Cues for Change March 2021 - LEARNING PORTAL

Learning Portal – Cues for Change March 2021

                                        LEARNING
                                        PORTAL
                                         THE STAFF COLLEGE

 Cues for
 Change
March 2021

Learning Portal – Cues for Change March 2021

Economy
 Grant to help solve problem of roadside car charging
 Government agency Innovate UK has given a £160,000 grant to Oxford City Council’s trading
 company ODS to develop a low-cost solution to the problem of electric vehicle owners who,
 lacking a driveway or garage, need to run charging cables across the pavement to their vehicle.
 The trial will see “discreet and safe channels” dug between homes and the road to allow for
 cables to be run without creating a trip hazard. A recent report from the National Audit Office
 found the Government had “not sufficiently focused” on charging solutions for the 33% of
 households with no dedicated off-street parking.
 The Times

 £100m wind farm investment to create thousands of jobs
 The Government has announced that almost £100m will be invested in creating new wind
 turbine ports in the North East. The new wind ports, one in Teesside and another in north
 Lincolnshire, will create capacity for seven companies to make parts for the offshore wind
 industry. The projects are set to deliver 6,000 new jobs, and ministers hope it will lead to more
 private sector investment.
 The Times

Learning Portal – Cues for Change March 2021

  Environment
  Oil company plans shift to flexible working as Covid
  regulations begin to ease
  BP has told 25,000 office-based staff that they will be expected to work from
  home for two days a week as part of a post-pandemic shift to flexible working
  patterns.

  The global oil company introduced the new hybrid model of working to staff
  last month, and expects the 60-40 split between office and home working to
  take effect from this summer as Covid-19 restrictions begin to ease.

  The company said it recognises the value of in-person collaboration and
  remote work, and hopes that the mix will offer individuals and teams a more
  “flexible, engaging and dynamic” way of working.
  The Guardian

  Bath CAZ become operational
  The first Clean Air Zone (CAZ) in England outside of London begins today in
  Bath. Commercial vehicles that do not meet required emission standards will
  pay a daily charge, but private cars and motorbikes are exempt. Bath and
  North East Somerset Council said the move could cut emissions to legal levels
  by the end of 2021.
  The Daily Telegraph

  Good vibrations: bladeless turbines could bring
  wind power to your home
  ‘Skybrators’ generate clean energy without environmental impact of
  large windfarms, say green pioneers The giant windfarms that line hills
  and coastlines are not the only way to harness the power of the wind,
  say green energy pioneers who plan to reinvent wind power by
  foregoing the need for turbine towers, blades – and even wind.
  “We are not against traditional windfarms,” says David Yáñez, the
  inventor of Vortex Bladeless. His six-person startup, based just outside
  Madrid, has pioneered a turbine design that can harness energy from

  winds without the sweeping white blades considered synonymous with
  wind power.
  The Guardian

Learning Portal – Cues for Change March 2021

Social
‘World-first’ carbon-neutral skyscraper planned for Birmingham
The Woodbourne Group has put forward plans for what is thought to be a world-first carbon-
neutral skyscraper development to be built in Birmingham. The £360m Curzon Wharf proposal
is proposed to be located on Dartmouth Circus, less than 10 minutes' walk from the new HS2
station, which is set to be operational from 2029. The proposals could support up to 460 jobs
during the build and create about 1,000 jobs once complete, according to developers. It could
also bring £151m into the wider regional economy, during the four-year build time, and
another £50m once finished. Birmingham City Council leader Ian Ward said the development
would put the city "at the forefront of green, sustainable development and underlines our
determination to tackle the climate crisis."
The Independent

Independent petrol stations go electric
Motor Fuel Group, Britain's largest independent chain of petrol stations, is to spend £400m on
installing 3,000 fast electric chargers across its nationwide estate of 918 forecourts. The
chargers will allow drivers to add 100 miles of range in less than 10 minutes.
The Times

E-scooter firm looks to increase availability
‘Discussions are underway between Voi, the country’s biggest e-scooter rental company,
and ministers over the deployment of thousands of additional machines by the summer.
The number of electric scooters could increase from between 50% and 75% in areas the
firm currently operates. The first trials of the devices were launched in Middlesbrough
last July and have since been extended to almost 40 towns and cities including Bristol,
Birmingham, Milton Keynes, Salford, Nottingham, Newcastle, Liverpool, Norwich and
Cambridge. London is also preparing a pilot, with 11 out of 33 boroughs expected to be
involved from May.
The Times

Learning Portal – Cues for Change March 2021

Modular homes for Reading rough sleepers
Reading BC is installing 40 temporary modular homes to provide accommodation for rough
sleepers. The units, which will be insulated and heated, are being manufactured off-site to be
erected at the Cattle Market car park in Great Knollys Street, and the council has said people
living at the site will have access to intensive 24-hour support. Cllr John Ennis, the council’s
housing lead, said the council had acted “swiftly and decisively” to identify rough sleepers
during the pandemic, moving more that 260 people safely into temporary accommodation.
New government funding, he said, provides an opportunity to “truly help rough sleepers
rebuild their lives with long-term accommodation and the right level of support”.
BBC News

Oakland to launch one of the largest US universal basic incomes
programs yet
The Oakland Resilient Families program will give families that meet a certain threshold $500 a
month, with no rules on how they spend it. The program has so far raised $6.75m from private
donors including Blue Meridian Partners, a national philanthropy group.
“The poverty we all witness today is not a personal failure, it is a systems failure,” Libby Schaaf,
Oakland’s mayor, said in a statement. “Guaranteed income is one of the most promising tools
for systems change, racial equity and economic mobility we’ve seen in decades. I’m proud to
work with such committed local partners to build a new system that can help undo centuries of
economic and racial injustice and point us all toward a more just society.”
The Guardian

Learning Portal – Cues for Change March 2021

Technology
Porton Down rapid testing could unlock sporting events
Porton Down scientists are working on rapid Covid tests that can diagnose tens of
thousands of people an hour, which could allow for the return of crowds to sporting
events in the summer. Sources at the chemical weapons testing laboratory said:
"Technology has been adapted from agriculture and other areas where high volume
processing is the norm and is being applied to this human application like never before."
The Sunday Telegraph

Amazon Fresh opens first ‘till-less’ grocery store in UK
Amazon has opened its first “just walk out” grocery store in the UK where shoppers can pick up
their goods and leave without having to visit a till. The Amazon Fresh store in Ealing, west
London, is a “contactless” shop available to anyone signed up to Amazon and with the app on
their phone. Customers must scan in a code on their phone to gain entry. Once inside, shoppers
can pick up the goods they want without scanning them or even visiting a till. Sensors on the
shelves detect when an item has been removed while cameras and other technology backed by
artificial intelligence monitor individuals’ movement around the store and the goods chosen.
The bill is automatically charged to a shopper’s Amazon account when they leave the store.
The Guardian

Newcastle trial of robots to assist elderly
The National Innovation Centre for Ageing (NICA) is trialling a scheme which would see bag-
carrying robots assist the elderly around Newcastle. Professor Nicola Palmarini, Director of
NICA, said of the scheme, named ‘gita’: “Older people tend to travel and leave home less
frequently. While there has been much focus recently on electric bikes or self-driven vehicles,
we believe gita could encourage a more practical, sustainable and healthy mode of transport –
walking."
The Daily Telegraph

Sunderland e-scooter scheme launches
An e-scooter hire pilot scheme, backed by Sunderland City Council, has launched in the city,
with a total of 300 scooters rolled out across a number of areas. Operator Neuron Mobility has
built a “reaction test” system into the mobile app used to access the scheme to ensure that
users hiring the vehicles after 9pm are in a “fit state to ride”, while other technology will restrict
the areas in which the scooters can be used, and prevent their use between 11pm and 5am. The
scooters are provided with a helmet, and can only be used by adults who hold a full or
provisional driving licence.
BBC News

Learning Portal – Cues for Change March 2021

Transport
Electric cars truly greener
Fossil fuel cars waste hundreds of times more resources than battery electric cars,
according to a study that adds to evidence the switch will bring large environmental
benefits. After recycling, only about 30kg of raw material is lost over the life of a lithium
ion battery, compared with 17,000 litres of oil used in a petrol or diesel vehicle, according
to analysis by Transport & Environment (T&E). Its calculation shows petrol and diesel cars
use at least 300 times more resources. T&E calculations suggest a battery electric car will
use 58% less energy than a petrol car over its lifetime and emit 64% less carbon dioxide.
The Guardian

Volvo plans to sell only electric cars by 2030
Volvo Cars one-upped larger rivals like General Motors and added momentum to the
movement toward electric vehicles on Tuesday by saying it would convert its entire line
up to battery power by 2030, no longer selling cars with internal combustion engines.

The declaration by the Swedish carmaker is the latest attempt by a traditional auto
company to break with its fossil fuels past. It is also one of the most ambitious proposals
and ratchets up the pressure on others to follow suit and would phase out internal
combustion engine vehicles faster than other automakers.
New York Times

Learning Portal – Cues for Change November 2020

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