Around The Web

Victoria’s Minister D’Ambrosio visits accionaI MT Gellibrand wind farm

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-02-15 12:05
The Hon. Lily D’Ambrosio MP, Victoria’s Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, today visited ACCIONA’s under-construction Mt Gellibrand wind farm.
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Trina Solar announces new efficiency record of 25.04% for large-area IBC mono-crystalline silicon solar cell

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-02-15 11:59
The record-breaking n-type mono-crystalline silicon solar cell was fabricated on a large-sized industrial phosphorous-doped Cz Silicon substrate with a low-cost industrial IBC process, featuring conventional tube doping technologies and fully screen-printed metallization.
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What lies beneath

BBC - Thu, 2018-02-15 11:07
Winning photos from the Underwater Photographer of the Year competition
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Great White demystified

BBC - Thu, 2018-02-15 10:36
Shark diving is helping tourists improve their perception about the largest predatory fish in the world.
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Amendments to the Threatened Species List

Department of the Environment - Thu, 2018-02-15 10:35
The Minister has approved the inclusion of 19 species, transfer of 8 species, removal of 2 species and retention of 3 species in their current category in the EPBC Act list of threatened species. He also found 3 species ineligible for listing.
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Musk's Tesla to stay in space for millions of years

BBC - Thu, 2018-02-15 10:17
A car launched by Elon Musk could stay in space for millions of years before hitting Earth or Venus.
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Qld turns to jet-fuel and imports as coal plants wilt in face of record demand

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-02-15 09:52
Queensland turns to jet-fuel and imports from NSW wind farm as soaring temperatures pushed demand to a new peak, and its big coal generators wilted in the heat. Fortunately, it also had heaps of rooftop solar.
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'Nothing to do with threatened species': Coalition accused of overstating spending

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-02-15 08:00

Labor, Greens and environment groups call for urgent review of funding for species conservation

Labor has accused the federal government of overstating its spending on threatened species projects and the Greens have called for an urgent auditor general’s review of all threatened species expenditure by the Department of the Environment and Energy.

It comes after the Guardian revealed the government was claiming projects such as heritage building works at the Old Melbourne Gaol and the Polly Woodside – an old cargo ship in Melbourne’s CBD – had benefits for threatened animals and plants that are unlikely to occur at those sites.

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Quantum computers 'one step closer'

BBC - Thu, 2018-02-15 05:25
Quantum computing has taken a step forward with the recent development of a silicon-based programmable quantum processor.
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Latest twist in the Adani saga reveals shortcomings in environmental approvals

The Conversation - Thu, 2018-02-15 05:08
The federal government considered prosecuting Adani's potential environmental negligence over the history of its Australian CEO. Samantha Hepburn, Director of the Centre for Energy and Natural Resources Law, Deakin Law School, Deakin University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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AI does grunt work on China's pig farms

BBC - Thu, 2018-02-15 03:19
Alibaba rolls out a system that analyses pig squeals and coughs to improve pork production.
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Marine scientists urge protection for endangered shellfish reefs

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-02-15 03:00

Shellfish reefs, formed by oysters or mussels in or near estuaries, have declined by up 99% since British colonisation

Marine scientists are lobbying the federal government to ensure protection for Australia’s most endangered – but least known – ocean ecosystem.

Shellfish reefs, formed by millions of oysters or mussels clustering together in or near the mouths of estuaries, have declined by up 99% since British colonisation.

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Decline in krill threatens Antarctic wildlife, from whales to penguins

The Guardian - Wed, 2018-02-14 23:42

Climate change and industrial-scale fishing is impacting the krill population with a potentially disastrous impact on larger predators, say scientists

The Antarctic, one of the world’s last great wildernesses and home to animals such as whales, penguins and leopard seals, is being threatened by the plight of an animal just a few centimetres long, according to scientists.

Researchers and environmental campaigners warn that a combination of climate change and industrial-scale fishing is threatening the krill population in Antarctic waters, with a potentially disastrous impact on larger predators.

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Crypto-currency craze 'hinders search for alien life'

BBC - Wed, 2018-02-14 21:43
A scientist says the search for alien intelligence has been hit by a shortage of computer hardware.
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Australia's new extinction crisis

ABC Environment - Wed, 2018-02-14 21:40
With over 1,800 plant and animal species endangered, Australia faces a new extinction crisis. Can we reverse this disturbing trend?
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A gold mine swallowed their village. This Amazon tribe is here to take it back

The Guardian - Wed, 2018-02-14 20:51

In 1996, Osvaldo Wuaru and his family arrived on the outskirts of the vast Munduruku Amazon Territory with a crucial mission: set up a village to hold back the invasion of pariwat (non-indigenous) gold miners. Twenty-one years later, it has all but failed, reports Climate Home News

Named Watch Post (the Portuguese acronym is PV), the village has been swallowed by the heavy equipment of hundreds of illegal gold miners (called garimpeiros). What was once a few huts hidden in the Amazon forest now resembles a bombed battlefield.

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Underwater photographer of the year 2018 winners - in pictures

The Guardian - Wed, 2018-02-14 19:59

German photographer Tobias Friedrich has been named this year’s winner for his ‘perfectly lit and composed’ panorama of a wreck off the coast of Egypt, while British winner Grant Thomas captured a couple of affectionate swans

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Country diary: new snow lay on wings of fungi

The Guardian - Wed, 2018-02-14 15:30

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire: The one-step-forward-two-steps-back dance between winter and spring had time yet but many of the animals and plants had not

Overnight snow left anonymous gifts. Frost and a chill wind through the trees hardened what remained of the snowfall as the weather moved on, to leave a scattering of unopened envelopes. Snow on fungi: there was something very symbolic about these two kinds of ephemeral structures. The Armilaria fungi living in the rotten stump of a tree may have been what killed it. The fruiting bodies of russet flesh that bloomed from fibrous mycelium, forming a circuit between tree cells and a kind of organic afterlife in the soil, were now holding a frozen package of snow.

After days of sogginess with bright moments, the return of snow felt revenant. It was too clear and pure, even in its fleetingness. In Among the Summer Snows, Christopher Nicholson talked about the literary obsession with the whiteness of snow and quoted Shakespeare when Juliet declares that Romeo “wilt lie upon the wings of night/ Whiter than new snow on a raven’s back”. Love transcends death, or something.

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If a regulator needs to go, it should be AEMC, not AEMO

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2018-02-14 14:40
The problem in Australia's energy market is that – uniquely in the world – we have separate rule making and operating statutory bodies. Only one of them is based in reality.
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Equis gets finance for 127MW solar farm in South Australia

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2018-02-14 14:38
Equis Energy to begin construction of 127MW solar farm in South Australia, and looks to add 111MW stage 2 and 100MWh of battery storage.
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