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A 10-step guide to going off grid – from your utility
Solar Impulse completes first round-the-world flight powered by the sun
Senvion to supply wind turbines for Coober Pedy off-grid hybrid plant
South Australia’s electricity price woes are more due to gas than wind
Sydney student housing co-op to get 30kW solar, 43kWh Enphase battery storage
ARENA provides $10m funding for first wind-solar hybrid project
Solar Impulse completes historic round-the-world trip
Solar plane makes history after completing round-the-world trip
Solar Impulse 2, which landed in Abu Dhabi, is first plane powered by the renewable energy source to tour the globe
Solar Impulse 2 has completed the first round-the-world flight by a solar-powered aeroplane, after touching down in Abu Dhabi early on Tuesday.
The final leg of the feat, aimed at showcasing the potential of renewable energy, was a bumpy one, with turbulence driven by hot desert air leaving the solo pilot, Bertrand Piccard, fighting with the controls.
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People-powered: renewable energy project changes Indigenous lives in Barkly
Switching from diesel to solar power has reduced power costs and given two remote Northern Territory communities a new lease on life
Deep in the outback, about a 90-minute drive from Tennant Creek, two tiny Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory are coming back to life.
Since May, the Kunapa communities of Ngurrara and Kurnturlpara have been returning to the Barkly tableland, moving into the houses that had been abandoned years ago, setting up a School of the Air for their 15 children, and re-establishing their Indigenous culture. In fact, in a little over a month, the population has increased from just two people to about 40. And the reason? Solar power.
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In pictures
New trials for delivering goods by drones
Disasters linked to climate can increase risk of armed conflict
Research found that 23% of violent clashes in ethnically divided places were connected to climate disasters
Climate-related disasters increase the risk of armed conflicts, according to research that shows a quarter of the violent struggles in ethnically divided countries were preceded by extreme weather.
The role of severe heatwaves, floods and storms in increasing the risk of wars has been controversial, particularly in relation to the long drought in Syria. But the new work reveals a strong link in places where the population is already fractured along ethnic lines.
Continue reading...Coonooer Bridge claims highest output of Australian wind farms
Why concrete + rain = flash floods
Britain’s front gardens are being paved for parking while back gardens become patios. But in Canada and the US, the Depave movement is tearing up hard surfaces
In towns and cities, flash floods are a growing problem. The concrete jungle can’t soak up rainwater, so in heavy downpours it has nowhere to go except into drains, overloading them and setting off flash floods.
A movement in Canada and the US called Depave is tearing up concrete and asphalt in local neighbourhoods and replacing it with gardens to soak up rainwater and help prevent flooding. And although Depave is largely unknown in Britain, there’s a growing need for similar action here.
Continue reading...Australia's first hybrid wind-solar farm to be built near Canberra
Exclusive: farm gets the green light to be built by Chinese companies after $9.9m grant from renewable energy agency
Australia’s first large-scale hybrid wind and solar farm is set to be built near Canberra, with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) providing a $9.9m grant.
The money would go towards the $26m cost of building a 10MW solar photovoltaic plant alongside the existing Gullen Range windfarm.
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Animal welfare groups push US to classify all leopards as endangered
Conservationists are calling on the US to raise the protection level for leopards, severely curbing hunters’ ability to import body parts as trophies
Conservationists have demanded a crackdown on the import to the US of leopards killed by American hunters, in an attempt to replicate the protections introduced in the wake of the furore caused by the death of famed lion Cecil.
Related: Cecil the lion's legacy: death brings new hope for his grandcubs
Continue reading...China's coal peak hailed as turning point in climate change battle
Study by economists say achievement by world’s biggest polluter may be a significant milestone, rather than a blip
The global battle against climate change has passed a historic turning point with China’s huge coal burning finally having peaked, according to senior economists.
They say the moment may well be a significant milestone in the course of the Anthropocene, the current era in which human activity dominates the world’s environment.
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