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Two more retailers collapse under the weight of inflated coal and gas prices
Australia's fossil fuel driven energy market turmoil has claimed another two small retailer scalps and affected another nearly 17,000 customers.
The post Two more retailers collapse under the weight of inflated coal and gas prices appeared first on RenewEconomy.
New Zealand weighs splitting ETS in two as part of far-reaching market reforms
Worse than passive smoking: Gas stoves emit high levels of cancer-linked benzene
When used at normal cooking temperatures gas stoves and ovens push benzene levels up by as much as 70 times above baseline.
The post Worse than passive smoking: Gas stoves emit high levels of cancer-linked benzene appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Why eight-hour batteries are smarter choice than pumped hydro for Queensland
In light of the huge cost of Borumba, we take a look at how a 6GW/8 hour battery is a superior choice to a 2GW/24 hour pumped hydro project in Queensland.
The post Why eight-hour batteries are smarter choice than pumped hydro for Queensland appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Switzerland referendum: Voters back carbon cuts as glaciers melt
Australia’s biggest wind precinct hit by connection delays and cost blowout
Queensland government owned CleanCo pulls wind project planned for Australia's biggest wind precinct, citing connection delays and rising costs.
The post Australia’s biggest wind precinct hit by connection delays and cost blowout appeared first on RenewEconomy.
In pictures: Robber flies win insect photo competition
All-electric homes save money and emissions. New gas connections should be banned
Governments could make it easier for people and bring emissions-reduction targets closer to reality. Here's how.
The post All-electric homes save money and emissions. New gas connections should be banned appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Australia needs to reduce emissions to net zero by 2038 to do ‘fair share’ to contain global heating, analysis shows
Exclusive: Researchers say government’s climate schedule needs to be brought forward by a decade to keep heating to 1.5C
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Australia’s fair share of action to give the world a chance of keeping global heating to 1.5C would mean reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2038 – more than a decade ahead of the government’s schedule, according to new scientific analysis.
To stay on track to keep global heating of 1.5C within reach – a goal the climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen has described as vital – Australia’s 2035 target would need to see a cut of 90% on 2005 levels by 2035, the analysis says.
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Continue reading...Flood warnings issued for England as parts of the north are deluged
As much as 35mm of rain fell in an hour near Sheffield and Met Office says weather could get even worse
Flood warnings will be in place across England going into Monday morning after almost half a month’s worth of rain fell in one hour on Sunday.
Thunder and lightning swept across the north throughout the evening, as 35.6mm of rain fell in Woodhouse Mill, near Sheffield between 6pm and 7pm.
Continue reading...Keir Starmer to ‘throw everything’ at plan to get UK to net zero
Labour leader will use speech in Scotland to lay out new green strategy for energy industry
Keir Starmer will pledge to “throw everything” at net zero and the overhaul of the UK’s energy system and industries, promising new jobs in “the race of our lifetime” to a low-carbon future.
The Labour leader will seek to regain the initiative on his plan for green growth on Monday, having rowed back earlier this month on a pledge to invest £28bn in a green industrial strategy, a figure that will not now be reached until the second half of a Labour parliament, as well as damaging rows with trade unions over the future of the North Sea.
Continue reading...All-electric homes are better for your hip pocket and the planet. Here's how governments can help us get off gas
‘No time to waste’: getting Australian homes off gas crucial for meeting net zero targets, report says
Grattan Institute analysis recommends governments help households transition to electric, and ban new gas connections for homes and businesses
Getting households off gas for heating and cooking would cut energy bills and improve people’s health, and is necessary for Australia to have any hope of reaching net zero greenhouse emissions by 2050, a new analysis says.
The report by the Grattan Institute, a Melbourne-based thinktank, called on state and territory governments to set dates for the end of gas use and launch campaigns to encourage and help households become “all electric”, running on renewable energy.
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Continue reading...The best way to raise cows sustainably? Set them free
An old farming technique called silvopasture, which allows cows to graze on a variety of plants in forests and tree-filled pastureland, is seeing a resurgence across the world
Brett Chedzoy and his wife, Maria, live on a 300-acre farm in Watkins Glen, a small town along the Finger Lakes in New York, with 100 cows – primarily Black Angus, with a few White Galloways scattered throughout the herd.
The farm, Angus Glen, has lush green pastures and wooded areas, where black walnut and black locust trees stretch skyward out of rolling seas of tall grasses, shrubs and clovers. When Chedzoy, 54, walks through the pasture at sunset, the cows pop their heads up, follow him and wait patiently at the gate. As he pulls it aside, the cows rush forward into the wooded area to nibble on tree branches and shrubs, before turning their attention to the emerald grass around the trees.
Continue reading...‘Countries are drowning’: climate expert calls for urgent rethink on scale of aid for developing world
World needs to offer trillions, not billions in overseas support, says leading climate economist Avinash Persaud
The world must rethink its approach to the climate crisis, by investing trillions of dollars instead of billions in the developing world, and moving beyond conventional ideas of overseas aid, one of the world’s most influential climate economists has urged.
“We need a complete rethink of the whole nexus of climate, debt and development,” Avinash Persaud told the Observer, before a key summit. “What we are seeing today is new – countries affected by climate disaster, this is happening now. Countries are drowning.”
Continue reading...Hopes launch of new electric car could spark price war in Australia
China’s BYD says the Dolphin will be ‘the most affordable, high-quality EV’ launched in the country
The launch of a new electric car this week in Queensland could start a price battle among other manufacturers and make the technology accessible to a wider audience.
But market experts warn that Australia still needs better policies to ensure the competition takes hold and more consumer education about the ultimate price – and price savings – of the new vehicles.
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Continue reading...Householders to receive money off bills for going green under Labour plans
As set out by Ed Miliband, GB Energy’s renewable energy projects will create jobs, tackle energy bills and directly benefit local people
People across the UK will receive cost of living discounts – such as reductions on their council tax – if their cities, towns and villages sign up to new “clean energy” projects, under ambitious plans to be announced by Labour tomorrow.
Keir Starmer and shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband will spell out how a new public body, GB Energy, will join forces with local government, communities and the private sector with the aim of creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and bringing down household energy bills.
Continue reading...Water companies feel the heat as commercial bans loom in dry summer
Suppliers may be forced to cut large-scale usage by businesses amid fears of a repeat of last year’s heatwave
If water industry bosses think they are having a stinking time of it, they should cast their minds back to when Trevor Newton was head of Yorkshire Water. Urging customers to reduce consumption in balmy 1995, he confessed he had “not had a bath or shower in three months”.
As a bout of sweltering weather grips Britain, with forecasts of a baking summer, there are concerns that a widespread drought and a repeat of last year’s heatwave could force water suppliers to ban certain companies from using large quantities. It promises to be a fresh headache for an industry already under fire over sewage dumping, leakage rates, large dividends, a £10bn customer-funded investment plan and “flimsy” pledges to give up bonuses.
Continue reading...Dancing Capercaillie bird makes a tentative comeback in Scotland
Exclusive: Ecologists say there are early signs that the population is recovering in remote forests
It is a discotheque for Britain’s biggest type of grouse. Before dawn, male capercaillie will begin their courtship rituals, their black tail feathers erect and fanning out, chests puffed out, their heads thrust high into the cold spring air.
Their dancefloors are forest clearings in the Highlands which echo the males’ wheezing, popping and clattering mating calls. Often perched in surrounding pine trees, hens will carefully watch as their potential mates compete to win their affection.
Continue reading...Paris talks to focus on funding poor countries to tackle climate crisis
World leaders will meet next week to discuss climate finance, green growth, debt and private investment
Talks on a global financial pact that will give poor countries access to funds to help them tackle the climate crisis and develop their economies in environmentally sustainable and socially equitable ways will begin next week in Paris.
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, will be joined on Thursday by dozens of world leaders to discuss climate finance, green growth, the debt crisis and how to tap private sector sources of investment. EU leaders, including the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, will be there, but the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has not confirmed whether he will attend.
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