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Community consultation has begin on the creation of the Hunter-Central Coast renewable energy zone, which is featuring an upgrade of existing network capacity rather than new transmission lines, and which could emerge as a model for future plans. The state government has said the Hunter-Central Coast REZ will be the first in Australia to focus […]

The post “Putting fatter lines on poles:” Consultation begins on renewable zone for nation’s coal hub appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Brookfield, with $1.5 trillion in assets and now in control of Neoen, says demand and prospects for low cost wind, solar and battery storage has never been better.

The post Customers will take as much wind and solar as they can “because they are the cheapest,” says Brookfield appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Dutton's latest claim that the Coalition's nuclear policy will cut electricity bills by 44% has been slammed as "either dangerously ill-informed" or a lie – and new modelling shows why.

The post Lies, damned lies and Coalition energy economics: Dutton’s latest nuclear claim slammed appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Wind and solar are not far from overtaking coal and gas in Australia's main grid. But market volatility is affecting prices. Are they being manipulated?

The post Know your NEM: The jaw tightens as wind and solar gets ready to overtake coal and gas appeared first on RenewEconomy.

BoM forecasts high of 39C in Melbourne and 41C in Adelaide with cool change not expected until Tuesday or Wednesday

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South-eastern states sweltering in a heatwave may be waiting until late Tuesday or Wednesday for a cool change to bring some relief.

Melbourne and Adelaide were in for another very hot day on Monday, after highs of 38C and 39C on Sunday. The Bureau of Meteorology was forecasting Adelaide to reach 41C and Melbourne 39C on Monday, followed by another hot day on Tuesday for both cities.

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Bird protection will be front of mind for Goldwind after four key species found at its proposed Bashan wind farm site in Tasmania.

The post Goldwind promises improved eagle detection at new Tasmania wind project appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Some tropical lows are stalling, dumping huge volumes of rain – and climate change is playing a role

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Record-breaking floods across north Queensland have turned deadly, with one woman drowning while being rescued on Sunday. And the flood waters were still rising, with rain set to continue.

With reports of up to one metre of rainfall in parts of north-east Queensland, the heaviest rain has fallen between Lucinda to Townsville in northern Queensland as the Bureau of Meteorology warns the big wet will continue for days.

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This article originally appeared in the Conversation. Steve Turton is an adjunct professor of environmental geography at CQUniversity Australia

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Male frogs carrying tadpoles made an incredible journey to the UK by boat, plane, and car.

Group of Darwin’s frogs threatened by chytrid fungus thrive in specially built room that mimics their natural habitat

Dozens of endangered froglets have been born at London zoo after conservationists launched an emergency mission to rescue members of the species from a remote national park in Chile.

Researchers rushed to Tantauco Park on the southern tip of Chiloé Island after tests confirmed that the lethal chytrid fungus had reached the nature reserve and threatened to wipe out some of the last remaining populations of Darwin’s frogs.

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The Australian government has deferred legislation to establish federal environmental protection and information-gathering agencies until after the upcoming election, local media reported.

A non-profit geoengineering research initiative aimed at slowing Arctic ice melt has announced it will cease operations after more than a decade, citing ecological risks and financial challenges.

Plans to knock down and rebuild 44 public housing towers are flawed. Retrofitting and upgrading is feasible, cheaper and better for people and the planet. Nigel Bertram, Practice Professor of Architecture, Monash University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A new study has raised concerns about the long-term effectiveness of peatland rewetting as a carbon farming strategy, warning that current crediting mechanisms may overestimate the climate benefits of such projects if they fail over time.

On top of the added levels of noise and air pollution, there’s the non-trivial matter of demolishing hundreds of homes, diverting several waterways and rerouting a long stretch of the M25

Ladies and gentlemen, the captain has illuminated the “fasten seat belts” sign. Not only have Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves run into severe turbulence over Heathrow, the flight deck deliberately steered the Labour plane into storm clouds. That’s an interesting choice for a government that was already buffeted by serious unpopularity and it’s a choice that a lot of their own party are struggling to explain to themselves. Anger about the chancellor’s new commitment to back the expansion of the London airport and others is mingled with bewilderment. A lot of Labour people are scratching their heads trying to work out why she wants to burn political capital on a hugely contentious project that couldn’t possibly be complete until long after she’s done at the Treasury and Sir Keir is gone from Number 10.

It was her choice and his. She didn’t have to make airport expansion the centrepiece of her keynote speech about growth. The prime minister, if his title means anything, could have stopped his chancellor had he wanted to. One consequence of the fury about the subject is that it diverts attention from her more welcome thoughts about how to boost Britain’s growth-starved economy.

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Government scheme to penalise pollution from burning rubbish won’t ensure more is recycled, consultants warn

Councils may be forced to send more rubbish to landfill or export it overseas because of a new pollution tax set to be imposed on the UK’s network of waste incinerators.

There are already more than 60 energy-from-waste incinerators across the UK and the Observer revealed in December that as many as 40 new plants are in the pipeline. Many local councils have supported the policy of burning waste, which is cheaper than sending it to landfill.

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A West End play reveals the way in which powerful vested interests brought about the demise of the climate protocol

In his review of the play Kyoto (“The Kyoto climate treaty is hailed on stage, but reality tells a different story”, Focus), Robin McKie rightly points out that the world is failing dismally to effectively get a grip on the climate crisis.

Richer countries that were part of the Kyoto bloc – mostly European nations – put in place extensive policies to implement the treaty’s legally binding targets: the UK’s 2008 Climate Change Act, widely emulated across the world, is one example. Climate laws multiplied after 1997. All countries with targets met them, renewables spread much more quickly than expected, and emissions in the Kyoto bloc fell by over 20%, at least partly because of these policies.

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Deadly floods have hit large areas of northern Queensland, from Townsville up to Cairns. Hotter seas and a late monsoon are key factors. Steve Turton, Adjunct Professor of Environmental Geography, CQUniversity Australia Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The chancellor is under fire after a study cited as evidence for expanding the terminal to boost the UK’s economic growth was ordered by Heathrow itself

Rachel Reeves was facing criticism on Saturday night as it was confirmed that a report she cited as evidence that a third ­runway at Heathrow would boost the UK economy was commissioned by the airport itself.

Experts and green groups also challenged Reeves’s view that advances in the production of ­sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) had been a “gamechanger” that would substantially limit the environmental damage of flying, ­saying the claims were overblown and did not stand up to scrutiny.

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Minister says there was error when Manningtree station car park extension was approved under last government

Campaigners have celebrated an “important victory” in a closely watched case that will determine whether the government will enforce new legislation aimed at protecting national parks and landscapes in England.

Dedham Vale is a designated “national landscape” on the border of Essex and Suffolk, home to increasingly rare species including hazel dormice and hedgehogs. Within it is Manningtree station, where the train operator Greater Anglia built an extension to the car park to cope with increased traffic.

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Legal action has begun to remove the tenants after the 80-acre site was sold to be turned into a healing retreat

Lunch around the huge sycamore and oak table in the farmhouse kitchen of the off-grid Brithdir Mawr community in the Preseli mountains of west Wales is a warm, gentle affair.

Members of the housing co-operative share soup made from leeks and potatoes grown in the gardens, served with crumbly goat’s cheese from its own herd, all washed down with mugs of mountain spring water.

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