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California's big batteries remain top supplier in evening demand peaks for more than three hours, extending their dominance of the grid powering the world's fifth biggest economy.

The post Deeper, longer, cleaner: Big batteries extend domination of California’s evening demand peaks appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Brookfield reportedly looking at Andrew Forrest's Windlab to boost its ambitious Australian renewable project plans.

The post Brookfield targets Forrest’s Windlab renewable developer after Origin snub appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A state industrial strategy is needed to reduce carbon output, produce cleaner growth and redistribute jobs around the UK

Theresa May and Boris Johnson both argued for levelling up and for a state-supported green transition undergirded by an industrial strategy. Neither delivered and their successor, Rishi Sunak, has repudiated their legacy as prime minister. He looks to the City to deliver growth, with banks determining the rate of investment to meet the challenge of the climate emergency. This is a recipe for failure. The Climate Change Committee (CCC), the government’s independent advisers on cutting carbon emissions, warned last year of “worryingly slow” progress to meet net zero targets. The government is not engaging on what it will take to decarbonise.

Weaning the country off fossil fuels and on to green energy is a complex transition that should be a job for the state, not the free market. Yet Britain is bottom of the league for state spending on renewables in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. In the offshore industry alone 30,000 workers could end up with nowhere to go by 2030 without new roles in green industries. Relying on big finance to meet that gap will entrench today’s failing model, which emphasises the need to attract significant capital flows through deregulation and privatisation, strengthening the hand of boom-and-bust financial services and weakening labour rights. The flipside is a bigger trade deficit and a destructive politics of redistribution to asset holders and to London.

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Milford Haven, Southampton and Immingham top the list for emissions of gases and particulates

Ships calling at the UK’s most-polluted ports produce more nitrogen oxides than all the cars registered in the same cities or regions, analysis has shown.

A report from Transport & Environment (T&E) said that ships were continuing to discharge huge quantities of air pollutants at ports, with Milford Haven, Southampton and Immingham topping the list for emissions of harmful sulphur oxides and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) as well as nitrogen oxides (NOx).

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A new exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London includes ‘tragic’ tales of species wiped out from their natural habitats

Douglas Russell, a senior curator at London’s Natural History Museum, was examining a collection of nests gathered on the island of Guam when he made an unsettling discovery.

“The nests had been picked up more than 100 years ago, and I was curating them with the aim of adding them to the museum’s main collection. They turned out to be one of the most tragic, saddest accumulations of objects I’ve ever had to deal with,” Russell told the Observer last week.

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Environment minister rejects proposed solar and green hydrogen project surrounded by hundreds of coal seam gas wells and which was to be sited next to a big gas refinery.

The post Plibersek says no to solar project surrounded by coal seam gas fields appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Popular among teenagers, the large electric bikes have triggered numerous complaints to councils as fears grow for the safety of riders and pedestrians

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If you frequent coastal towns or suburbs around Australia, you might be familiar with the sight of large, speedy ebikes zooming along the footpath. Fat bikes, as they’re commonly known, have been described as the monster trucks of the cycling world. With wide, thick tyres and seats big enough for two, the electric bicycles are designed to handle sand and off-road terrain.

But they have also garnered a cult status among young people, who are using them to get around with friends, take their surfboard to the beach and commute to school.

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PFAS chemicals present in air, rain, atmosphere and water in basin, which holds nearly 95% of US freshwater

Toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” are ubiquitous in the Great Lakes basin’s air, rain, atmosphere and water, new peer-reviewed research shows.

The first-of-its-kind, comprehensive picture of PFAS levels for the basin, which holds nearly 95% of the nation’s freshwater, also reveals that precipitation is probably a major contributor to the lakes’ contamination.

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Edible oil droplets trap bugs without the harm to people and wildlife that synthetic pesticides can cause

Tiny sticky droplets sprayed on crops to trap pests could be a green alternative to chemical pesticides, research has shown.

The insect glue, produced from edible oils, was inspired by plants such as sundews that use the strategy to capture their prey. A key advantage of physical pesticides over toxic pesticides is that pests are highly unlikely to evolve resistance, as this would require them to develop much larger and stronger bodies, while bigger beneficial insects, like bees, are not trapped by the drops.

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One man describes the condition as "probably the worst ailment" he has had in his adult life.

Another spectacular light show could come within two weeks as Sun storms reach 11-year high.

Another spectacular light show could come within two weeks as Sun storms reach 11-year high.

A public policy arm of a global think-tank has outlined recommendations for the US to achieve net zero by 2050 while ensuring reliable, affordable access to energy for economic growth.

Speculators notched their first increase to their California Carbon Allowance (CCA) net holdings since early April, while demand rose across the board for RGGI Allowances (RGA), according to weekly data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

A November election victory for former US President Donald Trump would likely see reduced support for low-carbon energy and a rollback of methane, power plant, and transportation emissions regulations, according to a report published Thursday.

The board of directors of the Brazilian National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) unanimously approved Tuesday a resolution that incorporates the UN's CORSIA aviation offsetting into law.

Building nuclear reactors would cost six times more than wind and solar power firmed up with batteries, according to a report released on Saturday by the Clean Energy Council.

The post Nuclear option costs ‘six times more’ than renewables, study finds appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A group of 20 Democratic state attorneys general and others filed a motion to intervene Thursday to support the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a litany of lawsuits from challengers to power plant regulations finalised in April.

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that a carbon storage project funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) did not meet technical thresholds and is now delayed and the cost overrun, it said in a report published Thursday.

The EU has said it struggles to see "a sufficiently clear direction for further work" in a response to a call for input on Article 6.4 removals crediting guidance under the Paris Agreement, with a wide range of starkly different positions also submitted by other entities highlighting the difficulties ahead of COP29 with finding consensus on key methodological matters.