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Kokam delivers 30 megawatt energy storage system to Alinta Energy: Largest lithium ion battery deployed for an industrial application in Australia
Dinosaur parenting: How the 'chickens from hell' nested
ARENA offers $7m for more solar and wind farm FCAS trials
MPs criticise government clean energy policies
CP Daily: Tuesday May 15, 2018
Plantwatch: glyphosate is only way to manage Japanese knotweed
Japanese knotweed is said to cost UK economy £170m a year, but so far only solution is controversial glyphosate-based herbicide
Japanese knotweed is a thug of a plant capable of growing a foot a week at this time of year; it spreads rapidly from underground rhizomes; erodes riverbanks, leading to flooding; smothers other plants; blocks drains and wreaks such havoc on homes and gardens that it blights property prices. It is estimated that controlling Japanese knotweed costs the UK economy about £170m each year. An entire industry has been built on trying to control the plant, using at least 15 different active control methods. There is, however, no impartial study of how effective any of these treatments are.
Scientists at Swansea University recently concluded the world’s largest field trial over five years on tackling Japanese knotweed. Their depressing assessment is that eradicating the plant using weedkillers is useless, and so too are physical methods such as covering up and cutting down knotweed.
Continue reading...Curious Kids: 'I would like to know why man lions have manes and lady lions don't'
Analysts predict undersubscribed WCI auction while revising down price forecasts
EU ETS rules work to block cleaner industrial innovations -Sandbag
EU Market: EUAs slide 4% after hitting fresh 7-yr high near €15
Batteries included in energy storage ideas | Letters
The WWF has been oversimplistic in its argument that no further gas-fired power stations are needed (Report, 14 May). The forecast increase in annual renewable electricity production is only just sufficient to balance the closure of coal-fired electricity generation and the fall in nuclear generation resulting from the retirement of many of our nuclear power stations (most of which are already working beyond their design lives). However, this does not mean more no more gas generation capacity is needed. Electricity demand varies, and renewables are intermittent. There has to be enough capacity to meet demand at all times.
While pump storage systems and batteries are able to store enough energy to cope with short-term variations in demand and the availability of renewable generation, it would not be environmentally friendly, efficient or cost-effective to use such systems to store energy from summer to winter, or even to store enough to survive a long midwinter period of high pressure over the North Sea.
Continue reading...Hedging rates eased for many EU utilities in Q1 as EUAs soared, data suggests
MSR to withdraw 265 mln EU carbon allowances from market by Aug. 2019
IBM, Veridium unveil blockchain-based offset trading platform, with initial focus on REDD
UK parliament to remove single-use plastics from Westminster
Almost all single use plastics, including coffee cups, bags and water bottles will be replaced with compostable or reusable versions by 2019
The UK parliament has unveiled a package of measures to “virtually eliminate” single-use plastics from Westminster in the next year.
The move will see a range of items – from coffee cups to straws, plastic bags to water bottles – removed from the parliamentary estate, to be replaced by compostable or reuseable options by 2019.
Continue reading...London considering car-free days in bid to tackle air pollution
City Hall sources say mayor is hoping to introduce separate car-free days in each borough this year, with ‘more ambitious plans’ for 2019
London is considering introducing car-free days in an attempt to tackle the city’s air pollution crisis that experts say is responsible for thousands of early deaths each year.
Officials at City Hall were due to meet on Tuesday to examine how best to roll out a ban across specific areas of the capital on different days this year - with “more ambitious plans” in the pipeline for 2019.
Continue reading...German supreme court upholds Deutsche Bank EU ETS tax fraud convictions
Timor-Leste's incredible marine life – in pictures
Situated in the heart of the ‘coral triangle’, this young nation boasts some of the most biodiverse waters in the world. As it emerges from years of unrest, it now faces the challenge of protecting its coasts, and the communities that rely on them, in the face of growing development
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