Engineering news
The start of 2015 had an automotive flavour for PE. The January issue saw us take an in-depth look at both the Bloodhound supersonic car project and the new Jaguar XE, the British carmaker's most important model in a generation.
Moving into February, our monthly reader survey tackled the controversial issue of climate change. It revealed that engineers overwhelmingly trust the scientific evidence that climate change is man-made, but are split on how to best tackle the problem. Fracking was top of the agenda for many, as the government struggled with permissions and protests for the deep wells. Towards the end of February the IMechE hosted its shale gas summit, the contents of which can still be viewed here.
At the beginning of March the Solar Impulse 2 aircraft took off from Monaco for its historic round the world trip. PE spoke to the pilots at the time about the improvements to solar technology that made the journey possible. Meanwhile, with the election on the horizon, inside the magazine we looked at the multi-billion pound project dealing with the successor to the Trident nuclear deterrent. Would politics interfere with British ability to despatch submarines on a 'continuous at sea' basis?
In May, the magazine's cover feature analysed various methods of dealing with the 140 tonnes of plutonium stockpiled from the nation's legacy nuclear programmes. Innovative nuclear engineers are looking at turning the waste into fuel to produce low-carbon energy. While in June, as Crossrail completed its 26 mile tunnel under the streets of London, PE took to the water to take a look at maintenance activities at the London Array, the world's biggest offshore windfarm.
In July, PE went to the Paris Air Show and met engineers from Boeing, who revealed the company's blueprint for the future of aviation, which involved green fuels, better cabin interiors and more efficient wing designs. Elsewhere interest was gathering in driverless cars, as Google expanded the testing of its autonomous car in the US, and the UK government announced a £20 million fund to boost the technology's development.
The driverless theme continued in August, where we PE took a more pragmatic look at the first semi-autonomous steps carmakers are taking. We also visited Bombardier's Litchchurch Lane site in Derby to assess preparation work for the construction of the 65 nine-car electric multiple units to run on the new Crossrail rail link through London.
As the summer ended, the depth of the troubles in the steel industry were revealed as the country's second largest steelmaker, SSI UK, halted production at its Redcar plant and announced it was to slash 1,700 jobs. As politicians procrastinated, a “perfect storm” of high energy prices, cheap imports and poor trading conditions has wreaked havoc on the sector. Even now industrialists are struggling to cope with the issues.
In October, PE travelled to Alabama to visit Airbus' first US-based manufacturing facility, producing up to 8 A320s a month. The European planemaker talked about its global strategy, which involves building aircraft closer to its customers. While back in the UK, an important international deal was confirmed with the Chinese state nuclear company, to build a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point, Somerset.
October was also the month when the biggest story of the year broke – the VW diesel emissions scandal. PE covered developments as the details of the cheats engineers used emerged. In November the scandal was still rumbling on and PE took a considered view on what the unfolding crisis meant for the emissions testing regimes of the future. The end of the year also saw some historic energy news, when in November the government announced that all of the UK's coal power stations would close by 2025. This was followed by the closure of the country's last deep coal mine at Kellingley, Yorkshire.
The year ended on a high, as British astronaut Tim Peake captured the imagination of the nation with his trip to the International Space Station in December. Finally, within the pages of PE, we looked at next-generation materials that will change the way we design and build new aircraft - composites that avoid damage from lightning and wings that repair themselves are just two of the innovations.