Feed aggregator

South Australia’s wind farms have been blamed for price spikes, but without them the volatility would be even worse.

Solaray selected for Australian-first project to install 30kW of solar and 43.2kWh of Enphase li-ion battery storage at student housing co-op.

ARENA to provide $10m to Chinese wind giant to build Australia's first hybrid wind-solar farm, although grant is nearly four times more than being asked by projects in large scale solar tender.

The Solar Impulse becomes the first aircraft to circle the globe powered by the sun after landing in Abu Dhabi on the last leg of its journey.

Solar Impulse 2, which landed in Abu Dhabi, is first plane powered by the renewable energy source to tour the globe

Solar Impulse 2 has completed the first round-the-world flight by a solar-powered aeroplane, after touching down in Abu Dhabi early on Tuesday.

The final leg of the feat, aimed at showcasing the potential of renewable energy, was a bumpy one, with turbulence driven by hot desert air leaving the solo pilot, Bertrand Piccard, fighting with the controls.

Continue reading...

DISEASE TRIGGER?: Fire brought warmth and comfort to early humans but may also have triggered the emergence of deadly tuberculosis, Australian researchers suggest.

Switching from diesel to solar power has reduced power costs and given two remote Northern Territory communities a new lease on life

Deep in the outback, about a 90-minute drive from Tennant Creek, two tiny Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory are coming back to life.

Since May, the Kunapa communities of Ngurrara and Kurnturlpara have been returning to the Barkly tableland, moving into the houses that had been abandoned years ago, setting up a School of the Air for their 15 children, and re-establishing their Indigenous culture. In fact, in a little over a month, the population has increased from just two people to about 40. And the reason? Solar power.

Continue reading...

When it comes to height, Dutch men and Latvian women tower over all other nationalities, a new study reveals.

Photographer Charles Fox documents the work of the Trapang Sangke fishing community in Cambodia.

The UK government's getting together with the retail giant Amazon, to start testing flying drones that can deliver parcels to your door.

Research found that 23% of violent clashes in ethnically divided places were connected to climate disasters

Climate-related disasters increase the risk of armed conflicts, according to research that shows a quarter of the violent struggles in ethnically divided countries were preceded by extreme weather.

The role of severe heatwaves, floods and storms in increasing the risk of wars has been controversial, particularly in relation to the long drought in Syria. But the new work reveals a strong link in places where the population is already fractured along ethnic lines.

Continue reading...

Newly completed Coonooer Bridge wind farm achieves capacity factor of nearly 50 per cent in the first full three months since it began operations.

Britain’s front gardens are being paved for parking while back gardens become patios. But in Canada and the US, the Depave movement is tearing up hard surfaces

In towns and cities, flash floods are a growing problem. The concrete jungle can’t soak up rainwater, so in heavy downpours it has nowhere to go except into drains, overloading them and setting off flash floods.

A movement in Canada and the US called Depave is tearing up concrete and asphalt in local neighbourhoods and replacing it with gardens to soak up rainwater and help prevent flooding. And although Depave is largely unknown in Britain, there’s a growing need for similar action here.

Continue reading...

Exclusive: farm gets the green light to be built by Chinese companies after $9.9m grant from renewable energy agency

Australia’s first large-scale hybrid wind and solar farm is set to be built near Canberra, with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) providing a $9.9m grant.

The money would go towards the $26m cost of building a 10MW solar photovoltaic plant alongside the existing Gullen Range windfarm.

Continue reading...

The areas of the brain involved in complex thought are the ones that change the most during the teenage years, research shows.

Conservationists are calling on the US to raise the protection level for leopards, severely curbing hunters’ ability to import body parts as trophies

Conservationists have demanded a crackdown on the import to the US of leopards killed by American hunters, in an attempt to replicate the protections introduced in the wake of the furore caused by the death of famed lion Cecil.

Related: Cecil the lion's legacy: death brings new hope for his grandcubs

Continue reading...

Study by economists say achievement by world’s biggest polluter may be a significant milestone, rather than a blip

The global battle against climate change has passed a historic turning point with China’s huge coal burning finally having peaked, according to senior economists.

They say the moment may well be a significant milestone in the course of the Anthropocene, the current era in which human activity dominates the world’s environment.

Continue reading...

Group says move would allow shoots to be banned if birds of prey are illegally killed, amid withdrawal from hen harrier scheme

Grouse shooting estates should be licensed so that authorities have the power to ban them if birds of prey are illegally killed, the RSPB has urged, as it quit a government initiative to save the hen harrier in England.

The hen harrier action plan is a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs-led scheme in which landowners, shooting groups and conservation organisations agreed to work together to increase numbers of hen harriers in England.

Continue reading...

Two-thirds of 16- to 34-year-olds consider environmental and wildlife policies a top voting priority, according to survey

Almost nine out of 10 young people think it is important for politicians to take care of wildlife and the environment, according to a new poll.

Two-thirds of 16- to 34-year-olds agree the environment is a top voting priority for them, the CensusWide survey of 1,000 people of all ages revealed.

Continue reading...

Contrarian climate scientist Roy Spencer summed up the contrarian case for a fossil fuel and tobacco-funded think tank

When I give a presentation and mention the 97% expert consensus on human-caused global warming, I’m often asked, “what’s the deal with the other 3%?”. These are the publishing climate scientists who argue that something other than humans is responsible for the majority of global warming, although their explanations are often contradictory and don’t withstand scientific scrutiny.

A few months ago, the world’s largest private sector coal company went to court, made its best scientific case against the 97% expert consensus, and lost. One of coal’s expert witnesses was University of Alabama at Huntsville climate scientist Roy Spencer - a controversial figure who once compared those with whom he disagreed to Nazis, and has expressed his love for Fox News.

Continue reading...