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Country Breakfast Features Sat 13th
The fictional, extraordinary life of the Greenland shark – 392 years and counting
The enormous predator is one of the oldest and largest creatures on planet Earth. Writer Thomas Batten imagines a shark’s tale
Researchers in Arctic waters have used new techniques to set the age of a female Greenland shark at a staggering 392 years. The enormous predator – one of the world’s largest at about five meters in length – actually isn’t the oldest creature in the sea, as that honor belongs to a 507-year-old Icelandic clam, but the shark has definitely lived an extraordinary life.
Related: 400-year-old Greenland shark is oldest vertebrate animal
Continue reading...Veganism’s place in the climate change debate | Letters
It is very commendable that George Monbiot has converted to veganism (Opinion, 10 August), but perhaps he is deluding himself into thinking that this will alter our output of CO2 into the atmosphere. We can practise all the accepted methods of reducing carbon emissions, but nothing is more effective than choosing to have no more than two children. As we hurtle towards the point of no return with regards to global warming, choosing not to eat meat is quite low down the scale of things we need to do.
Which are: 1 Stabilise world population. 2 Eradicate poverty. 3 Stop using fossil fuels and change to renewables. 4 Use our land to produce crops more effectively. 5 Reduce excessive meat consumption.
Continue reading...Pigeon fancier receives lifetime ban for cheating in race
Eamon Kelly, 52, from Didcot, disqualified for cheating in Tarbes Grand National race after sending decoy birds
A pigeon-racing champion has received a lifetime ban from the sport after allegations that he cheated to win one of the most prestigious competitions in the sport’s calendar.
Eamon Kelly, 52, from Didcot, was accused of cheating by registering 14 birds for the Tarbes Grand National race but keeping them at home and sending decoys instead.
Continue reading...A 400-year-old shark, fracking 'bribes' and Hinkley C – green news roundup
The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox
Continue reading...Mystery as fish land in Banff garden
Monkey selfie: Animal charity Peta challenges ruling
Greenland shark is longest-living vertebrate animal – video report
Scientists say the Greenland shark has the longest lifespan of any vertebrate on the planet. Julius Nielsen, who has been studying the sharks, says record goes to a female thought to be between 272 and 512 years old and is five metres in length
Continue reading...Why the Guardian is spending a year reporting on the plight of elephants
Elephant herds face an uncertain future – over the next year we’ll be taking a closer look at what can be done to help
Welcome to the elephant conservation hub. Over the next year, with the support of Vulcan, Guardian journalists will be taking a closer look at the situation of elephant herds around the world.
Elephant conservation has been a particular focus for Vulcan, a private company set up by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen to look for solutions to problems like endangered species, climate change and ocean health. The future of this particular species is precariously balanced. Although in some areas (a very few) elephant herds are expanding and thriving, the overall picture is one of decline, with falls of as much as 60% in elephant population in countries such as Tanzania.
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
A basking shark, panda cub and Finland’s bears and wolves are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
Continue reading...Grouse shooting's rich, influential backers join forces to fire on critics
Supporters are trying to improve sport’s reputation through a campaign group with no members that is funded anonymously
With the Glorious Twelfth, the 2016 grouse season is under way – and the first birds will be served up in many a country house on Friday night. But after raising a glass to the late Duke of Westminster, who owned a vast acreage of grouse moorland, the shooters may also toast a colourful and remarkably influential group of people trying to improve the tarnished reputation of their sport.
They include the retired cricketer Sir Ian Botham, a billionaire hedge fund owner who houses his chickens in a coop that supposedly cost £150,000, and a lobbyist who boasts of his role advising a Russian oligarch.
Continue reading...NZ scientists track penguins' marathon winter travels
Club owned by Shell blocks small Thames hydropower scheme
Club succeeds with an appeal to stop planning permission for the west London project that would power 600 homes
A proposed small hydropower project in west London has received a further setback, as court judges allowed an appeal by a club owned by Shell against the granting of planning permission to the site.
The project, at Teddington lock and weirs, would deliver enough electricity to power about 600 homes. It is proposed by a local cooperative group, run by volunteers, who have raised a potential £700,000 to build the plant, which the proponents say would not have any damaging effect on fish in the Thames or other local wildlife.
Continue reading...Hundreds of tiny Montserrat tarantulas hatch in zoo
Chester Zoo breeds Montserrat tarantulas in world first
Chris Packham and Ian Botham clash over grouse-shooting ban – audio
Wildlife presenter Chris Packham is called an extremist by former England cricketer Sir Ian Botham as they clash over a grouse-shooting ban on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Botham accuses Packham of using his position at the BBC to promote his views
Continue reading...Time-lapse footage of Perseid meteor shower
Chris Packham using BBC role to push grouse-shooting ban, Ian Botham says
Wildlife presenter accused of extremism in clash with former England cricketer as grouse-shooting season begins
The former England cricketer Sir Ian Botham has accused wildlife presenter Chris Packham of being an extremist and using his position at the BBC to promote his views on restricting grouse shooting.
The pair clashed in a joint interview on Radio 4’s Today programme on the opening day of the grouse-shooting season, – or the “inglorious twelfth” as Packham called it.
Continue reading...Tasmania rules out halving 'insurance population' of disease-free devils
About 600 Tasmanian devils untouched by facial tumour disease will stay in sanctuaries as insurance against animals in the wild becoming extinct
A controversial proposal to halve the insurance population of disease-free Tasmanian devils has been scrapped.
But the state government said it would continue to support the staged release of some of the animals as part of a vaccine-testing program.
Continue reading...People power is the secret to reliable, clean energy
Australia will likely have to close more coal power stations to meet climate targets Coal power image from www.shutterstock.comAustralia’s energy watchdog, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), has issued a stark warning: more wind and solar power will demand new approaches to avoid interruptions to electricity supply.
In its annual Electricity Statement of Opportunities, released this week, AEMO indicated that the overall outlook for reliability has improved. So far, so good.
However, South Australia, Victoria, and New South Wales are potentially at greater risk of interruptions within ten years if the current trend of shutting down old coal-fired power stations accelerates, as we can expect from Australia’s efforts to meet national and international climate targets.
AEMO projections of supply
2016 AEMO Electricity Statement of Opportunities
The threat of power blackouts is reliable headline fodder as seen in yesterday’s Australian Financial Review. But the solution to this very real challenge is not to cling to ageing fossil fuel power stations.
Rather, as AEMO Chief Operating Officer Mike Cleary put it:
possible solutions could include an increased interconnection across [the electricity market], battery storage, and demand side management services.
While there is much excitement about battery technology, it is the oft-forgotten human dimension that offers the greatest potential. We consumers, the so-called “demand side” of the market, can play a crucial role in reducing the strain on the electricity network, which will in turn make for more reliable power.
The biggest variability that the electricity sector has to contend with is not intermittent solar or wind generation output, but the ups and downs of power demand.
People powerHelping business and household consumers manage their demand for power (or “demand management”) is a win-win scenario – lower costs for electricity and a stronger electricity system. Demand management and energy efficiency are key elements in lifting Australia’s energy productivity. Lifting energy productivity means we do not need to slow down the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Research from the University of Technology Sydney’s Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) that supported GetUp!’s Homegrown Power Plan highlights that we can not only retire coal power to achieve our climate targets, but also shift entirely to 100% renewable electricity generation by 2030.
However, to do this affordably we need to get smarter about saving energy and supporting the grid. GetUp!’s plan factored in a target to double Australia’s energy productivity by 2030, as advocated by the Australian Alliance to Save Energy and ClimateWorks.
Despite the potential, neither AEMO nor any other institution is tasked with assessing demand management opportunities that will strengthen the network and promote renewables. Work is needed to understand this demand-side opportunity, just as AEMO’s latest report provided for electricity supply.
It may also be time to revisit AEMO’s 2013 modelling on 100% renewables that did not factor in major energy productivity gains.
Switching upThe importance of demand management has been recognised since the dawn of the National Electricity Market in 1992. But this potential has never been properly tapped.
Happily, there are signs that this is finally changing. For example, the Australian Energy Regulator has announced a process to design a Demand Management Incentive Scheme. This will provide an incentive for electricity networks to help consumers reduce demand and cut energy costs.
The more progressive energy systems worldwide have already incorporated energy productivity into their energy policies and strategies. Germany is implementing its National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency as one of the twin pillars of its Energiewende (energy transition). And a 23% reduction in buildings' energy consumption by 2030 is one of the three key targets to achieve New York’s “Reforming the Energy Vision”.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has also recommended energy efficiency improvements as its first measure to achieve peak energy emissions by 2020, in tandem with a US$130 billion increase in renewables investment. This “bridge” scenario was the IEA’s contribution to the 2015 Paris climate summit.
Policy measures recommended under the IEA Bridge Scenario
OECD/IEA 2015 World Energy Outlook Special Report 2015: Energy and Climate Change, IEA Publishing
Global energy-related GHG emissions reduction by policy measure in the Bridge Scenario relative to the INDC Scenario
OECD/IEA 2015 World Energy Outlook Special Report 2015: Energy and Climate Change, IEA Publishing.
Time for Australia to get serious
It is now time for Australia to embrace the link between demand management, energy productivity and renewable energy. We need these to work together so that we can achieve our carbon reduction goals while protecting electricity security and economic growth.
We have taken a good first step, releasing a comprehensive National Energy Productivity Plan at the end of 2015. It is not quite as ambitious as proposed by the Homegrown Power Plan (it only seeks a 40% improvement between 2015 and 2030) but it is a step in the right direction.
What are missing, as RMIT energy researcher Alan Pears points out, are the resources to make it happen: no additional funding has been allocated to deliver the 34 recommended measures.
We can unlock Australia’s energy productivity potential. And we can have a clean, affordable and reliable electricity system. But this will not happen by accident.
Let’s encourage our utilities to engage energy consumers in providing the solutions. In other words, power to the people.
The Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney undertakes paid sustainability research for a wide range of government, NGO and corporate clients, including energy businesses.
The Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney undertakes paid sustainability research for a wide range of government, NGO and corporate clients, including energy businesses.
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