Around The Web

A super-hard metal is made in the laboratory by melting together titanium and gold.

A recent drought shut down the Amazon Basin's carbon sink by killing trees and slowing trees' growth rates, a first-of-its-kind study shows.

In a year of record global growth, solar PV broke records in Australia in 2015 too, with biggest ever year for big solar helping to balance fall in rooftop market.

There are several reasons that Australia lags behind other wealthy countries on energy efficiency.

South Australia's conservative opposition said to be source of dodgy numbers behind The Australian's erroneous front page story on wind energy in the state.

New analysis shows how gas generators cashed in on the recent big spikes in wholesale electricity prices in Australia. But they were not the only ones to benefit. The regulator is investigating to check that all is above board, but it's complicated.

There is a lot of noise about South Australia and not enough analysis. And there are some important lessons from the last few weeks of high prices.

Tesla Motors has revealed the Australian price for the entry-level version of its much-hyped Model X SUV – “the safest, quickest and most capable sport utility vehicle in history.”

Enthusiasm made a man forget the rules of hitchhiking.

TWO-WAY CONVERSATION: Not only do hunters in Mozambique recruit wild birds to help find honey, the birds actively recruit the hunters, reveals a new study of the remarkable relationship between humans and wild animals

With hydrogen tipped to become an important clean energy fuel, a new process may be the solution to powering electric vehicles and heating buildings

An Australian company is using “cheap as dirt” iron ore to convert methane in natural gas into hydrogen. Importantly, their process generates near-zero emissions, as the carbon content of the gas is captured in the form of high-quality graphite.

As a clean-burning fuel, hydrogen could play a key role in future energy markets, but production methods are still too energy-intensive and costly.

Continue reading...

Honey hunters in Mozambique rely on the help of honeyguide birds - and a new study reveals their two-way communication.

June marked 14th month of record heat for land and oceans with average global temperature reaching 1.3C

The world is on track for its hottest year on record and levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have reached new highs, further fuelling global warming, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has said.

June marked the 14th consecutive month of record heat for land and oceans, the United Nations agency said on Thursday. It called for the speedy implementation of a pact reached last December to limit climate change by shifting from fossil fuels to green energy by 2100.

Continue reading...

A brain map built up from scans of more than 400 individuals has carved the "cortex" into 180 different compartments, including 97 new ones.

You’re more likely to die from a tick bite or a bee sting than to you are to be killed by a grizzly bear in Yellowstone park, but here are a few tips just in case

Peak camping season is upon us, and this July and August millions Americans will be loading the minivan, heading into our national parks and forests, and inevitably meeting some bears.

Fortunately, most of these encounters will be uneventful. In almost every case, the bear will turn its tail and run. Take Yellowstone national park for example, a perfect grizzly bear habitat. In its 145-year history, with over 120 million visitors, only eight people have been killed by bears. You are far more likely to die of a tick bite or a bee sting. Indeed, you are more likely to be murdered in your own bed in America than you are to be killed by a grizzly while camping in Yellowstone.

Continue reading...

£300m Aberdeen Bay windfarm near Donald Trump golf course will be key testing ground for reducing cost

The Swedish energy company Vattenfall is pushing ahead with a £300m windfarm off the coast of Aberdeen despite last month’s EU referendum vote.

The offshore windfarm has been dogged by years of legal battles between Donald Trump and the Scottish government over its impact on his golf course, which the tycoon ultimately lost in the courts last year.

Continue reading...

The panel charged with reviewing Australia's renewable energy target concluded, simply, that we ought to increase greenhouse gas emissions and protect fossil fuels. The conclusions exist to render a perfect energy system - coated with carbon.

Full body immersion or cooling the extremities will help maintain healthy body temperatures

As we hit high-heat season in the Northern Hemisphere, it is useful to clarify tactics that can be used to help maintain healthy body temperatures. These tips are not commonly known and can be adopted by anyone, anywhere. While I am a climate scientist, my funded work is in the area of heat transfer, particularly in the human body. I work with medical companies to maintain healthy body temperatures during surgeries or other situations. I also deal with scald burns and I often serve in burn injury litigation.

Here are some key tips. First, avoid hyperthermia in the first place – drink plenty of fluids, avoiding direct sunlight, trying to get a respite from heat each day, avoiding physical exertion during the hottest parts of the day are all great suggestions. But, if you need to lower a body temperature, Dr. Robert Huggins, VP of Research and Athlete Performance at the Korey Stringer Institute suggests:

Continue reading...

Australia still rates poorly on clean energy and climate action. CSIRO/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

Australia may be home to some of the world’s most liveable cities, but we have a long way to go to meet the world’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Australia ranks 20th in the world – well behind Canada and many European countries but ahead of the United States – according to a new index that compares different nations' performance on the SDGs, which were adopted last September.

Launched at this week’s United Nations SDG talks in New York, the index marks each country’s performance towards the 17 goals. These aim to put the world on a more sustainable economic, social and environmental path, and feature 169 targets to be met over the next 15 years in areas such as health, economic growth and climate action.

The ranking, called the SDG Index and Dashboard and prepared by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the German think tank Bertelsmann Stiftung, ranks countries' performance using a set of 77 indicators.

Australia: good water, bad energy

Australia, with some of the world’s highest carbon emissions per person, rates poorly on the clean energy and climate change goals. It also falls down on the environmental goals, with high levels of solid waste and land clearing as well as loss of biodiversity.

Despite the long life expectancy and general good health of Australians, the index highlights that Australia has one of the highest rates of obesity in the world.

As shown in the performance chart below, Australia rates relatively highly on lack of poverty, education and water quality. Inequality, while increasing, is not as bad as it is in the United States or the United Kingdom.

Australia’s performance on each of the Sustainable Development Goals. SDG Index and Dashboards report

The best-performing countries on the list are mainly the northern European countries. Sweden, Denmark and Norway are at the top of the pile. Yet even these nations have significant challenges to achieve the climate change and environmental goals.

The top of the rankings… SDG Index and Dashboards report …and the lowest-ranked nations. SDG Index and Dashboards report

At the bottom of the rankings are sub-Saharan African countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and the Central African Republic, which face extreme poverty, hunger and major health problems.

In Asia, Japan and Singapore both rate above Australia, in 18th and 19th places respectively. Thailand (61st), Malaysia (63rd) and China (76th) are in the middle of the pack.

Priorities for action

The purpose of the report is to help countries identify the gaps that must be closed in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and to identify priorities for early action.

The SDG Index notes that Australia performs much better in the UN’s Human Development Index (on which it ranks second), which focuses on social and economic development but not environmental sustainability. This clearly demonstrates that Australia needs to act urgently to address the climate and environmental goals. It is in Australia’s interest to do so as we are more vulnerable to climate change than most comparable countries.

The report also highlights some other specific challenges for Australia, including fisheries management and sustainable use of nitrogen-based fertiliser. While Australia is not the worst performer on gender equality, many countries have a higher proportion of women in national parliaments than our 26.7% and we have a significantly larger gender wage gap than New Zealand.

The SDG Index will be updated regularly to improve its quality and coverage and allow people around the world to measure progress against the goals. Australia’s plan for implementing the SDGs within Australia is not yet clear and this will be an important item on the agenda for the re-elected Turnbull government.

John Thwaites receives funding from the Harold Mitchell Foundation. He is chair of Monash Sustainability Institute at Monash University.

Inventor of eco-friendly Frugalpac cup in talks with other coffee chains and supermarkets about using it as standard

Starbucks will trial a fully recyclable coffee cup in its UK shops, which could eventually divert huge numbers of cups away from landfill.

The cup, invented by entrepreneur and engineer Martin Myerscough, aims to reduce the environmental impact of the 2.5bn paper coffee cups used in the UK each year. Earlier this year it emerged that only one in 400 were recycled and the rest sent to landfill or incineration. This led to calls for a ban, an idea the government rejected.

Continue reading...