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Herbert Smith Freehills advises Infrastructure Capital Group on the acquisition of Bald Hills Wind Farm
Ageing coal generators may be unable to cope with energy transition
CEFC tips $100m into AMP Capital green building fund
Queensland govt slaps down LNP, Murdoch over renewable scares
Tesla’s Ballarat Supercharger station, the first connection from Melbourne to Adelaide, was officially opened today
Wholesale price rises whodunit: Gas or renewables?
Solar and storage: LG Chem says it already cheaper than grid
Energy goes local as utility people strike out on their own
US energy storage installations grew 100% in MWh in 2016
Mills Oakley advises on sale of Queensland solar farm
India plans to slash renewable energy certificate prices
Halving of coal demand pushes UK carbon emissions down 6%
Murray Island Group proposed National Heritage listing
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority Governance Review
Speaking with: Peter Green on saving the Christmas Island red crab
Every year tens of millions of Christmas Island red crabs migrate from the island’s dense forest to the cliffs to spawn. It’s a phenomenon that literally stops traffic and draws tourists from around the world to the tiny Australian territory.
But while there are still tens of millions of red crabs on the island, in recent years their numbers have dipped by around a third as they compete for space with (and struggle to fend off) a recently introduced pest: the yellow crazy ant.
The ants are having a significant impact on the island’s biodiversity, which relies on the red crab to maintain the forest understorey and keep the forest floor clean.
So what can be done to save Christmas Island’s biodiversity from yellow crazy ant supercolonies?
For the past few years a team of scientists have been hatching a plan to introduce a parasitical wasp to the island to cut the ant’s food supply. And in December they got the ball rolling on the delicate process of tipping the scales back in the crabs’ favour.
La Trobe University’s Matt Smith speaks with Peter Green, Head of the Department of Ecology, Environment and Evolution at La Trobe, about the impact of the yellow crazy ant and how his team’s plan to save the Christmas Island red crab is working in the first few months of its implementation.
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Peter Green receives funding from the Department of Environment and Energy.
How decking drove wildlife from the city | Letters
Patrick Barkham’s remarks on garden decking and wildlife loss (Notebook, 7 March) chime with research we undertook on the changes to garden vegetation in London over an eight-year period. We found that between 1998-99 and 2006-07, 3,000 hectares of vegetation disappeared from gardens, replaced by hard standing and decking. This loss, equivalent to 2.5 Hyde Parks each year, was compounded by the loss of 1m trees from gardens. This period of change coincided with Ground Force’s time on television. Whether or not decking is now the culprit in gardens it once was, there’s evidence that artificial lawns – largely made from fossil fuels – are becoming the “new black”, again to the detriment of wildlife and the city’s ability to adapt to climate change.
Mathew Frith
Director of Conservation, London Wildlife Trust
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
Continue reading...Australia must put a price on carbon, say institutional investors
Move needed to drive orderly transition to low-emissions power sources, Investor Group on Climate Change says
The Turnbull government needs to put a price on carbon to unlock new investment in the electricity sector and drive an orderly transition to low-emissions power sources, according to the Investor Group on Climate Change.
The group, which represents major institutional investors in Australia and New Zealand, has used its submission to the Finkel review to argue that the government’s oft-repeated concerns about network reliability, energy affordability and emissions reductions will be addressed if concrete steps are taken to unlock new investment.
Continue reading...Solar power growth leaps by 50% worldwide thanks to US and China
UK leads Europe for solar growth despite drop in installations after government cut subsidies
The amount of solar power added worldwide soared by some 50% last year because of a sun rush in the US and China, new figures show.
New solar photovoltaic capacity installed in 2016 reached more than 76 gigawatts, a dramatic increase on the 50GW installed the year before. China and the US led the surge, with both countries almost doubling the amount of solar they added in 2015, according to data compiled by Europe’s solar power trade body.
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