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Dutch group targets hydrogen-fuelled commercial flight in 2028
Consortium plans to adapt turboprop aircraft with 40-80 seats to run on environmentally friendly fuel
The world’s first hydrogen-fuelled commercial flight of a passenger plane could take place between Rotterdam and London in six years’ time, under a plan to make short-haul air travel more environmentally friendly.
The 2028 target set by a Dutch consortium is ambitious. Airbus announced its intention 18 months ago to be the first to offer zero-emission commercial aircraft models running on hydrogen, by 2035.
Continue reading...UN appeals to public for $20m to stop feared catastrophic oil spill from tanker
Vessel off Yemen with more than 1m barrels of oil aboard has been stranded for six years and is close to breaking up
A rare UN appeal to the public to raise $20m is to be launched on Tuesday in an attempt to prevent an environmental catastrophe caused by the potential break-up of an oil tanker off the coast of Yemen.
The money is needed to offload more than 1.14m barrels of oil that have been sitting in the decrepit cargo ship, Safer, for more than six years because of an impasse between Houthi groups and the Saudi-backed government over ownership and responsibility.
Continue reading...Frog bones found in Cambridgeshire Iron Age ditch baffle experts
VCM Report: Market wobbles as draft buyer standards and recession fears further weaken prices
China ETS market power in the hands of the few, analysts find
Plan to scrap Natural England will disrupt net zero targets, experts say
Campaigners spotted proposal to absorb conservation watchdog into Defra buried in recent government consultation
Discussions about dismantling Natural England have sparked anxiety, with experts fearing this would further damage efforts to protect wildlife and reach net zero.
Campaigners have raised the alarm after spotting the proposal buried in a recent government consultation on nature recovery, which was sent to stakeholders.
Continue reading...Orsted to trap 400,000 tonnes of CO2 per year from 2025 at CHP plants for storage, green fuels
Euro Markets: Midday Update
Major digital VC fund strikes offsetting deal with crypto carbon firm
Corporate net-zero targets risk overpromising, underdelivering, analysis says
CPC makes Taiwan’s first crude oil “carbon neutral” trade in deal with Azeri NOC
Dogger Bank is about more than shipping forecasts: it shows how we can rewild our seas | Charles Clover
As of today, trawling is banned in the British part of the famous sunken landmass – a major win for biodiversity
A huge ecological experiment begins today on Dogger Bank, part of the sunken landmass that once formed a bridge between Britain and mainland Europe. Trawling and dredging – fishing activities that not only scoop up fish and shellfish but also plough through plants and animals on the sea floor – are now banned, at least on the British part of this Atlantis of the North Sea.
The protection of 12,000 sq km of seabed, 100km off eastern England, where early man hunted woolly mammoths, amounts to an act of rewilding thousands of times bigger than the “best in show” garden at this year’s Chelsea flower show. Covering an area almost the size of Northern Ireland, it marks a turning point in the health of our nearby seas.
Continue reading...AEMO imposes price cap on NSW, as Queensland dodges forced outages – for now
Mandatory price cap extended to NSW as Queensland dodges forced outages but shortfalls likely to appear in at least two states as generators withhold capacity.
The post AEMO imposes price cap on NSW, as Queensland dodges forced outages – for now appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Q&A: Alinta’s Jeff Dimery on the short term merits of coal, and switch to biomass
Jeff Dimery on what coal generators should get capacity payments - at least until 2029 - and why Alinta is considering biomass to replace coal at Loy Yang B.
The post Q&A: Alinta’s Jeff Dimery on the short term merits of coal, and switch to biomass appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Ukraine helps feed the world – but its farmers, seeds and future are in danger | Michael Fakhri and Sofia Monsalve
Even in the midst of war, we have to think about recovery. Seeds are what make future life possible. Without seeds, it is very difficult to rebuild a food system
The war in Ukraine has made the food crisis triggered by the pandemic worse. People in Ukraine not only fear for their lives but are facing possible food shortages. Because Ukraine and Russia are major producers and exporters of agricultural commodities, the conflict is also having major impacts on global supply chains. The Ukrainian government has said that 22m tons of grain are stuck in the country due to the Russian blockade of its ports. Traders and financial speculators have further driven up wheat and cooking oil prices.
Not only are Ukrainian farms and fields being destroyed by Russian forces, but we are also very troubled by reports that Ukraine’s national seed bank has been partly destroyed amid fighting in Kharkiv in the north-east, where almost 2,000 crop samples rest in underground vaults. If Ukraine’s farmers cannot farm and the country’s seed banks are destroyed, its future is in peril.
Michael Fakhri is UN special rapporteur on the right to food and a professor at the University of Oregon School of Law. Sofia Monsalve is secretary general of the food rights organization Fian International
Continue reading...Alinta seeks biomass options for Loy Yang B, says capacity market for coal could end in 2029
Operator of what will be one of the last coal generators operating in Australia's grid argues the case for a short term capacity market for coal.
The post Alinta seeks biomass options for Loy Yang B, says capacity market for coal could end in 2029 appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Senior Policy & Principal Policy Offer Carbon Farming, WA Dept of Water and Environmental Regulation – Perth
Plastitar: mix of tar and microplastics is new form of pollution, say scientists
Researchers in Canary Islands coin term for new type of marine pollution they say could be leaking toxic chemicals into oceans
The discovery came as a team of researchers were combing the shores of the Spanish island of Tenerife in the Canaries. Time and again, set against the sparkling waters that lapped the Playa Grande, they spotted clumps of hardened tar, dotted with tiny, colourful fragments of plastic.
They swiftly realised that this combination of tar and microplastics – or “plastitar” as they named it – was unlike any other plastic pollution they had seen.
Continue reading...National park authority defends wild camping rights on Dartmoor
Wealthy landowners have filed a high court case to ‘clarify’ law around public access to the moor
Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA) has vowed to defend wild camping on the moor, following a case brought by a wealthy landowner.
The huge moorland in Devon is one of the few places in England which legally allows wild camping in certain areas. DNPA fears the case, which seeks, according to the complainants, to clarify the law governing wild camping in the park, could throw into doubt popular overnight events such as Ten Tors and the Duke of Edinburgh’s award.
Alexander Darwall, a City fund manager, and his wife, Diana, own 2,784 acres in south Dartmoor. They have filed a case questioning the legal basis of the authority’s bylaws, which allow for responsible backpack camping, where campers leave no trace in permitted areas of the national park.
Papers lodged by the Darwalls’ lawyers in the high court claim there is no legal right to camp on Dartmoor, as the Dartmoor Commons Act, which gives the park authority the power to make bylaws, does not allow for camping without a landowner’s consent.
According to the documents, the couple argue: “There is an additional requirement that the camping regulated by the defendant [the park authority] must only take place in areas where the landowners consent and subject to whatever additional conditions and requirements the landowners may stipulate in return for their consent.”
The park’s chief executive, Kevin Bishop, said the authority would not give in to pressure from the Darwalls. “We will defend the right to responsibly wild camp on the moor because national parks exist to both conserve the environment and to create opportunities for public enjoyment and understanding of nature,” he said. “The Darwalls’ claims lack substance. Done properly wild camping is not, as suggested in this claim, a threat to the environment nor a significant risk of wildfires.”
Bishop told the Guardian that section 10 of the Dartmoor Commons Act does give the public right to access the moor for the purposes of outdoor recreation. “We believe this includes wild camping, provided it is done properly,” he said. “This means you carry all you need in a rucksack, stay for no more than one or two nights, and leave no trace.” He said the authority was already working with landowners and the police to clamp down on “fly-camping”, where campers light fires and leave a mess.
A spokesperson for the Darwalls said they were not challenging the park’s existing bylaws but “just asking the Dartmoor National Park Authority to cooperate with those who are responsible for looking after the land and the environment”. The spokesperson added their action would not put events at risk: “I am sure that in all circumstances wild camping could continue on Dartmoor, though it depends in part on the DNPA.”
A Cambridge graduate and former Goldman Sachs analyst, Alexander Darwall is the chief investment officer of Devon Equity Management. After purchasing Blachford Estate on Dartmoor in 2011, the couple soon came into conflict with ramblers by terminating a permissive agreement allowing people to park near the New Waste area of the moor. A petition against the move, which was signed by more than 500 people, claimed the car park had given families, school groups, walking clubs, horse riders and locals access to a “truly beautiful part of Dartmoor”, with a rich prehistoric and industrial history.
Mark Horton, who helps run the 3,800-strong Dartmoor wild camping Facebook group and the Dartmoor access group, said thousands of people, including increasing numbers of women and families, camped responsibly on Dartmoor every year. He accused landowners of looking for any excuse to prevent wild camping. “It’s people with money restricting other people’s pastimes because they want it all to themselves,” he said. “The majority of wild campers should not lose out because of the action of a tiny minority who pitch up next to roads and leave a mess. The fact is cattle and quad bikes used by farmers and landowners cause more damage on the moor than wild campers.”
On the page, there are posts this month from parents taking their sons and daughters out for their first wild camping experiences. All members must leave a photo showing how they left no trace of their visit. Horton, a local builder, who started wild camping on geography field trips in the 1980s, added: “I’m out there camping on Dartmoor all the time. People of all walks of life do it to get away and switch off for a night or two. On the jubilee weekend, I met an electrician, an air-con guy and a doctor out camping.”
Wind turbine blades recycled as skis, snowboards and solar farms
Swedish power company lines up partnerships to recycle wind turbine blades to make skis, snowboards, and construction materials for solar farms.
The post Wind turbine blades recycled as skis, snowboards and solar farms appeared first on RenewEconomy.
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