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Oscar, 10th hurricane of 2024 season, batters Turks and Caicos and Bahamas and threatens Cuba and Canada

Hurricane Oscar has become the 10th hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season, battering the Turks and Caicos Islands on Saturday night and the far southern Bahamas on Sunday.

The disturbance that eventually became Oscar was initially given a low chance of tropical development by the US National Hurricane Center. It began on 10 October as a tropical wave across western Africa, bringing thunderstorms and gusty winds to the Cabo Verde Islands, before moving westwards over the Atlantic. However, it struggled to become sufficiently organised at it progressed, as dry air inhibited further thunderstorm development.

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The Russian Carbon Units Registry has conducted its first international sale of carbon credits from a forest project in Krasnoyarsk to an investment fund in the United Arab Emirates, local media reported last week.

Japan’s largest LNG developer has partnered with a local power company for a joint study on capturing post-combustion CO2 in Japan for transport to Australia for permanent sequestration.

Exclusive: Researchers find 61% of fresh waters in the UK contain high levels of phosphate and nitrate

The UK’s rivers contain a cocktail of chemicals and stimulants including caffeine, antidepressants and painkillers from water company sewage releases, polluting freshwaters at levels which can pose a risk to aquatic life, testing has found.

Results from three days of testing in rivers by 4,531 volunteers for the environmental research group Earthwatch showed that, in addition to the chemical mix in rivers, 61% of fresh waters in the UK were in a poor state because of high levels of the nutrients phosphate and nitrate, the source of which is sewage effluent and agricultural runoff. England had the worst level of poor water quality in rivers, with 67% of freshwater samples showing high levels of nitrate and phosphate.

Of the 91 samples already analysed, 100% contained caffeine, with levels in 80% of these samples presenting some risk to aquatic life, said Woods.

Nicotine was found in 25% of samples, with concentrations that present some risk to aquatic life found in 7% of samples. The antidepressant venlafaxine was found in 30% of samples analysed, with 13% of samples containing levels that posed a risk to aquatic life.

The antibiotic trimethoprim was found in 10% of samples, all at concentrations that posed some level of risk to aquatic life.

Diclofenac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, was in 11 % of samples, all of which showed some level of risk.

In 5% of samples, the fungicide tebuconazole was present as a result of agricultural runoff.

The neonicotinoid acetamiprid, used for pet flea treatment, was present in 19% of samples, all showing some level of risk to aquatic life.

Earthwatch said the results showed the strong contribution that citizen science played in presenting a clearer picture of the health of rivers.

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Queensland could revert to coal central as calls grow for a power plan from the energised LNP, days out from voters heading to the polls in the Sunshine State.

The post Queensland’s energy future under a cloud as LNP sends mixed messages on coal, emissions appeared first on RenewEconomy.

AEMO chief Daniel Westerman says the old paradigm of baseload power and peaking generation is no longer fit for the Australian grid, as renewables and storage eat away at markets once dominated by coal and gas.

The post Baseload coal and peaking gas paradigm “no longer fit” for modern grid, says AEMO chief appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A groundbreaking community pilot hopes to identify the opportunities and challenges as household electrification is scaled up across the whole country.

The post SwitchedOn Podcast: World-first community pilot to help spark the electrification of everything appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The timeline for the massive Australian Renewable Energy Hub timeline has been pushed out to 2029 for first power and 2030s for green hydrogen and ammonia production.

The post Start date for could be Australia’s biggest renewable energy hub pushed out to end of decade appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Construction underway on 150 megawatt, two-hour big battery in first stage of $2 billion series of solar and storage projects being built in the region by Amp Energy.

The post Construction underway on first 300MWh battery in massive solar and storage hub appeared first on RenewEconomy.

As Australia’s domestic reliance on coal falls, our exports are bigger than ever – and new coal approvals suggest this won’t change soon. John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

European heavy industries like aluminum and steel should embrace the flexibility that comes with electrification, rather than persist in operating continuously and prolonging dependence on fossil fuels, a report warned.

The transition to sustainable heating solutions is stalling across European countries due to collapsing heat pump sales, which are putting 170,000 jobs at risk, researchers have warned.

Bowen boosts size of next CIS tenders to 10 GW of wind, solar and storage as Coalition digs in with plans to dismantle renewable zones and support more fossil fuels.

The post Bowen says next round of CIS tenders will seek 10 gigawatts of wind, solar and battery storage appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Simplistic comparisons are misleading. Calculations based on the mix of electric and fossil-fuelled cars actually on our roads show any difference in mass is too small to be significant. Robin Smit, Adjunct Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Ruth Davis named special representative for nature ‘to put climate and nature at the heart of our foreign policy’

The government has appointed the UK’s first envoy for nature, a role that a former campaigner called “the environmentalist’s environmentalist”, who will be charged with forging global agreement on halting the precipitous decline of species.

Ruth Davis, the new special representative for nature, is in Colombia for the start of two weeks of vital talks that will decide the global response to the biodiversity crisis. The UK has played a leading role in such efforts in the past and Davis helped draw up a global pledge on deforestation that was one of the main outcomes of the UN Cop26 climate summit hosted in Glasgow in 2021.

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It has been a nightmare season for farmers, with England said to have had its second-worst harvest on record

Giant orange pumpkins with ghoulish grins have become a Halloween doorstep tradition but this year trick-or-treaters may be greeted with even spookier green-tinged jack-o-lanterns after a nightmare season for growers.

In Asda, pumpkin displays have signs telling shoppers “don’t worry if I’m slightly green, I will ripen at home and turn orange”.

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We need to deal with the climate effects of global capitalism the way we deal with inflation – by applying the brakes

The impact of the climate crisis is evident everywhere. Finance ministers meet in Washington DC this week for the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund in the wake of two devastating hurricanes in the US within a month. Parts of the Sahara have been flooded for the first time in half a century.

Scientists attribute the growing number of extreme weather events to a planet that continues to get hotter as the result of rising concentrations of greenhouse gases linked to human activity. Global temperature records are being broken with every year that passes and the idea that this can continue indefinitely is a fantasy.

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Australia's main grid reached 75 per cent renewables for the first time on Sunday, propelled by rooftop solar which also sent coal power and grid demand down to record lows.

The post Rooftop PV propels renewables to 75 pct share for first time, sends coal and grid demand to record lows appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Experts say UN event will be critical for world’s declining wildlife population as host nation pushes for inclusivity

World leaders, environmental activists and prominent researchers have begun to arrive in Cali, Colombia, for a biodiversity summit that experts say will be decisive for the fate of the world’s rapidly declining wildlife populations.

The host nation is also hoping that the summit, which formally opens on Sunday evening, will be the most inclusive in history.

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Rooftop solar smashes its previous peak in Australia's most renewable state, setting a new record share of 112.9 per cent of state demand.

The post Rooftop solar reaches stunning new record of 112.9 per cent of state demand appeared first on RenewEconomy.