Feed aggregator

Ecologist Jamie Kingscott took a photograph of thousands of starlings as they surrounded his car.

New Zealand carbon allowances have stabilised a shade below NZ$39 ($27.93) in recent days, as traders show limited appetite to take major new positions ahead of next week’s inaugural auction.

President Xi offers no "big bang" to get to carbon neutrality, but others say China's massive renewables pipeline - more than 1,200 gigawatts - is cause for hope.

The post China’s Five Year Plan disappoints with “baby steps” on climate policy appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australia’s major political parties are stuck with old energy technologies. We need them to catch up, and soon.

The post Video: Gas and CCS? Australia needs to move on, and quickly appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The collapse of an Australian's investment empire could see Sanjeev Gupta lose a favoured financial backer, complicating his push into green steelmaking.

The post Could an Australian billionaire unravel Sanjeev Gupta’s green industry vision? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

There is no single energy significant industry where electricity has gained market share in the past decade.

The post Electrification: Australia is heading in the wrong direction appeared first on RenewEconomy.

This role sits within the Wholesale Markets team, which is responsible for setting the short-term operating strategy of generation assets, and managing risks associated with electricity, gas and carbon.

London Zoo staff explain how they - and the animals - have coped in their most difficult year.

Last year Singapore approved the sale of 'chicken' grown in a lab. What is it exactly - and could it be better for the planet?

Putting affected people and communities at the centre of difficult relocation decisions must be a priority under laws that replace the old Resource Management Act. Christina Hanna, Lecturer, Environmental Planning, University of Waikato Bruce Glavovic, Professor, Massey University Iain White, Professor of Environmental Planning, University of Waikato Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

NSW government offers $750m to shift heavy industry onto clean technologies, investing in new innovations to slash emissions and grow jobs creation.

The post NSW targets industrial emitters with $750 million decarbonisation push appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Here is a very lightly edited transcript of the recent interview with the Greens leader Adam Bandt on the Energy Insiders podcast.

The post Transcript: The Green’s Adam Bandt interview on the Energy Insiders podcast appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The election of the Biden administration raised hopes of a new dawn in US environmental protections. But left-right views will continue to stymie progress, just as they do in Australia. John Carr, Senior Lecturer, Environment and Society Group, UNSW Tema Milstein, Associate Professor of Environment & Society, UNSW Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Programme may help to ensure the survival of the critically endangered variable harlequin toad

One of the world’s rarest toads has been bred in captivity for the first time, thanks to the scientists at Manchester Museum.

The critically endangered variable harlequin toad, Atelopus varius, lives deep in the central American rainforests of Panama and Costa Rica, breeding only in turbulent streams filled with stones and boulders on which they lay their eggs.

Continue reading...

These insects have declined by a third over 50 years. While their appetites can be a nuisance, ultimately we must protect these gloriously beautiful, elusive creatures

“Night opens; night traversed by wandering moths; night hiding lovers roaming to adventure.” So runs a rapturous passage in Virginia Woolf’s The Waves, a novel she had originally considered titling The Moths. The insects are a recurring theme in the book – moths dashing themselves against windows, moths darting between candles on a summer’s night. In her essay The Death of the Moth, she describes an insect trapped in her window: “Watching him, it seemed as if a fibre, very thin but pure, of the enormous energy of the world had been thrust into his frail and diminutive body.”

Woolf’s identification of this little invertebrate with a vital but fragile life force takes on great poignancy with the charity Butterfly Conservation’s publication of its report The State of Larger British Moths. The study, the first comprehensive account of the insects produced by the organisation since 2013, makes for sobering reading. Over the past 50 years, moth abundance has declined by a third in Britain. This stark change is attributable, say the researchers, to agricultural practices, habitat loss, light pollution and, above all, global heating.

Continue reading...

West Cumbria Mining says Cumbria County Council's latest decision "cannot be justified".

Utility scale solar output its hits record level in Australia's main grid on Friday, although it was still just half that of rooftop solar on households and business.

The post Australia achieves record large solar energy output on Friday appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Investigation questions eco-friendly claims of incineration industry

When it comes to planet-friendly habits, recycling is by far the UK’s most popular, with 87% of householders claiming they do so regularly, according to the Waste and Resources Action Programme. But an investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches into where our rubbish goes, and the role played by energy-from-waste incineration plants, has found that millions of tonnes of our carefully sorted empties are simply being burned after they’re collected.

Freedom of information requests reveal that, on average, 11% of rubbish collected for recycling is incinerated. In some areas the figures are far higher: 45% in Southend-on-Sea and 38% in Warwickshire.

Continue reading...

While higher interest rates would add to the cost of financing the debt burden, central banks are unlikely to raise them soon

There was a warning after last week’s budget that Rishi Sunak’s recovery plans could be blown off course by a rise in inflation of such strength that it would force central banks to raise interest rates. A modest increase of just 1% in the interest paid on government debt would add between £20bn and £25bn to the cost of financing the UK’s debt and sink any hopes Sunak had of balancing day-to-day income and spending by 2026.

Sunak said as much in his budget speech, using the prospect of higher interest bills as a reason to ramp up taxes on households and businesses in the second half of the parliament.

Continue reading...

What is battery storage? What can it do? And where will batteries be used in Australia over the next decade?

The post Explainer: What is battery storage? And why is it coming to a grid near you? appeared first on RenewEconomy.