Around The Web

Negative price are still happening in base-load coal country, and Queensland is proof of that.

A 700MW unit at Eraring coal plant tripped during Monday's peak, the fourth coal unit to fail unexpectedly in less than a week. Meanwhile, another three units - equal to Hazelwood capacity - remain off line.

The Regional Land Partnerships Request for Tender opened on Monday 18 December 2017 and will close at 3:00 pm Canberra time on Wednesday 28 February 2018. For more information visit: www.nrm.gov.au/regional-land-partnerships

ARENA launches $20m funding round for hydrogen, both for renewable energy exports and for domestic "power-to-gas" storage.

The federal government's keenly awaited review of Australia's climate policies continues a longstanding bipartisan traditional of weak policy development in this area. Rebecca Pearse, Lecturer, University of Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Although the landholder had a clearing permit, 132 hectares was cleared outside of the approved area

A Queensland farmer has been fined and ordered to restore native vegetation he cleared on his property, despite a significant media campaign from the farmer, lobby groups and conservative politicians, all claiming the farmer had done nothing wrong.

In November, the Guardian reported on allegations that the owners of Wombinoo, south-west of Cairns, had illegally cleared 60 hectares of native trees.

Continue reading...

The environmentalist and advisor to Drax power station, Tony Juniper, says the wood used to create energy can be coppice thinnings and waste material

Last week, a group of respected scientists wrote to the Guardian to argue that using wood to generate electricity in place of coal is not a solution to climate change. Their critique pointed to a “carbon debt” arising from the years between using a tree for fuel and new one growing. They gave the impression that forests are being cleared wholesale to be shovelled into power stations. Reality on the ground is, however, somewhat different.

I found this out when earlier this year I went to the USA as an advisor to Drax, a power company in the UK that is seeking to accelerate the phase out of coal by using a biomass instead. On my travels I had many vivid reminders as to how forests are more than collections of individual trees. In the case of the US South, from where much of the wood being used in the UK comes from, I saw vast expanses of production woodlands being harvested for a range of products.

Continue reading...

Heavily polluting power plants across China will now have to choose between paying for their emissions or cleaning up their act

The world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, China, has launched the world’s biggest ever mechanism to reduce carbon, in the form of an emissions trading system.

China’s top governmental bodies on Tuesday gave their approval to plans for a carbon trading system that will initially cover the country’s heavily polluting power generation plants, then expand to take in most of the economy.

Continue reading...

Environment secretary’s action plan, due in new year, may include plastic bottle deposit scheme and standardised recycling policy

Cutting plastic pollution is the focus of a series of proposals being considered by the UK environment secretary, Michael Gove, who has said he was “haunted” by images of the damage done to the world’s oceans shown in David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II TV series.

The government is due to announce a 25-year plan to improve the UK’s environmental record in the new year. Gove is understood to be planning to introduce refundable deposits on plastic drinks bottles, alongside other measures.

Continue reading...

St Kilda Road trees range from elms planted in late 19th century to London Plane trees planted in 1960s

The decision to cut down 70 trees lining St Kilda Road in Melbourne to make way for a new train station is “an absolute tragedy”, opponents have said.

The trees range in age from elms planted in the late 19th century to London Plane trees planted in the 1960s.

Continue reading...

Rockland St Mary, Norfolk This adaptable bird feeds on fruit, insects, worms – and sometimes something even more substantial

The raised track by this broad is bordered by a sallow thicket that overtops a network of intertidal creeks.

To compensate for the subterranean shadows, you have to cowl your eyes and cup your ears to detect any secret occupant. Usually this is little more than a moorhen but, now and then, it is something finer, such as a feeding woodcock. Fixing the whereabouts of any quiet commotion, which always inserts into the moment a shudder of excitement, is your best hope of seeing it before being seen.

Continue reading...

Turnbull government review declares its climate policy a success. New data, however, tells a different story.

NSW grid at risk of blackout from soaring temperatures - despite, and possibly because of, the state relies on coal generation more than any other grid in the world.

Another indication, amongst many, of the global transition away from coal.

The years 2017, 2016 and 2015 will make up the three hottest years on record for the planet. But there’s no convincing some people

When the global temperature readings are in for 2017, it’s going to be a very hard sell for climate-science deniers: 2017 will likely be ranked either side of 2015 as the second or third hottest year on record, with 2016 still in top spot.

The hottest five-year period recorded in the modern era will be the one we’ve just had.

Continue reading...

Australian battery company Redflow Limited has successfully started manufacturing core components for its zinc-bromine flow batteries at its new production facility in Thailand.

If you want to freeze some water, you might want to heat it up first.

Tesla big battery steps in after big Loy Yang coal unit trips, and arrests and reverses a dramatic fall in frequency - before the contracted coal unit had time to respond.

Three mammals, 11 amphibians, two fish, 11 reptiles and 88 plants were discovered by scientists in 2016, says WWF

A snail-eating turtle found in a food market and a bat with a horseshoe-shaped face are among 115 new species discovered in the Greater Mekong region.

A report from the conservation charity WWF reveals that three new mammals, 11 amphibians, two fish, 11 reptiles and 88 plants were found by scientists in Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam in 2016.

Continue reading...

AEMO launches plan for future grid, assuming emission cuts by 2030 twice that contemplated by Australia government, and a network that will be dominated by wind, solar, storage and new transmission. And there is not a single mention of "base-load".