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Retrofitting for better energy efficiency often doesn’t require dramatic structural change. Some simple steps can make a big difference

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If you own or rent one of Australia’s 6 million-plus homes built 30 years ago or more, the words “coldest start to winter” can be especially depressing.

These older dwellings are leaky, rely heavily on heating and cooling, and emit more carbon than modern homes. This exacerbates health issues, spikes bills and notches up emissions. “Before time” houses, built prior to the National Construction Code’s introduction of energy standards in 2003, typically score just 1.8 stars on the 10-star Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme. New builds are generally rated between 6 and 7 stars.

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Absorption through skin could be ‘significant source of exposure’ to toxic forever chemicals, study shows

New research “for the first time proves” toxic PFAS forever chemicals are absorbed through human skin, and at levels much higher than previously thought.

Though modeling and research has suggested the dangerous chemicals are absorbed through skin, University of Birmingham researchers say they used lab-grown tissue that mimics human skin to determine how much of a dose of PFAS compounds can be absorbed.

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There are just 300 electric HGVs in the 500,000-strong lorry fleet – and only one public charging point, says RHA

The road haulage industry is calling on the new government to urgently tackle investment in infrastructure for electric trucks, after pointing out there is just one public charging point for HGVs in the whole of the UK.

Takeup of electric cars is soaring, with about 1.1m fully battery-powered cars on British roads and about 63,000 charging units in 33,000 locations, according to Zapmap data.

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We’ve been making short-term decisions about our planet for a long time. The consequences are horrific to behold

The slashing rain turned the dirt roads into muddy creeks, the bus’s wipers shoved the torrent back and forth across the windshield, and Don Schreiber handled the wheel like Sandra Bullock in Speed as he wisecracked from under a big gray moustache. The vehicle swerved and slid in the storm, lightning flashed on the horizon, thunder shook the air. Whether the old yellow bus would make it back to the ranch house, get stuck or slide and flip depended on his driving.

Don, in his white Stetson and a blue and white checked western shirt, was our tour guide on this land in northwestern New Mexico that he knew intimately and had dedicated his retirement to protecting. When he and his wife Jane Schreiber bought the ranchland about 200 miles north-west of Santa Fe in 1999 to retire to, they – like many westerners – found that they owned the land, but not the subsurface rights. The fracking boom came, and gas companies began gouging holes for gas wells, laying pipelines and cutting roads across the fragile desert soil. Big trucks rolled across the land night and day to service the wells that studded the landscape. At the well we stopped at, the pressure gauge was broken.

Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. She is the author of Orwell’s Roses and co-editor with Thelma Young Lutunatabua of the climate anthology Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility

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Funding for more than 420 neighbourhood batteries approved to boost rooftop solar and storage capacity in local networks, and share benefits with local communities.

The post More than 420 neighbourhood batteries approved to boost rooftop solar and storage capacity appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Cold or Wet? You think, squishing a sock betwixt red, swollen fingers. Cold or Wet? You wonder as you slide into icy sheets

Complaining is a universal language that creates social bonds quicker than chatting about positive topics. In these economic times it is a cheap way to treat yourself. When was the last time you had a little whinge? I indulged mere moments ago. Some call it negativity, I call it self-care, and there’s no better time than winter to complain because it is so cold.

My daily winter outfit in our sunburnt country is leggings, thermals, hoodie, flannelette shirt, beanie and slippers, and I’m considering buying gloves and a balaclava due to chilblains. Along with draping myself in blankets this has been a staple winter outfit for years in Melbourne and Sydney houses prone to mould, crumbling foundations and draftiness that could be attributed to poor insulation or ghosts. I like to imagine ghosts because they’re less spooky than landlords.

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Volunteers work to herd Atlantic white-sided dolphins found Friday in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, into deeper water

More than 100 dolphins have become stranded in the shallow waters around Cape Cod on Friday in what an animal welfare group is calling “the largest single mass stranding event” in the organization’s 25-year history.

A group of Atlantic white-sided dolphins were found Friday in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, about 100 miles south-east of Boston, in an area called the Gut – or Great Island at the Herring River – which experts have said is the site of frequent strandings, due in part to its hook-like shape and extreme tidal fluctuations.

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Angela Richardson accuses campaigners against polluted water of putting Conservative MPs in danger

The Conservative party deputy chair Angela Richardson called the sewage crisis a “political football” and claimed opposition parties and activists had put Tory MPs in physical danger by campaigning on the issue.

Richardson, who is standing for re-election in Guildford, where the River Wey was recently found to have 10 times the safe limit of E coli, also suggested the only reason people were talking about the problem was “because the Conservatives let everyone know it was happening”.

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Some farmers see renewables as a game-changer for local communities, pouring millions into local communities and with no impact on agriculture.

The post “They just fit in with what we do:” Farmers reap rewards as they play host to wind and solar appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Brody Kenrick's house is an inspiring example of what can be achieved when it can produce and store energy.

The post SwitchedOn podcast: The fully electric home that makes money and cuts emissions appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One team has announced new investments in carbon removal initiatives as part of its ambition to become one of the world’s most sustainable sports teams.

Compliance credit average prices in Canada’s Clean Fuels Regulation (CFR) declined year-on-year as supply tripled from low-carbon-intensity fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, as imports flooded the nascent market according to the environment ministry’s first preliminary credit market report.

Canada has updated the carbon intensity values of various feedstocks used in the federal Fuel Life Cycle Assessment Model, including national and international grid electricity processes, fossil fuels, and crops.

Financial entities continued to trim RGGI allowance (RGA) positions as prices hit new all-time highs, while favouring long-dated California Carbon Allowances (CCA) for the fifth consecutive week despite traders reducing net CCA length across the board, according to weekly data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The world’s governments should balance incentives with penalties to foster more effective carbon offsetting in the tourism industry, a new study recommends.

Voluntary carbon standard Verra on Friday inactivated more project methodologies, adding to the list of protocols being removed from service due to low use or revisions.

A California-based non-profit research group estimated that recent wildfires in New Mexico have eliminated almost 202,000 offsets eligible under regulator ARB's compliance scheme, according to a Wednesday blog post.

A controversial suite of US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards on existing coal and new natural gas plants will reduce CO2 power emissions by 155-241 million tonnes by 2035 but fail to see carbon capture and storage (CCS) deployed at a wide scale, according to a note published Thursday by a New York-based research group.

The US Supreme Court on Friday overturned the so-called Chevron doctrine, a 40-year-old precedent which held that judges should defer to the expertise of federal agencies when laws passed by Congress are unclear.

The EU’s climate agenda in the past five years has been focused chiefly on domestic action, but the next phase of policymaking will see a growing emphasis on international relations and trade, EU and national officials said on Thursday.