Feed aggregator

Europe escalates action against UK for breaching air pollution limits

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-02-07 04:15

UK fails to apply environmental law on air quality, water standards, and the conservation of several species, EU review reveals

An EU review has revealed multiple failings by the UK in applying environmental law, on the same day that the commission escalated its action against Britain for breaching air pollution limits.

Britain has been in breach of EU nitrogen dioxide (NO2) limits since 2010, with London overshooting its annual air pollution limit for the whole of 2017 in just the first five days.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Live Q&A: What can we do to help elephants?

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-02-07 03:05

Volunteer? Raise money? Be a citizen scientist? Join us Monday 13 Feb at 1 - 2.30pm GMT to talk about what we can all do to help elephants.

In the face of falling elephant populations around the world, it’s easy to feel a little hopeless. But in fact there are a number of things you can do to help - from volunteering to becoming a citizen scientist yourself, to supporting some of the extraordinary organisations out there.

We’re putting together a database of actions to launch next Monday (Feb 13). To mark the launch, we’ll be hosting an online discussion with elephant experts, discussing what everyone can do, and assessing areas where genuine progress is being made.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Terrific Scientific: BBC Breakfast's fizzy bottle rocket flop

BBC - Tue, 2017-02-07 01:07
BBC Breakfast presenters battle it out in the Terrific Scientific Bottle Rocket Challenge.
Categories: Around The Web

Satisfying the thirsty

BBC - Mon, 2017-02-06 23:26
Land Speed Record holder Andy Green describes how the Typhoon jet engine in the Bloodhound supersonic car will be fed with fuel.
Categories: Around The Web

Repeal without replace: a dangerous GOP strategy on Obamacare and climate | Dana Nuccitelli

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-02-06 21:00

House Republicans are explicitly saying that protecting public and environmental health isn’t worth a few jobs or a small cost.

House Republicans have introduced a bill to rewrite the Clean Air Act. The bill, which has 114 co-sponsors (all Republicans), would revise the Clean Air Act such that:

The term ‘air pollutant’ does not include carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, or sulfur hexafluoride.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Villagers in Bolivia refuse to be left high and dry by drought – in pictures

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-02-06 20:00

Despite January rains heavy enough to cause flooding in some areas, the effects of severe drought continue to be felt keenly in many areas of Bolivia, affecting about 125,000 families. A resourceful village in Mizque province has come up with ways to eke out what little water is available

All photographs by Andrew Philip/Tearfund

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Restoring Lake Pedder

ABC Environment - Mon, 2017-02-06 19:05
Is the restoration of Tasmania's Lake Pedder a big idea worth considering?
Categories: Around The Web

Hedgehogs now a rare garden sight as British populations continue to decline

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-02-06 16:01

More than half of people surveyed had never seen a hedgehog, once common in UK gardens

The plight of the hedgehog in Britain appears to be worsening, with a new survey revealing a further decline in garden sightings.

The spiky creature was once a common sight, with the population estimated at 30 million in the 1950s. But that has plummeted to fewer than one million today, with a third of this loss thought to have taken place in the past decade.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Waxwings and spruce are Kinder trespassers

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-02-06 15:30

Kinder Scout, Peak District Walking along the western escarpment, it feels like the land has been brushed by Arctic exoticism

Driving out of Sheffield, I pass half a dozen men hurrying up and down Manchester Road, pointing long lenses into the glacier-blue sky, like paparazzi, and pull over to see what the fuss is about.

The cause is a flock of exquisite, starling-sized birds, their silky-smooth, dusky-pale plumage flushed with cloudberry amber, their heads topped with a punky crest, and their eyes dark with a warlike black mask. They are ransacking the ornamental rowans lining the road, much to the annoyance of a mistle thrush, which sallies angrily from its berry-laden perch to rebuff the raiders.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Big Oil’s new fashion accessory: “green gas” plants

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-02-06 13:51
Big Oil appears to have come up with a new fashion item to hide their fossil fuel addiction: "green gas plants". Most people call them solar plants.
Categories: Around The Web

AEMO says wind farm changes mean SA blackout won’t be repeated

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-02-06 13:40
AEMO says basic changes to ride-through settings on wind farms will be enough to prevent a repeat of the "system black" experienced in South Australia last September. But will the Coalition tone down its scare campaign about renewables?
Categories: Around The Web

Know your NEM: Policy uncertainty is costing us billions

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-02-06 13:25
When the Prime Minister announces things, they have to be taken seriously. So Turnbull has certainly succeeded in producing Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD). Congratulations.
Categories: Around The Web

Nuclear industry in crisis

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-02-06 13:21
Nuclear utilities are in crisis, and no major commodity had a worse 2016 than uranium.
Categories: Around The Web

CER issues warning on RET after ERM chooses penalties over projects

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-02-06 13:19
Clean Energy Regulator warns electricity retailers intentional failure to meet 2016 RET obligations will result in investigation, audit, embarrassment.
Categories: Around The Web

EnergyAustralia signs PPA for 142MW solar farm in Queensland

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-02-06 11:52
EnergyAustralia signs country's largest PPA for a solar farm, as CEFC makes first equity investment in a solar project to speed up development.
Categories: Around The Web

WA grid could be 100% renewable by 2030, say Greens

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-02-06 11:30
Greens say WA's SWIS grid could shift to 100% renewables by 2030 for cheaper than business as usual.
Categories: Around The Web

Tesla drops ‘Motors’ from name in bid for clean energy supremacy

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-02-06 11:24
Elon Musk is now at sweet spot of 3 big trillion-dollar energy ‘tsunamis’ that team Trump hopes to stop.
Categories: Around The Web

China to launch renewable energy certificate scheme for wind and solar

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-02-06 11:24
China will reportedly launch trading of certificates for solar and wind power from July 1st 2017, in a bid to reduce government subsidies going to the renewables sector.
Categories: Around The Web

Tesla Model S & Nissan LEAF world’s best-selling electric cars in 2016

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-02-06 11:23
The Tesla Model S and Nissan LEAF clocked in as the best-selling electric cars in the world in 2016.
Categories: Around The Web

Boosting water table can curb climate risks, says study

BBC - Mon, 2017-02-06 11:11
Increasing the water table under arable peatland can help boost yields and the amount of carbon stored in the soil, a study says.
Categories: Around The Web

Pages

Subscribe to Sustainable Engineering Society aggregator