Around The Web

Elon Musk hails a "phenomenal year" for Tesla, but it is still draining cash as it looks to its next EV model, and extracts itself from production hell on the last.

Australian homes and businesses continue to install solar at a cracking pace in January, adding another 111MW to the 2017 total of more than 1.25GW.

Energy Transition Hub is pleased to launch the OpenNEM project with the ‘alpha’ release of our website and our new widget in RenewEconomy.

The Indian state of Tamil Nadu capable of doubling its wind energy capacity by 2027 and increasing its solar capacity six-fold.

South Australia can show the rest of the nation how to build a 100 per cent renewable energy system to makes people's lives better.

SolarReserve's flagship solar tower and storage project is still falling short of design targets. Does it deserve public money?

Never mind the Roadster in space, Elon Musk says the Tesla big battery in South Australia has exceeded performance targets "significantly," a success that has put a rocket under sales of the company’s commercial-scale Powerpacks.

A commission will decide the timeline for phasing out coal, under a coalition deal agreed between social democrats and Angela Merkel’s conservatives

Results from Australia's biggest coal generator, AGL, shows how coal and gas companies have profited from the surge in electricity and gas prices.

Tasmanian scientists are trialling  a new tactic to help the shy albatross fight extinction: constructing artificial nests. Over one hundred specially built mudbrick and aerated concrete artificial nests were airlifted on to Bass Strait’s Albatross Island in July 2017 as a trial program. So far the results are looking promising with the breeding success of pairs on artificial nests 20% higher than those on natural nests. Conservationists hope the nests will boost the population of the threatened seabird, which is vulnerable to climate change.

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South Australia government provides funding for feasibility studies into four large pumped hydro projects in the wind and solar-rich upper Spencer Gulf.

Scientists want to find out more about how very young children develop a sense of self.

EPA administrator says ‘There are assumptions made that because the climate is warming that necessarily is a bad thing’

Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, has suggested that global warming may be beneficial to humans, in his latest departure from mainstream climate science.

Pruitt, who has previously erred by denying that carbon dioxide is a key driver of climate change, has again caused consternation among scientists by suggesting that warming temperatures could benefit civilization.

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Beaches, wildlife, the Great Barrier Reef, unspoilt natural wilderness and national parks all considered threatened by climate change

Tourism is Australia’s most vulnerable and least prepared industry to deal with climate change despite the fact it is already feeling its effects, according to an advocacy group report.

The report by the Climate Council, based on 200 source documents and articles, says while tourism is growing at an extraordinary pace – an 8% jump in visitors last financial year – not enough is being done to prepare for damage to the country’s greatest drawcards.

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Exclusive: documents show Katrina Hodgkinson changed plan to allow irrigators to extract 32% more after industry ramped up its lobbying

A water-sharing plan for the Barwon-Darling was altered by the former New South Wales minister for primary industries, Katrina Hodgkinson, even though public consultations on the draft plan had ended and her bureaucrats had already submitted a draft for her to sign.

The changes made it more favourable to irrigators and delivered valuable additional water during low flows. According to some modelling it may have increased legal extractions by irrigators by 32%.

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Marbled crayfish have developed the ability to self-clone – and now a million-strong crustacean army exists in waters stretching from Europe to Japan

Name: Marbled crayfish. Marmorkrebs in German.

Age: Potentially infinite.

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Genome study finds the invasive clonal freshwater crayfish is descended from a single female and reproduces without males

A voracious pest that mutated in a German aquarium and is marching around the world without the need for sexual reproduction may sound like science fiction, but a genetic study has revealed that a rapidly spreading all-female army of crayfish is descended from a single female and reproduces without any males.

The clonal freshwater crayfish is regarded as an invasive species which threatens endemic wild species, but its success may help scientists better understand how cancer spreads.

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Indonesian authorities say male orangutan was found with 130 airgun pellets and machete wounds in the second known killing this year

The body of a Borneo orangutan has been found riddled with some 130 airgun pellets, Indonesian authorities have said, the second known killing this year.

The male orangutan, which also showed signs of machete wounds, was found by villagers in Borneo’s East Kutai district this week, police said, adding that an autopsy had been carried out.

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Scientists put a face to Cheddar Man, Britain's oldest complete skeleton from 10,000 years ago.

In a sixth year of consecutive growth, organic sales rose by 6% to a record £2.2bn, driven largely by independent outlets and home deliveries

Sales of organic food and drink in the UK rose by 6% last year to a record £2.2bn, fuelled by strong growth through independent outlets and home delivery which outpaced sales in rival supermarkets.

Almost 30% of all organic sales now take place online or on the high street, according to a new report from Soil Association, the trade body which licenses organic products and promotes organic farming.

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