Feed aggregator

Putin’s war has caused an energy crunch. The response should be a robust FDR-style program and aggressive steps toward a fossil-free future

Joe Biden has taken a firm stand against Vladimir Putin and announced a ban on Russian oil imports. “This is war,” Senator Joe Manchin said when he supported Biden’s ban, which is likely to push energy prices higher. “For better or worse, Americans need to understand that this is the price we all pay for a safer world,” said former Obama Council of Economic Advisers chairman Jason Furman. The president himself announced: “Defending freedom is going to cost.”

There is even some bipartisan support, at least for now. Across the aisle, Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski signed on to sanctions. So did Mitch McConnell: “Ratchet the sanctions all the way up.”

Meg Jacobs teaches history and public affairs at Princeton University and is author of Panic at the Pump, about the 1970s energy crisis

Continue reading...

A British court has dismissed the final claims in a £26 million carbon trading fraud case against a London-based brokerage after the judge ruled the claimants – despite clear early warning signs – waited too long to file suit.

Japanese based renewable energy developer reaches financial close for a small solar farm in Victoria after landing a deal with a local superannuation fund.

The post Japanese renewable investor lands financing deal for small Victoria solar farm appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The Victorian state government has put the call out for expressions of interest from private developers to partner in a programme that aims to restore 20,000 hectares of private land for carbon capture and wildlife restoration purposes.

Line Hydrogen to build green hydrogen production facility in Tasmania, getting power from the state's first solar farm.

The post Tasmania’s first solar project to fuel green hydrogen plant to replace diesel use appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Carbon border adjustment mechanism would penalise companies and countries trying to evade responsibility for cutting emissions

High-carbon goods imported into the UK should be subject to new tariffs, to help ensure other countries are fulfilling their obligations to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions as well as the UK, an influential committee of MPs has said.

A carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) would penalise companies and countries trying to evade responsibility for cutting emissions, the MPs said, and provide an incentive for certain industrial sectors to move away from environmentally damaging practices.

Continue reading...

The focus of the renewable energy transition is mostly around numbers. A new program in Alice Springs will seek answers to how to make it equitable.

The post Can the future grid be fair to all? Alice Springs could be test bench for Australia appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Federal government tips $140m into two Tasmanian projects, boosting the state's hydro capacity and progressing the Marinus Link.

The post Tassie hydro upgrades and Marinus Link get pre-election funding boost appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Blue-tongue lizards among species to get stronger international protections

• Follow our Australia news live blog for the latest updates
• Get the free Guardian app; get our morning email briefing

Nearly 130 native Australian reptiles targeted by international wildlife smugglers will be added to a global convention in a step the Morrison government and conservationists hope will stifle the “cruel and abhorrent” trade.

The spiny-tailed gecko, shingleback lizard and several blue-tongue lizard species are among the reptiles that the environment minister Sussan Ley has listed for inclusion under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (Cites).

Continue reading...

The latest ARENA regulations contain "no prohibitions", officials say, suggesting renewables funding could be redirected to fossil fuels and nuclear.

The post “No prohibitions”: renewables agency funds opened up for fossil hydrogen, CCS, possibly nuclear appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New data shows that, even with high hydrogen prices, there is an economic argument for using renewable hydrogen in gas turbines – both existing and new.

The post Is there a place for hydrogen-fuelled gas plants on a renewable grid? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

French baseload and peak prices soar due to a combination of massive outages of French nuclear power plants, cold weather and inefficient heating.

The post France pays the steep cost of inflexible and ageing nuclear as electricity prices soar appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Japan has 14 times more solar and offshore wind energy potential than needed to supply all its current electricity demand. It doesn’t need Australia.

The post Australia plans to be a big green hydrogen exporter to Asian markets – but they don’t need it appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New research finds Japan has 14 times more solar and offshore wind energy potential than needed to supply all its current electricity demand. It doesn’t need Australia. Andrew Blakers, Professor of Engineering, Australian National University Cheng, Research Officer, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Talks stretch past deadline as governments are accused of trying to water down findings

The world must abandon fossil fuels as a matter of urgency, rather than entrusting the future climate to untried “techno-fixes” such as sucking carbon out of the air, scientists and campaigners have urged, as governments wrangled over last-minute changes to a landmark scientific report.

Talks on the final draft of the latest comprehensive assessment of climate science, from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), stretched hours past their deadline on Sunday. Scientists and governments were locked in disagreement on questions such as how much funding was likely to be needed for developing countries to tackle the climate crisis, and what emphasis to give policies such as phasing out fossil fuel subsidies.

Continue reading...

Grant Shapps says invasion is ‘wake up call’ on oil and gas supplies but opposes more onshore wind power

Calls for the UK to consider rationing energy have been rejected by a cabinet minister, as a plan to drastically increase onshore wind power also appeared to be significantly scaled back.

The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had been a “massive wake up call” for western nations about their dependence on imported oil and gas, from which European countries are now trying to wean themselves off.

Continue reading...

It will take ‘hard yakka’ and a couple of hundred years to rebuild north Queensland’s critically endangered mabi rainforest

Next to the old Eacham shire council chambers, on Queensland’s Atherton Tablelands, is a mosaic on a shop wall. One of nine made to commemorate the centenary of federation, the mosaic depicts a tropical rainforest.

The centrepiece is a giant red cedar, a tree with timber once considered so valuable it was called ‘red gold’. Two men swing axes into the trunk, exposing pale wood. Nearby, a tree kangaroo watches a felled cedar being dragged away by a bullock team.

Continue reading...

Chemistry professor Prof David MacMillan has set up a foundation in his parents' honour.

At least 34 arrests since Friday as Just Stop Oil activists climb on to tankers and glue themselves to roads

Environmental protesters have continued to block UK oil terminals as part of a campaign to disrupt the fossil fuel industry despite dozens of arrests across the country.

Supporters of Just Stop Oil began the action in the early hours of Friday morning at refineries near London, Birmingham and Southampton by climbing on to tankers and gluing themselves to roads.

Continue reading...

Solar panels and cleaner-burning stoves have reduced dangers faced by residents of three camps

“The camp has come from the dark into the light,” says Edson Sebutozi Munyakarambi, a refugee living in the Kigeme camp in southern Rwanda.

“Before the solar-powered street lamps, the camp was dark. Some people would come and steal things from the houses,” says Munyakarambi, who chairs the committee that represents the 16,000 people in the camp. “But now no one can rob people on the street corners and the children can study or play outside while they wait for their dinner.”

Continue reading...