Around The Web

Electric vehicles’ share of new UK registrations rises to 2%, still falling far short of Norway’s 48%

Sales of electric cars in the UK have risen 11% on last year, putting the country in the premier league of those ditching petrol and diesel engines, though it is still miles behind Norway and China.

An analysis of the latest global sales of electric vehicles found that nearly half the vehicles registered in Norway in the first three months of 2018 were electric (48%), compared to just over a third (35%) during the same period in 2017. The vehicles are run almost exclusively off the nation’s hydropower resource, underlining Norway’s claim as the world leader.

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Some countries aren’t waiting until 2020 to make changes to their national climate commitments. As countries ratify the Paris Agreement, some have decided to revise their INDCs and communicate the changes as part of their first NDCs. WRI provides a summary.

Revenues raised from carbon pricing policies rose 45% last year to $32 billion, with most coming from taxes rather than trading and no clear trend emerging on where the money is spent, a report found on Thursday.

Repairs to masonry damaged by intruder put Craignethan’s cellar tunnel out of bounds to public

Parts of a Scottish castle remain closed to the public after a “very angry badger” took up residence. The cellar tunnel at Craignethan Castle, in South Lanarkshire, was initially closed last week after the animal arrived, and remains closed while the damage it caused is repaired.

It is thought the animal had become lost, and staff tried to lure it out with cat food and honey.

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Saltwell Gill, Durham city: A swathe of wildlings in a wood was a spectacle to make the spirits soar after a long, cold winter

This meandering stream, a mile south of the city centre, has carved a small, steep-sided, wooded valley through soft alluvial soil, providing a refuge for flora and fauna that have long since been displaced by surrounding agriculture. Had I not strayed from the footpath around the fields and explored its slopes I might never have stumbled upon a hidden, isolated population of wild primroses (Primula vulgaris). They were growing in an unharvested hazel coppice that, judging by the diameter of the trunks, had been forgotten for several decades.

Context counts for a lot in the aesthetic impact of wild flowers. A primrose transplanted into a garden is a pretty flower. Finding this swathe of wildlings in such a classic, albeit semi-natural, habitat, soon to be followed by the promise of bluebells, was much more: a spectacle to make the spirits soar after a long, cold winter.

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Ipswich is the first council in the country to dump its recycling program.

Nasa's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (Tess) searches for new planets.

China’s State Council has approved an allocation plan for the power sector’s trial emissions trading system, local media reported Thursday, a sign that the government is on track to launch the simulated market this year as planned.

'Monster' is the largest reticulated python in captivity in Australia. Getting her on the the scales for a weigh-in required a number of handlers, and caution. In December she bit one of her handlers on the hand. 

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China will cut power prices for industrial and commercial users by around 10%, a move likely to squeeze the profits of monopoly grid companies and major generators and pave the way for further power market reforms.

Researchers from South Australia’s Flinders University demonstrate how a polymer can act like a sponge to remove crude oil and diesel from seawater. The lead researcher, Dr Justin Chalker, says it has the potential to be a cheap and sustainable recovery tool in areas affected by oil spills. 'Our goal is for this to be used globally,' he says. 'It is inexpensive, and we have an eye for it to be used in parts of the world such as the Amazon Basin in Ecuador and the Niger Delta that don’t have access to solutions to oil spills.'

• Researchers create super sponge that mops up oil spills

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Scientists have chronicled the 'mass mortality' of corals on the Great Barrier Reef, in a new report that says 30% of the reef’s corals died in a catastrophic nine-month marine heatwave

The study, published in Nature and led by Prof Terry Hughes, the director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, examined the link between the level of heat exposure, subsequent coral bleaching and ultimately coral death

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Campaign draws up eight principles to guide people who want to be healthier and reduce their environmental impact

Eating less meat has long been advocated for our health and that of the planet, but the choices we make within that advice can be just as important, according to a new report.

Choosing lamb, for instance, means the animal is almost certain to have been grass-fed and free range, as sheep are not factory farmed in the same way as pigs or chickens. Meat from pasture-fed animals also tends to have higher levels of “good” fats, which are healthier.

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Ipswich Council has stopped recycling and it's likely that others around Australia will follow suit. Ian A. MacKenzie, Senior Lecturer in Economics, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Plans for sonnen manufacturing base in South Australia at stake as new state government urged to rethink support for household battery storage.

Environment Victoria has welcomed the announcement that the last of three coal processing projects promised public money in 2014 has now officially failed, just a week after state and federal governments committed $50 million each to a coal-to-hydrogen plant.

Given the known failures of carbon capture and storage, investing in such technologies could amount to improper use of public funds.

Transforming our energy system may prove far less risky than propping up traditional over-built electricity supply.

"Even if the Energy Security Board gives Malcolm Turnbull a Rolls Royce model of energy policy, it's not going to be of much use to the country if he immediately seeks to put it in the garage and lock it up for 10 years."

Oil "supermajor" Total buys French electricity retailer as part of long-term hedge against threat to oil demand from rise of electric vehicles. And did we mention the CEO totally drives an EV?