Environment news

• Cooling technologies become red hot

  27-05-2016 22:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Sainsbury's is trialling new food-cooling technologies that promise to be more eco-friendly than current alternatives.
  
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• VIDEO: Ice blocks make fridges less 'stupid'

  27-05-2016 22:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Roger Harrabin visits a factory in Wales that is using ice to make fridges more economical.
  
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• Snorkeling Paradise Inside a Volcano Named Best US Beach

  27-05-2016 22:22
  
  Hanauma Bay's new title represents the third in a streak of winners from the island of Oahu in the annual "Best Beaches" rankings, which are put together annually by Stephen Leatherman, a coastal researcher at Florida International University also known as "Dr. Beach." Leatherman ranks the top 10 public beaches around the United States based on factors ranging from sand softness and wind speeds to wave height and pollution. "Frankly, the United States is blessed with hundreds of wonderful beache
  
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• Oil slips for second day as $50 level sparks new output fears

  27-05-2016 21:22
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices dipped for a second day in a row on Friday as some investors took profit on a surge to seven-month highs while others worried about higher production with the market hovering near $50 (£34) a barrel. The dollar spiked after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said a U.S. rate hike was probably appropriate in coming months. "People are worried crude production will come roaring back at these prices," said Phil Flynn, energy markets analyst a
  
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• As crude hits $50 a barrel, options market suggests jitters

  27-05-2016 21:00
  With the price of oil finally touching $50 (£34) a barrel this week, producers and speculators have been loading up on options to protect themselves from a downside risk, signalling there are still some jitters surrounding the recent rally. Deep out-of-the-money put options - options that would not be profitable until a substantial pullback in the price of oil - have shown a marked increase in implied volatility, a sign that producers are locking in prices close to levels for them to be pr
  
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• Managers take over operations, reopen pipes at French oil hub

  27-05-2016 20:03
  By Bate Felix PARIS (Reuters) - Managers have taken over operations and reopened pipes at the CIM oil port terminal in Le Havre, northern France, after union members decided to extend their strike on Friday, a CGT union official said. CIM, which handles about 40 percent of French crude imports, has not been able to deliver crude to refineries and refined products to the market since Tuesday after workers joined a nationwide rolling strike against planned labour reforms. The oil workers' interven
  
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• François Hollande resists union pressure to abandon labour reforms

  27-05-2016 18:33 via theguardian.com
  
  Neither French president nor unions show any sign of budging as strikes, fuel blockades and petrol shortages continueThe French president François Hollande has promised to stand firm over controversial labour reforms as the hardline CGT union urged workers to step up fuel and energy strikes to force him to abandon his proposed law.After days of strike blockades at oil refineries and fuel depots forced France to dip into its strategic fuel supplies to counter petrol shortages, Hollande tol
  
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• Stephen Harper's Conservative praise triggers bad memories for Canadians

  27-05-2016 18:31 via theguardian.com
  
  As supporters greet the former PM’s first public remarks since election defeat with admiration, naysayers use Twitter and weigh in on his polarising legacyCanada’s former prime minister, Stephen Harper, has made his first public remarks since his defeat in last fall’s federal election, prompting both praise and disdain as Canadians weighed in on the polarising legacy of nearly a decade in power.
  Speaking at a Conservative policy convention on Thursday, Harper thanked the party
  
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• Zambian villagers win right to have pollution case heard in Britain

  27-05-2016 18:24 via theguardian.com
  
  High court judge dismisses claims by mining firm Vedanta Resources that water contamination case against them and subsidiary KCM should be heard in Zambia Eighteen hundred Zambian villagers claiming to have had their water supplies polluted and their health affected by a giant mining company’s subsidiary have won the right to have their case heard in the British courts rather than in Zambia.Vedanta, which is headquartered in London, had argued strongly in the high court that the villagers&
  
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• Oil slips as $50 level sparks new output fears

  27-05-2016 17:09
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil markets fell around 1 percent on Friday, retreating from seven-month highs, as traders weighed the prospect of crude production intensifying because of prices near $50 a barrel despite supply outages in recent weeks that eased a global glut. A stronger dollar also weighed on demand for dollar-denominated oil from holders of currencies such as the euro. "People are worried crude production will come roaring back at these prices," said Phil Flynn, energy
  
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• Delta militants threaten 'something big', greet Nigerian children

  27-05-2016 17:04
  The Niger Delta Avengers militant group, which has mounted a bombing campaign against oil pipelines, on Friday threatened "something big" - but also wished Nigerian youngsters a Happy Children's Day. The Avengers say oil firms in the Delta are responsible for pollution and say the poor swampland region fails to reap any benefit from the wealth on which it sits. The militants, whose activities have hammered Nigeria's crude output, posted a warning on Twitter to the army and oil firms: "Watch out
  
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• DECC launches consultation proposals to slash biogas subsidies

  27-05-2016 16:58
  
  The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has delivered another blow to the UK's clean energy industry, after proposing to completely cut Feed-in Tariff (FiT) schemes for large anaerobic digestion (AD) site and "severely" reduce subsidies for small and medium scale plants.
  
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• G7 nations pledge to end fossil fuel subsidies by 2025

  27-05-2016 16:33 via theguardian.com
  
  Leaders of the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the EU urge all countries to join them in eliminating support for coal, oil and gas in a decadeThe G7 nations have for the first time set a deadline for the ending most fossil fuel subsidies, saying government support for coal, oil and gas should end by 2025.The leaders of the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the European Union encouraged all countries to join them in eliminating “inefficient fossil fuel subs
  
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• France says fuel supply improving after depot blockades cleared

  27-05-2016 16:05
  The fuel supply situation in France is improving after a week of disruption and shortages caused by strikes and all but one of the country's fuel depot blockades has been cleared, a transport ministry spokesman said on Friday. French oil and gas company Total, said earlier on Friday that all 9 of its depots in France were operating normally after the last blockade was lifted. There are 78 primary fuel depots in mainland France.
  
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• Strike at France's Le Havre oil terminal extended until Monday

  27-05-2016 16:04
  By Bate Felix PARIS (Reuters) - French CGT union members at the CIM, an oil storage and supply services company which handles about 40 percent of French crude imports, have voted to extend their strike at the port terminal until Monday, a union official told Reuters. CIM, at Le Havre, France's second-biggest oil port, has not been able to deliver crude to refineries and products through the Trapil pipeline since Tuesday after workers joined a nationwide rolling strike against planned labour refo
  
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• Government urged to subsidise energy storage systems

  27-05-2016 14:55
  
  If renewables are to become fully integrated into the UK's energy mix, the Government will have to incentivise energy storage systems through the introduction of subsidies, researchers from the University of East Anglia (UEA) have claimed.
  
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• Global brands urge EC President to propose heavy-goods efficiency standards

  27-05-2016 14:55
  
  Global brands such as IKEA, Nestlé and Philips have urged the President of the European Commission (EC) to propose post-2020 CO2 reductions for heavy-goods vehicles in Europe, raising issues over the impact that European transport legislation would have on the UK if the country were to leave the European Union (EU).
  
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• Zion revisited

  27-05-2016 14:17 via bbc.co.uk
  
  US scientists produce their most precise date yet for the colossal landslide that shaped the big red canyon running through what is now Zion National Park.
  
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• Geologists revisit giant Zion landslide

  27-05-2016 14:17 via bbc.co.uk
  
  US scientists produce their most precise date yet for the colossal landslide that shaped the big red canyon running through what is now Zion National Park.
  
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• Chicken embryo tests can prevent practice of gassing billions of cockerels

  27-05-2016 14:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Scientists create sex identification tests that can identify male chicks before they hatchThe current practice of gassing billions of male chicks within a day of hatching because they cannot lay eggs could be stopped thanks to a new embryo gender test.Globally some 3.2 billion cockerels are killed within hours of breaking free of their eggs each year. Continue reading...
  
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• Procter & Gamble to eliminate phosphates from dishwasher tablets globally

  27-05-2016 14:06
  
  Consumer goods firm Procter & Gamble has announced a new innovation which will end phosphate use from all retail and professional Fairy dishwasher tablets by 2017, significantly reducing the environmental footprint of its products in addition to improving cleaning performance.
  
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• Hollande says won't let protesters choke economy as police clear fuel picket

  27-05-2016 13:43
  By Bate Felix PARIS (Reuters) - French riot police removed picketers and barricades blocking access to a large fuel distribution depot as President Francois Hollande warned anti-reform protesters on Friday he would not let them strangle the economy. The police operation to free up a fuel depot near the Donges oil refinery in western France followed similar swoops at other depots this week to ease petrol shortages caused by picketers fighting planned labour law reforms. In the Seine Maritime regi
  
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• ExxonMobil is in its climate change bunker and won’t let reality in

  27-05-2016 13:36 via theguardian.com
  
  Still stonewalling, the oil giant banned the Guardian from its AGM this week. But even its shareholders are starting to hear the gale-force winds blowing outside
  When one of the world’s largest pension funds tells the biggest oil company on the planet that it faces an existential threat, there are stormy times ahead. The Guardian wanted to give you the latest weather report from inside ExxonMobil’s annual general meeting in Dallas on Wednesday, but the newspaper’s reporter was
  
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• Jupiter Moon Europa's Ocean May Have Enough Energy to Support Life

  27-05-2016 13:34
  
  Jupiter's moon Europa might be able to support life even if there's little or no volcanic activity under the satellite's icy shell, a new study suggests. Scientists think this ocean could be habitable, if it harbors the required chemical building blocks and the right proportion of elements to provide energy for biological systems — the right ratio of oxygen to hydrogen, for example. A research team led by Steve Vance, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, found that,
  
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• Oil prices ease from seven-month high to below $49

  27-05-2016 13:13
  By Keith Wallis and Dmitry Zhdannikov SINGAPORE/LONDON (Reuters) - Oil futures fell below $49 on Friday, moving further away from a seven-month high hit a day earlier, with analysts predicting range-bound markets for the next few months as supply outages slowly help to clear a glut of crude. Prices also came under pressure from a strong U.S. dollar, buoyed by generally positive U.S. economic data amid growing expectations of a near-term increase in interest rates. Oil pushed through $50 for the
  
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• DNA 'tape recorder' to trace cell history

  27-05-2016 13:11 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Researchers invent a DNA "tape recorder" that can trace the family history of every cell in a body.
  
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• How did the giraffe get its long neck?

  27-05-2016 13:09 via feedproxy.google.com
  For the first time, the genomes of the giraffe and its closest living relative, the reclusive okapi of the African rainforest, have been sequenced — revealing the first clues about the genetic changes that led to the evolution of the giraffe’s exceptionally long neck and its record-holding ranking as the world’s tallest land species. The research will be published in the scientific journal Nature Communications on May 17, 2016.“The giraffe’s stature, dominated by it
  
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• Antarctic fossils show creatures wiped out by asteroid

  27-05-2016 13:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  A study of more than 6,000 marine fossils from the Antarctic shows that the mass extinction event that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago was sudden and just as deadly to life in the Polar Regions.Previously, scientists had thought that creatures living in the southernmost regions of the planet would have been in a less perilous position during the mass extinction event than those elsewhere on Earth.
  
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• Strike holds up 38 oil tankers at France's biggest oil port

  27-05-2016 12:37
  Some 38 oil tankers have been held up at the Fos-Lavera oil port in southern France, the country's biggest, including 25 at harbour, up from 12 the previous day, a port authority spokeswoman said on Friday. In the northern port of Le Havre, 11 oil tankers were waiting at harbour and five at quay, a port official told Reuters. The rolling strikes by France's CGT and FO unions, aimed at forcing the government to withdraw a planned labour reform, have shut down of refineries, blocked petrol depots
  
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• Trump vows to 'cancel' the Paris Agreement and 'save' the coal industry

  27-05-2016 12:15
  
  Just hours after clinching the necessary number of delegates to become the Republican nominee, Donald Trump unveiled new energy plans that would see the US overhaul "draconian climate rules" in order to stimulate job growth in the oil and gas sector.
  
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• Total says four of its refineries in France halted due to strike

  27-05-2016 12:10
  French oil and gas company Total said on Friday that four of its five refineries in France had been completely shut down on Friday due to the ongoing nationwide strike against planned labour reforms. Its fifth refinery, the 153,000 barrels-per-day La Mede in the south of France, was still running at reduced output capacity, the company said. The French oil sector has been hit by a rolling strike called by hardline CGT and FO unions, which has disrupted fuel supply in France this week.
  
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• Meteorologists are seeing global warming's effect on the weather | Paul Douglas

  27-05-2016 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Weather is becoming more extreme, and meteorologists are taking notice
  Whatever happened to normal weather? Earth has always experienced epic storms, debilitating drought, and biblical floods. But lately it seems the treadmill of disruptive weather has been set to fast-forward. God’s grandiose Symphony of the Seasons, the natural ebb and flow of the atmosphere, is playing out of tune, sounding more like a talent-free second grade orchestra, with shrill horns, violins screeching off-key, cy
  
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• Swaziland acting as 'puppet' to South Africa in bid to legalise rhino horn trade

  27-05-2016 11:51 via theguardian.com
  
  Top conservationists criticise the proposal – announced just days after neighbouring South Africa dropped its bid for legal trade – saying it will open the gates for a black market Swaziland has been accused by one of the world’s leading conservationists of being a puppet of South Africa in a bid to open the floodgates to a potentially calamitous legal rhino horn trade.South Africa appointed a committee to study the idea of trading horn internationally, which has been banned fo
  
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• Nigeria militants blow up gas, oil pipelines - community leader

  27-05-2016 11:39
  By Tife Owolabe YENAGOA (Reuters) - Militants attacked crude oil and gas pipelines operated by Nigeria's state oil firm in the Niger Delta, a community leader said on Friday, in an attack claimed by the Niger Delta Avengers, which has been targeting energy facilities for weeks. "Another crude pipeline was attacked yesterday Thursday night near Batan oil field in Warri," said Eric Omare, spokesman for the Ijaw Youth Council, which represents one of the largest ethnic groups in the vast delta in s
  
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• Eyewitness: Manila, Philippines

  27-05-2016 11:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Photographs from the Eyewitness series Continue reading...
  
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• Niger Delta community leader confirms Warri pipeline attacks

  27-05-2016 10:59
  LAGOS (Reuters) - A Niger Delta community leader confirmed two attacks on Thursday night on crude pipelines near the Batan oil field in Warri South operated by the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC). "There were two simultaneous attacks on PPMC and NNPC pipelines. No group has claimed responsibility. I am not aware of any casualty and arrest record for now," Ijaw Youth Council spokesman Eric Omare told Reuters. (Reporting by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Ed Cropley)
  
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• Daimler invests $3.35 billion in clean diesel technology

  27-05-2016 10:44
  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Daimler said it will spend 3 billion euros ($3.35 billion) to curtail diesel exhaust pollution levels by modifying its engines and exhaust treatment systems including through a software update for some Mercedes-Benz passenger cars. The 3 billion euros includes a 2.6 billion euros investment announced in February. Daimler Mercedes-Benz will equip its entire range of diesel cars in Europe with selective catalytic reduction technology and roll out particulate filters for gasol
  
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• Daimler invests 3 billion euro in clean diesel technology

  27-05-2016 10:44
  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Daimler said it will spend 3 billion euros ($3.35 billion) to curtail diesel exhaust pollution levels by modifying its engines and exhaust treatment systems including through a software update for some Mercedes-Benz passenger cars. The 3 billion euros includes a 2.6 billion euros investment announced in February. Daimler Mercedes-Benz will equip its entire range of diesel cars in Europe with selective catalytic reduction technology and roll out particulate filters for gasol
  
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• Saudi Aramco says discovers new fields, to continue energy investments

  27-05-2016 10:29
  Saudi Arabia's state oil giant Aramco discovered new oil and gas fields last year and the kingdom is committed to continue investing in its energy sector to meet future demand, its new energy minister said. Khalid al-Falih, who was appointed energy, industry and mineral resources minister on May 7 and is also Aramco's chairman, said that despite low oil prices, the company has reached record levels of oil production and gas processing. "Declining investments by energy producers raise concerns ab
  
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• Flexi-space room expansion suspended

  27-05-2016 10:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A halt is called to the deployment of a new, expandable "room" on the International Space Station when it fails to open up as expected.
  
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• Hinkley Point C: French union opposition casts fresh doubt on project

  27-05-2016 10:09 via theguardian.com
  
  EDF seeks support from workplace reps, but staff fear high cost of nuclear plant could cripple state-owned firmOpposition from French unions has cast fresh doubt over the future of the planned Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset.Key French workers’ unions continue to oppose the £18bn project despite repeated attempts by EDF, which would build the reactors, to win their backing. The French state-owned company has delayed the decision on whether to go ahead until the summ
  
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• UK in hot water as bathing sites rank worst in EU

  27-05-2016 10:00
  
  The UK has the highest proportion of bathing water sites rated as 'poor quality' in the European Union (EU), results from the European Environment Agency's (EEA) annual bathing water report show.
  
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• Australia removed from UN climate report

  27-05-2016 10:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  All references to climate change's impact on World Heritage sites in Australia are removed from a UN report after a government request.
  
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• VIDEO: A haven for endangered water voles

  27-05-2016 08:54 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The water vole has become Britain's most endangered mammal, but a project in Worcestershire is trying to reverse the decline.
  
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• Few Britons have ever heard of ocean acidification

  27-05-2016 08:50 via theguardian.com
  
  A new poll finds that only 20% of Britons have heard of ocean acidification – and even fewer know anything about it.
  If you’ve heard of ocean acidification, you’re in the minority. If you know that ocean acidification is caused by carbon pollution from burning fossil fuels and cutting down rainforests, you’re practically a scholar. A new poll published in Nature Climate Change finds that around 80% of the British public has never heard of ocean acidification. “It is
  
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• Shell says refining margin to stay under pressure - media

  27-05-2016 08:36
  (Reuters) - Shell Refining Co's refining margin is expected to remain under pressure owing to weak recovery in crude oil demand, news website theedgemarkets.com reported on Friday. The company's refining margin has come off from the peak of an average U.S.$7 per barrel in 2015 to about U.S. $4.96 (3.38 pounds) per barrel in the first quarter of this year, SRC chairman Datuk Iain Lo was quoted to have said after the group’s annual general meeting Thursday, as per the report "We expect the m
  
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• Israeli environment minister quits, citing rightist government tilt

  27-05-2016 08:10
  Israel's centrist environment minister announced he was resigning on Friday in protest at the inclusion of ultra-nationalist Avigdor Lieberman in the coalition government, the second such cabinet walkout in a week. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed up Lieberman as Israel's new defence minister on Wednesday in a pact beefing up his coalition to six parties with control over 66 of parliament's 120 seats, up from a razor-thin majority of 61. "The recent political manoeuvring and defence mini
  
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• Chargers, châteaux, and the Channel Tunnel: can you really do a driving holiday in a Tesla?

  27-05-2016 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Are electric cars really good enough to take four adults and a week’s worth of luggage from London to the Loire? Samuel Gibbs finds outThe alarm went off at 6am to kickstart our journey, and I was full of trepidation. Driving 706 km (439 miles) in a car with three other adults and enough luggage for a week’s holiday might already feel like a modern labour of Hercules for some, but this trip had an extra challenge: the car would be all electric.The chariot to take us from the south of
  
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• Serenaded by a male voice choir – of toads

  27-05-2016 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Red Rocks Marsh, Wirral ‘I have front row seats for the natterjack toad, the loudest amphibian in Europe’There is one last highlighter-pink line in the sky when I take the path down through the red rocks that give this area its name. They are sandstone, worn smooth by time and tide. The sea is keeping its distance, the tide is out, but that familiar coastal tang is in the air mixing with the peppery scent of sundried grass from the dunes.Colour fades to monochrome as the light drains
  
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• University of East Anglia pioneers thatched roof campus

  27-05-2016 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  At UEA’s Enterprise Centre, local materials meet hi-tech carbon monitoring – all on a traditional budgetVisitors to The Enterprise Centre at the University of East Anglia’s campus can smell the wood as soon as they arrive, although they may not know it comes from nearby Thetford Forest. And though most admire the building’s beautiful design, they may not realise all new materials were sustainably sourced with a minimum carbon footprint. Related: Swedish city builds 'passi
  
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