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A trio of US federal agencies on Thursday made clear that they would work to develop policies that treat biomass as carbon neutral and a form of renewable energy, continuing the EPA’s efforts from earlier this year.

Snowy Hydro sets stunning new benchmark for "firm" wind and solar, awarding contracts to eight new wind and solar farms that will produce fair dinkum power at prices well below fossil fuels.

The post Snowy Hydro smashes price benchmarks for “fair dinkum” wind and solar appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The sediments that accumulate beneath seagrass meadows can act as secure vaults for shipwrecks and other precious artefacts, by stopping water and oxygen from damaging the delicate timbers. Oscar Serrano, Doctor of Global Change, Edith Cowan University Carlos Duarte, Adjunct professor, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Dorte Krause-Jensen, Senior Researcher, Marine Ecology, Aarhus University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

European carbon prices resumed their downward spiral on Thursday, dropping by as much as 9% in another choppy session to hit a fresh four-month low near €15.

Latvia will auction 3.1 million spot EUAs on Nov. 16, auction host platform EEX said late Thursday, replacing a postponed German sale and boosting the weekly sale supply.

RGGI allowances (RGAs) inched up during the week as the nine member states reported higher Q3 emissions, while California Carbon Allowances (CCAs) dipped slightly ahead of Thursday's first full compliance deadline for fuel suppliers.

Readers are divided over whether food made using electricity can ease the ecological burden the world population places on our planet

George Monbiot makes a strong case for how our ecosystem might survive (Electric food – the new sci-fi diet that could save our planet, 31 October). He thinks it is imperative that we eliminate meat in favour of plant-based agriculture. He also wants us to explore the possibility of using electricity instead of photosynthesis to convert sunlight into food. Since this would be 10 times more efficient, farming and fishing need take up much less space and biodiversity could flourish.

But I must protest at the absurdity of his claim that the destruction of forests and wetlands along with “the slaughter of predators and the massacre of turtles … is done at our behest”. The felling of rainforest in Brazil is no more done at my behest, even if (knowingly or unknowingly) I happen to buy toiletries or food containing palm oil, than is the laundering of dirty money because I have a mortgage with a high street bank.

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Hornets | Migrants | US immigrants | Viktor Orbàn | Dishwashers

Mark Cocker (Country diary, 30 October) enthusiastically describes European hornets mingling with other insects. I hope he is aware of the recent invasion into this country from Europe of the very similar, but slightly smaller Asian hornet. This dangerous insect, originally from China and becoming common in France, kills other insects and predates on honeybees. It has destroyed many colonies in France and is a threat to our native honeybee. Report sightings to alertnonnative@ceh.ac.uk
Maggie Dann
Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands

• Oxford Dictionaries defines “migrant” as “a person who moves from one place to another, especially in order to find work or better living conditions”. That description hardly applies to a Thai billionaire who bought Leicester City football club (Leicester City’s owner: why isn’t it OK to say he was a migrant, 31 October). Was Roman Abramovich a migrant until we revoked his visa?
Steve Mason
Hornchurch, Essex

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Deficit generation notched a new quarterly high in the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) programme as shortfalls continued to outpace credit generation during the second quarter, state data released Wednesday showed.

Some crofters have concerns about the impact the site would have on the environment and their rights.

Germany's energy-related CO2 emissions during the first three quarters have dropped by around 7% year-on-year amid a large decline in energy consumption, according to a new report.

Lee Rowley says many colleagues have concerns as opposition builds to loosening of planning rules

A growing number of Tory MPs are turning against fracking, according to one MP with a drilling site in his constituency.

Lee Rowley, who chairs the new all-party parliamentary group looking into the impact of shale gas, told the Guardian he was seeing increasing numbers of colleagues with worries about fracking.

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Scientists set out to read the DNA of 1.5 million species, starting a "new chapter in biology".

Russian officials have been looking into why the rocket’s booster malfunctioned during a launch last month.

The Pacific island nation becomes the first country to impose a widespread ban on sunscreen products.

New Zealand carbon allowances have this week slumped to their lowest in a month on the ongoing lack of news on the government’s decision on the fixed price option, with units holding just above NZ$25.

A federal court on Thursday dismissed an application brought by developers Country Carbon that the Clean Energy Regulator’s demand for native title holder consent be restricted to sequestration projects.

Protests and court cases have failed but the government’s rules on tremors could wreck shale gas economics

Protests, legal challenges and planning rejections have failed to stop the return of fracking in Britain, but the government’s regulations on earthquakes are fast emerging as the biggest threat to the nascent shale gas industry.

The energy company Cuadrilla has been forced to stop work twice in four days – on Friday last week and on Monday – due to minor earthquakes occurring while it was fracking. The tremors breached a seismic threshold imposed after fracking caused minor earthquakes in 2011.

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How do experts in highly contentious fields, such as climate change and migration, cut through the noise to ensure that good evidence, not fake news, makes the headlines?

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