Around The Web

Golden eagle migration out of sync with climate change

BBC - Tue, 2017-12-12 11:56
Adult golden eagles are unable to shift the timing of their migration, a North American study shows
Categories: Around The Web

ARENA gives perovskite solar tech a push, with $6m Greatcell grant

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-12-12 11:50
Commercial development of cheap, printable, Australian made perovskite solar cells boosted with $6m ARENA grant to Greatcell Solar.
Categories: Around The Web

AEMO relaxes constraints on wind power in South Australia

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-12-12 11:43
AEMO relaxes limits on wind generation in South Australia as it continues to review system strength needs of the grid with the highest penetration of wind and solar in the world.
Categories: Around The Web

80MW solar farm proposed for Tamworth, NSW

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-12-12 10:59
New Australian solar developer, Oriens Energy, announces plans for 80MW solar farm in Tamworth, with more projects in the pipeline.
Categories: Around The Web

New study smashes myths about “embodied” energy in wind and solar

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-12-12 10:58
Critics have argued renewable energies could come with high hidden greenhouse gas emissions that would negate their benefits to the climate. A new study shows the opposite is true.
Categories: Around The Web

‘Utopian’ currency Bitcoin is a potentially catastrophic energy guzzler

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-12-12 10:11
The recent upsurge in the price of Bitcoin seems to have finally awakened the world to the massively destructive environmental consequences of this bubble.
Categories: Around The Web

'Worrying alarm call' for world's birds on brink of extinction

BBC - Tue, 2017-12-12 10:09
Seabirds such as the kittiwake are being pushed to the brink of extinction, say conservationists.
Categories: Around The Web

Meet the newest carbon neutral network member

Department of the Environment - Tue, 2017-12-12 09:58
Tom Moore is a South Australian based glass artist. Tom has achieved certification for the production of carbon neutral glass objects from the period of his PhD.
Categories: Around The Web

Macron awards US scientists grants to move to France in defiance of Trump

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-12-12 07:16

France’s president awards millions of euros to 18 American scientists to relocate in effort to counter Donald Trump on the climate change front

Eighteen climate scientists from the US and elsewhere have hit the jackpot as France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, awarded them millions of euros in grants to relocate to France for the rest of Donald Trump’s presidential term.

The “Make Our Planet Great Again” grants – a nod to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan – are part of Macron’s efforts to counter Trump on the climate change front. Macron announced a contest for the projects in June, hours after Trump declared he would withdraw the US from the Paris climate accord.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Unique rivers deserve protection, say graziers and water experts

ABC Environment - Tue, 2017-12-12 06:51
Unconventional gas development could threaten the unique desert rivers of the Lake Eyre Basin, according to contributors to a new book.
Categories: Around The Web

Tasmanian tigers were going extinct before we pushed them over the edge

The Conversation - Tue, 2017-12-12 05:13
The new Tasmanian tiger genome reveals some fascinating facts about this extinct marsupial, including why they were so similar to dogs, and how they were growing more vulnerable to genetic disease. Andrew Pask, Associate Professor, University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
Categories: Around The Web

Pacific 'baby island' is natural lab to study Mars

BBC - Tue, 2017-12-12 04:12
A newly emerged volcanic island will help trace the Red Planet's water history and the search for life.
Categories: Around The Web

US flood risk 'severely underestimated'

BBC - Tue, 2017-12-12 04:04
More than three times as many Americans are at risk of having their homes flooded than federal maps show.
Categories: Around The Web

Global warming will weaken wind power, study predicts

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-12-12 02:00

Wind farms are key to tackling climate change but warming will significantly cut wind power across US and UK, though Australia will see winds strengthen

Wind farms are key to tackling climate change but warming will significantly cut the power of the wind across northern mid-latitudes, including the US, the UK and the Mediterranean, according to new research. However, some places, including eastern Australia, will see winds pick up.

The research is the first global study to project the impact of temperature rises on wind energy and found big changes by the end of the century in many of the places hosting large numbers of turbines.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

The world's youngest island

BBC - Tue, 2017-12-12 01:04
Scientists think Hunga Tunga Hunga Ha'apai might hold clues on where to look for life on Mars.
Categories: Around The Web

Irish DNA map reveals history's imprint

BBC - Tue, 2017-12-12 01:01
Scientists have unveiled a detailed genetic map of Ireland, revealing subtle DNA differences that may reflect historic events.
Categories: Around The Web

Huntington’s breakthrough may stop disease

BBC - Mon, 2017-12-11 23:34
Scientists say it could be the biggest breakthrough in neurodegenerative diseases for 50 years.
Categories: Around The Web

‘Tsunami of data’ could consume one fifth of global electricity by 2025

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-12-11 23:27

Billions of internet-connected devices could produce 3.5% of global emissions within 10 years and 14% by 2040, according to new research, reports Climate Home News

The communications industry could use 20% of all the world’s electricity by 2025, hampering attempts to meet climate change targets and straining grids as demand by power-hungry server farms storing digital data from billions of smartphones, tablets and internet-connected devices grows exponentially.

The industry has long argued that it can considerably reduce carbon emissions by increasing efficiency and reducing waste, but academics are challenging industry assumptions. A new paper, due to be published by US researchers later this month, will forecast that information and communications technology could create up to 3.5% of global emissions by 2020 – surpassing aviation and shipping – and up to 14% 2040, around the same proportion as the US today.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

No more green rhetoric. A sustainable future is vital and possible

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-12-11 22:16

Climate change is at the heart of Labour’s industrial strategy, which means investing in green tech and renewable energy, and divesting from fossil fuels

The climate crisis is the most significant issue facing humanity. Natural disasters are already displacing entire communities. More intense droughts are leading to unprecedented levels of food insecurity and hunger across the globe. This summer saw hurricanes, floods and fires affect hundreds of millions of people from India to Niger, Haiti to Houston. The UK is also vulnerable to climate impacts, with more destructive storms, prolonged floods, and heatwaves becoming the norm.

Our climate reality is increasingly unpredictable and daunting. However, it is also opening the space to collectively reimagine a different future for the UK. Fossil fuels helped ignite the first industrial revolution, but we now know that their continued use will threaten our very existence. Within the UK we have the skills, ingenuity and people to drive the next energy revolution, powered by renewables. For us to make this change a success, our politics must have environmental sustainability and social justice at its core.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

California's hellish fires: a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Future | Dana Nuccitelli

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-12-11 21:00

California is burning in December. Climate scientists predicted global warming will make Christmas wildfires more commonplace.

In Charles Dicken’s ‘A Christmas Carol,’ the Ghost of Christmas Future appears to Ebenezer Scrooge to show what will happen if he doesn’t change his greedy, selfish life. California’s record wildfires are similarly giving us a glimpse of our future hellish climate if we continue with our current behavior.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Pages

Subscribe to Sustainable Engineering Society aggregator - Around The Web