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Solar pushes mid-day electricity prices below zero in Queensland

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2018-06-25 14:20
Wholesale electricity prices in Queensland go negative in middle of the day, underlining the case for storage as more large-scale solar projects connect to the grid, and rooftop solar continues to grow.
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Company selling “Australia’s cheapest battery” is in liquidation

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2018-06-25 14:16
Victorian energy storage business that offered "the most affordable battery in Australia" – and longest warranty – has gone into liquidation.
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Toronto pay-what-you-can store aims to tackle landfills and hunger

The Guardian - Mon, 2018-06-25 14:00

Initiative aims to reduce dumping of ‘waste’ and sell it at prices set by buyers

In a bright, airy Toronto market, the shelves are laden with everything from organic produce to pre-made meals and pet food. What shoppers won’t find, however, is price tags. In what is believed to be a North American first, everything in this grocery store is pay-what-you-can.

The new store aims to tackle food insecurity and wastage by pitting the two issues against each other, said Jagger Gordon, the Toronto chef who launched the venture earlier this month.

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ARENA’s perspective on the future of large scale solar

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2018-06-25 13:18
What is really happening beneath the surface of Australia’s solar industry; and what supply and demand trends can we expect to see in the next decade?
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If you need a PhD to read your power bill, buying wisely is all but impossible

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2018-06-25 12:54
Energy bills are becoming to complex to understand, but we can learn much by analysing them closely. Here's how..
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Electric “peoples car” sets new record for Pikes Peak hill-climb

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2018-06-25 12:53
If you want to prove that an electric vehicle is fast and grunty, there’s nothing like winning an uphill road race. Against petrol cars.
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A 'wheelie' good nesting box trial and creating a backyard market garden

ABC Environment - Mon, 2018-06-25 11:30
Volunteers make new homes for native wildlife; turn your backyard into an urban market garden; and kick up your heels at the Kooroorinya Races jive competition.
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Circus Oz take the big top to the Botanic Gardens

ABC Environment - Mon, 2018-06-25 10:35
The circus has come to Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens, with the Circus Oz big top now standing among the gardens' stunning trees and historic buildings.
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Greenwich observatory: Astronomers to start studying the sky again

BBC - Mon, 2018-06-25 10:28
The Royal Observatory Greenwich is to start serious study of the sky again after a break of 60 years.
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If you need a PhD to read your power bill, buying wisely is all but impossible

The Conversation - Mon, 2018-06-25 05:51
With electricity bills becoming more complicated, it's increasingly difficult for customers to know if they are getting a good deal. Bruce Mountain, Director, Victoria Energy Policy Centre, Victoria University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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Len McCluskey at odds with Corbyn over Heathrow expansion

The Guardian - Mon, 2018-06-25 05:00

Union boss and Corbyn ally urges all Labour MPs to back expansion ahead of third runway vote

Len McCluskey has written to all Labour MPs urging them to back Heathrow expansion on Monday, a move that puts the head of the Unite union directly at odds with Jeremy Corbyn.

He said they had “the opportunity to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs” by backing the government’s decision to build a third runway.

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New NT gasfields would put Paris commitment in doubt

The Guardian - Mon, 2018-06-25 04:00

‘There’s no room for any new long-term fossil fuel developments,’ climate scientists say

A gas boom in the Northern Territory would contribute as much as 6.6% to Australia’s annual emissions, according to data in a report from an inquiry examining the risks associated with fracking.

The final report by the inquiry’s committee assessed the emissions from exploration, producing gas from the planned new gasfields and from burning that proportion of the gas destined for the domestic market.

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Frogs and dragon flies in a deadly duel | Letters

The Guardian - Mon, 2018-06-25 02:11
The entire population of tadpoles in Peter Malpass’s pond has been eaten by dragon fly larvae

Your report (21 June) urging gardeners to be frog friendly is, of course, to be welcomed. However, cherishing amphibians raises a dilemma because one of the major threats to frog populations is predation by dragon fly larvae, rapacious creatures up to two inches long and said to be capable of eating anything not bigger than themselves. This year not a single froglet will emerge from my pond, despite the protection given to the frog spawn during the late snow and frost. The entire population of tadpoles has been eaten by dragon fly larvae. The fact that the adult dragon fly is a magnificent creature in its own right, and, like adult frogs and toads, eats creatures we might regard as garden pests, leaves me in a quandary: is it OK to kill dragon flies to protect frogs, or should I leave it to nature to sort itself out?
Peter Malpass
Bristol

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

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Genetically modified animals

The Guardian - Sun, 2018-06-24 16:00
Despite its potential to battle disease and hunger, genetically engineered food is still controversial

Last week, scientists from the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute announced they had deleted the section of DNA that leaves pigs vulnerable to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, which is estimated to cost European farmers £1.5bn a year in loss of livestock and decreased productivity. Genetically modified animals are banned from the EU food chain, but since this is a new and different technique it’s possible they’ll be appearing in bacon sandwiches in a few years.

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Up to 100 Labour MPs to back government on Heathrow third runway

The Guardian - Sun, 2018-06-24 15:00
Backbenchers defy Jeremy Corbyn by working behind the scenes with Tory whips

Labour MPs who disagree with Jeremy Corbyn’s opposition to the expansion of Heathrow airport have been working closely with government ministers and Tory whips to ensure the plans win parliamentary approval on Monday, in an extraordinary show of defiance against their party leader.

The extent of behind-the-scenes cooperation with the government on such an important policy issue is believed to be unprecedented and all but guarantees that the third runway plan will be passed, despite Corbyn, his shadow chancellor John McDonnell and the Labour front bench opposing the move.

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Coral reefs ‘will be overwhelmed by rising oceans’

The Guardian - Sun, 2018-06-24 07:21
Study finds fragile marine ecosystems cannot grow fast enough to keep pace with sea levels

Scientists have uncovered a new threat to the world’s endangered coral reefs. They have found that most are incapable of growing quickly enough to compensate for rising sea levels triggered by global warming.

The study suggests that reefs – which are already suffering serious degradation because the world’s seas are warming and becoming more acidic – could also become overwhelmed by rising oceans.

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Green energy feels the heat as subsidies go to fossil fuels

The Guardian - Sat, 2018-06-23 21:34
Community projects can slash household bills but the sector has ground to a halt in Britain – in contrast with schemes in Europe

The number of people generating their own power has almost flatlined, with only one new group formed in the UK last year, according to the body representing grassroots energy organisations.

Cuts to subsidies for homeowners to install solar panels and a “hostile planning approach” that has in effect banned new wind turbines are behind the “wholesale decline”, Community Energy England (CEE) said in its 2018 State of the Sector report.

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Living next door to 17 million chickens: 'We want a normal life'

The Guardian - Sat, 2018-06-23 17:00

Ukrainian villagers living in the shadow of Europe’s biggest chicken farm are fighting back – not just against the company but the development banks funding it

The locals call this area the Ryaba-land. That’s the name of the chicken brand Nasha Ryaba under which MHP – the largest poultry company in Ukraine and the owners of Vinnytsia farm - sells poultry meat in supermarkets. There are more chicken sheds than houses here. Even the village signs bear the MHP brand.

There are, as is so often the case, tensions between the industrial farms and the villagers. But in this case, anger is focussed not just on the company, but on their funders – the big international development banks that hand out public money.

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Country diary: they look like a crowd of skinheads frowning in long grass

The Guardian - Sat, 2018-06-23 14:30

Kirkham Abbey, North Yorkshire: If the residents of these anthills object to me perching on their home like some mammal Godzilla, they don’t show it

I wonder if they’re aware of the colossal creature approaching. Do they sense its lumbering footfalls? Do the walls tremble, or the avenues and galleries of their metropolis deform perceptibly under its weight? Can they sense its extravagant metabolic heat?

The mounds that pimple this sloping pasture are silent. The sheep were taken off a week or two back, but there’s been virtually no rain, so the turf tops remain cropped and dry – they look like a crowd of skinheads frowning into the longer grass around, some with tiaras of speedwell. Each tump is tall enough to escape winter waterlogging and, coincidentally, the perfect height for sitting on. If the residents object to me perching on their home like some mammal Godzilla, they don’t show it.

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Marine plastic: Hundreds of fragments in dead seabirds

BBC - Sat, 2018-06-23 13:06
Flesh-footed shearwater chicks are starving to death because of plastic, a BBC documentary reveals.
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