Hydrogen: tomorrow's fuel or just hot air? The Icelandic Experience

Hydrogen is once again in the limelight, with rising fuel prices, the search for fuels beyond petrol and diesel is being debated even more hotly. The European fuel cell bus trial has been extended by one year and there has been much talk about the potential for hydrogen powered vehicles working during the London Olympics. These would bring even more people into contact with future fuels on perhaps boats and buses. The Department for Transport (UK) has also announced a major call for more research on hydrogen, clearly indicating a focus on both vehicles and infrastructure. So what is all the hype about this fuel and what does it mean for transport engineers in general? This article tries to address some of those issues by trying to understand hydrogen, and then by looking at how the Icelanders have used this remarkable fuel. There may be some meaningful lessons for the UK and other countries interested in implementing hydrogen

21st Century emissions technology - a review

This article reviews the 21st Century Emissions Technology conference held by Institute of Mechanical Engineers (in December 2000) and summarises the latest developments in emissions control

'Smart' design: greening the Total Product System

About the book: Since the Rio summit in 1992, the paradigm of corporate environmental responsibility has gradually and consistently extended beyond complying with increasingly stringent environmental regulation and taking up the proactive initiatives of a few world-class companies. Research indicates that the business and financial performance of companies may depend directly on socially and environmentally responsible business practices. Many world-class companies now realize that customers and other stakeholders do not distinguish between a company and its suppliers. As a result, greening the supply chain is an innovative idea which is fast gaining attention in the industry. Greening the Supply Chain is a compilation of important chapters written by a diverse set of international authors which incorporates a broad variety of perspectives. Note: Smart car refers to Smart City coupe and Fortwo, and all terms are registered trademarks of MCC (micro compact car)

Tutors as learners: overcoming barriers to learning ICT skills

This paper explores the use of ICT to provide distance training for UK Open University (OU) Associate lecturers (ALs) and identifies the range of outcomes and issues which emerged. There is an increasing demand from many of our students for the University to provide more facilities and functions (both administrative or course-related) online or by electronic mail. To this end the University has attempted to increase the awareness of these computing-related issues with ALs by offering various methods of increasing ICT skills. One programme involved a contingent of ALs participating in an online short course. This paper will summarise some of the qualitative feedback along with the quantitative results in order to establish whether this course did indeed assist in tutors gaining some new computing skills. Furthermore, tutors made many additional comments about the process of learning and the experience of being a learner. Many of the issues raised were found to be important when designing a programme of study for those who take courses as a form of staff development

Mapping expert perspectives of the aviation sector

Aviation globally is characterised by significant change and consequently the future of the sector has always been difficult to predict. This study adopts a systemic approach based on findings from exploratory interviews with UK aviation academics to: determine the roles of stakeholders in the air transport system; report the current issues facing the sector; explore how these issues interact and impact on the stakeholders in the system; and speculate on the future implications. Six core stakeholders are identified: airlines, airports, consumers, manufacturers, governing institutions and interest groups. Nine core issues are reported, namely: local environment, climate change, peak oil, the state of the economy, social norms, demographics, disruptive events, national (or international) regulations and capacity. A matrix of interactions and their impacts and implications for managing the aviation system is then presented

Book review of The Earthscan Reader: World Transport Policy and Practice

Book review of The Earthscan Reader: World Transport Policy and Practice (ISBN-13: 978-1853838514