‘Clean power 2030’ plan will speed up planning and give energy secretary final say on major infrastructure projects
The UK will not face blackouts under Labour’s proposed shake-up of energy supply, Ed Miliband has said, as he unveiled plans to boost clean power by the end of the decade.
The energy secretary insisted the transition away from fossil fuels was “unstoppable.”
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
12/13/2024 - 05:48
12/13/2024 - 05:26
Find is ‘hopeful sign’ the species, one of world’s largest and rarest freshwater fish, is not at imminent risk of extinction
Six critically endangered Mekong giant catfish — one of the largest and rarest freshwater fish in the world — have been caught and released in Cambodia, reviving hopes for the survival of the species.
The underwater giants can grow up to 3 metres long and weigh up to 300kg. They are found only in south-east Asia’s Mekong River but in the past inhabited the entire 3,044-mile (4,900km)-long river all the way from its outlet in Vietnam to its northern reaches in China’s Yunnan province.
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12/13/2024 - 05:00
Amid Italian island’s worst drought, towns such as Troina are fighting for survival as supplies run dry and tensions rise
An ancient Sicilian proverb goes like this: “When water to two fountains flows, one will stay dry – that’s how it goes.” The residents of the small town of Troina in the heart of Sicily, struck by a long and unprecedented drought, perhaps understand its meaning better than anyone else. When authorities decreed that the little water left in their dam should be shared with the villages of another province, they took action, and, on 30 November, occupied the distribution centre of the reservoir, blocking access.
“It’s a war between the poor; we are aware of it,” says Salvatore Giamblanco, 66, owner of a bed and breakfast in Troina. “But we had no other choice. The dam is drying up. We have difficulty finding water for ourselves. I had to cancel numerous reservations due to the lack of water. If we also have to share what little we have with other towns, we will all be left dry.”
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12/13/2024 - 03:10
Action helps thwart advance of invasive yellow-legged hornet that can kill 50 bees a day and has devastated honeybee colonies in France and Italy
Rapid action against an invasive bee-killing hornet has stopped its spread in the UK despite suitable climate and habitat for the insect, a study has found.
Research led by the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH) looked at how suitable European countries were for the yellow-legged or Asian hornet to become established, and how they might have spread without action.
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12/13/2024 - 00:00
Energy secretary to set out plan to boost renewable energy supply, such as building canopies of solar panels on outdoor car parks
Ed Miliband has pledged to bring in “the most ambitious reforms to the country’s energy system in generations” as he presses ahead with plans to accelerate the development of onshore windfarms in England.
The energy secretary is to set out the government’s “clean power 2030” plan on Friday, including measures to boost the UK’s renewable energy supply such as building canopies of solar panels on outdoor car parks.
Reforming the system for connecting new projects to the national grid to prioritise the most viable projects;
Speeding up decisions on planning permission by empowering planners to prioritise critical energy infrastructure;
Expanding the renewable auction process to allow funding to be secured before planning permission in an effort to stop delays and get more projects connected;
Allowing households to get access to cheaper tariffs at different times of day.
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12/12/2024 - 14:59
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Peter Dutton says nuclear ‘will make electricity cheaper’ but critics say Coalition costings a ‘fantasy’
The glaring gaps and unanswered questions in the Coalition’s nuclear plan and costings
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Bowen lashes Coalition plan to keep ageing coal-fired power stations open beyond middle of next decade
Under the Coalition’s plan, ageing coal-fired power stations would stay open beyond the middle of the next decade when most of the operators say they’ll have to shut – is that realistic?
The biggest threat to reliability in our energy system is coal-fired power now. We are dealing with … outages, breakdown, on a daily basis and that is what is the biggest threat to the reliability of our energy system and it’s a recipe for blackouts to keep ageing coal-fired power stations in the grid for longer.
What they have also done is very clearly in their costings of their own policy rejected the CSIRO and Aemo’s work. Now, CSIRO and Aemo have been talking about the cost of nuclear since way before we were in office as being the most expensive form of energy available.
Fundamentally what the Coalition is asking the Australian people to believe is this: that they can introduce the most expensive form of energy and it will be end up being cheaper. It won’t pass the pub test. It won’t pass the sniff test because it is just a fantasy.
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12/12/2024 - 09:00
Changing state guidelines to lift the wind speed at which turbines start spinning won’t notably affect energy generated, government consultants say
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Victoria will consider changing windfarm guidelines after government research found lifting the wind speed at which turbines start spinning could significantly reduce bat deaths without notably affecting the energy generated.
Ecologist Emma Bennett has estimated between 25,000 and 50,000 bats die annually from collisions with the about 2,300 wind turbines operating in Victoria.
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12/12/2024 - 07:00
Average user generates greenhouse gases equal to driving an extra 123 miles in gasoline-powered car a year, data shows
TikTok’s annual carbon footprint is probably larger than that of Greece, according to a new analysis of the social media platform’s environmental impact, with the average user generating greenhouse gases equivalent to driving an extra 123 miles in a gasoline-powered car each year.
Estimates from Greenly, a carbon accounting consultancy based in Paris, place TikTok’s 2023 emissions in the US, UK and France at about 7.6m metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) – higher than those associated with Twitter/X and Snapchat in the same region.
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12/12/2024 - 07:00
Contamination thought to stem from the heavy application of pesticides containing TFA, a type of PFAS
Mineral water from several European nations has been found for the first time to be contaminated with TFA, a type of PFAS “forever chemical” that is a reproductive toxicant accumulating at alarming levels across the globe.
The finding is startling because mineral water should be pristine and insulated from manmade chemicals. The contamination is thought to stem from the heavy application of pesticides containing TFA, or compounds that turn into it in the environment, which are used throughout the world.
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12/12/2024 - 06:00
Climate researchers share theories behind apparent surge, though none have a full understanding yet of what has happened
Scientists are still puzzling over the reasons behind a streak of unexpected, record heat that scorched 2023 and into this year, sparking fears that the climate crisis could be moving faster than previously thought.
Is it the clouds? Or shipping? Or maybe a huge volcanic eruption?
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