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I got 'doored' while undertaking on my bike. Was it my fault?

The Guardian - Tue, 2018-02-06 17:00

Helen Pidd was cycling through stationary traffic when a passenger opened his door into her path

As soon as the car door hit me I thought: finally. After cycling regularly for 15 years it always seemed something of a miracle that I had never been knocked off.

My second instinct was to feel sheepish. Was it my fault?

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Ozone layer not recovering over populated areas, scientists warn

The Guardian - Tue, 2018-02-06 16:00

While the hole over Antarctica has been closing, the protective ozone is thinning at the lower latitudes, where the sunlight is stronger and billions of people live

The ozone layer that protects people from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation is not recovering over most highly populated regions, scientists warned on Tuesday.

The greatest losses in ozone occurred over Antarctica but the hole there has been closing since the chemicals causing the problem were banned by the Montreal protocol. But the ozone layer wraps the entire Earth and new research has revealed it is thinning in the lower stratosphere over the non-polar areas.

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UK built half of Europe's offshore wind power in 2017

The Guardian - Tue, 2018-02-06 16:00

Capacity is growing fast and turbines getting bigger – some almost as large as the Shard

Britain accounted for more than half of the new offshore wind power capacity built in Europe last year, as the sector broke installation records across the continent.

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Meet the latest organisation to achieve carbon neutral certification

Department of the Environment - Tue, 2018-02-06 14:20
Air BP has become the first aviation fuelling provider to achieve carbon neutrality.
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New batteries for Hawaiian wind farm: Younicos upgrades 10 MW energy storage system

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-02-06 13:41
Younicos has signed an agreement with TerraForm Power to install and commission a 10 MW battery-based energy storage system upgrade at the site of the Kaheawa wind farm on the island of Maui, Hawaii.
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Horizon Power partnering with leading academic institution to trial distributed energy systems in regional Western Australia

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-02-06 13:37
Horizon Power is conducting a body of research over the next three years with the aim of increasing distributed photovoltaic system penetration throughout its remote networks.
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Rooftop solar most reliable source of new generation on NEM, says report

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-02-06 13:22
Rooftop solar has been installed by over 1.6 million households and is the most reliable source of steadily growing generation in the NEM.
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Turnbull’s power play: Snowy 2.0 vs battery storage

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-02-06 13:17
Snowy 2.0 report confirms that $8 billion project would likely boost coal and lift emissions. Worse, it takes an "us and them" approach to battery storage, and uses some pretty silly battery costings to justify its case.
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A Snow(y) job: He who pays the piper calls the tune

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-02-06 13:06
One of our main immediate criticisms of Snowy Hydro's latest paper is its assumption that Snowy 2.0 is the only pumped hydro project capable of being developed in Australia.
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New Nissan LEAF EV confirmed for Australia delivery

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-02-06 12:48
Big news for Australian EV market, as Nissan confirms delivery of next-gen LEAF will happen in the "next fiscal year."
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Australian wave energy hopeful wins grant to test technology at UK hub

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-02-06 12:33
Australian company AMOG wins EU grant to test its “floating pendulum” wave power technology at a marine energy testing site in Cornwall, UK.
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Renewable Energy Market Report: A cat among the pigeons

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-02-06 11:52
Following a generally stable end to 2017, forecasts suggesting the LRET will be met by 2020 have drawn a mixed reaction in the LGC market across January.
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The long and winding road to tariff reform

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-02-06 11:45
In first of three articles on electricity network tariff reform, we look at Tariff Structure Statements, and why you should care about them.
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Dinosaurs ‘too successful for their own good’

BBC - Tue, 2018-02-06 11:42
A study modelling how dinosaurs spread worldwide shows they may have been a victim of their own success.
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Elon Musk's huge Falcon Heavy rocket set for launch

BBC - Tue, 2018-02-06 11:40
The entrepreneur will attempt to fly the world's most powerful rocket with his own Tesla as payload.
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Pesticide bans might give us a buzz, but they won't necessarily save the bees

The Conversation - Tue, 2018-02-06 04:03
Australian bees have so far avoided the 'colony collapse' devastating hives around the world, but there's growing pressure for a ban on certain insecticides blamed for bee deaths. Caroline Hauxwell, Associate Professor, Queensland University of Technology Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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'Everything is made into a political issue': rethinking Australia's environmental laws

The Guardian - Tue, 2018-02-06 03:00

Public should be given a greater say on development plans, experts say

Environmental lawyers and academics have called for a comprehensive rethink on how Australia’s natural landscapes are protected, warning that short-term politics is infecting decision-making and suggesting that the public be given a greater say on development plans.

The Australian Panel of Experts on Environmental Law has launched a blueprint for a new generation of environment laws and the creation of independent agencies with the power and authority to ensure they are enforced. The panel of 14 senior legal figures says this is motivated by the need to systematically address ecological challenges including falling biodiversity, the degradation of productive rural land, the intensification of coastal and city development and the threat of climate change.

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Asda joins wave of supermarkets pledging to cut plastic waste

The Guardian - Tue, 2018-02-06 02:24

Series of measures includes reducing plastic in its own-brand packaging by 10% – but does not go as far as cutting it out altogether

Asda has become the latest supermarket to join the war against plastic by pledging to reduce it “wherever” it can, including slashing the amount in its own-brand packaging by 10% in the next 12 months.

In a series of measures, Asda promised to scrap 5p carrier bags in all stores by the end of the year, switch 2.4m plastic straws used in its cafes to paper and introduce reusable drinks cups in its shops and cafes by the end of 2019.

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'Extraordinary' fossil sheds light on origins of spiders

BBC - Tue, 2018-02-06 02:03
A fossil preserved in amber for 100 million years is shaking up ideas about the evolution of spiders.
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What the saviour of London’s pigeons taught me about the problem with plastic

The Guardian - Mon, 2018-02-05 23:17

Decades ago, the late writer and critic Naomi Lewis spent hours on the streets rescuing birds tangled in nylon thread. She should have been a warning sign of the horrors to come

Not knowing what to do with myself and my bad temper in my 30s, I went to a creative writing class at City Lit, a London-based adult-education college. The teacher looked odd – about 70, she was always dressed in black, her hair was grey and a little wild and she seemed to have dusted her face in flour, some of which speckled her black clothes.

But there was something magical about Naomi Lewis. She was full of enthusiasm, thrilled by the efforts of her class. She would sit at the end of our square of tables, always cheery, and call out excitedly: “So good! So much of interest!”

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