Feed aggregator

European commissions’ opposition to a proposed global ban will spell the beginning of a mass extinction of African elephants, warn officials from 29 African states

Wildlife officials in nearly 30 African states say they are appalled by an EU decision to oppose a comprehensive global ban on the ivory trade.

In a position paper released on 1 July, the European commission said that rather than an all-encompassing ban it would be better to encourage countries with growing elephant numbers to “sustainably manage” their populations.

Continue reading...

Council grants planning permission to controversial Druridge Bay coal mine, as campaigners vow to fight on, reports BusinessGreen

Green groups have responded with outrage to the decision yesterday by Northumberland County Council to approve controversial plans for a new opencast coal mine near the Northumberland coast.

The council voted in support of plans from developer Banks Group, which would see 3m tonnes of coal, sandstone and fireclay extracted from a surface mine at Highthorn, near the village of Widdrington.

Continue reading...

The Lixão do Jóquei is one of the largest open landfills in Latin America. Under a 2010 federal law, all solid waste in Brazil should be put in modern landfills that have been lined to stop toxins soaking into the soil. Jóquei, which does not meet those requirements, is scheduled to be closed this year, but hundreds of people still make a dangerous living from scavenging amid its mounds of trash

Continue reading...

Volcanic ash threatens world’s largest colony of chinstrap penguins that are currently trapped on a small island in the sub Antarctic, say scientists

One of the world’s biggest colonies of penguins is at risk from a volcano that has erupted on their small sub-Antarctic island in a British overseas territory.

British scientists fear that Mt Curry’s eruption could have a serious impact on the 1.2m chinstrap penguins and nearly 200,000 macaroni penguins based on Zavodovski, one of the South Sandwich islands.

Continue reading...

Conservationists are devastated after the first two chicks born in captivity to one of the world’s rarest birds die at a wildfowl centre in Gloucestershire

An attempt to breed one of the world’s rarest birds in captivity has failed after the only two chicks which hatched died, conservationists said.

Efforts to breed critically endangered spoon-billed sandpipers, named after their unusual beak, from the world’s only captive population seemed to have yielded results, with seven eggs laid and two chicks hatching.

Continue reading...

Set in the future, Cut The Sky is the latest production from Broome's Marrugeku Company and it explores what happens when we neglect 'country'.

Australia’s economy may have ridden on the sheep’s back but the colonies’ first export was actually Eucalyptus oil. From a small batch of oil distilled from Sydney peppermint gum sent to England by First Fleet Surgeon-General John White, an industry grew around the use of the oil for medicinal and industrial purposes.

As demand grew around the world, Australia dominated the global supply. But as the 20th century progressed, cheaper production from plantations in Spain, Portugal, South Africa and China drove Australia’s market share down to less than 5%.

Today the global market for Eucalyptus oil sits at around 7,000 tonnes each year, with a slowly growing demand and price. In fact, Australia is now a net importer of its own iconic oil!

But a range of cutting-edge new uses for plant-based oils appear set to give this old dog some new tricks, potentially jolting the local eucalyptus oil industry out of its sleepy niche and into the high-tech limelight.

What’s in the oil?

Eucalyptus oils are a cocktail of aromatic compounds called terpenes. The oil that is sold in pharmacies and supermarkets is dominated by one compound called eucalyptol that instantly gives it a recognisable medicinal scent. This oil is sourced from about a dozen species.

There are many other types of oils from Eucalyptus. Oil from the lemon-scented gum, for example, is full of citronellal, which is used in perfumes and insect repellents. What makes a specific oil valuable are the commercial uses for the major terpenes found in that oil.

Eucalyptol is a flammable terpene. Carsten Kulheim Jet fuel grown on trees

Powering a modern jet aircraft with anything other than fossil fuels is a big ask. Renewable ethanol and biodiesel might do fine in the family SUV, but they just don’t possess a high enough energy density to cut it in the aviation industry.

Certain terpenes commonly found in oils from eucalypts, such as pinene and limonene, can be refined through a catalytic process, resulting in a fuel with energy densities in the same league as JP-10 tactical jet fuel.

Turpentine from pine trees is another potential source of these terpenes, but pines grow more slowly than eucalypts.

As a pure fuel, or as an additive to standard aviation fuels, the potential exists to carve out a renewable slice of the enormous aviation fuel market, if the volume of terpene production can be increased to economically competitive levels. Current plantations produce up to 200kg of oil per hectare per year, but by selecting the best genetic stock it is estimated that yields could be more than 500kg per hectare.

Graphene from terpenes

The 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for the discovery of the physical properties of graphene, a two-dimensional carbon grid or film, less than one-millionth of a millimetre thick yet more than 100 times stronger than steel.

In fact, a square metre of graphene can support the weight of a house cat, but weighs less than one of its whiskers. Production value in 2012 was US$9 million and growing fast, and new ways of producing graphene are keenly sought.

Terpinene-4-ol, which is found in Eucalyptus and its close relative tea tree, is an ideal starting material for the direct production of high-quality graphene. This method is scalable and sustainable, potentially providing the solution to the growing demand for graphene and opening up further innovative uses for Eucalyptus oil.

Australia’s advantage

Worldwide, more eucalypts are grown for the production of pulp, paper and timber than any other type of tree. However, all of that global production comes from just over a dozen of the almost 800 Eucalyptus species that occur naturally in Australia, and mostly from a limited ancestry. This means the existing plantations lack genetic diversity and they also lack diversity and variability of oils.

This is where Australia’s advantage lies. We have the choice of 800 species growing in every imaginable ecological niche and possessing vast genetic diversity. For example, within a single species the amount of oil found in leaves can vary 30-fold among wild individuals, which can contain as many as six different major oil variants.

Australia has a veritable smorgasbord of variation from which to select plants with high yields of the right oil for new commercial purposes.

Ecologically a good alternative

Growing eucalypts for oil can provide benefits beyond the commercial value of the terpenes. Several Eucalyptus “mallee” species, which happen to be prolific oil producers, are purposely planted in wide rows on agricultural land to combat dryland salinity and prevent soil erosion.

Mallees are known for their bushy form, which is best described as a “ball of leaves”, and can be re-harvested for oil every 1-3 years. This puts them in the rare class of being renewable oil crops with added ecological benefits.

Ramping up oil production would still require large, dedicated plantations. A frequent criticism of biofuel crops is that land suitable for food production is diverted to fuel production, in turn pushing up food prices. But many eucalypts can grow well on marginal land that is not used for other agricultural purposes, skirting this issue altogether.

With the right genetics from the right species grown in the right places, the humble Eucalyptus oil may be on the verge of an ecologically sustainable renaissance.

David Kainer receives funding from the Australian National University and Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation

Carsten Kulheim receives funding from Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation and Australian Research Council.

Australian solar farm developer ESCO Pacific says it has received planning consent for the development of a 135MW solar farm at Ross River near Townsville.

Wenlock Edge Each flower on the spike is a little pink cutout of a figure, perhaps an effigy of a person our news never mentions

Up on the Windmill there are more pyramidal orchids than I’ve ever shaken a stick at. Singly or in stands of up to 50 in a stride, they scatter across the hill meadow. Their name suggests the sacred geometry of the Egyptians or Incas, but they appear as blobs of absurd colour.

From lilac purple, through cerise to baby pink Anacamptis pyramidalis flowers are domed or conical and have the foxy scent of a rebel. Their leaves are largely lost in a meadow thatch where bees and moths are taking refuge, slow to emerge; a few dithery grass moths and a bumble or two lift the spirits.

Continue reading...

A few weeks ago, Tesla Motors founder Elon Musk boldly predicted that his electric car and storage company would be the world’s first trillion dollar company. He's still a long way short of that dream, but will the first death from a driver using Autopilot make that goal impossible to achieve?

Two new wind farms to be built in Victoria after winning state tender and side-stepping utility capital strike on large scale renewables.

New Zealand's Trustpower wins planning approval for 300MW wind farm near Dundonnell, in Victoria, and could begin construction next year.

NASA's Juno spacecraft enter the orbit of the solar system’s largest planet, in a groundbreaking mission that highlights the capabilities of solar technology.

New wind turbine design likely to encounter some headwinds, adding a new level of aesthetic concern to the issues faced by tall wind turbines.

We are fast approaching a tipping point in the switch from fossil fuels to renewables. This transformation will not be orderly, and will produce significant winners and losers.

The UK solar industry broke a new record in June, generating 23.9% of UK electricity demand, according to the UK Solar Trade Association.

Wind and solar energy projects are set to be the big winners of the state’s ambitious renewable energy targets

Two years ago Rob Stokes, the then environment minister for New South Wales, promised that his state could become Australia’s answer to California in the clean energy industry.

“We are making NSW No 1 in energy and environmental policy,” Stokes, a Liberal, told the Clean Energy Week gathering in Sydney in July 2014.“When it comes to clean energy, we can be Australia’s answer to California.”

Continue reading...

Western Australia’s government is seeking the power to approve activities that could ‘take or disturb’ an endangered species

Western Australia’s government could have the power to approve activities that could make a threatened species extinct, under biodiversity laws now before state parliament.

The provision has been dubbed “the God clause” by scientists and conservationists, who say giving the environment minister discretion to effectively authorise the extinction of a species contradicts the very purpose of biodiversity legislation.

Continue reading...

Global or regional agreements are vital for cross-border problems such as pollution and wildlife crime, says new environment chief, Erik Solheim

The UN’s new environment chief has called for a post-Brexit Britain to link up with the EU on environment policy, adopting key bloc climate laws and maintaining its nature directives.

In his first interview since taking office, Erik Solheim told the Guardian it was vital that supranational decisions continued for problems such as pollution and wildlife crime which crossed borders, and could not be dealt with by states acting alone.

Continue reading...

In July 1996, scientists in Scotland created the world’s first animal cloned from an adult cell