Around The Web

The PV plant has been constructed by Belectric. Ingeteam has supplied five of its 2.33 MW power stations in order to inject the energy coming from the PV array into the camp’s internal grid.

A collection of 200 eggs gives new insights into the development of the extinct flying reptiles.

Whistleblowers accuse the agency in charge of the largest pest eradication effort in Australia's history of mismanagement.

South Australia powers on the world's biggest lithium battery.

SA Premier Jay Weatherill has announced a Royal Commission into breaches of the Murray Darling Basin agreement. But will it solve the long running problems with river management? Jamie Pittock, Director, International Programs, UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Penguins in New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere face an uncertain future as a new review documents the number accidentally ensnared in fishing nets. Ursula Ellenberg, Honorary Lecturer, La Trobe University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Nasa releases footage captured over China, Korea and Japan of "lightning, city lights and fishing boats".

The system works fine when there two candidates in an election but is a poor option when there are multiple ones – and it can lead to some bad results

• Ben Raue is Guardian Australia’s resident psephologist

The results so far of the Guardian’s bird of the year poll have not been without controversy. The Australian white ibis, a bird that is disliked by many who encounter it, took an early lead and has maintained that lead for more than a week. While this seems like a strange result, it makes sense when you think about the options provided to the voters. With so many birds to choose from, the voting system used has a tendency to produce a winner who has a committed support base, even if that option also has a lot of opponents.

The vote was conducted using the first-past-the-post (FPTP) voting method – everyone gets one vote, and the candidate with the highest vote wins. This system works fine when there are just two candidates running in an election, but when you get more than two, it inevitably results in candidates winning with less than a majority of the vote. The ibis is sitting on 13.6% of the total vote, with the magpie coming second on 11.1%. The top two birds combined have received less than a quarter of the total vote.

Continue reading...

Decision to hear Saul Luciano Lliuya’s case against the energy giant is a ‘historic breakthrough with global relevance’, campaigners say

A German court has ruled that it will hear a Peruvian farmer’s case against energy giant RWE over climate change damage in the Andes, a decision labelled by campaigners as a “historic breakthrough”.

Farmer Saul Luciano Lliuya’s case against RWE was “well-founded,” the court in the north-western city of Hamm said on Thursday.

Continue reading...

The Africa Food Prize winner talks about her work with Kenya’s smallholder farmers, and how indigenous crops can be a tool in the battle against food insecurity and climate change

When Ruth Oniang’o was working as a nutrition researcher in 1980s Kenya, she noticed an ominous change in the country’s agricultural landscape: regions that had once provided a diversity of nutritious food crops were being turned over to cash crops like sugarcane. Grown mostly for export, these crops were usurping land and soil that was intended for feeding people.

Spurred on by what she witnessed all those years ago, today Oniang’o--a professor of nutrition and a native Kenyan--leads the Rural Outreach Program, a nonprofit that champions the role of indigenous African crops and smallholder farmers in safeguarding food security. With the ROP, Oniang’o visits hundreds of farming communities in Kenya and helps them access, grow, and share seeds for indigenous crop varieties like sorghum, cassava, arrowroot, and jute mallow--foods that are not only nutritious, but also disease-resistant and climate-resilient. This year, these efforts got her recognised as the joint winner of the 2017 Africa Food Prize.

Continue reading...

MPs say ministers are showing no confidence in tackling the illegal levels of air pollution that prematurely kill an estimated 40,000 people a year

Ministers have been accused of having to be “dragged screaming” to tackle illegal levels of air pollution across the UK, which kills an estimated 40,000 people a year prematurely.

Neil Parish, co-chair of a parliamentary inquiry into air quality, told ministers from the Treasury, environment, transport and local government departments they were showing no confidence that they would tackle toxic air pollution as soon as possible.

Continue reading...

After digitising old weather data from atop Ben Nevis, citizen scientists tackle a much bigger project.

Annual survey by the Marine Conservation Society records 10% rise in litter in 2017 - with much of it plastic

The rubbish washing up on the UK’s beaches is continuing to increase, rising by 10% in 2017, the Marine Conservation Society’s (MCS) annual beach clean has revealed.

Much of the waste is plastic, leading the MCS to call on the government to urgently introduce a charge on single-use plastic items, such as straws, cups and cutlery. The chancellor, Philip Hammond, recently announced the government is considering such action.

Continue reading...

Retailers in favour of setting up mandatory system in England and Wales after government sought views on idea

Iceland and the Co-op have become the first supermarkets to support a bottle deposit scheme after the government sought views on the idea to reduce plastic pollution in the oceans.

The retailers came out in favour of setting up a mandatory deposit return scheme (DRS) in England and Wales as the environment secretary, Michael Gove, began to review the results of a seven-week consultation on whether to introduce a system to increase recycling rates of plastic bottles and reduce leakage into the oceans.

Continue reading...

In November 30, 1987 Australian scientists officially sounded the climate alarm. No one can say we haven’t been warned.

The predicted price of onshore wind in Germany is now half the EU’s projections for 2030, following an auction in Germany this week.

Tesla battery goes through final testing with a rapid series of charging and discharging – never seen before on Australia's ageing dumb grid.

Finkel vents his frustrations in final energy speech of the year, dumping on six biggest myths about electricity market, and delivering brick-bats to both policy makers and regulators.

Recent changes to the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Program reduce the burden on businesses and technicians, including by extending the duration of end-use permits from two to three years.

Recent changes to the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Program reduce the burden on businesses and technicians, including by extending the duration of end-use permits from two to three years.