The Guardian

Committee urges investment in batteries and smart demand technologies to ensure energy supply as old coal and nuclear power stations close

Large-scale batteries to store energy and devices that switch themselves off are likely to be key technologies for keeping the UK’s lights on while shutting down old coal and nuclear plants, an influential committee of MPs has said.

The threat of blackouts has receded for this winter after scares earlier in the year, National Grid said on Friday, citing a reprieve for Yorkshire’s Eggborough coal-fired power station, as well as greater flexibility from companies with big energy requirements.

Rogerstown, County Dublin Brent geese are here, and black-tailed godwit have begun arriving from their breeding grounds in Iceland

On a bright morning we are sitting with volunteer warden Aileen in a bird hide a little north of Dublin. We have come to watch the first of the avian migrants for whom the south bank of the Rogerstown estuary is a favoured wintering spot. It clearly isn’t the best time to be here, as feathered visitors are so far in short supply. Perhaps the house martins swooping across the water to vanish southwards are a sign that the chilly months ahead are not yet to be taken seriously.

Yet there’s no shortage of birds. Opposite us, five cormorants sit passively side by side on a series of water-logged posts. Bar-tailed godwits line the margins of the saltmarsh, occasionally preening but mostly motionless. Redshank, curlew and dunlin vigorously probe the shallow margins, and widgeon and teal up-tail as they feed in the slightly deeper water.

Guardian writers examine the pros and cons of extra runways at Heathrow and Gatwick from three different perspectives

Heathrow airport is full to bursting. The same will soon be true of Gatwick. There has been no full-length runway built in the south-east since the 1940s. The UK’s attempts to break into the big and fast-growing markets of the emerging world such as India and China will be thwarted unless it follows the lead of other European countries and upgrades its aviation infrastructure. Jobs, trade and inward investment all depend on the go-ahead for new capacity.

Where Theresa May’s team stand on the proposed expansion of the west London airport

As MPs opposed to a third runway at Heathrow are plotting to undermine its anticipated government approval, we look at where members of Theresa May’s cabinet stand on the proposed expansion of the west London airport.

Related: Anti-Heathrow MPs plan to thwart government over third runway

Documentary that sees the actor touring the world to see global warming’s impact first-hand has its UK premiere in London on Friday

“Try to have a conversation with anyone about climate change and people just tune out,” says Leonardo DiCaprio in his new film. “If the UN really knew how I feel, how pessimistic I am about our future, I mean to be honest they may have picked the wrong guy,” he says in Before the Flood, which shows him urging world leaders at the UN to act on fossil fuels.

But after touring the world to see global warming’s impact first-hand, from Canada’s tar sands and Greenland’s ice to China’s coal belt and Miami’s flood problems, the actor came away more upbeat.

Viper’s bugloss mason bee, common in Europe, was spotted for the first time in Britain in a London park

Brexit may have caused an anti-immigrant buzz but a traveller from the continent has made the UK its new home: the viper’s bugloss mason bee.

The bee is common in the UK’s European neighbours but has been discovered for the first time in this country, in a small park in Greenwich, London.

The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox

Toxic lion fish, a rare brown panda and a green sea turtle are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

Almost two-thirds of licensed sites have above-average biodiversity, that is valuable for functions such as pollination and pest control, analysis shows

Many of the areas that have been recently licensed for fracking are rich in wildlife that perform crucial functions from pollination to decomposition, researchers have found.

Scientists say that almost two-thirds of the areas that have been labelled as suitable for shale gas extraction have levels of biodiversity above the national average, according to a new analysis of records collected from across the country.

Extra power will mean lights will not go out this winter, says firm that operates UK’s electricity transmission network

The risk of electricity blackouts in Britain this winter has diminished, after the National Grid and the government spent more than £140m on tools designed to guarantee the lights stay on.

The Grid’s capacity margin, the cushion between electricity demand and supply, has risen to 6.6%, beating its summer prediction of 5.5%. The buffer zone is also well ahead of last year’s “tight but manageable” 5.1%, which was the lowest in a decade.

Photographer Elena Chernyshova spent a year documenting the people and landscape of Norilsk, which was built by prisoners during the Soviet era

Earth’s atmosphere is warming faster and more in line with models than Ted Cruz and his witnesses argued

A new study has just appeared in the Journal of Climate which deals with an issue commonly raised by those who deny that human-caused climate change is a serious risk. As I have written many times, we know humans are causing the Earth’s climate to change. We know this for many reasons.

First, we know that certain gases trap heat; this fact is indisputable. Second, we know that humans have significantly increased the amount of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. Again, this is indisputable. Third, we know the Earth is warming (again indisputable). We know the Earth warms because we are actually measuring the warming rate in multiple different ways. Those measurements are in good agreement with each other.

Footage uploaded to YouTube shows the moment a great white shark breaches the side of a cage during a diving trip to Guadalupe Island, off the west coast of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. According to YouTuber Gabe and Garrett, ‘this shark lunged at the bait, accidentally hit the side of the cage, was most likely confused and not able to swim backwards’.

Maintaining a thriving business today means consistently providing top quality customer service, even if you are a small business growing at a rapid rate. And with new digital technology, small companies now have the tools to compete

When Facebook bought Instagram for $US1 billion in 2012, it had just 13 employees. But it also had global recognition and more than 30 million customers.

And in the years since, the power of small companies to compete with the titans of commerce has only grown, as digital technology continues to empower minnows to make whale-sized splashes.

West Dean, West Sussex I munched on wedges of spicy Sussex Mother, fragrant Tinsley Quince and nutty russets

“Welcome to paradise,” exclaimed our guide as he led us through the gate. Derived from the ancient Persian pardes, meaning “orchard” or “enclosure”, “paradise” is an apt description for this beautifully restored Victorian walled garden nestled at the foot of the South Downs, which boasts more than 100 varieties of apple, many of Sussex origin. Commercial growers nowadays concentrate on a handful of cultivars selected for heavy cropping, bruise resistance, keeping quality and uniform shape; this garden, in contrast, celebrates our wealth of heirloom apples, whatever their peculiar traits.

Related: Country diary: Henstridge, Somerset: Apples of concord

The Paris climate deal should be a signal to cut fossil fuel use, rather than an excuse to mine more coal

The Queensland government is now slamming its foot down on the accelerator to help a private company build the biggest coalmine Australia has ever seen.

“We can see the end of the tunnel and now we are accelerating towards it,” the state’s mining minister, Anthony Lynham, said.

The suggestion that nets prevent bites is an oversimplification of a complex story, a misrepresentation of technology and data

Mike Baird has this week announced a plan for a six-month trial of shark nets off the beaches of northern New South Wales. This would extend the state’s shark net program from the 51 beaches now netted between Wollongong and Newcastle.

The premier’s announcement was triggered by a surfer receiving minor injuries on Wednesday after he was bitten by a shark at Sharpes beach near Ballina.

According to folklore there could be several distinct spells of good weather in autumn, each named after a saint’s day

Spells of fine autumn weather used to be known as gossamer, a contraction of “goose summer”. The name was applied because this was when geese were eaten, having been fattened up in the previous months.

These spells were notable for gossamer threads, the mass of fine spider webs which catch the sun in stubble fields on a bright autumn morning. Now gossamer is used only to describe fine threads rather than weather.

Government proposals to tackle air pollution in five UK cities could see electric vehicle drivers using bus lanes and getting priority at traffic lights

Drivers of electric vehicles could be allowed to use bus lanes in five UK cities and even go first at traffic lights, to tackle illegal levels of air pollution, the government has suggested.

Launching its consultation on clean air zones to be introduced in Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham, Derby and Southampton, the environment department said air pollution killed 50,000 people each year at an annual cost to society of £27.5bn.

Researchers say forecasting tool will stop coastal plants from being shut down by swarms blocking cooling water intakes

Invasions of jellyfish have proved adept at shutting down power plants in recent years. But an early warning tool is now in development to alert power stations to incoming swarms which block the cooling water intakes of coastal plants.

EDF’s Torness nuclear power plant in Scotland was closed for a week in 2011 after a mass of moon jellyfish invaded and the company is now working with researchers from the University of Bristol to tackle the problem.