Around The Web

New Queensland study based on a series of home battery storage trials gives some insight into what can make batteries interesting for households, what might motivate them, and how the network might use these assets into the future.

JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd., one of the world’s largest manufacturers of high-performance solar power products, today announces the output power of its 60-cell PV modules assembled by mono-Si PERC cells has exceeded 325W.

A new fossil is shedding light on the marine reptiles that swam at the time of the dinosaurs.

There is enough food for everyone, says Chrissie Hynde – if everyone takes only their fair share and stops eating animals. Others suggest improving farming production methods, tackling population growth and taxing meat

Although I strongly agree with and appreciate George Monbiot’s efforts to shed light on the destructive nature of industrialised farming and its effects on animals and environment (We can’t go on eating like this, 11 December), I do not see the wisdom of tarring the entire farming community with the same brush.

Small family farms, where the profits are just enough to sustain the running of the farm, actually replenish the environment and provide for local communities. A non-slaughter farm is humane, realistic and beneficial all around. We need farmers. There is enough food for everyone if everyone takes only their fair share and stops killing and eating the animals.

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We already know that climate change makes heatwaves hotter and longer. But a new series of research papers asks whether there is also a climate fingerprint on frosty spells and bouts of wet weather. Pandora Hope, Senior research scientist, Australian Bureau of Meteorology Andrew King, Climate Extremes Research Fellow, University of Melbourne Eun-Pa Lim, Senior research scientist, Australian Bureau of Meteorology Michael Grose, Climate Projections Scientist, CSIRO Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The 2016 bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef was the worst on record. Now a new analysis points the finger squarely at human-induced warming, and warns that the entire reef's future is at stake. Sophie Lewis, Research fellow, Australian National University Jennie Mallela, Research Fellow in Coral Reef Monitoring and Reef Health Appraisal, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A last-ditch effort to save the world's rarest marine mammal from extinction has been launched.

Charity accuses UK supermarkets of misleading customers with fake farm branding and claims Tesco is damaging the reputation of a real farm with the same name

Major UK supermarkets including Tesco, Aldi, Asda and Lidl are being urged to stop using controversial “fake farm” branding on own-brand meat products, with a food charity claiming they are misleading shoppers.

The Feedback charity is backing the owner of a genuine farm called Woodside Farm – a name Tesco has also used on its value pork range since 2016 – and is threatening legal proceedings if the retail giant does not drop the name Woodside Farms.

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Scottish Fishermen’s Federation says this year’s common fisheries policy deal reveals ‘simmering resentment’ of EU member states due to Brexit

Scottish fishermen have raised concerns that the EU is adopting a hardline stance over quotas as a prelude to Brexit negotiations.

Annual negotiations over fishing quotas – expected to be the penultimate talks the UK participates in before leaving the EU – were concluded in Brussels early on Wednesday.

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As America is battered by climate-intensified weather disasters, Republican politicians are trying to slash climate research funding

The United States is great in many respects. But we certainly aren’t perfect; we’ve made some pretty silly choices. One of the dumb choices politicians in the United States want to make is to defund climate science so we wont be able to prepare for increased disasters in the future. We can see how shortsighted this in when compared alongside with the costs of disasters.

Just think about the respective magnitudes. Estimates put the costs of the three big 2017 hurricanes (Harvey, Irma, and Maria) at approximately $200 billion. It is somewhat challenging to estimate the actual cost because not only is there rebuilding that must occur, but there are also lingering damages from loss of power, dislocation of people, and other long-lasting factors. Some reports estimate that the damage may end up being as high as $300 billion – a staggering amount.

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Neonicotinoids, banned on flowering crops, were found in nearly all rivers tested, increasing concerns over their impact on fish and birds

Rivers in England are contaminated with powerful insecticides, new testing has revealed, increasing concerns over the impact of the toxic chemicals on fish and birds.

Neonicotinoids were banned from use on flowering crops in the European Union in 2013 due to the harm they cause to bees and other vital pollinators. Following even more evidence of harm, an EU vote to extend the ban to all outdoor uses is expected soon.

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Nowhere Far, the first monograph by Nicholas Hughes, has been 15 years in the making and spans six separate series of abstract and ethereal landscapes. Hughes’s work is concerned with man’s relationship to the environment, examining the space between the world people inhabit and that which nature claims as its own

• Nowhere Far by Nicholas Hughes is published by GOST Books
  

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Charity urges people to rewear last year’s jumper to reduce the waste impact of the throwaway festive fashion

One in four Christmas jumpers bought last year was thrown away or is unlikely to be worn again, according to new research which reveals that most novelty sweaters will only ever be worn once.

Emblazoned with flashing lights or more tasteful alpine motifs, the festive apparel is so popular that about £220m will be spent on them in the run up to Christmas this year.

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Wenlock Edge, Shropshire Suddenly the familiar had been enchanted, even the bull and the blackbird in the blizzard

Black-white-black-white: the bull watches the bird through the snow. This is the first flurry for years, long enough to have forgotten how snow changes everything the other side of the doorstep. It began with the supermoon, a silver florin in a halo of limelight. Then came Storm Caroline – “good times never seemed so good,” sang Neil Diamond – and although not such good times elsewhere, it was easy going here.

Weather presenters spread long fingers over maps and warned that the departing storm would pull down Arctic air, leading to snow at low levels. No one warned the dogs, they felt the excitement of a world changed around them, a duty to redraw their scent maps, a camaraderie with humans daft enough to roam abroad in a blizzard.

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AGL says no private investor would invest in new coal plant, but says battery storage is coming and will be a major game changer as costs fall – which is not far away.

On behalf of the Australian Government, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) today announced it has awarded $29.2 million for 20 research projects to propel the development of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology.

While most climate summits involve mitigation policies, motherhood statements and unmemorable memos, the latest, in Paris, could be different.

Draft report from hydraulic fracking inquiry has found the practice can be safe if risks are better mitigated

The Northern Territory government will wait until next year to make a decision on lifting its moratorium on fracking, despite federal calls for it to “get on with the job” after a long-running inquiry found it could be safe if risks were better mitigated.

The inquiry into hydraulic fracturing in the NT released its draft final report on Tuesday with 120 recommendations, which it said must be implemented in full to “reduce the risk to an acceptable level”.

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A more consumer friendly approach to connect renewables to the grid is the ambition of the new suite of guidelines being developed by Energy Networks Australia.

Trump official says US wants to form group of countries to promote “clean” coal, to offer an alternative path to nations who have a more positive political attitude to the fuel.