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A new paper says its collapse could be imminent, but other scientists have serious reservations.

Applications for new connection agreements continue to jump sharply, but registrations and commissioning continues to drag.

The post Another 4GW of wind and solar sought grid connections in last quarter appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The growing uptake of rooftop solar PV – driven in part by the huge jump in wholesale electricity prices and retail bills in the past year – has taken the biggest bite yet out of the fossil fuel industry’s energy lunch. In an ironic twist to the cartel-like behaviour of the fossil fuel industry in […]

The post Rooftop solar takes biggest bite yet out of fossil fuel industry’s energy lunch appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Hungary could raise hundreds of millions of euros from its recently adopted carbon tax and free allowance transaction fee policy on operators that receive high volumes of EU carbon permit handouts, analysts told Carbon Pulse, though they do not believe it likely that other nations in the bloc will introduce similar regulation given the expected competitive disadvantage and costs for affected firms in the country.

European carbon prices rose to their highest in five weeks before giving up most of the gains as position data showed investment funds had boosted their net long position to the most in more than three months, while natural gas prices continued to gyrate, gaining as much as 5.2% before falling back.

South Korea has set a temporary price floor for the domestic emission trading scheme (ETS) to stabilise the market, as allowance prices have crashed to unprecedented new lows.

Drone footage showed the scale of devastation in Algeria's northern Bouria region after deadly wildfires spread through mountain ranges on Tuesday, killing at least 34 people. About 8,000 firefighters battled blazes in 15 provinces, leading to the evacuation of more than 1,500 people. The Algerian online news site TSA quoted the National Meteorological Office as saying that temperatures had soared to about 50C (122F) in some areas

• ‘Like a blowtorch’: Mediterranean gripped by wildfires as blazes spread in Croatia, Portugal

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It often seems that people are searching harder for evidence we’re defeated than that we can win

Stanford engineering professor and renewable energy expert Mark Z Jacobson tweeted the other day, “Given that scientists who study 100% renewable energy systems are unanimous that it can be done why do we hear daily on twitter and everywhere else by those who don’t study such systems that it can’t be done?” A significant percentage of the general public speaks of climate change with a strange combination of confidence and defeatism: confidence in positions often based on inaccurate or outdated or maybe no information; defeatism about what we can do to make a livable future. Maybe they just get their facts from other doom evangelists, who flourish on the internet, no matter how much reputable scientists demonstrate their errors.

They’re surrendering in advance and inspiring others to do the same. If you announce that the outcome has already been decided and we’ve already lost, you strip away the motivation to participate – and of course if we do nothing we settle for the worst outcome. It often seems that people are searching harder for evidence we’re defeated than that we can win. Warnings are a valuable thing, given with the sense that there’s something we can do to prevent the anticipated outcome; prophesies assume the future is settled and there’s nothing we can do. But the defeatists often describe a present they assert are locking in the worst outcomes.

Rebecca Solnit’s most recent books are Orwell’s Roses and the climate anthology Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility, co-edited with Thelma Young Lutunatabua

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Australian think-tank Climateworks Centre on Wednesday released the Natural Capital Measurement Catalogue (NCMC) as a consistent reference source for companies to measure, manage, and report on their natural capital assets.

A Tokyo-based climate startup has launched a carbon exchange to vitalise the creation and distribution of carbon credits, with plans to set up offices in Southeast Asia and South America, it announced Wednesday.

International rules regulating wildlife trade overlook some 40% of plants and animals at risk from such trade because there is no established methodology to identify them, a study has found.

Australian supplies and knowledge of its native seeds are inadequate for the scale and demand necessary for the government’s proposed voluntary biodiversity credit market, according to experts. 

Environment minister says way pod crowded tightly together 150 metres offshore before becoming beached is ‘unique and pretty incredible’

• Race to save almost 50 pilot whales stranded in WA after dozens die
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Officials are baffled by the remarkable behaviour of a large pod of pilot whales that grouped together in a heart shape before stranding themselves on a remote Western Australian beach.

Drone footage captured the moment a pod of almost 100 long-finned pilot whales moved tightly together before stranding themselves at Cheynes beach about 60km east of Albany on Tuesday evening.

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Our world is grappling with technological advances, shifts in geopolitical and economic power, globalisation backlash and climate change

Today we face four megatrends that are driving rapid and disruptive changes, and which will greatly affect our nation, the region and the world.
These pre-date Covid and are likely to continue well after the pandemic. They are technological advances, shifts in geopolitical and economic power, backlash against globalisation and climate change.

The first, the technology revolution – or what is also called the fourth Industrial Revolution – has already had a profound effect on our lives, our work, and how we connect with each other.

Yet experts predict the most disruptive technologies are yet to come, including quantum computing, genetic engineering and more.

To determine just how much this is driving the next wave of change, I went directly to the source and asked Chat GPT about the implications of AI.

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Jon Jutsen on the challenges facing householders going all-electric, and what's needed to scale up.

The post SwitchedOn Australia Podcast: Difficult, confusing, annoying, expensive appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Star of the South says the clock is now ticking for the Victoria government to finalise the transmission connections for its first offshore wind zone.

The post Victoria needs to get grid connection underway if it wants offshore wind appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A Japanese renewables company is expanding its biomass production capacity in Vietnam where it plans to generate carbon credits for international trade as well as for use in the emerging domestic carbon market.

Offshore wind industry says international project cancellations are a "few one offs", but says strong targets will help build scale and lower costs in Australia.

The post Offshore wind industry says “perfect storm” will pass, but strong targets needed appeared first on RenewEconomy.

‘There is no magical defence mechanism,’ says Greek prime minister as fires burn in northern Africa and southern Europe

Wildfires were burning in at least nine countries across the Mediterranean as blazes spread in Croatia and Portugal, with thousands of firefighters in Europe and north Africa working in extreme heat to contain flames stoked by high temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds.

High temperatures and parched ground sparked wildfires in countries on both sides of the Mediterranean, with at least 34 people killed in Algeria, where 8,000 firefighters on Tuesday battled blazes across the tinder-dry north. Fires burned in a total of 15 provinces, leading to the evacuation of more than 1,500 people.

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Carbon markets will become important sources of funding to address the need for clean cooking projects, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, according to an International Energy Agency (IEA) report published Wednesday.