Around The Web

Batteries are energy on tap – but who owns the tap?

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-10-09 10:06
It’s been a bit of a free-for-all up till now, but the regulatory regime seems to be developing in a way that should benefit consumers and renewables in the long run.
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Kent mussels tested for plastic contamination

BBC - Mon, 2017-10-09 10:00
Almost two thirds of mussels in the sea around Kent are contaminated with plastic particles, research has shown.
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Buddy Platform and Edge Electrons Partner to Drive Down Energy Usage and Spending

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-10-09 09:59
Buddy Platform and Edge Electrons have agreed to integrate PowerSave into the Buddy Ohm product suite; delivering PowerSave customers a Buddy Ohm dashboard.
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Blue sky thinking

BBC - Mon, 2017-10-09 09:08
British scientists played a key role in developing radar, which has helped deliver safer skies.
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Three quarters of councils collect general waste once a fortnight

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-10-09 09:01

With pressure to boost recycling and cut costs, landfill waste in England is collected less frequently – with six councils collecting it once in three weeks

More than three quarters of English councils now pick up household rubbish which cannot be recycled or composted just once a fortnight, a survey reveals.

With councils under pressure to boost recycling and cut costs, some have gone further, with six local authorities picking up residual household waste only once every three weeks.

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Doubling of renewables could drive 66% storage cost reduction by 2030

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-10-09 08:59
Storage capacity could triple by 2030 if current renewable energy capacity doubles, with battery prices potentially driven down by 66% from current levels.
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Country diary 1917: ducks float like toy birds in the early haze

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-10-09 07:30

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 13 October 1917

Surrey, October 11
This morning was chill. Wild duck were on a broad stretch of backwater which has come from the river overflow in the low marsh; they floated like toy birds in the early haze. After a while they flew, skimming the ripples closely enough to make scattered particles shimmer in the rising sun, their green-grey and chestnut plumage throwing out a show of different colours in the flight. They settled among the tall reeds along the river bank, with lapwing playing overhead, then came out to rest for a long time on the water again. Mist was still white along the hedgerow, frosting haws and the now crimson “winter pears” on wild rose bushes, which are rich in yellow leaf. Up in the spinney a greenfinch went from bough to bough of a thorn, high and low, his feathers now dull in shade, now almost the colour of young lime leaves where the sun struck through. Alighting on a branch, the sound of a long, sweet note satisfied the ear, then, as his wings just opened, a faint twitter was hardly heard. Flying off a little, he always came back to the spreading thorn again.

Related: How to access the Guardian and Observer digital archive

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Pollutionwatch: log fires are cosy, but their days may be numbered

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-10-09 06:30

It is no surprise the mayor of London wants to ban wood burning: even new stoves are much more polluting than the exhaust of a heavy goods vehicle

Browse through the home style magazines in your newsagent’s or watch Channel 4’s Grand Designs and you will see beautifully decorated living rooms complete with a roaring fire. Wood burning has become very fashionable and, let’s face it, a log fire is cosy.

Natural gas central heating largely banished solid fuel and brought huge improvements in our urban air. For two decades the UK’s official energy statistics said that home wood burning was too small to be quantified, but under the radar it has been making a return. A 2016 government survey found that 7.5% of UK homes burned wood making up 30% of UK particle emissions. In London, one home in 12 burns wood, but this accounts for more than a quarter of the particle pollution produced in the capital. It is no surprise that the mayor of London, Sadiq Kahn, has called for powers to address this problem.

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Tasmanian shy albatross embrace artificial nests in bid to boost population

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-10-09 03:00

Birds reproduce only on three remote islands in Bass Straight and are listed as ‘vulnerable’ with just 1,500 breeding pairs remaining

The Tasmanian shy albatross has embraced the idea of settling down in an artificial, specially constructed nest, according to scientists who are trying to boost the population of the endangered seabird.

A trial of the nests was announced in June to help the breeding success of the endangered species, which biologists believe are vulnerable to the environmental effects of climate change.

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Fatal extraction: how demand for hippos’ teeth is threatening them with extinction

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-10-09 00:00

The black market’s insatiable demand for ivory has turned poachers’ attention away from well-protected elephants to more vulnerable hippos

It seems almost incomprehensible that the desire for an ivory ornament or piece of jewellery justifies the slaughter of a majestic elephant, but as their populations continue to crash, the ever-hungry black market has become creative in order to satisfy its greed. Now, ivory hunters are setting their sights on everything from arctic narwhals to fossil mammoths. But one unexpected victim of this barbaric practice is the humble hippopotamus. A new study says that a rise in demand for hippos’ teeth is threatening the mammal with extinction.

In many ways, it takes a lot of effort to kill an elephant. They are legally well protected in most countries where they range and international regulations are clear. Also, smuggling large tusks internationally is highly conspicuous. Hippos offer a cheaper and, in many ways, “easier” ivory option. The simple truth is that they are not high on the priority list of the international conservation community. Find a group of wild-living African elephants and, often, they will either be tracked with radio collars or will be the focus of long-term conservation research, intensive ecotourism or determined law-enforcement efforts. Not so with hippos. Unlike their famous savannah cousins, they don’t come with a protective human entourage, meaning poachers can take their time. Additionally, they are not protected especially well at either a national or international level.

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Strange and beautiful things under a microscope – in pictures

The Guardian - Sun, 2017-10-08 21:00

A competition, now in its 43rd year, dedicated to showcasing the beautiful and bizarre as seen under a light microscope attracted over 2,000 entries from 88 countries. Here’s a selection of the winning and commended images from the 2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition

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The eco guide to disposing of litter | Lucy Siegle

The Guardian - Sun, 2017-10-08 15:00

It’s time the responsibility for recycling was laid firmly at the door of the packaging manufacturers

Litter brings out an urge in me to ban everything. Under my regime, straws would be outlawed. Plastic drinks bottles – only 57% of which find their way into recycling – would be verboten. But top of the list of banned items would be wacky recycling surveys.

The latest, from Business Waste, highlights the craziest eco blunders found in the nation’s recycling bins. The list includes a car door, 1,000 Greenpeace badges (oh, the irony!) and a full Christmas dinner including plates, tablecloth, crackers and pudding.

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Australia's solar challenge begins

BBC - Sun, 2017-10-08 14:14
Teams from around the world are competing on solar cars in an epic transcontinental race.
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Rescue of the olive ridley sea turtle

The Guardian - Sun, 2017-10-08 04:00
Of the millions of eggs laid by the endangered olive ridley sea turtles on one Costa Rican beach, few survive both predators and poachers. But how could allowing local villagers to harvest the eggs be a solution?

Dawn on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast and the dark figure of a man at the water’s edge gradually becomes distinct under a pinkening sky. I switch off my torch. Jairo Quiros Rosales and I are the only people to be seen on this broad black beach, the volcanic sands of which stretch north for several miles. Jairo is beckoning, so I hurry down to him, scanning the beach and murky shoreline. As the light grows, I make out the funereal vultures flecking the distance, and assorted mutts appear from the gloom to sniff the night from the sands.

And then I see them: about 100 metres further up the beach, like strange, regularly humped stones, hundreds of olive ridley sea turtles are making their way from the ocean on to the beach to lay their eggs. This is the arribada. It means “the arrival” in Spanish, and I have been waiting more than a month to see it.

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Trump EPA plan will roll back Obama standards on power plant emissions

The Guardian - Sat, 2017-10-07 23:15
  • Measures expected soon are part of promise to revive coal industry
  • Ex-EPA chief: ‘This administration has no intention of following the law’

The Trump administration is moving to roll back the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s attempt to slow global warming, seeking to ease restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Related: Walruses face 'death sentence' as Trump administration fails to list them as endangered

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Swallowtail butterfly could benefit from Papua New Guinea project

BBC - Sat, 2017-10-07 22:23
A conservation project in Papua New Guinea could help secure the future for Britain's biggest butterfly.
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Red deer rut 'spectacle' draws visitors to RSPB Minsmere

BBC - Sat, 2017-10-07 21:34
RSPB Minsmere has about 200 red deer, one of the largest wild herds outside Scotland.
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Feeding grain to farm animals wastes more than $1bn a year, data shows

The Guardian - Sat, 2017-10-07 16:45

We need to address the huge hidden costs of industrial farming, such as wasted food and calories, as well as the impacts to health and the environment, say campaigners

Our habit of feeding human foods , such as grain and soya, to farm animals will cost us $1,323bn (£1bn) a year by 2050 globally, according to environmental campaigners.

The hidden costs of the industrial farming system are vast, and urgently need to be brought into clear focus, Peter Stevenson of Compassion in World Farming told the Extinction and Livestock conference in London. “There’s a worrying disconnect between the retail price of food and the true cost of production. As a result, food produced at great environmental cost can appear to be cheaper than more sustainably produced alternatives.”

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Country diary: a hidden well recalls a seventh-century massacre

The Guardian - Sat, 2017-10-07 14:30

Pentrefelin, Gwynedd Swirling sands made for a journey as perilous as the doctrinal disputes of the dark ages

The minor road climbs steeply to debouch on a rushy pasture between Mynydd Ednyfed and Bryn Braich y Saint. The views from up here are of startling breadth and loveliness. To the south the land falls away to where Afonnydd Glaslyn and Dwyryd spill into Tremadog Bay.

Over on the southern shore, yews surround the clas (Celtic Christian monastic settlement) of Llanfihangel-y-Traethau.

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Marchers across the world demand justic for wildlife

The Guardian - Sat, 2017-10-07 13:00

Paula Kahumbu: The Global March for Elephants, Rhinos and Lions brings people in cities across the world together to demand action to save threatened wildlife from extinction

Today, 7 October 2017, thousands of people are gathering in more than 100 cities all over the world to show solidarity with wildlife in the Global March for Elephants, Rhinos and Lions. This year’s theme ‘Justice for All’ draws attention to the dire threat to these species as a result of international wildlife crime.

In my home city Nairobi, the planning for this march has involved tens of organizations, including NGOs, local and national government agencies, universities, schools, companies, diplomatic embassies and local communities. More than 100 young volunteers have helped with preparations and will be present on the day to make sure everything runs smoothly.

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