Around The Web

Exclusive: Sir Mark Rylance, Neil Tennant, Brian Eno and heads of Tate and BBC arts sign letter to government

The chiefs of scores of the UK’s foremost arts and culture organisations have joined the call for a green recovery from the coronavirus crisis, even as their own sector faces the biggest threat to its existence in modern times.

Sir Mark Rylance, Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys, Brian Eno and the leaders of the Tate, National Youth Theatre and the director of BBC arts are among those signing a letter asking the government to adopt green and carbon-cutting targets alongside its economic rescue plans. Close to 400 arts leaders and prominent individuals have now signed the letter, which will be presented to the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, this week.

Continue reading...

Australian engineers' peak body join submissions calling for a technology roadmap based around cheap solar and wind and energy storage technologies.

The post Engineers say technology roadmap should focus on cheap renewables, energy storage appeared first on RenewEconomy.

With his regular haunts closed because of Covid-19, Mumbai photographer and naturalist Rizwan Mithawala turned his lens on his windowbox, capturing the life cycle of visiting red pierrots

Continue reading...

Amazon identifies solar farm in NSW that will support the biggest corporate PPA with a solar project to date in Australia.

The post Amazon signs biggest corporate solar PPA in Australia with Suntop project appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Removing engine idling would be like removing up to 1.6 million cars from the road. Robin Smit, Adjunct associate professor, University of Technology Sydney Clare Walter, PhD Candidate, Honorary Research Fellow, Advocacy Consultant., The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Experts believe the find is more than 4,500 years old and marked a boundary near to the sacred site.

Minerals Council of Australia unveils Climate Action Plan with no dates or milestones for emissions reduction and no mention of phasing out coal mining or coal-fired power.

The post Minerals Council slammed for “woefully inadequate” Climate Action Plan appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Global markets will increasingly require ‘green hydrogen’ certification as they decarbonise their economies in line with Paris goals. To get distracted by anything less would be a fool’s errand.

The post Australian made hydrogen must be green, or it will have no export market appeared first on RenewEconomy.

More than 14,000 key workers in the UK will try out the 'no swab' test that can spot new infections.

Labor MP Josh Burns says that if Australia is to grow its economy and create new markets we must take advantage of the future demand for cheap, clean and reliable power.

The post Renewables will power Australia’s economic growth appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The federal government has shown during the pandemic that it is prepared to impose great financial burdens for the sake of our health. We need them to do the same for another crisis: climate change. Judith Brett, Emeritus Professor of Politics, La Trobe University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Australia has failed to ratify an international treaty to reduce harmful mercury emissions. Mercury exposure can cause kidney damage and brain impairment, especially in children. Larissa Schneider, DECRA fellow, Australian National University Cameron Holley, Professor, UNSW Darren Sinclair, Professor, University of Canberra Simon Haberle, Professor, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Tesla argues for energy market reforms to be accelerated as Australia's big energy incumbents call for delays.

The post Tesla says energy market reform must be accelerated in Australia, not delayed appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Smoke impacting solar and high temperature failures in wind turbine hubs threw two new curve balls at the market operator as it sought to keep lights on in summer from hell.

The post Smoke and high-temperature cut-outs hit solar and wind output in summer from hell appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Skywatchers photographed the "ring of fire", where the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun.

Committee urges that companies must meet green standards to qualify for Covid-19 corporate bailouts

Ministers are bracing themselves for a powerful new rebuke from the government’s own advisers over the nation’s inadequate response to the climate crisis. In its annual progress report, to be published on Thursday, the Committee on Climate Change will lambast continuing failures by the government to tackle the issues of overheating homes, flash floods, loss of biodiversity and the other threats posed as our planet continues to overheat dangerously.

Last year, the committee complained that no areas of the UK’s response to the climate crisis were being tackled properly. “The whole thing is run by the government like a Dad’s Army,” said the committee’s chairman, Lord Deben.

Continue reading...

May was a big month for solar power announcements in Africa - led by a 4GW solar proposal in Algeria - but coal projects are causing headaches.

The post Solar power is making huge inroads across Africa, but coal is creating headaches appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The fall in fuel use during the pandemic has caused Shell and BP to fundamentally reappraise their future profitability

Coronavirus has dealt the fossil-fuel industry the biggest single blow in its history, and it is clear that 2020’s plummeting demand for oil and gas is no mere flesh wound. The global Covid-19 crisis may have already triggered a terminal decline for big oil.

BP’s decision last week to reset its oil price forecasts for the next three decades was the latest tremor in a seismic shift for the industry. Its forecasts of a $75-a-barrel oil price over the next 30 years were scrapped in favour of an average price of $55. The watershed decision wiped more than $17bn from the value of its business at a stroke and could mean many of its untapped oil reserves will remain in the ground.

Continue reading...

Sighting of critically endangered native rodent ‘a very happy moment’ for conservationists

The critically endangered smoky mouse has been discovered alive and well in the Kosciuszko national park after it was feared the native species had been wiped from the area during the summer bushfire crisis.

Motion-sensor cameras set up over the last five weeks have recorded images of the mouse at seven burnt-out sites in southern New South Wales.

Continue reading...

What are second waves and how big a problem are they?