Around The Web

Westpac says at least 20 big companies are tendering for wind and solar plants as they look to bypass soaring grid costs and look for self-generation.

Audit office slams Australia's CCS funding programs, saying $450 million spent, and nothing achieved: Not a single tonne of CO2 saved, no technology ready for deployment, from a scheme that has been a governance catastrophe.

The solar, wind, battery, and electric car “miracles” have gone mainstream.

CEFC notches up 1 gigawatt of big solar investment across Australia, after committing another $207m to two new projects in Victoria and Queensland.

As Australia's competition regulator and national consumer law champion, it beggars belief that the ACCC continues to pander to the gas cartel.

A 420MW unit at Liddell coal generator is out of action and won't be available for most of summer; a 700MW unit at Mt Piper also failed, and two other big coal units tripped in the first week of the summer heatwave.

If you missed the annual Geminid meteor shower, cameras captured the celestial display over China.

Concerns over air pollution, food security and the loss of forests are driving the Chinese response to climate change, according to Charles Bedford from The Nature Conservancy.

Every December Australia's air travel peaks, as we travel to family and friends (or flee on holiday). Many buy carbon offsets for these flights – but what do they actually do to our carbon emissions? Susanne Becken, Professor of Sustainable Tourism and Director, Griffith Institute for Tourism, Griffith University Brendan Mackey, Director of the Griffith Climate Change Response Program, Griffith University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Neonicotinoids have increasingly been linked to problems in bee populations.

Nasa finds a distant star circled by eight planets, equal to the complement in our own Solar System.

Out of 3,500 entries from across the world, this year’s funny winners include a laughing dormouse, a shocked seal, and bears caught in the act

Continue reading...

Geologists made the discovery while exploring volcanic rocks near Broadford.

Office for Nuclear Regulation approves design for new reactor at Horizon Nuclear Power’s plant at Wylfa, Anglesey

Plans for a major new nuclear power station in Wales have taken a crucial step forward as UK regulators approved the project.

The Office for Nuclear Regulation gave the green light on Thursday for the Japanese reactor design for Horizon Nuclear Power’s plant at Wylfa, marking the end of a five-year regulatory process.

Continue reading...

A flaw in Europe’s clean energy plan allows fuel from felled trees to qualify as renewable energy when in fact this would accelerate climate change and devastate forests

The European Union is moving to enact a directive to double Europe’s current renewable energy by 2030. This is admirable, but a critical flaw in the present version would accelerate climate change, allowing countries, power plants and factories to claim that cutting down trees and burning them for energy fully qualifies as renewable energy.

Even a small part of Europe’s energy requires a large quantity of trees and to avoid profound harm to the climate and forests worldwide the European council and parliament must fix this flaw.

Continue reading...

But it’s political corruption, not public opinion that’s blocking American climate policy

There’s a debate between social scientists about whether climate change facts can change peoples’ minds or just polarize them further. For example, conservatives who are more scientifically literate are less worried about global warming. In essence, education arms them with the tools to more easily reject evidence and information that conflicts with their ideological beliefs. This has been called the “smart idiot” effect and it isn’t limited to climate change; it’s also something we’re seeing with the Republican tax plan.

However, other research has shown that conservatives with higher climate-specific knowledge are more likely to accept climate change – a result that holds in many different countries. For example, when people understand how the greenhouse effect works, across the political spectrum they’re more likely to accept human-caused global warming.

Continue reading...

This year the Caribbean experienced its most destructive hurricane season in decades. While large countries dominated the headlines, the small island nation of Dominica suffered the worst devastation it has ever seen. Josh Toussaint-Strauss visits his family in the country and asks, with next year forecast to be worse, how Dominicans see their future

Continue reading...

A new book commissioned by David Attenborough’s charity, The World Land Trust, documents life on the small and important elephant corridor which allows the animals to cross safely between ranges in Kerala, India

Continue reading...

RN Drive rounds up the year in science.

After casting doubt on climate change for decades, skeptic consultants have turned their attention to air pollution

On sunny days, when his classmates run out to play, Gabriel Rosales heads to the school nurse for a dose of Albuterol.

The fine mist opens his airways, relaxing the muscles in his chest. Without it, recess could leave the nine-year-old gasping for breath. He gets a second dose at the end of the day before heading home from St John Bosco Elementary School, in San Antonio, Texas.

Continue reading...