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How can a brass band and a steam train help you understand the universe?

Campaigners plan to plant enough trees to counteract the climate impact of the US President.

A breakthrough could lead to easier, faster and cheaper vaccines.

Extreme weather across southern Europe has spawned and fanned numerous wildfires, including at the beach resort of Kalamos near Athens and in central Portugal

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Port Augusta becomes latest Australian coal hub to embrace renewables – and just as well, considering new data on coal plant pollution.

Dunwich Heath, Suffolk Brilliantly coloured jewel wasps use the living bodies of other insects to nourish their larvae

Much of the basic storybook that supplies the raw materials for horror films and novels seems to me to be derived from entomology. And here, at this place of autumn purple and gold, scattered thinly all along the sandy paths that bisect the billowing tides of flowering heather, was a particular inspiration.

It was a tiny 1cm-long creature that looked as brilliant an insect as I have seen in this country. The mid-thorax, hind legs and head were all glittering turquoise, while the abdomen and front thorax were shining burgundy. The unmistakable colours distinguish a small group that are known as jewel or ruby-tailed wasps (in German they are called Goldwespen, gold wasps), of which there are about 30 species in Britain. The commonest is one I see regularly even about our house, where they burrow into crevices among the loose masonry.

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David Whaley - University of South Australia

Dr David Whaley is an Electrical and Electronic Engineer who works as a teaching and Research academic within the Barbara Hardy Institute / School of Engineering, at the University of South Australia. He is part of a small team that work in the Sustainable Energy Centre, which currently conducts research on low-energy housing and technologies. He has authored or co-authored 9 journal papers and 27 conference papers in these areas over the past 8 years. David also currently teaches a course regarding renewable energy technologies, the current Power Systems, and the integration of both. Finally,David is a member of the IEEE, Engineers Australia and the Alternative Technology Association.

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The Minister has approved the inclusion of three species and the transfer of one species in the EPBC Act list of threatened species. These amendments were effective under the EPBC Act on 15 August 2017. ...

Today's chart is a simple illustration of shifts in the fuel mix so far - interestingly, after a low-wind month in June, July's high wind output means very little reliance on Victorian imports and lower exposure to high-priced gas in SA.

Listed New Zealand company Contact Energy Ltd (CEN) has gained Climate Bonds Certification of geothermal assets as part of its new Green Loan Borrowing Programme for NZD1.8bn.

Will Australia's large-scale renewable energy target be met on time? And what will happen if we move to a CET? Plus AGL's uncontroversial result; and crunching numbers on SolarReserve's Port August project.

SolarReserve says its winning solar tower and molten salt storage project can deliver dispatchable, renewable power at just $78/MWh. Why so low?

Eric Rolls was a rare combination; farmer, poet, self-taught naturalist and historian. He also wrote Australia’s first true environmental history

The Australian Petroleum Statistics provide statistics on petroleum production, refinery inputs and outputs, sales and stocks of petroleum products, and prices.

The Galapagos Conservation Trust has announced the winners in its annual photographic competition.

The facility in the north of Norway will take advantage of cheap energy and the cool air.

Successful completion of optimised turbine for low wind sites.

Project partners for Europe’s first commercial battery plant to bring innovative black start concept to market maturity/Younicos software manages reliable re-establishment of power grid.

Cutting energy use takes more than just the flick of a smartphone. 3dfoto/shutterstock.com

“Smart” home control devices promise to do many things, including helping households reduce their energy bills.

Devices such as “connected” lightbulbs and smart plugs let you operate or automate lights and other appliances from your smartphone, and are widely available from major retailers and online.

They are one of many innovative technologies advocated by the energy sector, and the recent Finkel Review of the energy market, to help consumers manage their energy use.

However, our research published today suggests that these devices are not the “easy” answer to energy management. In our trial, we found that households can use them in ways that increase energy use rather than reduce it, and that many people find them too complicated to get up and running.

Read more: Dream homes of the future still stuck in the past.

Smart home techs on trial

In our study, funded by Energy Consumers Australia, we supplied 46 volunteer households in Victoria and South Australia with a couple of market-leading smart control devices to try out. We made sure we included a broad range of households – not just tech-savvy, early adopter types.

The results were surprising. A quarter of the households didn’t even attempt to install the devices; another quarter tried but failed to install them, and a further quarter successfully installed them but then abandoned them because they were considered inconvenient or not useful.

That left one quarter who were actively using the devices on an ongoing basis.

Unsuccessful installations weren’t just thwarted by the devices themselves or by a lack of persistence or knowledge. Householders who tried but gave up on the devices did so for a range of reasons, including smartphone compatibility issues, unreliable WiFi or Internet access, forgotten passwords, device app problems including recurring error messages, and concern over requests to hand over personal information.

Who used the devices?

The people most likely to successfully set up and continue using the devices were technology enthusiasts – and most often male. This is consistent with previous studies which have found that men are more likely to be interested in home automation.

Older users in particular can struggle with smart home technology. Author provided

Energy-vulnerable households (those at higher risk of difficulty paying energy bills) were more interested in the devices than “regular” households, possibly because they placed greater value on the promised energy savings, or had more time to persist with the installation process. However, energy-vulnerable households are less likely to have the necessary technology infrastructure to use smart home control devices successfully, such as high-end smartphones and fast, reliable home internet connection.

Older participants in our study (those over 55) rarely used the devices. Households with children were concerned about the entry of more digital technology into their lives. Smart home control can also be inconvenient if some occupants continue to use the manual switches on lights or appliances (such as children without their own smartphones), as this can deactivate smart control for the rest of the household.

Lifestyle improvements beat energy savings

The households we interviewed were very interested in the potential for smart home control to improve their lifestyles, through improved security and safety, better comfort, conveniences such as turning lights off from bed, and aesthetic features such as “mood lighting”.

Yet while our study did not measure energy consumption, it was clear from the results that the ways households were using (or wanted to use) their devices could both decrease and increase energy consumption.

While some households reduced the operating time of lights or small appliances, others used smart control to increase their operating time, for instance by switching their heater on before getting home.

Pre-heating or pre-cooling homes, or running appliances when not at home to give the house a “lived-in” look intended to deter burglars, can be beneficial for health, comfort or well-being but can also increase energy consumption.

Tellingly, no household in our study used their smart devices to shift the timing of their energy use, even though most said their electricity rates were cheaper at night. When asked if smart plugs could help shift energy use to off-peak periods, many respondents said they did not see these devices as a necessary or convenient way to do it. They were more interested in simple timers and automation functions on the appliances themselves.

Doing more with smart home control

Six of the 46 households involved in our trial said they were interested in doing more with smart home control. However, they were mainly interested in lifestyle improvements rather than saving energy. This is consistent with the way these products are being marketed to households by technology companies.

Our findings are also consistent with another recent trial of smart home technologies in the UK. That study found that participants made either limited or no use of similar devices to manage their energy use. Like us, the research team raised concerns about the potential for smart control to generate new forms of energy demand.

Read more: Slash Australians’ power bills by beheading a duck at night.

These findings call for more caution in how smart home control is promoted by the energy sector. We need to be realistic about how these products are marketed, how the media influences the way the products are used, and how the other benefits of smart home control may affect home energy consumption.

The extent of technical and usability issues also needs to be acknowledged. There is a real risk that householders could spend considerable time and money on devices that don’t deliver energy savings. The devices are not equally accessible for everyone, and older users in particular might need help in using them effectively.

The danger is in assuming that lower power bills can come neatly packaged in a box – the reality, as always, is more complicated.

Yolande Strengers receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Energy Consumers Australia, electricity utilities and consumer advocacy organisations. She is a member of the Australian Sociological Association (TASA).

Larissa Nicholls receives funding from Energy Consumers Australia and Victorian Council of Social Service. She also works on projects funded by the Australian Research Council and electricity utilities. She is a member of the non-profit organisations, Alternative Technology Association and the European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ECEEE).

Environmental Justice Australia report says Australian coal-fired power plants regularly exceed lax limits imposed on them

Australian coal-fired power stations produce levels of toxic air pollution that would be illegal in the US, Europe and China, and regularly exceed even the lax limits imposed on them with few or no consequences, according to an investigation by Environmental Justice Australia.

The report reveals evidence that operators of coal power plants in Australia have been gaming the systems that monitor the deadly pollution, while others have reported figures the federal government says are not reliable.

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