Environment news

• Neither Trump nor Turnbull can turn back the tide on renewables

  17-01-2017 23:43 via theguardian.com
  
  The argument for renewable energy is now a purely economic one – and the move away from coal will only pick up speed The inauguration of President Trump this Saturday (Australian time) marks a radical change in the world as we know it. It ushers in the beginning of four years where progressive issues as far reaching as race equality, women’s health, nuclear and foreign policy, and of course climate change will be under sustained attack.Less than a year after the world agreed a histor
  
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• TGen identifies compound that could improve drug development against brain cancer

  17-01-2017 22:47 via feedproxy.google.com
  A study led by scientists at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) has identified "a potent inhibitory compound" in the elusive hunt for an improved treatment against glioblastoma, the most common and deadly type of adult brain cancer.Aurintricarboxylic Acid (ATA) is a chemical compound that in laboratory tests was shown to block the chemical cascade that otherwise allows glioblastoma cells to invade normal brain tissue and resist both chemo and radiation therapy, accord
  
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• Race for a Better Fuel Begins with NREL Researchers

  17-01-2017 22:32 via feedproxy.google.com
  Watching cars zoom around and around an oval track isn't Jesse Hensley's idea of a good time. Making them run on biofuel would be.
  
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• Rolls-Royce to pay more than $800 million to settle bribery charges - U.S.

  17-01-2017 22:16
  By Joel Schectman WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rolls-Royce Plc agreed to pay authorities more than $800 million (646.26 million pounds) to resolve charges of bribing officials in six countries in schemes that lasted more than a decade, the U.S. Justice Department and UK Serious Fraud Office said in statements on Tuesday. The company admitted to paying officials at state-run energy companies in Kazakhstan, Thailand, Brazil, Azerbaijan, Angola and Iraq more than $35 million in order to win contracts, th
  
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• Oil majors, car makers to push hydrogen technology to help cut emissions

  17-01-2017 22:13
  The heads of some of the world's biggest oil firms and automakers agreed on Tuesday to push for broader global use and bigger investments in using hydrogen to help reduce emissions and arrest global warming. The oil firms' and car makers' chiefs said the plan was part of global efforts to keep global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius, an ambitious goal agreed by 195 countries in Paris in 2015. "In this context, we are convinced that the unique contribution that hydrogen solutions offer needs
  
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• Donald Trump mistakes council worker for daughter Ivanka – video

  17-01-2017 22:12 via theguardian.com
  
  Donald Trump mistakenly retweeted praise for a woman from England with the same first name as his daughter late on Monday. Trump quoted a praiseworthy tweet directed to him by another Twitter user who had used @Ivanka rather than @IvankaTrumpDonald Trump mistakes Ivanka from Brighton for his daughter
  @Ivanka from Brighton’s message for Trump: ‘Please pay attention to climate change’
  Continue reading...
  
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• Drone footage shows huge Antarctic ice crack

  17-01-2017 21:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Aerial video shows a huge ice crack which is forcing British Antarctic Survey staff to leave their base.
  
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• Oil steady as weak dollar offsets U.S., Russia output forecasts

  17-01-2017 21:33
  By Scott DiSavino NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices were little changed on Tuesday as a decline in the U.S. dollar and comments by Saudi Arabia that it would adhere to OPEC's commitment to cut output. The dollar fell to a near six-week low against a basket of currencies after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said that the strong greenback was hurting U.S. competitiveness. Brent futures lost 39 cents, or 0.7 percent to settle at $55.47 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gaine
  
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• Green Investment Bank’s assets must be protected | Letters

  17-01-2017 20:07 via theguardian.com
  
  The Green Investment Bank is a real success story. Publicly owned, it has helped fund innovative new smart green technologies to fight climate change and attracted capital to UK infrastructure.It is widely rumoured that Australian investment bank Macquarie is set to purchase the bank (Is May being green about Macquarie? 10 January). Yet, it makes absolutely no sense to sell it off, least of all to a company with Macquarie’s record of buying assets, stripping them, paying itself huge divide
  
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• China Cancels Plans For 100 New Coal-Fired Power Plants

  17-01-2017 19:53 via feedproxy.google.com
  China has canceled plans for more than 100 new coal-fired power plants, including several that were already under construction, according to news reports. The power stations, with an estimated price tag of $62 billion, would have had an electricity-generating capacity of more than 100 gigawatts, spread across several provinces.
  
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• Exclusive - Canadian energy firms at bigger risk from cyber, bomb attacks: spy agency

  17-01-2017 19:27
  By Ethan Lou CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Canada's main spy agency last year warned energy companies about an increasing risk of cyber espionage and attacks on pipelines, oil storage and shipment facilities and power transmission towers using homemade explosives, according to a classified document obtained by Reuters. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) warning last May highlights an additional risk for the energy sector, where opposition to pipelines has ramped up in Canada, home
  
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• Oil steady; record high Russian output forecast offsets weak dollar

  17-01-2017 17:44
  By Scott DiSavino NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices were little changed on Tuesday as forecasts for record production out of Russia in 2017 helped offset earlier gains related to a decline in the U.S. dollar and Saudi Arabia saying it would adhere to OPEC's commitment to cut output. Earlier gains were capped by forecasts for rising U.S. and Russian production and scepticism that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as a whole would comply with its commitment to reduce suppl
  
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• @Ivanka from Brighton's message for Trump: 'Please pay attention to climate change'

  17-01-2017 16:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Woman whom president-elect mistook for his daughter on Twitter uses her 15 minutes of fame to speak out on environmentA digital consultant from Brighton whom Donald Trump mistook for his daughter on Twitter says she is more concerned by the prospect of a climate change denier in the White House than someone who makes slip-ups on social media.Ivanka Majic, 42, a former digital director for the Labour party, said it was “very surreal” to discover that the president-elect had retweeted
  
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• Can Cannabis Oil Help Heal Wounds?

  17-01-2017 15:44
  
  A middle-age man in Canada with oral cancer found that medical cannabis oil may have helped to slightly reduce the size of a wound that his cancer caused on his cheek, according to a new report of his case. The cannabis oil treatment also reduced the man's pain after the cancer created a hole in his right cheek, according to the report published in the January issue of the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. Studies have suggested that marijuana may work to treat cancer patients' pain.
  
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• The Man in the Zebra Suit Knows the Secret of the Stripes

  17-01-2017 15:24 via feedproxy.google.com
  At four in the morning, Tim Caro roused his colleagues. Bleary-eyed and grumbling, they followed him to the edge of the village, where the beasts were hiding. He sat them down in chairs, and after letting their eyes adjust for a minute, he asked them if they saw anything. And if so, would they please point where?
  
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• Antarctic Lifeline Visible from Space (Photo)

  17-01-2017 15:13
  
  A thin black line against a sea of white is all that connects Antarctica's Concordia research station to life. Concordia research station is known as the "remotest base on Earth." It's so far from other humans — 372 miles (600 km) from the nearest base, Vostok in Russia — that it's more remote than the International Space Station, according to the ESA. The station is located on the Antarctic Plateau at an elevation of 10,499 feet (3,200 meters).
  
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• Oil rises on weaker dollar, Saudi commitment to cut output

  17-01-2017 14:21
  By Julia Payne LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Tuesday, supported by a falling U.S. dollar and Saudi Arabia saying it would adhere to OPEC's commitment to cut output. Gains were capped by rising U.S. production and scepticism that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as a whole would comply with its commitments to reduce supplies. Brent crude futures , the international benchmark for oil prices, were up 66 cents at $56.52 a barrel by 1304 GMT.
  
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• Audi to expand electric car range in China with FAW

  17-01-2017 14:10
  BERLIN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Audi will sell more electric car models in China and develop automated driving there, it said on Tuesday, deepening ties with local partner FAW Group Corp [SASACJ.UL] to counter challengers Mercedes-Benz and BMW in its top market. Volkswagen's luxury division and other carmakers are under pressure to sell greener cars in China as the world's biggest auto market tightens emissions rules and discourages the use of fossil-fueled cars in major cities to fight pollution.
  
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• Major banks failing to align climate strategies to Paris Agreement targets

  17-01-2017 12:31
  
  Despite more than 70% of banks introducing environmental and carbon footprint stress, many are failing to align business and investment strategies in keeping with the 2C pathway scenario established through the Paris Agreement.
  
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• Parts of United States are heating faster than globe as a whole | John Abraham

  17-01-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A new study shows the Northeast USA will reach the dangerous 2°C warming threshold faster than most of the rest of the planet
  Global warming obviously refers to temperature increases across the entire globe. We know the Earth is warming, we know it is human-caused, we have a pretty good idea about how much the warming will be in the future and what some of the consequences are. In fact, when it comes to the Earth’s average climate, scientists have a pretty good understanding.On the oth
  
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• Is the UK set for a Green Deal resurrection?

  17-01-2017 11:14
  
  The Green Deal Finance Company and its assets have been bought by Aurium Capital Markets and Greenstone Finance for an undisclosed sum.
  
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• Chinese discard hundreds of cycles-for-hire in giant piles

  17-01-2017 11:09 via theguardian.com
  
  It was hoped bike-hire schemes would cut pollution and congestion but it seems some users just want to ride and dumpIt has been billed as a hi-tech bike-sharing boom that entrepreneurs hope will make them rich while simultaneously transforming China’s traffic-clogged cities.But, occasionally, dreams can turn sour. Continue reading...
  
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• Chinese discard hundreds of cycles-for-hire in giant pile

  17-01-2017 11:09 via theguardian.com
  
  It was hoped bike-hire schemes would cut pollution and congestion but it seems some users just want to ride and dumpIt has been billed as a hi-tech bike-sharing boom that entrepreneurs hope will make them rich while simultaneously transforming China’s traffic-clogged cities.But, occasionally, dreams can turn sour. Continue reading...
  
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• Russian state bank lent billions to fund privatisation deal - reports

  17-01-2017 11:08
  By Katya Golubkova and Alexander Winning MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian state-owned bank VTB briefly lent over $11 billion (9 billion pounds) to an entity controlled by Qatar and commodities trader Glencore four days after the Kremlin signed a deal to sell them a stake in state oil company Rosneft for a similar amount, two Russian newspapers reported on Tuesday. The existence of the short-term loan, if confirmed, muddies the picture that Kremlin officials painted of the deal, as a successful transac
  
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• UK tidal energy plagued by cost discrepancies, says ETI

  17-01-2017 10:51
  
  Tidal energy is at risk of being priced-out of an increasingly cost-competitive low-carbon market in the UK, unless a successful Contract for Difference (CfD) agreement can be implemented, the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) has warned.
  
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• British Antarctic station to shut down for winter due to crack in ice

  17-01-2017 10:24 via theguardian.com
  
  Halley VI station moved to safer location but staff to be brought home during southern winter as ‘prudent precaution’ A British research station on an ice shelf in Antarctica is being shut down over the southern hemisphere winter because of fears it could float off on an iceberg.
  The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) said in a statement on Monday that it had decided not to winter at the Halley VI research station on the Brunt ice shelf due to concerns for its staff’s safety amid c
  
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• Exclusive - Global ship insurers to resume near full coverage for Iran oil: officials

  17-01-2017 10:22
  By Osamu Tsukimori and Keith Wallis TOKYO/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Global shipping insurers have devised a way to ensure nearly full coverage for Iranian oil exports from next month after striking a deal to provide cover without involving U.S.-domiciled reinsurers, officials in Tokyo and London said. The reluctance of U.S. firms to handle Iranian goods had greatly limited the number of reinsurers of cargoes, but the new arrangements - which essentially allow re-insurance of ships without the involv
  
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• Oil prices might eventually feed into core inflation, ECB's Nowotny says

  17-01-2017 10:18
  Core inflation in the euro zone has not increased significantly but a rise in energy prices might eventually drag it upwards, European Central Bank Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny said on Tuesday. "Headline inflation is increasing quite substantially but core inflation not very much, so it is for the time being at least mainly due to the effects of rising oil prices, energy prices," Nowotny told a Euromoney conference in Vienna. "Rising oil prices at the end of the day may feed through in
  
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• SNP calls on UK Government to end 'shameful' renewables record

  17-01-2017 10:00
  
  The Conservative Government's "shameful" renewable energy policy record risks threatening the UK's economic prosperity and investment opportunities in a "thriving" industry, the Scottish National Party (SNP) has warned.
  
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• Oil prices mixed on Saudi commitment to cut output, investor scepticism

  17-01-2017 09:18
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices were mixed on Tuesday, supported by Saudi Arabia saying it would adhere to a commitment to cut output, but held back by rising U.S. production and scepticism that OPEC as a whole would comply with its commitments to reduce supplies. Brent crude futures , the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $55.76 per barrel at 0813 GMT, down 10 cents from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures , however, were up 15
  
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• What lies beneath: discovering surprising jewels in the North Sea

  17-01-2017 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Not far from the mouth of the river Tyne, fabulously-coloured nudibranchs and corals can be spotted amongst rusting sunken shipsAs I finned alongside the bulky remnants of the ship’s boilers - three massive blocks of northern iron – the light had almost gone. The gently rusting masses were riddled with fire-tubes, each seemingly host to a wary crab. In some, the red eyes of a velvet swimming crab (Necora puber) reflected my light; in others edible crabs (Cancer pagurus) retreated fro
  
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• Last man to walk on the Moon, Gene Cernan, has died

  17-01-2017 08:50 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Documentary maker reflects on the life of astronaut Gene Cernan, following his death.
  
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• Sonar maps from MH370 search will reveal more about seafloor

  17-01-2017 08:49
  
  CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The deep-sea sonar search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 may not have found the plane but will reveal more about how land beneath the Indian Ocean formed over millions of years and where oil fields could lie.
  
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• Ikea achieves zero-waste-to-landfill status in the UK

  17-01-2017 08:30
  
  The world's biggest furniture retailer has announced that it sent zero waste to landfill across all of its UK and Ireland facilities in 2016, achieving a 90% recycling rate in the process.
  
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• Oil prices dip as rising U.S. output could offset OPEC cuts

  17-01-2017 08:12
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil dipped on Tuesday on lingering concerns over global fuel oversupply due to rising U.S. output and doubts that OPEC and other producers would adhere to commitments to cut output in an effort to balance markets and prop up prices. Brent crude futures , the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $55.55 per barrel at 0643 GMT, down 31 cents from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 7 cents at $52.30 per b
  
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• An object lesson in thrush hunger

  17-01-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Rockland, Norfolk It’s not uncommon to see two fight over fruit for minutes on end, each lunging alternately at the otherOur neighbours grow apples commercially and their five acres supply both the community in autumn and the thrushes during winter. Recently I fulfilled a long-held promise to erect a hide and watch the birds among the windfalls there. First I had to gather several barrowfuls of my own, which was itself a memorable exercise. While I raked the wasp-mined Bramleys my boots mu
  
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• Electric car boom fuels interest in Bolivia’s fragile salt flats

  17-01-2017 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Demand for the metal used in electric car batteries has surged. But extraction could threaten the fragile ecosystem of the world’s largest salt flat In the middle of a vast salt desert in Bolivia, tour guide Angel Calani crouches down and jabs his index finger into the crusted earth. “Litio,” he announces as he withdraws his finger, now glistening with brine. “We could mine it for a thousand years and not run out.”The 4,000-square-mile Salar de Uyuni is the world&rs
  
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• Australia should invest in coal power to reduce emissions, minister says

  17-01-2017 05:07 via theguardian.com
  
  Economists and energy analysts question environmental and economic case for Matt Canavan’s coal push Research touted by the resources minister that reportedly suggests Australia can rely on coal to meet emissions reduction has been attacked by experts and appears to have been misreported.The Australian reported on Tuesday that research conducted by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science – and commissioned by Matt Canavan, the federal minister for resources – showed
  
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• Trump warming to reality of climate change, says senior Chinese official

  17-01-2017 03:58 via theguardian.com
  
  Beijing’s chief climate negotiator, Xie Zhenhua, talks down fears that joint leadership shown by China and the US will be reversed under new presidentChina’s chief climate negotiator has attempted to calm fears that Donald Trump’s arrival in the White House will spell disaster for the fight against climate change.
  Trump, who has dismissed climate change as “bullshit” and a Chinese hoax, will become the first climate sceptic to occupy the highest office in the US whe
  
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• Leopard shark makes world-first switch from sexual to asexual reproduction

  17-01-2017 03:37 via theguardian.com
  
  Leonie the shark astounds researchers by producing live hatchlings after being separated from her mate in 2012A leopard shark in an Australian aquarium has reproduced asexually after being separated from her mate.It is the first reported case of a shark switching from sexual to asexual or parthenogenetic reproduction and only the third reported case among all vertebrate species. Continue reading...
  
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• Kangaroo attacks Melbourne jogger 'like a damn truck'

  17-01-2017 03:13 via theguardian.com
  
  Personal trainer Debbie Urquhart says she was running on a bush track when a two-metre-tall ‘big boy’ came out of nowhereA towering male kangaroo hit a Melbourne jogger “like a damn truck” in an attack that left her scratched, bleeding and needing emergency surgery.Debbie Urquhart, a personal trainer, said the “big boy” who came out of nowhere and knocked her down was two metres tall. Continue reading...
  
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• Oil mixed on Saudi commitment to cut output, investor scepticism

  17-01-2017 02:56
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil markets were mixed on Tuesday, supported by Saudi Arabia saying it would strictly adhere to a commitment to cut output, but held back by scepticism in financial markets about the outlook for crude prices. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were trading up 16 cents at $52.53 per barrel at 0136 GMT. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, however were down 9 cents at $55.77 a barrel.
  
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• Giant alligator strolls past tourists in Florida – video

  17-01-2017 02:02 via theguardian.com
  
  A video posted by Kim Joiner to Facebook shows an enormous alligator crossing in front of a group of tourists waiting with their smartphones ready Continue reading...
  
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• Concerns over first snow and common leopards found in same area

  17-01-2017 02:02 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Video footage showing snow leopards and common leopards sharing the same habitat causes alarm.
  
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• Australia's bees and wasps revealed to be as dangerous as its snakes

  17-01-2017 01:56 via theguardian.com
  
  More than half of deaths from bites and stings between 2000 and 2013 the result of anaphylactic shock, analysis showsOf all Australia’s venomous animals, bees and wasps pose the biggest threat to public health, causing more than twice the number of admissions to hospital as snake bites and the same number of deaths.The first national analysis of 13 years’ data on bites and stings from venomous creatures has found that just over one-third (33%) of almost 42,000 admissions were caused
  
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• OPEC sees market stability in 2017, Venezuela aims for $70 price

  17-01-2017 01:14
  OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo forecast on Monday that stability would return to oil markets this year while price hawk Venezuela said it hoped its crude basket would rise to $70 in coming months. The head of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was back in Caracas for a second meeting in two months with President Nicolas Maduro whom he lavishly praised for an "inspirational" role in the producers' pact to cut output. "We remain optimistic Mr. President that with the f
  
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