Feed aggregator

EU Commission sues UK over harbour porpoise protection

BBC - Fri, 2016-09-30 02:39
The European Commission takes the UK to court for failure to allocate safe marine areas for harbour porpoises.
Categories: Around The Web

Coal electricity generation falls to record UK low this spring

The Guardian - Fri, 2016-09-30 01:22

Closure of coal-fired power plants led to the fossil fuel dropping to just 6% of the power mix, official data shows

Coal generated a record low 6% of the UK’s electricity this spring, official figures show.

The share of coal in the power mix fell from 20% in the same period last year, following the closures of Ferrybridge C, West Yorkshire, and Longannet coal-fired power station in Scotland.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

UK faces European court for failing to protect porpoises

The Guardian - Fri, 2016-09-30 00:19

UK has failed to provide enough safe habitats for the mammals, with just one small site formally proposed so far, says European commission

The UK will be hauled before the European court of justice for failing to provide safe habitats for harbour porpoises, the European commission said on Thursday.

Harbour porpoises resemble bottlenose dolphins, with small rounded heads, flat foreheads and a black-lipped mouth that curves upwards, as if smiling.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

RSB photographer of the year shortlist and young photographer of the year winner – in pictures

The Guardian - Thu, 2016-09-29 23:00

Fighting elk bulls and a microscopic image of shark’s skin are among the shortlisted images for the Royal Society of Biology’s photographer of the year award, which this year takes the theme Biology: from Big to Small

The winner will be announced at the Royal Society of Biology awards ceremony on 13 October at Charles Darwin House, London

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Young people urged for park-life views

BBC - Thu, 2016-09-29 21:56
A campaign is urging young people to share their thoughts and ideas via social media on the future of the UK's parks and open spaces.
Categories: Around The Web

Furniture that destroys forests: crack down on 'rampant' trade in rosewood

The Guardian - Thu, 2016-09-29 21:51

Cites summit moves to protect the world’s most trafficked wild product by placing all 300 species of the tree under trade restrictions

Governments have launched a crackdown on the rampant billion-dollar trade in rosewood timber that is plundering forests across the planet to feed a booming luxury furniture market in China.

The Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) summit on Thursday placed all 300 species of rosewood under trade restrictions, meaning criminals can no longer pass off illegally logged species as legitimate.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

The Queen, aristocrats and Saudi prince among recipients of EU farm subsidies

The Guardian - Thu, 2016-09-29 20:35

At least one in five of the top 100 UK recipients of CAP subsidies were for farms owned or run by aristocratic families, say Greenpeace

Wealthy aristocrats and a Saudi landowning prince are continuing to reap hundreds of thousands of pounds from the European Union’s common agricultural policy (CAP).

At least one in five of the top 100 recipients of CAP subsidies in the UK last year were farm businesses owned or controlled by members of aristocratic families, an investigation by environmental campaign group Greenpeace found.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Mini-nuclear reactors could be operating in the UK by 2030 - report

The Guardian - Thu, 2016-09-29 20:13

Energy Technologies Institute argues small modular reactors capable of delivering clean power and heat could be in place by 2030 if the right policy framework is put in place, reports BusinessGreen

The first small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) could be operating in the UK by 2030 with the right government support, according to a new report from the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI).

The analysis, released today by the government and industry-backed energy research body, examined the steps needed to support the first SMR in the UK and concluded a credible schedule for implementation can be set out - as long as a policy framework is developed to reduce risks for SMR developers and increase investor confidence.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Zimbabwe accused of preparing to ship dozens of young elephants to China

The Guardian - Thu, 2016-09-29 20:11

Conservationists say dozens of young elephants being captured by Zimbabwe’s government may be bound for China, rather than nearby national park

Concerns have been raised that Zimbabwe is again preparing to send dozens of young elephants to wildlife parks in China.

The government’s national park authority, ZimParks, began capturing elephants from Hwange national park in August and keeping them in pens at Umtshibi wildlife capture and relocation unit.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Switch disposable coffee cups for reusables, urge campaign groups

The Guardian - Thu, 2016-09-29 19:47

International coalition of NGOs is calling for an end to the throwaway culture after the success of a plastic bag charge shows a similar charge on coffee cups could work too

The billions of disposable coffee cups thrown away each year globally should be replaced with reusable ones because they are a waste of resources and harm forests, an international coalition of NGOs has urged.

The call comes as a study by Cardiff University said that the plastic bag charge in England had been so successful that it showed a charge on coffee cups in the UK could work too.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Simon Birmingham on the Adelaide storm, renewables and education funding

ABC Environment - Thu, 2016-09-29 18:10
Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham discusses whether South Australia's high renewable energy target could leave it vulnerable during extreme weather events.
Categories: Around The Web

Meet Didik: shot and orphaned baby orangutan highlights crisis

The Guardian - Thu, 2016-09-29 17:52

Abandoned with a bullet wound in a local shop, an orphaned orangutan named Didik is just one of thousands of victims of the ecological destruction of Borneo


When International Animal Rescue (IAR) staff found Didik, he was emaciated and near death. The 18-month-old orangutan, who had been dumped at a local store in Ketapang, Indonesia, had a bullet in his shoulder and had very likely seen his mother killed by the same people who put it there.

“Our team deals with so many cases like Didik’s in which the baby has ended up as someone’s pet but the true fate of the mother remains unknown,” said Lis Key, communications manager for the IAR, adding that “orangutan mothers are very protective of their babies and wouldn’t let go of them without a fight.”

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Renault says new Zoe has longest range of any mainstream electric car

The Guardian - Thu, 2016-09-29 17:15

Latest model’s 250-mile range will help ‘psychological barriers’ in drivers who fear running out of power, carmaker claims

Renault has unveiled a new electric car that it claims will overcome psychological barriers among drivers who fear running out of power between charges.

Launched on Thursday ahead of the Paris motor show, the latest Zoe model will have the longest range of any mainstream electric vehicle, the French carmaker said.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Shoppers in England now far more likely to use their own bags

The Guardian - Thu, 2016-09-29 15:01

Study finds a rise in the number of people carrying their own bags since the introduction of a 5p charge on plastic bags nearly a year ago

Shoppers in England have become much more likely to take their own bags to the high street since the introduction of a plastic bag charge nearly a year ago, a study has found.

More than nine in 10 people now often or always carry their own bags, up from seven in 10 before the 5p charge came into effect, and the public became much more supportive after it started. The number of plastic bags taken from supermarkets and big retailers in England has fallen by 85%.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Lichens stake their claim, millimetre by millimetre

The Guardian - Thu, 2016-09-29 14:30

Kinloch, Skye Though the land is deserted now, the signature of human habitation is deeply imprinted upon it

High about the shoreline, looking across the Sound of Sleat, lie the remains of the township of Leitir Fura. Abandoned by their inhabitants in the early 19th century, the low stone blackhouses have been laid bare by the elements in the subsequent decades, their exoskeletons crumbling as – stone by stone – they return to the earth.

Though the land is deserted, the signature of human habitation is deeply imprinted upon it. Buildings that have entirely subsided linger as ghostly apparitions, their presence announced by changes in the pattern of vegetation: neat oblong forests of bracken, or tough reedy tussocks in tight, straight-edged formation.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

First US presidential debate: Candidates spar over solar energy

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2016-09-29 14:10
One sharp exchange between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump revealed the sharp policy differences between the two when it comes to the future of solar energy.
Categories: Around The Web

Baker & McKenzie first law firm to join World Bank’s Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2016-09-29 14:01
Baker & McKenzie has become the first law firm to join the CPLC and commit to supporting clients in advancing carbon pricing policies worldwide and sharing best practice.
Categories: Around The Web

Silent electric car for cities – archive, 29 September 1971

The Guardian - Thu, 2016-09-29 14:00

29 September 1971: The Electricity Council says that electric cars are clean, silent, reliable, and make a valuable contribution to reducing pollution

Electric city cars could be in mass production and on the streets of Britain by 1973 if manufacturers and the Government gave a lead to their development, the Electricity Council said yesterday when it released details of the Enfield 8000, a vehicle capable of 40 mph and a range of 60 miles on one charge.

But both the council and Enfield, who have been given an order for 80 vehicles, admit that it is unlikely to boost the exploitation of electric cars unless the motor industry drops its obsession with the internal combustion engine.

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Coalition launches fierce attack against wind and solar after blackout

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2016-09-29 13:37
Ideology rules as Coalition, One Nation and Xenophon use South Australia blackout as an excuse to launch new attack on wind and solar. Turnbull and Frydenberg repeat call for Labor states to cancel "unrealistic" renewable targets.
Categories: Around The Web

What caused South Australia’s state-wide blackout?

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2016-09-29 13:35
Power is gradually returning to South Australia after wild storms blew across the state last night. So, what did cause South Australia’s blackout?
Categories: Around The Web

Pages

Subscribe to Sustainable Engineering Society aggregator