Around The Web

The UK government's getting together with the retail giant Amazon, to start testing flying drones that can deliver parcels to your door.

Research found that 23% of violent clashes in ethnically divided places were connected to climate disasters

Climate-related disasters increase the risk of armed conflicts, according to research that shows a quarter of the violent struggles in ethnically divided countries were preceded by extreme weather.

The role of severe heatwaves, floods and storms in increasing the risk of wars has been controversial, particularly in relation to the long drought in Syria. But the new work reveals a strong link in places where the population is already fractured along ethnic lines.

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Newly completed Coonooer Bridge wind farm achieves capacity factor of nearly 50 per cent in the first full three months since it began operations.

Britain’s front gardens are being paved for parking while back gardens become patios. But in Canada and the US, the Depave movement is tearing up hard surfaces

In towns and cities, flash floods are a growing problem. The concrete jungle can’t soak up rainwater, so in heavy downpours it has nowhere to go except into drains, overloading them and setting off flash floods.

A movement in Canada and the US called Depave is tearing up concrete and asphalt in local neighbourhoods and replacing it with gardens to soak up rainwater and help prevent flooding. And although Depave is largely unknown in Britain, there’s a growing need for similar action here.

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Exclusive: farm gets the green light to be built by Chinese companies after $9.9m grant from renewable energy agency

Australia’s first large-scale hybrid wind and solar farm is set to be built near Canberra, with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) providing a $9.9m grant.

The money would go towards the $26m cost of building a 10MW solar photovoltaic plant alongside the existing Gullen Range windfarm.

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The areas of the brain involved in complex thought are the ones that change the most during the teenage years, research shows.

Conservationists are calling on the US to raise the protection level for leopards, severely curbing hunters’ ability to import body parts as trophies

Conservationists have demanded a crackdown on the import to the US of leopards killed by American hunters, in an attempt to replicate the protections introduced in the wake of the furore caused by the death of famed lion Cecil.

Related: Cecil the lion's legacy: death brings new hope for his grandcubs

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Study by economists say achievement by world’s biggest polluter may be a significant milestone, rather than a blip

The global battle against climate change has passed a historic turning point with China’s huge coal burning finally having peaked, according to senior economists.

They say the moment may well be a significant milestone in the course of the Anthropocene, the current era in which human activity dominates the world’s environment.

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Group says move would allow shoots to be banned if birds of prey are illegally killed, amid withdrawal from hen harrier scheme

Grouse shooting estates should be licensed so that authorities have the power to ban them if birds of prey are illegally killed, the RSPB has urged, as it quit a government initiative to save the hen harrier in England.

The hen harrier action plan is a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs-led scheme in which landowners, shooting groups and conservation organisations agreed to work together to increase numbers of hen harriers in England.

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Two-thirds of 16- to 34-year-olds consider environmental and wildlife policies a top voting priority, according to survey

Almost nine out of 10 young people think it is important for politicians to take care of wildlife and the environment, according to a new poll.

Two-thirds of 16- to 34-year-olds agree the environment is a top voting priority for them, the CensusWide survey of 1,000 people of all ages revealed.

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Contrarian climate scientist Roy Spencer summed up the contrarian case for a fossil fuel and tobacco-funded think tank

When I give a presentation and mention the 97% expert consensus on human-caused global warming, I’m often asked, “what’s the deal with the other 3%?”. These are the publishing climate scientists who argue that something other than humans is responsible for the majority of global warming, although their explanations are often contradictory and don’t withstand scientific scrutiny.

A few months ago, the world’s largest private sector coal company went to court, made its best scientific case against the 97% expert consensus, and lost. One of coal’s expert witnesses was University of Alabama at Huntsville climate scientist Roy Spencer - a controversial figure who once compared those with whom he disagreed to Nazis, and has expressed his love for Fox News.

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UK loses third of solar posts as survey reveals almost four in 10 companies are considering leaving market entirely

More than 12,000 solar power jobs have been lost in the past year because of government subsidy cuts, according to the industry.

A third of solar jobs have been lost in the UK, found the report by PwC for the Solar Trade Association (STA), based on a survey of 238 companies, around 10% of the industry.

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Friends of the Earth condemns Coal Authority for granting licences for underground coal gasification at 19 UK sites

Plans to set fire to coal under the seabed at up to 19 sites around the UK would cause significant climate pollution, groundwater contamination and toxic waste, according to a report by environmentalists.

The UK government’s Coal Authority has granted licences for underground coal gasification (UCG) covering more than 1,500 sq km of seabed off north-east and north-west England, Wales and east central Scotland.

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The sharp spike in SA electricity prices this month certainly put the wind up renewable energy critics. But the really scary thing for the fossil fuel industry is that the price spikes don't happen often enough. The media appears to have forgotten they used to occur every second day.

Iveragh Peninsula, County Kerry Roadsides are a riot of primary yellow, pinks and purples

This verdant isle is indeed a green gem, but for the visitor from eastern England the abundance of richly coloured flowers is the stand-out botanical feature of the west coast of Ireland.

Roadsides are a riot of primary yellow – bird’s foot trefoil, St John’s wort, ragwort and cat’s ear; pinks and purples – including common, bell and cross-leaved heather and whole hedges of fuchsia; whitish umbels of angelica, and big white and pink striped, flared trumpets of the roseata subspecies of large bindweed.

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Solar energy, no sodium and organic fertiliser: how one of Australia’s biggest wineries is reducing waste while saving money and energy

One of Australia’s biggest family-owned wineries wants to become the country’s first zero-waste wine producer, and has invested more than $15m to achieve this goal.

De Bortoli Wines, which has wineries at four sites in two states, has already cut the amount of waste it disposes to landfill from 300 tonnes a year to 48 tonnes as part of a long-term sustainable business plan adopted in 2004.

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Warmer weather in NSW responsible for most of the decline in volumes and prices in gas and electricity markets in last week.

Adelaide company ZEN Energy wins contract to install more than 500kWh of li-ion battery storage at three government-owned buildings in Adelaide.

An acquisition spree for regulated fossil-fuel assets that are supported by guaranteed payments
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Impact Investment Group's new $100m solar fund, headed by former Pacific Hydro chief Lane Crockett, will buy operational solar farms ranging from 1MW-30MW.