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New research finds solar farms managed with biodiversity in mind contain a greater number of bird species, and more birds overall, than surrounding cropland.

The post Solar farms can host up to three times as many birds as crop fields – new research appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Emerging Australian solar upcycling outfit marks "significant milestone" on its mission to mine end of life PV panels for valuable new resources.

The post Pioneering Australian company marks new milestone on “mission” to upcycle end-of-life solar panels appeared first on RenewEconomy.

My homeplace has experienced four natural disasters in eight years. But I’d never seen the like of this bird before, vibrantly green and startlingly beautiful

We were midway through our cyclone preparation when my mother broke her leg. She stepped into her bedroom to retrieve something, tripped and fell, and that was that. My mother is 74 and hardy, so this sudden break took us by surprise. Once I got her home, leg in brace, we’d lost significant time, and my household was down to one functional human: me.

This is the fourth natural disaster I’ve experienced in the last eight years. One-in-100-year floods (2017), unprecedented bushfires (2019), one-in-1,000-year floods (2022) and now Cyclone Alfred. Cyclones are a new threat. I’ve lived in my homeplace, in northern New South Wales, for almost 50 years and we’ve never had a cyclone cross land in our vicinity. We were, as they say, in uncharted waters.

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The administrator of the US EPA announced Tuesday that the agency was pulling $20 billion in awards towards GHG reduction schemes from federal grant recipients following a review into alleged financial mismanagement.

Leading European timber technology companies have made headlines this week with plans for new wooden wind turbine towers that will be capable of supporting turbines from 4.2MW to 6.4MW. Swedish company Modvion announced that its latest wooden wind turbine tower, which had been engineered to support a V162 – 6.4MW turbine from the Vestas Enventus […]

The post Stronger and lighter: Wooden towers to be used for bigger wind turbines appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Research shows apex predators are increasing in numbers and excreting important nutrients into Top End waterways

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The growing saltwater crocodile population in the Northern Territory has led to the creatures gorging on nine times more prey than they did 50 years ago, with the apex predators contributing important nutrients to Top End waterways, new research suggests.

Saltwater crocodile populations have increased exponentially in recent decades, from less than 3,000 in 1971, when a ban on hunting was introduced, to more than 100,000 animals today.

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Vermont leads US states working to improve climate outcomes within the transportation sector, but even top performers must accelerate progress to meet decarbonisation targets, according to a report released this month.

Energy Consumers Australia is proposing four rule changes to make gas networks justify capital spending and new customers pay up front to connect to the diminishing fossil network.

The post Gas network death spiral: Pressure mounts to protect consumers from cost of stranded assets appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Creating an electrical charge using water could be the secret to delivering safer fuels and boosting batteries following an Australian lab discovery.

The post Researchers say energy in water could power future battery breakthroughs appeared first on RenewEconomy.

UK skywatchers will see a partial but still hopefully spectacular eclipse before dawn on Friday.

The US EPA has appealed to the Supreme Court against a lower court ruling that denied its request to transfer a case regarding air pollution plans to a different venue.

A US-based international forest non-profit has announced a partnership with Brazil’s Ministry of Indigenous Peoples to support conservation, governance, and forest economies in Indigenous lands across Brazil.

The voluntary carbon market can better address the risk of forest carbon offset leakage – where projects shift harvest activity to areas beyond the credit-generating scheme – experts said on Tuesday.

Swings between drought and floods striking from Dallas to Shanghai, while Madrid and Cairo are among cities whose climate has flipped

Climate whiplash is already hitting major cities around the world, bringing deadly swings between extreme wet and dry weather as the climate crisis intensifies, a report has revealed.

Dozens more cities, including Lucknow, Madrid and Riyadh have suffered a climate “flip” in the last 20 years, switching from dry to wet extremes, or vice versa. The report analysed the 100 most populous cities, plus 12 selected ones, and found that 95% of them showed a distinct trend towards wetter or drier weather.

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Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) developers in the US are searching for new ways to advance project proposals to final investment decisions (FIDs) as the industry faces new economic and political uncertainties, developers said Tuesday at CERAWeek.

Minneapolis is launching a municipality-owned and -operated biochar production facility, reinforcing the city’s commitment to climate resilience and carbon sequestration.

Linking Washington state’s carbon market with California and Quebec would lead to greater overall emissions reductions but could reduce Washington’s auction revenues and slow local air quality improvements, a new report has found.

The EU ETS is set for significant tightening and higher allowance prices from 2026 as emissions caps shrink, free allowances phase out, and the bloc’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) moves to full implementation, according to a large bank’s investment strategy unit.

Peer-reviewed research that integrated various carbon price determinants from all over the world has estimated that Brazilian agricultural emissions reductions should carry an intrinsic valuation of $11.54 per tonne CO2 equivalent.

The next generation of geothermal energy could be key to meeting the demands of AI boom in the US, according to a new report.