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Chantek, the orangutan who used sign language, dies at 39

BBC - Tue, 2017-08-08 13:23
Chantek could also clean his room, make and use tools and learn the route to a restaurant.
Categories: Around The Web

New coal power plants are great – if you don’t have to pay for them

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-08-08 13:15
Tomago smelter wants a new coal generator, subsidised by the government. If it really wants coal power, why doesn't it write out a contract itself?
Categories: Around The Web

The Clean Energy Regulator is targeting the installation of unapproved solar panels

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-08-08 13:11
The Clean Energy Regulator is targeting the installation of unapproved solar PV panels in the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES), in line with our 2017 Compliance Priorities.
Categories: Around The Web

Policy needed to ensure all benefit from clean and affordable solar with storage

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-08-08 12:41
Solar Citizens is urging all sides of politics to commit to policies that support all South Australians, regardless of income, to have access to rooftop solar with storage as it becomes more affordable than ever.
Categories: Around The Web

More electricity for Queenslanders – Swanbank E gas secured, hiring underway

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-08-08 12:35
The Palaszczuk Government has secured gas and started recruiting staff to bring the Swanbank E power station back on line to generate more electricity for Queenslanders.
Categories: Around The Web

Malcolm and the Energy Bosses: What they might say

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-08-08 12:33
As PM Malcolm Turnbull prepares for his meeting with the big energy retailers, here is how the conversation might pan out.
Categories: Around The Web

Australian teen just 'unfortunate' to be attacked by meat-loving sea fleas

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-08-08 12:15

It’s safe to go back in the water, says marine biologist who identified the miniature attackers as lysianassid amphipods

The “meat-loving” marine creature that ate at the legs of a Melbourne teenager has been identified as a flesh-eating sea flea, known as a lysianassid amphipod.

Marine biologist Dr Genefor Walker-Smith said the creatures, which left 16-year-old Sam Kanizay with significant bleeding from his legs, were a small, scavenging crustacean that usually fed on dead fish or sea birds.

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Tesla, Zen, Lyon slam S.A. energy security target as industrial “relic”

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-08-08 11:24
Tesla, Zen, Lyon and others slam South Australia's proposed energy security target, saying it lacks technical expertise and will deliver windfall profits to incumbent gas generators, and not encourage new technologies like battery storage.
Categories: Around The Web

Know your NEM: The profits CLP didn’t make from Australian brown coal

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-08-08 11:16
The interesting takeaway from EnergyAustralia's interim results, and other news from the NEM week that was.
Categories: Around The Web

Tesla says favouring gas akin to choosing paper records over digital files

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-08-08 11:14
Tesla says battery storage can deliver many grid services provided by gas generators, and thinking otherwise is like supporting paper records over digital files.
Categories: Around The Web

Tesla seeks $1.5bn bond offering while shifting solar strategy

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-08-08 10:26
Tesla is emphasising profitability from its solar business, which has undergone significant transformation since the company bought SolarCity.
Categories: Around The Web

Tesla Powerpack battery added to wind turbine at NZ salt factory

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-08-08 09:41
In “Australasian first”, 250kW Tesla Powerpack added to 660kw wind turbine, to provide 75 per cent of energy for NZ salt manufacturer.
Categories: Around The Web

'Dodgy' greenhouse gas data threatens Paris accord

BBC - Tue, 2017-08-08 09:22
There are huge uncertainties in greenhouse gas totals due to inaccurate data, the BBC finds.
Categories: Around The Web

Flesh-eating sea lice to blame for attack on teenager Sam Kanizay

ABC Environment - Tue, 2017-08-08 07:52
His legs and feet were bleeding profusely after he went for a paddle at Brighton beach in Melbourne on Sunday.
Categories: Around The Web

New species of grass snake discovered in England

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-08-08 05:17

Recognition of barred grass snake as distinct species different to common cousin increases native total to four

England is home to four kinds of wild snake, not three as was previously believed, according to scientists.

The barred grass snake, Natrix helvetica, is now recognised as a species in its own right distinct from the common or eastern grass snake (Natrix natrix).

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Categories: Around The Web

Meat-loving creatures that attacked Australian teen's legs identified – video

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-08-08 04:32

The meat-loving marine creatures that feasted on the legs of a Melbourne teenager have been identified as sea fleas, lysianassid amphipods. Marine biologist Dr Genefor Walker-Smith says they are small, scavenging crustaceans that usually feeds on dead fish or sea birds.

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Categories: Around The Web

Time to face up to the electric car revolution | Letters

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-08-08 03:52
We should beware of myths about electric vehicles, says David Bricknell; but John Richards still worries about the environmental impact of their batteries

Your editorial perpetuates a number of myths about electric vehicles (Car drivers are heading into a future far from their dreams, 7 August). You say “Tesla has just started selling its first electric car aimed squarely at the middle classes”, reinforcing the views recently posted online by fossil fuel lobby groups that EVs are only for the rich while being subsidised by the poorer. The Tesla 3 is directly cost competitive with similar cars with internal combustion engines and cheaper when including running costs, and there is now a growing second-hand market.

You say Tesla sales are “a remarkable figure for a machine with a fairly short range and a very limited number of specialised charging stations”. The Tesla 3 has an EPA rated range of 310 miles – this is not a “fairly short range”.

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Categories: Around The Web

It’s not just the ‘sea lice’ – other flesh-eating sea creatures lurk in the deep

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-08-08 02:22

Carnivorous amphipods feasted on the legs of one unlucky Australian teenager, but they are not the only watery beasts with a taste for human flesh. Which ones should we really be afraid of?

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, some mystery lice chow down on a boy’s legs in Australia. Sam Kanizay had been paddling at a Melbourne beach. Half an hour later, the 16-year-old reeled when the sand he thought was covering his legs turned out to be eating his flesh, leading to unstoppable bleeding.

Related: Tiny 'meat-loving' marine creatures 'eat' teenager's legs at Melbourne beach

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Categories: Around The Web

RSPB hails natterjack toad 'baby boom' at Lodge reserve

BBC - Tue, 2017-08-08 01:59
Thousands of the "rare" tadpoles have been spotted at a reserve despite adverse breeding conditions.
Categories: Around The Web

USDA has begun censoring use of the term 'climate change', emails reveal

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-08-08 01:43

Exclusive: series of emails show staff at Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service advised to reference ‘weather extremes’ instead

Staff at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have been told to avoid using the term climate change in their work, with the officials instructed to reference “weather extremes” instead.

A series of emails obtained by the Guardian between staff at the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a USDA unit that oversees farmers’ land conservation, show that the incoming Trump administration has had a stark impact on the language used by some federal employees around climate change.

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Categories: Around The Web

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