Around The Web

Scare campaigns about blackouts, this time caused by rooftop solar, are again in mainstream media. We explain what's going on here, why the claims are dubious, and why the market operator, networks and software companies want to control your rooftop solar system.

Researchers are genetically engineering plants to produce the sex pheromones of insects, which then frustrate the pests’ attempts to mate

“Sexy plants” are on the way to replacing many harmful pesticides, scientists say, by producing the sex pheromones of insects which then frustrate pests’ attempts to mate.

Scientists have already genetically engineered a plant to produce the sex pheromones of moths and are now optimising that, as well as working on new pheromones such as those of the mealybugs that plague citrus growers.

Continue reading...

The 'brumby bill' which passed the NSW upper house late last night, is an embarrassing step backwards for the state. Don Driscoll, Professor in Terrestrial Ecology, Deakin University Euan Ritchie, Associate Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Tim Doherty, Research Fellow, Deakin University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Keeping his word to ‘go electric’, Scottish tennis champ Andy Murray has become one of the first owners of the Jaguar I-PACE EV.

The eagles – and four other protected species – are alleged to have been poisoned

More than 100 wedge-tailed eagles have been found on a farm in eastern Victoria, prompting a criminal investigation.

Officers from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) found the carcasses on a property at Tubbut, which is on the edge of the Snowy River national park near the New South Wales border in East Gippsland.

Continue reading...

Commission will set a phase-out timeline for coal, but greens warn it may be too weak and divided to salvage Germany’s reputation as a climate leader.

EPSA, a co-regulatory arrangement under the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme, was given an improvement notice on 22 February 2017.

Massive 70 metre wind turbine blades, bound for the Kennedy Energy Park in Hughenden, were imported through Townsville port this week for the first time in history.

The new web-based tool with an intuitive graphical interface helps installers lower PV design costs and increase conversion rates by creating compelling customer proposals.

Environment groups condemn legislation protecting feral horses in national park

Australia has become a “global laughing stock” after the New South Wales parliament passed legislation to protect the heritage of feral horses in the Kosciuszko national park, environment groups say.

The Berejiklian government, with support from the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party and the Christian Democrats, passed the Kosciuszko wild horse heritage bill 2018 through the NSW Legislative Council late on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

Australia was thought to have some of the most sustainable fisheries in the world, but a recent count has found that fish numbers have plummeted by a third. Graham Edgar, Senior Marine Ecologist, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania Trevor J Ward, Adjunct professor, University of Technology Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Scientists Simon Lewis and Mark Maslin believe humans are not on an inevitable course to self-destruction.

The axolotl - a salamander unique to Mexico - has almost been wiped out by pollution and over-fishing.

‘We defend Peter’s right to make statements … until we are blue in the face,’ says deputy vice chancellor

A James Cook University boss says media reports about its sacking of controversial marine scientist Peter Ridd are “misleading and untrue” and that his academic freedom had always been upheld.

In an exclusive interview with Guardian Australia, deputy vice chancellor Prof Iain Gordon said he was frustrated at reports claiming Ridd was sacked for his fringe views on climate change or for his rejection of the scientific evidence linking human activity to degradation of the Great Barrier Reef.

Continue reading...

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

World’s biggest solar tower power plant with molten salt storage has begun commissioning in Morocco, and is scheduled to begin production by October.

Traces of microplastics and hazardous chemicals found in majority of snow and ice samples taken earlier this year

Plastic and traces of hazardous chemicals have been found in Antarctica, one of the world’s last great wildernesses, according to a new study.

Researchers spent three months taking water and snow samples from remote areas of the continent earlier this year.

Continue reading...

The number of EU ETS-covered companies holding a surplus of allowances has more than halved over the past year, according to a worldwide survey by Thomson Reuters Point Carbon.

EU carbon prices edged higher in a choppy session on Wednesday, though they failed to hold above €16 for a second straight day despite a stronger auction result.

A veteran EU environmental campaigner has joined a global public affairs consultancy firm, Carbon Pulse has learned.