Inline Insights

From guns to body parts,3D printing technology has introduced a digital manufacturing revolution, which is already disrupting some of our well-established industries.

Companies are now able to print silicone, latex, ceramic, clay, play dough, Nutella, or icing sugar. In the medical field, 3D printing brings the ability to print replacement body parts, organs, skin and bones. NASA has recently purchased a 3D printer for the International Space Station in order to produce spare parts and other items, cutting transportation costs and improving safety. In China, a company has used large 3D printers to build 10 detached one-storey houses in just a day. However, technology is advancing faster than regulation. Very soon, regulators will need to consider the implications of the recent emergence of 4D printing.

Things may be looking up for the EU’s “flagship” climate policy instrument. But much more needs to be done from the autumn.

The development of driverless cars has seen a resurgence of interest of late. This is no doubt partly due to the publicity Google generated from trialling the concept. But how have regulators reacted to the idea of driverless cars. Will regulation stand in the way or facilitate this giant leap forward in transport innovation?

The Financial Times recently reported that the amount lent by peer-to-peer websites internationally was almost $3bn in 2013, up from around $100m in 2007. There has been an equally impressive growth in the estimated number of crowdfunding websites, which have grown from 1,100 to 2,700 in the last year alone.

Since being first released on the consumer market in 2005, the global e-cigarette market has been growing rapidly. In the United States, sales grew at an annual rate of 115 percent in the 2009-12 period. It is estimated that the global market could increase to $10 billion by 2017. Some analysts have gone as far as suggesting that e-cigarettes could be outselling conventional cigarettes within a decade.

The Government would be advised to eschew a fracking at all costs approach in favour of a more carefully weighted public strategy.

One of the more eye-catching measures announced in the recent Queen’s Speech was the UK Government’s proposal to change the trespass laws and allow fracking companies to drill under people’s homes without their permission.

Tomorrow's protest against Uber, by an estimated 12,000 London taxi drivers, looks set to cause considerable disruption and have a significant negative economic impact too.  Figures suggest that the protest could cost London’s economy as much as £125 million (see tonight’s London Evening Standard).  The controversy centres on an app provided to Uber's drivers - separate from the one used by the public - that calculates the journey distance and time taken, and then relays this information to remote computer servers to determine the fee.

The last number of months have seen a swathe of new legislation regulating short-term rental across the globe. There are varying reasons for this and, consequently, many different approaches are being taken by policy-makers.  

Last week the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which is responsible for UK financial regulation, outlined plans to launch a policy hub for start-up companies including those in the virtual currency sector. Head of the FCA, Martin Wheatley (pictured), stated “it’s an imperative for the regulators to be standing on the right side of progress”.

This post is a guest blog from Charles Perry, Director at sustainability group Anthesis-SecondNature.

This month sees the fourth anniversary of David Cameron’s promise that the coalition would become ‘the Greenest Government Ever’. But, as Charles Perry argues, blue and yellow have not made green, and those promises of action on climate change have dropped from sight.

This is important…

On 28 May the European Commission adopted a major communication on an EU energy security strategy. This is potentially an extremely important document - especially if it were to be implemented – and was drafted, at the request of member states, as a direct response to the Ukrainian crisis and concerns about over-reliance on Russian gas. There are few things more critical than keeping the lights on and our homes heated.

As the fall-out from the European Parliament (EP) elections continues to dominate the headlines (see our preliminary analysis of the results here), the nomination by EU leaders of their nation’s next EU Commissioner (and the specific portfolio which they will take on) is becoming a key thread of the post-election discourse.

The 2014 European Parliament (EP) elections have seen a marked rise in eurosceptic representatives from right across Europe. In Britain, France, Denmark and Greece populist, anti-establishment political parties have all received a significant share of the vote, to the detriment of established political parties in government.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) invariably has something interesting to say on energy policy, on what is happening now and on future trends. Their latest report, Energy Technology Perspectives 2014, which lays out pathways to a sustainable energy system by 2050, is no different in this regard.

Following a revised subpoena from the New York state Attorney General requesting the personal details of hosts who use Airbnb for short-term rentals, both sides have reached an agreement. Under the agreement Airbnb will provide the Attorney General with anonymised aggregate data on their hosts in New York. This data will initially not include names, addresses or other personally-identifiable information.

A bill regulating ridesharing services is expected to be imminently signed by Colorado State Governor John Hickenlooper.  This would make him the first US State Governor to sign into law such a bill. Whilst California was technically the first State to regulate the industry (its rules were created by the State’s Public Utilities Commission), Colorado’s rules are set to be the first crafted and enacted by elected State representatives. The bill will allow provide certainty for ridesharing companies who faced formal complaints from the State’s Public Utilities Commission, which maintained that they were operating illegally.

A number of news stories over the last few days once again illustrate the momentum that virtual currencies are gathering towards increased legitimacy amongst regulators and consumers. 

In a hugely significant development yesterday telecom regulators in the United States voted to proceed with net neutrality rules. Amid protests the vote was passed with three commissioners of the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) voting in favour and two voting against. Tom Wheeler, chairman of the FCC, said that "the consideration we are looking at today is not about whether the internet should be open but how and when we have rules in place to ensure an open internet."

New York State regulators have re-issued a subpoena against Airbnb only a day after the courts dismissed a request against the short-term rental company.

Our Environment Consultant Richard Folland takes a look in this blog post at why UK policymakers should manage their message on renewables