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With global e-waste projected to hit 50m tonnes next year, consumers need to put pressure on technology firms to make their products more repairable

Tech powers many things, including cognitive dissonance. A few years ago I was travelling through Agbogbloshie, the commercial district in Accra, known as a graveyard for electronic waste, a hotspot for digital dumping. I tutted and shook my head in sorrow as I surveyed the charred keyboards and plumes of toxic computer smoke wafting across the landscape. My Ghanaian colleague looked with some amusement at the tech spilling out of my handbag. My laptop, phone, iPad – where did I think they might end up?

Despite my relatively puritanical approach to upgrades (I can remember ALL my phones), there’s a good chance that those items ended up back there or somewhere similar. According to 2011 figures from the B&FT (Business and Financial Times, Ghana’s biggest business newspaper), the country took in 17,765 tonnes of UK e-waste that year, nearly 50% of all of the waste electronics that were dumped there. For the UK’s discarded electronic goods, Ghana is still likely to be a major destination. Others include China, India and Nigeria. Out of all the electronic waste we send for recycling, 80% ends up being shipped (some legally, and some not) to emerging and developing countries. China is tightening up. A recent change in the law reclassified circuit boards as “hazardous” waste, putting some Chinese e-waste reprocessors out of business. It was a digital version of the butterfly effect: causing more e-waste to be dumped on developing countries to be processed illegally.

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Tonnes of plastic end up in the ocean each year, but a switch away from petroleum-based products to bio-derived and degradable composites could lessen marine pollution. Kim Pickering, Professor of materials science and engineering, University of Waikato Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Failure of another coal power unit in Victoria's Latrobe Valley has prompted the market operator to warn of supply shortages – and it's not even summer yet.

Schott scolds government for "spitting the dummy" on Clean Energy Target, but defends design of NEG, saying it clear that more renewables have weakened energy system.

If the Corvette is the halo car for Chevrolet and General Motors, the new Roadster will be the halo car for Tesla.

Federal Government is something of a lame duck and, in our view, lacks moral authority in the area of energy policy.

In partnership with BirdLife Australia, Guardian Australia has launched its annual Australian bird of the year poll to ask readers to nominate their favourite bird and encourage others to do the same

This week Guardian Australia and BirdLife Australia are asking readers to cast their vote on their favourite native bird. From the gregarious sulphur-crested cockatoo to the ubiquitous bright lorikeet, it’s time to recognise our country’s wealth of amazing native birds.

The poll aims to celebrate the uniqueness of Australian birdlife and raise awareness of the threats facing many of the birds on the list, including climate change, habitat loss, land-clearing and feral animal predators.

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The National Food Waste Strategy was launched on 20 November by the Minister for the Environment and Energy at the National Food Waste Summit.

The National Food Waste Strategy was launched on 20 November by the Minister for the Environment and Energy at the National Food Waste Summit.

The National Food Waste Strategy was launched on 20 November by the Minister for the Environment and Energy at the National Food Waste Summit.

Australia has some of the most glorious birds on the planet. Our shortlist of 50 birds includes truly spectacular ones. Which one should be number one?

• Vote for your favourite Australian bird

The recently released The Australian Bird Guide (CSIRO Publishing) chronicles a whopping 927 species seen in Australia since 1940. About 160 are considered vagrants – birds that have accidentally arrived here, blown off course or, in the case of North American migratory shorebirds, literally taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque – and vast numbers of the rest are rare, difficult to see or only occur in remote areas, so that only the most dedicated of bird nerds ever gets to delight in their magnificence.

Related: Australian bird of the year 2017: vote for your favourite

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In a new poll, run in conjunction with BirdLife Australia, we want you to tell us your best-loved native bird

• Vote here for Australia’s bird of the year 2017

Birds. From the glorious king parrot to the much-maligned white ibis, Australians are passionate about them.

But is there one bird that reigns supreme in the hearts and minds of the public?

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From the promiscuous willy wagtail to the magnificent but slightly terrifying cassowary, Australia has an abundance of wonderful native birds. Vote here to determine the bird of the year 2017. A shortlist of 51 species has been selected – if your favourite is not included, you can add it. The poll is open until 9 December. You only get one vote – use it wisely.

• Photographs and descriptions courtesy Sean Dooley and BirdLife Australia.

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Report finds combination of wind power, smart controls and energy efficiency would cost $2.2bn over five years, while keeping Liddell coal plant open would cost $3.6bn.

COP23's “Talanoa dialogue" will put pressure on major economies – like Australia – to upgrade their commitments to limit global warming to "well below" 2°C.

Indigenous women hand paint religious crosses for sale around the world; endangered rock wallabies make a comeback in APY lands; we go in search of rock lobsters; and cook a carrot cake.

It's been a busy year for start up energy pioneer Energy Renaissance and it's latest appointment makes it clear things are ramping up. This week sees former head of UGL's national power business Mr. Mark Chilcote formally join as Managing Director.

Australia solar research leader Martin Green says solar heading to a price of 1c/kWh before 2020 after latest record auction result.

A clean energy package will have a zero pollution outcome compared with 40m tonnes under Coalition’s plan to extend the NSW plant, UTS modelling reveals

• Renewables could reliably contribute 50% to power grid, Finkel report finds

Replacing the Liddell coal power station with clean energy technologies would slash pollution and be at least $1.3bn cheaper than the Turnbull government’s plan to extend the life of the New South Wales plant by five years, a new analysis has found.

A second report released on Monday also found Australia has the potential to lead the world in developing large and home-scale energy storage systems if public uncertainty can be overcome.

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International Energy Agency likes to present itself as a climate champion, but it is in fact steering the energy system towards catastrophic levels of warming,