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The town that reveals how Russia spills two Deepwater Horizons of oil each year

The Guardian - Fri, 2016-08-05 15:00

Oil spills in the Komi Republic caused by old pipelines are relatively small and rarely garner widespread attention - but added up they threaten fish stocks and pasture for cattle

The Komi Republic in northern Russia is renowned for its many lakes, but sites contaminated by oil are almost just as easy to find in the Usinsk oilfields. From pumps dripping oil and huge ponds of black sludge to dying trees and undergrowth — a likely sign of an underground pipeline leak — these spills are relatively small and rarely garner media attention.

But they add up quickly, threatening fish stocks, pasture land and drinking water. According to the natural resources and environment minister, Sergei Donskoi, 1.5m tonnes of oil are spilled in Russia each year. That’s more than twice the amount released by the record-breaking Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

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Categories: Around The Web

Cockchafer flies in with chainsaw hum

The Guardian - Fri, 2016-08-05 14:30

Watership Down, Hampshire Disturbingly large and menacing in flight, the billy witch is a beetle of otherworldly workmanship

The day has been hot and heavy and full of the drones of insects sounding up at their own unique frequencies. In the cool of the evening my muscle memory is still swaying, an artefact from the repeated left and right arc of cutting hay on the meadow bank. All day as I worked I’d watched the bees hum and fumble at the flower heads as I cut down through the cornflowers, ox-eye daisies and yarrow at the field’s edge; a meadow’s measure of summer music.

At my desk in front of the wide open window I can hear what sounds like the distant hum of a chainsaw, its pitch changing as it cuts through the wood. With alarming suddenness, the sound is upon me, in the room and loud around my ears as a cockchafer flies past my head and settles on the books by a lamp.

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Categories: Around The Web

Darwin Airport switches on 4MW solar array

RenewEconomy - Fri, 2016-08-05 14:25
Darwin Airport has completed first phase of 5.5MW solar farm, switching on 4MW installation that will ultimately supply 25% of airport's power needs.
Categories: Around The Web

AGL invests in world’s largest battery storage virtual power plant

RenewEconomy - Fri, 2016-08-05 14:00
AGL Energy to install 1,000 centrally controlled battery storage systems in South Australian homes and businesses with a total capacity of 7MWh – equivalent to a 5MW solar peaking plant. A foretaste of what many expect to be the energy system of the future.
Categories: Around The Web

France gets a step closer to solar roads

RenewEconomy - Fri, 2016-08-05 13:25
French energy minister Ségolène Royal has inaugurated a manufacturing plant that will produce the so-called "Wattway" paving, made of solar PV.
Categories: Around The Web

Tesla: Gigafactory is “on schedule” to support 2017 Model 3 roll-out

RenewEconomy - Fri, 2016-08-05 13:19
Despite giving tours to press and customers in the past few weeks, many details about developments at Tesla Motors and Panasonic’s “gigafactory” near Reno are still murky, and little light was shed by Elon Musk in Tesla’s Q2 results.
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State of the Climate 2015: global warming and El Niño sent records tumbling

RenewEconomy - Fri, 2016-08-05 12:41
Besides record heat, the world saw many other unwanted records tumble in 2015, providing ever more evidence for the effect humans are having on climate.
Categories: Around The Web

Tesla and SolarCity: Do they fit together?

RenewEconomy - Fri, 2016-08-05 12:29
There are synergies between EVs and solar, so the basic concept of merging Tesla and SolarCity seems sound. The biggest risk is that somebody else might execute it better.
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Saving ARENA could be only upside of scary new Senate

RenewEconomy - Fri, 2016-08-05 12:20
As the Senate shapes up to be heavy on Hansonites and climate skepticism, and light on support for renewable energy, retaining a fully-funded ARENA could be the best the industry can hope for.
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Linking Adani coalmine to social uplift in India ridiculous, says conservationist

The Guardian - Fri, 2016-08-05 10:33

Activist Debi Goenka says Indian coal market, which has swung dramatically against the viability of imported coal for power, will seal Carmichael mine’s fate

Continued attempts by Australian politicians to link Adani’s Carmichael coalmine to the social uplift of the poor in India are “completely ridiculous”, a veteran Indian conservationist says.

Debi Goenka, the Mumbai activist who challenged Adani’s environmental licence for its mine in the Queensland land court in 2014, said Australian government figures continued to rely on arguments about imported coal lifting Indians out of poverty, which were “all bunkum”.

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Categories: Around The Web

Suncorp – It’s time to act on climate change

RenewEconomy - Fri, 2016-08-05 09:56
For the first time in its history, Suncorp has listed climate change as a specific business risk. But it's still not convinced by the science.
Categories: Around The Web

Badgers may not spread TB to cattle through direct contact

BBC - Fri, 2016-08-05 09:11
New research suggests that badgers do not transmit TB to cattle by direct contact.
Categories: Around The Web

Flight of the bumblebee: survey finds individual personalities

The Guardian - Fri, 2016-08-05 08:31

Queen Mary University of London tracked four bumblebees for whole life, and found disparities in how they found food

A study has revealed that bumblebees have distinct personalities.

Some bees play it safe by returning to the same flowers again and again while others search for new sources of nectar, scientists found.

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Categories: Around The Web

Artificial leaf turns CO2 emissions Into fuel

RenewEconomy - Fri, 2016-08-05 08:14
What if humans could invent a leaf-like solar cell that could turn carbon dioxide pollution from the atmosphere into fuel for electric power plants? Researchers led by University of Illinois-Chicago might have developed just that.
Categories: Around The Web

The financial case for net zero energy districts

RenewEconomy - Fri, 2016-08-05 08:13
Net zero energy buildings have been gaining momentum around the world. However, there still remains an industry-wide perception that net zero energy is too expensive, or comes at a much higher incremental cost over business as usual.
Categories: Around The Web

Tree-saving campaign focuses eyes on the white-letter hairstreak

The Guardian - Fri, 2016-08-05 06:30

Patrick Barkham on how a colony of rare butterflies living in a healthy elm has become a key element for citizens resisting Sheffield council tree felling

We tend to picture butterflies feeding on flowers, but five British species spend most of their lives in the tops of trees. These insects are often overlooked during their unobtrusive lives. But the white-letter hairstreak finds itself in the spotlight this month as local people fight to save a fine mature elm in Sheffield.

Related: Rare UK butterfly under threat as elms disappear

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Categories: Around The Web

Rocks tell story of China's great flood

BBC - Fri, 2016-08-05 04:01
Geologists have found evidence for an ancient megaflood which they say could be the mythical flood at the dawn of the first Chinese dynasty.
Categories: Around The Web

Men may have evolved better 'making up' skills

BBC - Fri, 2016-08-05 03:18
An analysis of sports events suggests men may be better at reconciliation after conflicts which could give them advantages in the workplace.
Categories: Around The Web

Your pictures of the newly enlarged Yorkshire Dales and Lake District

The Guardian - Fri, 2016-08-05 02:00

After boundaries were re-drawn on 1 August, we asked you to share your best pictures of the Yorkshire Dales and Lake District national parks – including the newly incorporated areas now on many walkers’ bucket lists

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Categories: Around The Web

Hidden Degas portrait revealed

BBC - Thu, 2016-08-04 23:09
A hidden portrait by the French Impressionist painter Edgar Degas has been revealed using powerful x-rays, scientists report.
Categories: Around The Web

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