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Country diary: the dance of the snow devils

The Guardian - Wed, 2018-03-07 15:30

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire: Some were like wisps of bonfire smoke, others formed rolling circles of spindrift or reel-shaped vortices that blew themselves apart after a couple of seconds

Watching snow devils rise, dance and vanish in the field, as if they were beings composed of moonlight, was strangely compelling.

It was really parky. For the past few days there had been intermittent snow showers, slow-motion flakes drifting without direction that settled into a sugaring. These were separated, like the flick of a switch, by moments of dazzling sunshine and blue skies but bone cold, nothing thawed. There was a storm coming and sheep folded themselves into the lee of tall trees as the wind picked up; redwings left the fields and leaves blew about like lost birds. At first the air was quiet except for the growl of a chainsaw and disconsolate tutting from 30 jackdaws in the high branches facing into the breeze. They were watching, too.

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Categories: Around The Web

Red squirrel numbers boosted by predator

BBC - Wed, 2018-03-07 15:08
Why red squirrel numbers are boosted by the activity of their natural predator, the pine marten.
Categories: Around The Web

Virtual power plants are in vogue, but they can be like taking a sledgehammer to a nut

The Conversation - Wed, 2018-03-07 13:51
'Virtual power plants' offer extra power to the grid by tweaking the operation of batteries and appliances right across the network. But even this might be too blunt a tool for our future energy needs. Evan Franklin, Senior Lecturer - School of Engineering, Co-Director Future Energy, University of Tasmania Frank Jotzo, Director, Centre for Climate Economics and Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
Categories: Around The Web

CEFC tips in $6.5 million loan for Newcastle solar farm

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2018-03-07 13:23
CEFC provides loan to finance most of 5MW solar farm to be built on former colliery site near Newcastle, paving the way for batteries and electric trucks.
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Solar farm forums shine a light on new planning guidelines

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2018-03-07 13:09
New planning and community engagement guidelines are in development to guide Queensland’s solar farm boom.
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Corbell slams NEG as “neither ambitious, nor transparent”

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2018-03-07 13:06
Architect of Australia’s most successful renewables policies says proposed National Energy Guarantee lacks ambition, transparency, and won't hit climate targets.
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Victoria sees huge interest, low prices in renewable auction

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2018-03-07 13:02
Victoria says response to Australia's largest renewable energy auction has been extremely strong and expects prices to be "very competitive".
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Cars buck falling CO2 emissions trend

BBC - Wed, 2018-03-07 11:28
Britain's carbon emissions have sunk to the level last seen in 1890, helped by reduced coal use.
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Solar Communities Program round 2 announced

Department of the Environment - Wed, 2018-03-07 10:48
Guidelines for round 2 of the Solar Communities Program are now available. Round 2 of the Program will be open to applications from 13 March 2018 to 31 May 2018.
Categories: Around The Web

Solar Communities Program round 2 announced

Department of the Environment - Wed, 2018-03-07 10:48
Guidelines for round 2 of the Solar Communities Program are now available. Round 2 of the Program will be open to applications from 13 March 2018 to 31 May 2018.
Categories: Around The Web

Seventh Emissions Reduction Fund auction announced

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2018-03-07 10:41
From this auction, the agency will be able to purchase between 25 and 100 per cent below the benchmark price.
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Adelaide Uni to add 2MWh vanadium battery system, 1.2MW solar

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2018-03-07 09:55
University to install 1.2MW of solar and a 0.5MW/2MWh vanadium flow redox battery system, cut its grid electricity consumption by 40%.
Categories: Around The Web

Neoen plans world’s biggest solar + wind powered hydrogen hub in S.A.

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2018-03-07 09:54
EXCLUSIVE: Neoen, operator of the Tesla big battery, now plan a "hydrogen superb" in South Australia with 150MW of solar, 150MW of wind, a 50MW hydrogen electrolyser and up to 400MWh of battery storage.
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New scenarios show how the world could limit warming to 1.5C in 2100

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2018-03-07 08:46
A paper in Nature Climate Change presents the results from a new modelling exercise using six different “integrated assessment models” (IAMs) to limit global temperatures in 2100 to below 1.5C.
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Graph of the Day: And the states with the lowest emissions are …

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2018-03-07 06:48
South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory contribute a combined total of just 6.3% to the nation's total scope 1 emissions. Can you guess the common denominator?
Categories: Around The Web

Regulator pushes for household battery storage register to remove “blind spot”

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2018-03-07 06:45
Bational register of Australia’s home battery installations would cost around $10m, but would remove potential huge "blind spot" and could improve power system security.
Categories: Around The Web

Making climate models open source makes them even more useful

The Conversation - Wed, 2018-03-07 05:30
The creation of climate models with open source code, available for anyone to use, has improved scientific collaboration and helped research get more efficient. Martin Jucker, Maritime Continent Research Fellow, University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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Scorched country: the destruction of Australia's native landscape

The Guardian - Wed, 2018-03-07 03:00

Less than 50% of Australia’s original wilderness still exists, thanks to the colonialist view that development of land means eliminating native vegetation

Kate (not her real name) and her husband have run cattle grazing properties in central Queensland for more than 30 years. On remote and isolated properties like that, communities are close-knit and neighbours rely on each other to survive.

But Kate says her neighbours hate her family. Their crime? Not cutting down enough trees.

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Categories: Around The Web

Satellite links to optimise European airspace

BBC - Wed, 2018-03-07 02:02
The next phase of the Iris project to streamline European air traffic management is initiated.
Categories: Around The Web

Alzheimer's researchers win brain prize

BBC - Wed, 2018-03-07 00:15
Four dementia scientists share this year's 1m euro prize for their pivotal work.
Categories: Around The Web

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