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The year that storage takes hold in 2018? And what about electric vehicles, smart cities, and the underlying case for wind and solar?

At the end of 2017, Australia is starting to (slowly) address our energy problems. But it's also clear the federal government has abdicated leadership and responsibility. Alan Pears, Senior Industry Fellow, RMIT University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

AEMO has been a breath of fresh air in 2017. It's a shame that while AEMO is looking forward, the AEMC is looking the other way. Leadership matters.

There are four key steps to ensure that climate policy remains a recipe for business as usual, and the Australian government has followed them to the letter.

BHP has flagged ending its association with international coal lobby groups, but appears to be more forgiving of the Minerals Council and other Australian organisations.

Mating call of the Gulf corvina, which is under threat from overfishing, sounds like ‘a really loud machine gun’

A species of Mexican fish amasses in reproductive orgies so loud they can deafen other sea animals, awed scientists have said, calling for preservation of the “spectacle” threatened by overfishing.

An individual spawning Gulf corvina, say the researchers, utters a mating call resembling “a really loud machine gun” with multiple rapid sound pulses.

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Is it a tree, or a coal washing machine? What magic carbon abatement technology was depicted in the federal government's 52-page climate policy review?

Victorian network operator AusNet Services has again succeeded in taking part of a Melbourne street completely off grid – this time for a total of 9 hours, powered only by home solar and battery storage systems.

What are holidays for? What ethical considerations ought to constrain trips to remote and overseas communities? Is tourism just the latest manifestation of the colonial impulse?

Victoria regulator proposes 29c/kWh “peak” tariff for solar exports between 3pm and 8pm – a move that is likely to increase the business case for household battery storage.

The NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer released the final report from the Energy Security Taskforce including the recommendation that the Government establish a work program focused on addressing the barriers to the uptake of solar.

Researchers say some of the fish also known as anemonefish display individual personalities but others act more as a group

Some species of clownfish have absolutely no personality, a study by Australian researchers has found.

Research by the University of Wollongong and Southern Cross University analysed the behavioural patterns of two species of subtropical clownfish, or anemonefish: Amphiprion mccullochi, which is endemic to a shallow lagoon on Lord Howe island, off the coast of New South Wales; and Amphiprion latezonatus, which has a much wider distribution along Australia’s east coast.

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Negative price are still happening in base-load coal country, and Queensland is proof of that.

A 700MW unit at Eraring coal plant tripped during Monday's peak, the fourth coal unit to fail unexpectedly in less than a week. Meanwhile, another three units - equal to Hazelwood capacity - remain off line.

The Regional Land Partnerships Request for Tender opened on Monday 18 December 2017 and will close at 3:00 pm Canberra time on Wednesday 28 February 2018. For more information visit: www.nrm.gov.au/regional-land-partnerships

ARENA launches $20m funding round for hydrogen, both for renewable energy exports and for domestic "power-to-gas" storage.

The federal government's keenly awaited review of Australia's climate policies continues a longstanding bipartisan traditional of weak policy development in this area. Rebecca Pearse, Lecturer, University of Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Although the landholder had a clearing permit, 132 hectares was cleared outside of the approved area

A Queensland farmer has been fined and ordered to restore native vegetation he cleared on his property, despite a significant media campaign from the farmer, lobby groups and conservative politicians, all claiming the farmer had done nothing wrong.

In November, the Guardian reported on allegations that the owners of Wombinoo, south-west of Cairns, had illegally cleared 60 hectares of native trees.

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The environmentalist and advisor to Drax power station, Tony Juniper, says the wood used to create energy can be coppice thinnings and waste material

Last week, a group of respected scientists wrote to the Guardian to argue that using wood to generate electricity in place of coal is not a solution to climate change. Their critique pointed to a “carbon debt” arising from the years between using a tree for fuel and new one growing. They gave the impression that forests are being cleared wholesale to be shovelled into power stations. Reality on the ground is, however, somewhat different.

I found this out when earlier this year I went to the USA as an advisor to Drax, a power company in the UK that is seeking to accelerate the phase out of coal by using a biomass instead. On my travels I had many vivid reminders as to how forests are more than collections of individual trees. In the case of the US South, from where much of the wood being used in the UK comes from, I saw vast expanses of production woodlands being harvested for a range of products.

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Heavily polluting power plants across China will now have to choose between paying for their emissions or cleaning up their act

The world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, China, has launched the world’s biggest ever mechanism to reduce carbon, in the form of an emissions trading system.

China’s top governmental bodies on Tuesday gave their approval to plans for a carbon trading system that will initially cover the country’s heavily polluting power generation plants, then expand to take in most of the economy.

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