Around The Web

Rooftop solar most reliable source of new generation on NEM, says report

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-02-06 13:22
Rooftop solar has been installed by over 1.6 million households and is the most reliable source of steadily growing generation in the NEM.
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Turnbull’s power play: Snowy 2.0 vs battery storage

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-02-06 13:17
Snowy 2.0 report confirms that $8 billion project would likely boost coal and lift emissions. Worse, it takes an "us and them" approach to battery storage, and uses some pretty silly battery costings to justify its case.
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A Snow(y) job: He who pays the piper calls the tune

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-02-06 13:06
One of our main immediate criticisms of Snowy Hydro's latest paper is its assumption that Snowy 2.0 is the only pumped hydro project capable of being developed in Australia.
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New Nissan LEAF EV confirmed for Australia delivery

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-02-06 12:48
Big news for Australian EV market, as Nissan confirms delivery of next-gen LEAF will happen in the "next fiscal year."
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Australian wave energy hopeful wins grant to test technology at UK hub

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-02-06 12:33
Australian company AMOG wins EU grant to test its “floating pendulum” wave power technology at a marine energy testing site in Cornwall, UK.
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Renewable Energy Market Report: A cat among the pigeons

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-02-06 11:52
Following a generally stable end to 2017, forecasts suggesting the LRET will be met by 2020 have drawn a mixed reaction in the LGC market across January.
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The long and winding road to tariff reform

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-02-06 11:45
In first of three articles on electricity network tariff reform, we look at Tariff Structure Statements, and why you should care about them.
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Dinosaurs ‘too successful for their own good’

BBC - Tue, 2018-02-06 11:42
A study modelling how dinosaurs spread worldwide shows they may have been a victim of their own success.
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Elon Musk's huge Falcon Heavy rocket set for launch

BBC - Tue, 2018-02-06 11:40
The entrepreneur will attempt to fly the world's most powerful rocket with his own Tesla as payload.
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Pesticide bans might give us a buzz, but they won't necessarily save the bees

The Conversation - Tue, 2018-02-06 04:03
Australian bees have so far avoided the 'colony collapse' devastating hives around the world, but there's growing pressure for a ban on certain insecticides blamed for bee deaths. Caroline Hauxwell, Associate Professor, Queensland University of Technology Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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'Everything is made into a political issue': rethinking Australia's environmental laws

The Guardian - Tue, 2018-02-06 03:00

Public should be given a greater say on development plans, experts say

Environmental lawyers and academics have called for a comprehensive rethink on how Australia’s natural landscapes are protected, warning that short-term politics is infecting decision-making and suggesting that the public be given a greater say on development plans.

The Australian Panel of Experts on Environmental Law has launched a blueprint for a new generation of environment laws and the creation of independent agencies with the power and authority to ensure they are enforced. The panel of 14 senior legal figures says this is motivated by the need to systematically address ecological challenges including falling biodiversity, the degradation of productive rural land, the intensification of coastal and city development and the threat of climate change.

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Asda joins wave of supermarkets pledging to cut plastic waste

The Guardian - Tue, 2018-02-06 02:24

Series of measures includes reducing plastic in its own-brand packaging by 10% – but does not go as far as cutting it out altogether

Asda has become the latest supermarket to join the war against plastic by pledging to reduce it “wherever” it can, including slashing the amount in its own-brand packaging by 10% in the next 12 months.

In a series of measures, Asda promised to scrap 5p carrier bags in all stores by the end of the year, switch 2.4m plastic straws used in its cafes to paper and introduce reusable drinks cups in its shops and cafes by the end of 2019.

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'Extraordinary' fossil sheds light on origins of spiders

BBC - Tue, 2018-02-06 02:03
A fossil preserved in amber for 100 million years is shaking up ideas about the evolution of spiders.
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What the saviour of London’s pigeons taught me about the problem with plastic

The Guardian - Mon, 2018-02-05 23:17

Decades ago, the late writer and critic Naomi Lewis spent hours on the streets rescuing birds tangled in nylon thread. She should have been a warning sign of the horrors to come

Not knowing what to do with myself and my bad temper in my 30s, I went to a creative writing class at City Lit, a London-based adult-education college. The teacher looked odd – about 70, she was always dressed in black, her hair was grey and a little wild and she seemed to have dusted her face in flour, some of which speckled her black clothes.

But there was something magical about Naomi Lewis. She was full of enthusiasm, thrilled by the efforts of her class. She would sit at the end of our square of tables, always cheery, and call out excitedly: “So good! So much of interest!”

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Leading ivory trade investigator killed in Kenya

The Guardian - Mon, 2018-02-05 20:49

Esmond Martin, whose groundbreaking investigations contributed to the fight against elephant poaching, died after being stabbed at his home in Nairobi

A world-renowned ivory investigator whose detailed reports contributed to the fight against elephant poaching and the illegal wildlife trade has been killed at his home in Kenya, police said on Monday.

Esmond Martin, 75, died after being stabbed at his house in the Nairobi suburb of Langata on Sunday afternoon.

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Big business, not taxpayers, should pay to clean up plastic waste | Geraint Davies

The Guardian - Mon, 2018-02-05 18:00

Plastic is destroying our oceans, yet big corporations are still being given money to produce cheap plastic. It’s time for polluters to pay for the damage they cause

A six-year-old boy, Harrison Forsyth, provided us with a much needed wake-up call last week. He called on the boss of Aldi to protect our oceans:

“Dear boss of Aldi, I have watched this programme called Blue Planet 2 and I have seen that the plastic in the sea is making the animals sick and die.

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Labor weighs Adani options as Canavan says Australia needs to 'get these jobs going'

The Guardian - Mon, 2018-02-05 17:57

Coalition pressures Queensland government to back Aurizon proposal to build rail link

Labor has inched closer to resolving its stance on the controversial Adani coalmine as the federal resources minister, Matt Canavan, declared he was looking at alternatives to open up the Queensland coal basin and “get these jobs going”.

With federal parliament resuming for the new political year on Monday, the shadow cabinet was expected to discuss policy options on Adani after the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, toughened his rhetoric substantially against the north Queensland mine.

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Country Drive: Murray-Darling Basin problems and which regional airports get their own firefighters?

ABC Environment - Mon, 2018-02-05 17:52
There's yet more disagreement over the Murray Darling basin plan.
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Why are politicians getting away with bike lane claims based on hearsay? | Laura Laker

The Guardian - Mon, 2018-02-05 17:00

Peers use evidence-free anecdotes and cabbie hearsay to claim cycle lanes cause congestion – shouldn’t we demand a higher standard?

A number of peers have attempted to defend unsubstantiated claims that cycle lanes cause congestion and air pollution, apparently echoing anecdotal evidence from their own observations, taxi drivers and the rightwing press. These claims tend to go unchallenged and are allowed to shape the political debate – but this has to stop.

In a House of Lords debate on air pollution on 15 January, the prominent scientist and Labour peer Lord Robert Winston questioned the government over journey times for motor traffic before and after cycle lane construction, saying idling or slow-moving engines pollute more at slow speeds.

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Wind turbine syndrome: a communicated disease with Simon Chapman

ABC Environment - Mon, 2018-02-05 16:52
The incidence of 'wind turbine syndrome' in countries that don't speak English is low, Simon Chapman says.
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