only a fraction of th…